Located on the southernmost portion of the continent of Africa is the Republic of South Africa, the birthplace of Krugerrand gold coins. In addition to mining, it's also known for wool, diamonds and of course precious metal rich ore. It's home to over thirty million people, and has an interesting and checkered past.

The history books credit the official European discovery to a Portuguese sailor named Bartholomew Diaz in 1488, four years before Columbus' famous voyage to America. The first white settlers arrived in 1652, and French, Dutch and Germans followed. In 1795 Great Britain captured the colony, and started centuries of rule and strife. To escape British rule, many Boers (farmers) migrated north and established the Boer Republics of the Transvaal.

In 1877 the British annexed the Transvaal, and the Boers were understandably upset. Two Boer Wars (1880 and 1899) followed, and during this time Paul Kruger (who served as President of the Transvaal) became a hero to the people. The Boers lost the war, and were absorbed into the British Empire- Britain was particularly motivated to win due to the discovery of gold and diamonds in the Boer settled areas. In 1934 the Union of South Africa became a sovereign state in the British Empire. There was still a great of strife between the Boers and the English, and in the mid 1940s the Boers relinquished that status and became a republic- finally withdrawing from the British Commonwealth early 1960s.

The first Krugerrand gold coins were struck in July 1967, as a means to market South African gold to the world. They were the designed as a gold bullion investment vehicle, and were marketed by the amount of gold bullion they contained, which was stamped on the coin, rather than a face value, as was stamped on their predecessors. Paul Kruger was on the obverse of the coin, and the Springbok antelope adorned the reverse. The coins were successful, however due to the shameful policy of apartheid their sale was affected by economic sanctions from the Western countries. When apartheid was abolished and Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as president in May of 1994, Krugerrand gold coins took their place as the world's premium and most popular gold bullion coin.

We must bear in mind the ancient myths, not as lazy academic imitations of neoclassicism, but as spiritual figures of a renovated adolescence... (Giuseppe Ungaretti - Definitions of modernity)

The outcome of the Second World War is the end of Europe as a political power: it ceases to be the reference of world politics and the division into regions of influence mars its culture.

A thousand years of history end up where Europe becomes no longer the subject but the object of history. It is necessary to get rid of all the traps, which are causing spiritual and material disorder. "But this process is not and cannot be an economic event only (...) political decisions have a deep cultural, spiritual and morale basis. The cultural unity of Europe, in the different traditions, interpenetrates and enriches all nations (...) Research European identity leads us to the sources." (J. Paul II - Prague April 21st 1990)

Nietzsche prophetically forecasted: "Only moneys will force Europe to huddle together in a single power". This sentence poses us the question to better understand the authentic reasons that motivate the common destiny of being united. European leaders should go beyond through something that is reliably deeper than a straightforward administrative union.

It seems that Europe is a sort of blind passion and we know that "there is nothing more dangerous than a blind passion in science..." (N. Semyonov).

It is then essential that political vision should be based upon a recovery of traditional civilization.

Europe must be founded on a conception of the world strong enough to allow people to destroy barbaric materialism and restore a Christian vision. Church should re-discover the sense of mysteries to favorite a complete renaissance.

It may happen that Europe will rediscover the ancient principles of Regality, the ancient Kings, today specters of the past. This would be a first step for a complete improvement. Europe should resume the passage from the point where society has taken the wrong road. We should take the best of the past to construct a valid basis for the future and avoid any looping into the history.

10 Books That Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others that Didn't Help By Benjamin Wiker, Ph.D. published by Regnery Publishing, Inc. This book was deeper than my normal tastes and abilities, but after two "intellectual" friends recommended it and I saw the title, I couldn't resist. I have not been a student of ideologies. I had only a cursory knowledge of the authors and works this book addresses, yet I found it to be interesting and very informative.

The author surveys the major writings of ideologues such as; Machiavelli, Descartes, Rousseau, Marx, Darwin, Nietzche, Sanger, Hitler, Kinsey and others. The book includes the premise behind each work, background on the author and the negative results of their theories on the culture and ideologues to follow. I was surprised to find how much these ideologies have permeated our culture and even my own thinking.

The author starts the book with the concept that ideas have consequences, and in this case negative consequences. That certainly is evident in the pages that follow. It is clear to me how easily we can buy into these ideas; most often because they satisfy our flesh or pride. It was interesting and revealing that all of the ideologues claimed to be atheists. The author's spiritual position is not demonstrative but also not hidden. I found this paragraph in the book especially helpful. "What is ideology?

We live in such an ideological age that it's hard for us to distinguish good thinking from bad. The crucial distinction is that ideology is not philosophy. Philosophy is the love of wisdom, the love of what is real, whether we happen to like it or not. It is the desire for truth, and the continual humility to remold our desires to fit reality. Ideology comes at truth from the opposite direction, molding truth to what we happen to desire....Pseudo-science is thus the handmaid to ideology. Politics is its hammer." The book was a great read and well worth the time.

A few weeks ago, maybe months, I was watching a film on the Navy SEALS on the history channel or public television or one of my other favorite click stops between innings of the Detroit Tigers losing another heartbreaker. So when I was goggling Iraq war topics my interest was peaked when I came across Iraq in My Eyes: Memoirs of a Navy SEAL by Chuck Bravedy.

The short book is Bravedy's perspective of the war in Iraq, what's gone wrong and gone right and where we should go to bring about a peaceful end to the long drawn-out occupation of Iraq. Where we should be going, says the author, is the prisons of Iraq that are filled with insurgents - a captive audience that we should indoctrinate rather than just letting them set there until the courts set them free.

Bravedy presents a three-point plan to end the war in Iraq and achieve an honorable withdrawal, something we could not achieve in Vietnam. But I was intrigued more by his frank discussion of Radical Islam political forces in Iran and how the US is taking a soft glove approach, even a hands-off approach, because Islam is a religion as well as a political ideology.

We get so messed up in the U.S. because of the incessant demand that everyone be politically correct. And this driving force causes us to miss some important truths along the way, as Bravedy so rightly points out. Communism and fascism are political ideologies which this country rightly battled in past years. Christianity, Taoism, Buddhism, Confucius and are religious ideologies that we rightly tolerate. But Radical Islam is a political ideology, which Bravedy so clearly describes as a force teaching to hate and kill Americans - in Iraq, Afghanistan, or in the subways of New York.

We should battle Radical Islam in the same way as we have the Nazis and Communists in the past. The fact that these terrorists use their own twisted view of their god to justify hatred, anger, and killing does not give them a free base. Bravedy asks why Korans are made available in Iraq prison cells run by Americans and why don't we infiltrate Radical Islam mosques where terrorist news and information is communicated. Why, I also ask. And why are we failing so badly in our occupation and efforts to peacefully withdraw? We fail so badly because we succeed so well at being politically correct. Three cheers to Iraq in My Eyes and to Chuck Bravedy.

I once had a boss who informed me there was no such thing as company politics. At the time, I decided that depended on whether you were the person wielding power or influenced by it. In my career experience, I'd categorize self-serving antics, sabotaging behaviors, information hoarding and artful manipulation under the heading of company politics. I'd throw in veiled threats, perpetuated mistruths, finger-pointing and coercion. There's a long list of behaviors I've personally experienced or witnessed in the workplace under the politics label. And I'm sure you can add your own.

These negative work cultures are fraught with fear. Fear you'll step on a career grenade, lose your job, be labeled a trouble-maker or relegated to the non-promotable category. Fear you'll say the wrong thing, fall into project quicksand, find no support or be kept out of the loop. These soul-depleting cultures trample self-esteem, negate initiative, encourage survival behavior and diminish motivation.

But in twenty years in management I've learned something else about company politics. It doesn't have to be a blood-sport. The politics label can be assigned to assisting other departments, supporting company initiatives, cooperating with those in charge, sharing information, and helping others achieve results. You see, strategic alignments, interdepartmental collaboration and volunteering for additional work assignments are politics, too.

Politics can be served with a negative or a positive impact. Samuel B. Bacharach, a Cornell University professor, puts it this way in Get Them on Your Side: "Politics is simply the way we influence others to achieve our goals. As long as those goals are positive, and not achieved at the expense of others, the politics of getting them accomplished is neither manipulative nor negative. Dictators may be political, but saints might be, too."

It's the intention behind an action that determines whether politics creates fear or builds relationships. What's the motive? If politics is a dirty word where you work, undermining results and reducing staff engagement, consider your contribution to that culture.

You see, we have a choice how we use our power and influence. And don't be naïve to think you don't have both. We all have power and influence over people in our lives: staff, coworkers, family, bosses, children. We can serve our brand of politics from well-intentioned thoughts or manipulative self-interest. And each impacts differently.

(c) 2006 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved.

MOXNews.com January 11, 2010 CNN



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