World Peace & Fraud

Peace in the Middle East. Will this ever happen? After 5,000 or so years of continual fighting, where all sides claim that the other is the problem, can we just stop? Now please?

I know it's not that simple; I'm not so naive to believe that if everybody sat down in a circle and held hands we'd all bond deeply and love each other forever. What's happening is tit-for-tat Old Testament style eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth bombastic nonsense. In the middle of the current round of escalating tub thumping, commonly known as war, innocent people getting killed and maimed for simply being born in the wrong place.

Is it right to use these people as collateral to prove a point? Is it right that America and Iran continue to fund the two sides who are constantly at each others throats? Is it right that, ultimately, it's the least able who end up paying the highest price of losing loved ones? Is it right that people, like you and me, living in Gaza struggle to get bread and water while those in power continue to push their agendas but don't give up on their luxuries?

All of this makes me want to weep as I realise that humans are unable to treat each other with dignity or respect. I fear this will never change; we will continue to breed the habits of fear, distrust, and greed.

In the meantime, back in the Uncivilized Developed World, we're going to see more fraudsters outed over the next twelve months. During the last downturn icons like the late Robert Maxwell revealed that they had no money, it was all a scam and they were relying on the revolving credit machine to keep their empires afloat. Today we have Bob Madoff in an allegedly similar position. By the end of the week we should know the extent of Mr Madoff's personal fortune but it's going to be many months before the true extent of the losses are made public.

So we await the next fraudulent installment of greed to hit the streets. Will it be the buy-to-let schemes that promised investors millions if they stumped up no money, borrowed 100% of the investment on an interest only basis and rented it out? Will there be other quasi-pyramid schemes unveiled as empty shells with no money left?