In the first half, author and adventurer Robert Young Pelton, who has traveled the globe working with private military contractors, talked about the war in Syria, ISIS, terrorism, and various trouble spots. Regarding the recent shoot down of a Russian fighter jet by Turkey, the border situation between Turkey and Syria is complex, and Putin may put pressure on elements in Turkey to stop funding ISIS, Pelton commented. ISIS is committing atrocities with the goal of trying to draw the big nations like the US into a ground war, in which they feel they can wear them down, he continued.
"What ISIS has done is taken a lot of funding and a lot of support from the northern tribes in Iraq (Sunni) and launched a war inside Syria and Northern Iraq and this is because we put a Shia government in power in Iraq," Pelton explained. The group that carried out the recent attacks in Paris could be compared to the school shooters in the US, he said. "You're seeing the same psychological profile...the same disconnection from society." Pelton also noted that ISIS wants people to hate the migrants that are fleeing them, and dropped a fake passport at the shooting scene to implicate them.
--------------------------------
In the latter half, author Gregg Braden shared his expertise in leading-edge science and wisdom traditions and discussed ways to be resilient, embrace change, and recognize the powerful heart-brain connection. We live in a time of extremes, and the world is changing faster than many people can handle, he stated. "What that means is that we have to think and live differently, perhaps more so than any time in the past," he remarked. One way to do this to accept scientific discoveries as they're unfolding, Braden said.
The extremes that we're experiencing are largely due to the convergence of three cycles based on natural rhythms (climate, economic, and conflict) that affect our lives, he detailed. The cycles of conflict or war run in periods of 56 years and 17.7 years, and are based on a wave structure revealed by the economist Nikolai Kondratiev, he noted, adding that we entered into the upturn of one of these cycles in 2014, and it will peak in 2017. Braden also talked about the new discovery of brain-like cells called sensory neurites located within the human heart, and the role they play in creating personal resilience. He cited an intriguing case of a patient that received a heart transplant, and then recalled the memories of the donator, eventually being able to point police to her murderer.
News segment guests: Craig Hulet, Andre Eggelletion, Robert Zimmerman