As many have expected, the peace talks have ended before they have even started. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Israel Sunday to bring the Israelis and the Palestinians to the table once more to kick start the peace process.

During the meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the Israelis announced the construction of 1,600 new homes in the disputed area of East Jerusalem. This came as a shock to Biden who, up to this point, thought he had the support of the Israeli government.

The announcement came from the Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai. Yishai, a member of the right-wing Shas Party, and who is very vocal on the settler movement, denied that the announcement was timed to embarrass Biden and the Obama Administration. Netanyahu’s aides indicated he was blindsided by the announcement, but fell short of saying Israel will not go forward with the building of the homes, just that the timing was all wrong.

Clearly, this is a slap in the face to the Obama Administration, a slap heard around the world, even according to Israeli newspapers. As expected, Abu Mazen has called off the peace talks, saying the Israeli government does not take them seriously. But he can’t be blamed, as he has entered into these indirect talks with Israelis in the hope of boosting the stalled peace process.

It was 14 months ago that Abbas broke off negotiations with Israel because of the war in Gaza and has since refused until the building of illegal settlements are halted. He has ventured into these indirect talks with the Israeli government despite the fact the construction still goes on. Biden went on record as to condemn the move by Israel. But now what?

Clearly Israel has no intentions as to negotiating with the Palestinians. Obama has no real power over the Israelis and is disliked by many in Israel since his run for president, where he has voiced his opinion on halting illegal Israeli settlements.

We like to remain optimistic and believe that one day peace can be reached by people who live in that region. There has to come a time when Palestinians and Israelis will have to say enough. In the midst of threats from all sides to Israel, which it considers credible and real.

Israelis cannot afford to treat the Palestinian issue as something that can be placed on the backburner. In an ever tumultuous Middle East, Israel’s first ally should be within its borders. For so few lay beyond it.

On the lookout for acute social trends? Look no further than the current ominous results of 50 years of American social engineering.

Are you a mid-forties Pennsylvania housewife, low on romance? Online dating not netting you Mr. Wonderful? Career options limited? Retirement a fantasy? Hope and change not panning out? What’s a girl to do when even Oprah can’t stop eating with a billion bucks in the bank?

Well, girlfriend, it’s time to grab your mouse and go Jihad. Who says you don’t have options? Do you have an American passport? If you do, you’re the “belle of the ball” in Yemen! (Pronounced, Yeah, men!)

Just ask Colleen LaRose, aka Fatima LaRose, aka Jihad Jane. LaRose found it ALL on the Internet. She told the boys she was up for Jihad, would raise money and kill cartoonists, and the marriage proposals began rolling in.

LaRose got “burqad out,” started raising money and organizing a team of men and women terrorists to plan murder and mayhem. She had an assignment, a raison d’être, to go to Sweden with her new pals and kill Lars Vilks, the hapless cartoonist who published a cartoon of Muhammad and now lives in constant fear for his life.

Through the wonder of the Internet, LaRose began posting on YouTube in June 2008 as Jihad Jane and, by March 2009, received her marching orders and was jetting off to Europe in August for her rendezvous with Lars.

Adam Gadahn grabbed his mouse and changed his life, too. After years of moping around college classrooms and sponging off his grandparents, Gadahn found Jihad. In the blink of an eye, he went from a Death Metal loser with no prospects to Azzam the Amerikan. All it took was an American passport and the promise to harm the homeland that had not met his expectations.

Gadahn now has a promising career in PR with al-Qaeda, has a $1 million price on his head and went from no dates to multiple wives.

Through the power of the Internet and the phenomenon of social networking, it is now possible to create an online persona that is way more exciting than a real life.

Americans of pre-Internet generations were content with the basics: a job, plenty to eat, a place to live, a dinner out on special occasions, three channels, a week of vacation and a movie now and then.

Now, more and more Americans are grabbing the mouse and changing their lives. In fact, so many have found Jihad on the Web that the government has no idea how many of the country’s mal-content neighbors, friends and co-workers currently are being trained to find meaning in their lives by ending others’.

In a time when G.I. Joe has become Jihad Jane and Campus Spirit Barbie is now Azzam the Amerikan, many of our neighbors, due to hopelessness, a popular culture of self-loathing and an economic future of uncontrolled variables, are selling their souls to terrorists.

Those not taking to such extremes, on the other hand, had better embrace the imperfect promise of America, appreciate what we have and remember the words of Aesop who said, “The worst tyrants are those which establish themselves in our own breasts.”

Cardow, The Ottawa Citizen/caglecartoons.com

Build the bunkers and head for cover. Reports indicate that several Middle Eastern countries have plans to push the envelope and “go nuclear.”

Israel, Syria, Jordan and Egypt are just a sampling of countries from the Middle East that have plans to build the ultimate weapon. Several of the countries will build nuclear facilities for “energy,” a clever ruse used by the Iranians for months, and other countries say nuclear power is better for the environment. (Al Gore must be ecstatic.)

The rest of the world and the Middle East is watching and waiting for Iran to build a nuclear weapon without any negative sanctions from the United Nations—all talk and no action.

This “me too” philosophy will have dire consequences for the state of affairs in world politics. If Iran cannot be negotiated with now, how bad will they be once they have a bomb? It has long been rumored that Israel already is a nuclear-power country, but may have been using disinformation to keep their enemies at bay.

Syria, however, is looking to level the playing field.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Syria a few weeks ago may have been more than a friendly visit, as both countries have had a long-standing relationship. The visit may have in fact sowed the seeds and muddied the political landscape for the United States. Syria is planning to move ahead on their nuclear program, more than likely with Iran’s blessing and help.

Any way someone looks at the nuclear situation in the region, the track record of failed nations and rouge regimes in the Middle East is staggering.

It is no secret that both Iran and Syria are two of the biggest sponsors of terrorism in the world, as their love child, Hezbollah, reveals.

Ironically, Hezbollah had killed more Americans pre-Sept. 11, 2001, than any other terrorist group in the world. Their penchant for suicide bombings make them a force to be reckoned with and, if they have a bomb, President Barack Obama no longer can wait out regime change in Iran.

Obama must pressure the United Nations for real sanctions with teeth that make Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons or any country for that matter, a Pyrrhic victory.

If not, military action is a possibility—and maybe the makings of World War III.

To that, it’s said, “Sic vis pacem, para bellum.” (If you wish for peace, prepare for war.)

Adam Gadahn has been reported captured and not captured by every wire service on the planet. Gadahn is the grandson of a prominent Jewish urologist, raised in California, death metal devotee and current public relations flack for the Osama drama video production company.

But why is it that no one agency said they really caught him?

Look no further than another disgruntled child of affluence, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, aka the Christmas Day underwear bomber. Following this incident, authorities were able to question him for 50 minutes before Eric Holder and company swept in to save the American Constitution by mirandizing this clown.

Once Abdulmutallab lawyered up, we were assured by the Department of Justice that he (facilitated by his defense attorney) just gushed valuable and incriminated information.

As a result, any hard-working intelligence officer who may need more than 50 minutes of “sharing time” with enemies of the state, just couldn’t seem to officially identify who had been caught.

Reports out of Pakistan now are saying the man in custody is Abu Yahya Mjadin Adam, though no other details out of Islamabad are being discussed.

One thing is certain, though, while our “bought for billions” friends in Pakistan are questioning whoever has been detained, it may be a painful interval before the DOJ can rescue us from “old school” interrogation techniques that may provide names, places, dates, plans and specific times, but are frowned upon in Oslo.

Gadahn is only the tip of the iceberg. A new report prepared for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has disclosed that as many as three dozen Americans, recently released from jail where they all became budding linguists and could not wait to travel to Yemen to study the Arabic language, have gone missing.

Another group of ten preceded them and found language studies so enthralling that they all married Yemeni girls and have disappeared from the prying eyes of the Great Satan in order to master all of the difficult Yemeni idioms.

The Chairman of  the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said in reference to al-Qaeda, “The group seeks to recruit American citizens to carry out terrorist attacks in the United States. These Americans are not necessarily of Arab or South Asian descent; they include individuals who converted to Islam in prison or elsewhere and were radicalized.”

The Obama Administration has stated that they have no idea how many Americans have traveled to the Middle East for cultural studies, disappeared from view, still hold legal passports and may present a difficult to discern, blond-haired and blue-eyed threat as returning terrorists. They fear that the total number is “great.” Great?

There is something fearfully wrong with our culture when young American men cannot find a group to identify with, until they become so angry and disenfranchised that they can only find meaning in murder disguised as a noble cause.

Whether it is Columbine or al-Qaeda, Virginia Tech or Fort Hood, the lines have become so blurred for these folks that they are ripe for the picking when any group decides to harvest them with the promise of meaning, belonging, adventure and the chance to deliver the sword of retribution for all of the pain they could not process productively.

Through the yawning maw of the Internet, young men who have not found a social network to plug into can find a home through reading Jihad Recollections magazine, a snazzy, upscale webzine published in North Carolina and full of “Osama Wants You” vitriol for the angry young man.

Or, if one is contemplating studying language arts in Yemen, this al-Qaeda training manual will serve as a good primer in preparation for your trip abroad: FAS.

Abdulmutallab went to Yemen for Arabic language studies. The fact that he already was fluent was not a cause for suspicion? He may have been memorizing idioms with many of these American converts when he was there—right before his Christmas trip to Detroit.  They all may have been in underwear class together. He and his defense attorney have probably shared everything he knows about the Idiomatic Institute for Infidels in Yemen. We may never know the many things he could tell us about these American terrorists and their homecoming plans.

The one bright spot over the past 48 hours, however, has been the outspoken voice of American Muslim leaders in Los Angeles and Detroit, speaking out against Gadahn and his most recent video message encouraging Muslims serving in the U.S. military to follow the example of Maj. Nidal Hassan, the alleged Fort Hood shooter, and come up with creative ways to murder their fellow soldiers in the name of Allah.

These folks have found value in America as an imperfect place of promise, where their dreams of a better life can be realized through hard work and outspoken support for all of the freedoms we hold so dear.

In the mean time, common sense being incredibly uncommon these days, one is left to be his or her own first line of defense. Every single incident of domestic terror has had plenty of up-front clues that nobody nearby thought to mention.

“Seemed like a nice enough guy” won’t cut it anymore. People must pay attention and speak up when things they observe do not make sense. If someone has a blond-haired, blue-eyed cousin with a sudden passion to speak Arabic, fine. If he has been attending a local mosque, great. If he has been working out twice a day and making pipe bombs in the garage, that’s the first clue.

This time, it doesn’t appear that Bedell was some “right wing loon” that targeted the government, but a “left wing loon” that targeted the government. The Associated Press reports that Bedell was connected with a social networking page that believed the government was responsible for Sept. 11, 2001. Is he a “terrorist?” will be the next media issue. Terrorism is so difficult to define because it depends on what side one is on and who is doing the defining. Got it?

The family told the police their son was unstable and reported him missing. Pundits and second guessers will be harping on this for a long time. “Why didn’t the police do this?” or “Why didn’t the police do that?” But, what if anything, would you expect the police to do?

An officer stopped Bedell and was keenly aware that something was wrong. So he went above and beyond what he had to do and called Bedell’s mother. The AP reported that she mysteriously replied that her son was fine. The officer issued him a warning and Bedell was sent away to wreak havoc, ironically, on other police officers.

Thousands of families have similar problems with their children; it must be heart wrenching. In this case, the system worked and the family failed. The police found a missing person, only for the mother to let him loose, which is not an uncommon problem.

What is even more outrageous, however, is the mother failed to tell the officer that her son may be in possession of a firearm. All of this could have been avoided, but an ulterior motive for her not mentioning it existed, keeping her son out of jail. That did a lot of good. A selfish move on her part could have cost the lives of at least two officers.

Unfortunately, a lot of people in society need mental health care, but it is not the job of the police to make sure they get it. Most people either do not have an insurance plan that covers it or the state they live in refuses to pay for it. Either way, the individual winds up in the street, sometimes hurting others.

It’s a conundrum.

Media outlets from Internet to television are scurrying to capture the moment. Citizens are questioning and challenging the hegemony of their leaders. Truly, this is a new era for the youth of the Middle East and the ripples have reached the shores of the United States.

There is a sense of excitement as Mohamed ElBaradei’s plane touches down in Egypt. ElBaradei was born in Cairo, where he became a lawyer. He left Egypt and for 12 years was the International Atomic Energy Agency chief and a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

The spotlight was on ElBaradi when the U.S. was in the planning stages to invade Iraq. He stated that Iraq had not reinstated its nuclear program. During the standoff between Iran and the U.S., he tried to find a resolution between the two nations. Both situations left ElBaradei in disfavor with the Bush Administration, who unsuccessfully tried to block his reappointment when his term expired in 2005.

For many, ElBaradei is the candidate that has the best chance against Mubarak, the leader of Egypt for the last 29 years. Mubarak, who came to power after Anwar Sadat’s assassination, continued close ties with Israel and ruthlessly cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood. Mubarak has been criticized routinely for jailing opponents of the government and intimidating any opposition in the presidential elections—the reason he has been in power for so long.

Egypt, once a secular society, has descended the slippery slope towards Islamofascism. In 2005, the Muslim Brotherhood’s resounding victory in the parliamentary elections captured one-fifth of the seats. Even while walking the streets of Egypt, one can see a significant number of women that now wear a niqab (an all black garment, where only the eyes show), as opposed to the hijab (a scarf, which covers only the hair). This is only a harbinger of things to come.

ElBaradei’s run for the presidency represents a time of change in Egypt. The U.S. considers Egypt not only an ally, but a stable nation among many troubled nations.

Here is an opportunity for a renowned and worldly candidate to take charge and propel the country into the 21st Century. The U.S. must stand behind ElBaradei and his views, for they are very similar to much of what President Barack Obama ran for in the last election.

The window opportunity is small and the U.S. cannot afford to miss it.

bosssiersheriff.com

Keeping aim to fight terrorism is one thing. Giving volunteers shotguns, batons and machine guns to help “protect” a Louisiana town is an entirely different scenario—and one that is becoming reality in the South.

Bossier Parish, La., Sheriff Larry Deen unveiled a new emergency operation plan in February that’s flying under the radar of  public attention.

The plan, known as “Operation Exodus,” is slated to “…provide for self-sufficiency in the event of a manmade or natural disaster or a terrorist attack,” according to the sheriff’s office. “Exodus will take local volunteers, train them and use them in response to a catastrophic disaster in the area.”

The law enforcement agency told the Shreveport Times that they selected local residents, including former police officers, to begin “…defensive techniques in the event of a struggle.”

Talking Points Memo reports in a video of the first training session, the recruits appear to be all white, middle-aged males wielding fists for hand-to-hand combat.

A press release on the sheriff office’s Web site states “Operation Exodus” was chosen for its Biblical reference where “…the Israelites were totally on their own, learning to be self-sufficient and handle everything alone, just as the plan provides.”

Let’s not kid ourselves here. This sounds like a militia in the making—one that most likely will resort to stereotypical techniques.

In a video on the sheriff office’s Web site (below), the parish’s Chief Deputy of Support Services Doyle Dempsey states, “We want the public and the community to get involved with law enforcement to better secure Bossier Parish as a whole. And if we accomplish that by using these volunteers, we’ll be ahead of the curve when it comes to fighting Islamic extremism.”

The Shreveport Times reports that the volunteers “…will be armed by the sheriff’s office, using, among other things, shotguns, riot shields and batons,” and the women will act as “support roles.”

It’s an excellent idea that the sheriff’s office has, but it’s a recipe for a disaster of its own. Arming volunteers with weapons, mounting machine guns on “war wagons” and placing those volunteers in uniforms to patrol in the event of an emergency is not an effective way to embrace emergency management, though it appears to be proactive.

Cities around the nation have the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program that allows individuals interested in helping communities prepare, respond, recover and mitigate in the event of a disaster. These individuals go through weeks of training that does not involve deadly force and truly are able to help individuals in need.

Arming citizens to help protect against terrorism is beyond dangerous. It’s downright insane. There’s no argument here on the right to bear arms. The argument is about the authority vested in those individuals who are authorized to protect the citizenry.

Law enforcement officers take an oath to protect and serve the community—with deadly force if necessary. Ordinary citizens who go through a few weeks of training—whether they’re retired law enforcement of not—and given weapons and overarching authority to “protect” against terrorist attacks is simply not worth the risk to society.

The local officials in the Louisiana parish refused comment, indicating they more than likely are either turning their heads on the issue or are afraid to simply say, “We can’t do this.” (Elections on the horizon? The silence says it all.)

The sheriff’s office states the operation “…utilizes preventive measures to safeguard Bossier Parish from the fear and outcry that will inevitably transpire.”

How often do terrorists target medium-sized Louisiana towns? Granted this parish is home to Barksdale Air Force Base, but the city seems an unlikely target. And if it does occur, local, state and federal law enforcement, as well as the U.S. Air Force, are well-trained to handle such an incident without volunteers with weapons and a tank joining the crowd.

It’s natural that during an incident as devastating as a terrorist attack that every able-bodied person wants to help, but this is not the way. It creates more unrest than it does preparation.

As the old adage goes, leave the work to the professionals.

Examples outlined in the report include: $3 million worth of Pedialyte (a drink for children that helps to prevent dehydration) that was purchased after Hurricane Katrina that was never distributed and eventually expired; more than $1 million spent on mobile surgery units that were never used after Hurricane Ike; $637,000 for mobile sleeper units to house emergency responders after Hurricane Ike that were never assembled or used; and $8.7 million for two base camps to accommodate 1,000 emergency responders and provide them with 3,000 meals a day—FEMA filled the camps to about half of total capacity but still decided to re-sign the contract for an additional month, a move that cost taxpayers another $8.7 million.

The report also details the purchase of a FEMA facility in Brentwood, Tenn. FEMA ended up paying twice as much for the real estate that was in poor condition, infested with insects and full of harmful chemicals. The building was plagued by sewage leaks, contaminated water, debris and chemical pollution. Employees became ill from the conditions—one employee developed a rash that lasted for three months. Between the lease and additional maintenance put into the facility, FEMA ended up paying nearly $300,000 more than other buildings in the area with full service leases. An independent company estimated it would take $1.2 million to clean up the property.

FEMA has had its share of public relations headaches since Hurricane Katrina and this report certainly doesn’t help matters. It should be noted, however, that progress is being made, albeit slowly.

It took FEMA years to develop a National Disaster Recovery Framework—a Congressionally requested document that was to be presented 270 days after the implementation of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006. After years of missing deadlines, current FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate finally delivered a draft to Congress. Despite this progress, the submitted framework falls short of Congressional expectations and requires extensive revision.

FEMA plays an important role on the emergency response stage. It is critical those past wrongs are corrected and that the agency continues to earn the trust of Congress and the American people. Baby steps are being taken in the right direction, but the rehabilitation of FEMA needs to be a bigger priority for the current administration.

All one has to do is read the news to realize that disasters and emergencies are going to keep on coming. These problems must be adequately addressed.

We only can hope that FEMA fulfills its mission by learning from past mistakes and focusing on fine-tuning response plans.

Olle Johansson, Sweden/caglecartoons.com

Chile is in shambles. Now, the affluent, well-educated and prepared South American nation will enter the recovery phase—one that may soon be filled with volunteers. But are they needed?

Initial reports state the quake killed more than 700 people and displaced another 2 million.

There’s no question that this is a severe blow for the Ring of Fire, but what’s interesting is, despite the aftershocks and the the destruction, Chile is in a much different state than Haiti after its Jan. 12 quake that left 200,000 dead.

There will be some periods of “chaos” with reports already stating supermarkets are overwhelmed with those trying (or even looting, which some consider a disaster myth) to get food and hospitals evacuating patients because of instability.

The country has asked for help and international aid organizations are answering the call.

However, with the current scene just evolving in Chile and disaster organizations already pouring into Haiti, it will be a difficult task to balance the capacity of volunteer organizations without stretching them thin.

Kate Conradt, spokeswoman for Save the Children, a Connecticut-based nonprofit, told The Wall Street Journal that her company would be willing to help in Chile, but also faces the response in Haiti.

“We do have the capacity, but, yes, it does complicate it that we have a major response going on in Haiti,” she told the newspaper.

It’s guaranteed that international aid networks such as Save the Children, the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army can juggle multiple disasters at once, but the problem could be the influx of volunteers.

Following the quake in Haiti, the destruction was unbearable and mainstream for weeks, resulting in large U.S. cities, some states and the federal government to jump quickly in taking control of the situation. It also meant every able-bodied individual was ready to board a plane to Hispaniola.

This is not the same in Chile. By Sunday, news of flooding in France took front seat as Chile became a chilly aftermath—only to heat back up again Monday with news of the missing.

This doesn’t mean that the country won’t get volunteers. Far from it. It means there could be soon enough—like Haiti—too much response with nothing for them to do.

Is there a way around telling volunteers, “Thanks, but we got it covered?” That’s a deadly slope. And not quite accurate, either.

Those willing to help are genuinely good-hearted, but they’re usually untrained, unprepared and take on an “I must help” mentality that usually acts as a block more than anything else.

Some organizations are beginning collections to send money to the disaster-striken nation. This arguably is the best way to volunteer, but some just won’t agree. And though that’s understandable, volunteers must realize that victims in time of disaster need those who are trained and who can properly help.

Chile has not reached out for volunteers just yet. And, with the country’s already-prepared national emergency office, that time may not come.

Nonetheless, if it does, don’t expect Chile to have a warm reception.

Below is a list of some international aid organizations offering help to Chile.

Red Cross: Pledge to Chile

Salvation Army: Donations

Save the Children

Google Crisis Response: Donations to UNICEF and Direct Relief International

There’s a lot of factors—as well as disparities—in the two countries that place Chile’s preparedness in the A-list category (money, education, plans, etc.).

Nonetheless, Chile’s quake is a testament to the science—and art—of emergency management that wherever the four phases of planning, response, recovery and mitigation are employed, that natural disasters—though unstoppable—are becoming increasingly more survivable.

This prime juxtaposition of Chile and Haiti is an excellent example that accentuates this theory.

The Chile quake registered 500 times stronger than Haiti, was 22 miles under ground and spread over a predominantly agricultural area.

The Haiti quake registered 7.0, but was shallower, at only six miles under ground and much closer to populated areas.

Building codes and practices in Chile during the past 20 years have been strictly enforced with a heavy focus on earthquake survivability. Since the mid-1970s, Chile has had 13 quakes of magnitude 7.7 or higher. Most of the poorly constructed edifices already have crumbled in past quakes.

The Great Chilean Earthquake on May 22, 1960, the largest seismic event ever recorded at 9.5 on the Richter scale, produced tsunami waves along the Chilean coast, reaching heights of 80 feet and traveling one half mile inland, causing incredible devastation.

Fifteen hours after the quake struck Chile, a tsunami wave 35 feet high hit Hawaii, killing 61 people. It continued to the Philippines and Japan, killing more than 200. It was because of the 1960 tsunami disaster that the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) was founded in 1968.

When the 8.8 quake hit Chile Feb. 27, the PTWC immediately sent a warning to countries in the Pacific Rim.

As a result, Hawaii sounded the tsunami alarms and evacuated coastal areas for the first time in 16 years. The fact that the tsunami was insignificant this time—with only small waves and no destruction—is not the point.  The evacuation was prudent emergency management based on current and historical data.

Imagine if there had been the opportunity for a “nonevent evacuation” before the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 in Indonesia—230,000 people might have lived.

Since 1977, emergency managers in Chile have been overseeing Operacion Deyse, supporting earthquake drills three times each year in Chilean schools. All school children, as well as private and public sector employees, are taught, “Drop, cover, hold on.” When an earthquake hits, drop to the ground, get under a heavy desk, table, door frame or sit next to a bearing wall, cover your eyes and head with your arms and hold on until the shaking stops.

It’s simple emergency techniques (and sometimes large policy makers) like these that ensure protection of life and property.

Unfortunately, Haiti had none of this: No preparedness initiatives, no money, little education and lack of a full-functioning society. As a result, it suffered in lives, property, infrastructure and government.

The idiom of being a well-oiled machine undoubtedly rings true in a country that’s prepared for a disaster.

It must be understood, however, that when emergencies happen, there still will be loss of life and property, as well as injuries. However, how countries prepare, respond, recover and mitigate now and in the future determines survivability. Both Chile and Haiti are lessons learned.

After all, no government can control Mother Nature.