I've been around this planet for just over half a century now... mostly absorbed in living and observing my own life and the other lives around me, trying to understand what kind of meaning can or should be attached to everyday words and phrases such as "I", "you", "we", "them" - "here", "now", "the world" "history", "civilization", "the past", "the future" ...but sometimes something happens in the - call it collective, call it political? - sphere that rocks my sleepy soul to its normally-lazy foundations.

The crisis in the United Nations preceding the invasion of Iraq, and the actual bombing, invasion and occupation of that country was one of these shocking, cataclysmic events.

Since then I have been obsessively observing, with much sorrow, anger and horror - but also a touch of intellectual fascination - the complex chain of events that the invasion has triggered off, closely following not just the actual occurrences but the manner in which they are reported in the US and world press.

During these months I have also started to explore the fast-growing world of internet information, weblogs, blogs and newsgroups, and have thrown myself head over heels - heart and mind - into the debate on quite a few web forums, and particularly the MSN international politics forum linked to the 9/11 investigation and current events site WhatReallyHappened.

Now that almost a year has passed, I have decided to start jotting down here, as spontaneously as possible, my various thoughts and wandering reflections about what has been happening, and what - if anything - I/we have learned from it all, in a manner both more personal and more ..."general"... than is possible on a debate forum.

All I can say is that I'll try to write readably. I do not guarantee I won't indulge in just-plain-venting... I do not undertake to avoid more or less screwy attempts at philosophizing.. and I do not promise to keep my feet firmly planted on the ground.