The “Tunisian wind” that toppled an authoritarian regime in Tunisia is spawning similar protests across the Arab world.

The record rains that flooded huge parts of Australia’s northeast state of Queensland are now moving across the southeast state of Victoria toward the sea.  The flood waters have created an “inland sea” some 55 miles long and 24 miles wide that has closed coal mines and swamped large areas of valuable agricultural land—in what has become “the nation’s most expensive natural disaster in history” (telegraph.co.uk, January 24, 2011).  Across the Indian Ocean, flooding in eight of South Africa’s nine provinces has saturated farms and disrupted rail transport, which has affected coal, m

Sensing a growing suspicion of Brussels, EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy has defended the European Union as the “fatherland of peace” (euobserver.com, January 17, 2011).

Mr. Van Rompuy told university students in Poland, “The union’s force of attraction accelerated the collapse of Communism and the end of the Cold War… [and that] Europe is the best guarantee for peace.”  He urged his listeners to resist “euro-scepticism” and look to the “negotiating rooms” in Brussels as the source of peace. 

The popular uprising in Tunisia—sparked by the flaming suicide of an educated but frustrated young man—that brought down a corrupt and oppressive autocratic regime “may have repercussions far beyond the tiny North African state” (stratfor.com, January 14, 2011). Within days, similar protests and riots broke out in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania (euobserver.com, January 17, 2011).

Every age has had its mistaken ideas.  Dr. David Aikman, journalist and historian, describes five myths (popular but false ideas, fables, lies) that are damaging western societies!