Man's inhumanity to man, and especially to women, children and the elderly, knows no bounds or boundaries, as has become evident recently.

It is not merely the sudden downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and ending up with the bodies of the 298 passengers and crew splattered in and around a cornfield in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, although that disaster exemplifies some of the problems.

There is also Hamas bombarding Israel with rockets and Israel responding with such excessive force and killings that even President Barack Obama chided Benjamin Netanyahu.