Where did Byakuya's wealth go after DR1? Why does it feel like they just brush over this fact in DR3?

I thought the whole point of Byakuya surviving is that his wealth and the systems that generate and maintain it are taken away from him, so his family's material standing has no meaning in the destroyed world. Like do they really think that "being rich" is just a personality trait he carries around?

He can be disconnected from the lower-class or even a money-less life as a consistent characterization, but like I hate that they don't tackle what Byakuya should actually do to restore the Togami conglomerate.

IRISH STATE 2016

When the rebels had been crushed in the GPO on Dublin’s O’Connell Street and the devastation to the existing shambles of a city was inspected, the soon-to-be martyrs were excoriated as traitors and criminals. This was because the rebels had attacked the GPO on O’Connell Street.

Popular opinion did not begin to shift against the reigning British regime until after the leaders of the 1916 uprising were executed. A military overreaction, which occurred frequently throughout the history of British colonial possessions, sparked a series of events that eventually led to the overthrow of that regime. One of the defining moments on the path to Indian independence was the 1919 slaughter that took place at Amritsar, which took place in India. This tragedy helped turn public sentiment against the British on the subcontinent.

The events that transpired in Ireland followed a very similar pattern.

The awakening of the sleeping Irish population came about as a direct result of the execution of Pearse and Connolly, who were the most prominent of the sixteen individuals who were put to death at that time.

The Easter Rising was the immediate cause of Ireland’s subsequent war of independence, which Michael Collins led as Prime Minister while Eamon de Valera established the first government. The young Irish state was eventually able to stand on its own two feet, but not before a bloody civil war broke out in the interim. In 1948, the government of Ireland formally organised itself as a republic.

What would have happened to Ireland if the sixteen people who were executed had instead been imprisoned rather than executed? Would the Irish have been content to just rebuild Dublin and carry on with their lives if they had been ruled by the British? How much longer do you think it would have been before there was another uprising? If the British Empire still ruled Ireland today, would the entire island of Ireland be under its control?

Of course, there is no way to tell for sure. As the saying goes, “history is written by the victors,” and those people who, even now, condemn the uprising as an illegal and immoral act of madness are drowned out, having their ideas trumped by the eventual results of the Rising. History is written by the victors.

The price that the men and women of 1916 paid did, in fact, have enormous repercussions for every individual who lives on this island and for every person who claims Irish ancestry.

In 1916, there will be a whole series of activities to remember the Rising, and there will be lots of similarities between the reasons of those heroic men and the incentives that we elect for our leaders today.

Economies Around the World

Maybe you already know what I’m talking about? Ireland has made its return! To some extent, yes.

Anecdotal evidence of an economic recovery in Ireland is supported by a wealth of numerical evidence, which demonstrates that numbers almost never lie.

At its highest point in 2012, unemployment was above 15%; today, it is at 8.8%. According to projections made by the OECD, Ireland’s gross domestic product would increase by more than 4.1% in 2016, placing it much ahead of the average for Europe. The number of applications for planning clearance for building projects is up significantly, the number of sales of new automobiles is up significantly, the number of strikes by employees is down significantly, and the confidence of consumers has increased significantly.

All good news.

Unless you come to the conclusion that the main reason the economy is recovering is because of the huge decline in the value of the Euro currency relative to the value of other currencies and the value of the United States dollar (which is helping exports a great deal), then you should not draw that conclusion.

There is now sufficient evidence from both human and animal studies showing that cumulative exposure to aluminium adjuvants is not as benign as previously assumed.

You can also come to the conclusion that the decline in the price of oil, which is a key economic element in both the United States and the rest of the world, has helped the situation with Ireland’s currency.

You can also come to the conclusion that the decline in the unemployment rate is only attributable to the fact that a large number of people from the present generation have moved to countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and other countries further afield.

Or perhaps you are thinking about the most significant challenges facing the Irish economy. There is no general agreement over the potential financial impact on Ireland that would result from the United Kingdom’s decision later this year to withdraw from the European Union (which will be put to a vote). Massive immigration from countries in the European Union (EU) and refugees from other parts of the world might bring the social and healthcare systems, which are already in disrepair, to their knees.

Or perhaps you don’t care about any of that and just want to act like it’s 1999 and you’re in “Celtic Tiger” Ireland.

We are all aware of the outcome of the situation.

Politics

Fine Gael went into the year of 1916 General Election certain that they would retain their position as the ruling party. Recognized by the people of Ireland for their role in rescuing the country.

At the very least, it is how Enda Kenny and the other members of his team would prefer the circumstance to be interpreted.

On the one hand, the leadership of Fine Gael continues to criticise their political adversaries in Fianna Fail for allegedly enacting policies that have a negative impact on the economy.

On the other hand, the exact same politicians keep implementing and expanding those exact same policies, holding out hope against all odds that the Irish electorate will either not notice or will not care. They will reason that the only thing that the average punter cares about is having money in their back pocket.

It’s possible that they are correct. If recent events are any indication, then it should come as no surprise that the average Irish voter is far simpler than is commonly believed to be the case.

Or perhaps Irish people will further illustrate that self-interested philosophy by voting a whole new raft of independent “local-issue” T.D.’s, which has the potential to create electoral mayhem (members of the Irish parliament).

In all honesty, the results of the approaching election are quite impossible to forecast.

But there is no doubt that Fine Gael will take the helm of the next government. If they were not, it would be a major talking point.

Fianna Fáil harbours faint hopes of regaining lost territory, but it is unrealistic for them to believe that they will actually form the government after the ballots are counted. Despite this, people can hold out hope.

Even while they continue to perform well in opinion polls, Sinn Fein are completely hampered by their murderous IRA heritage and links.

The socialist left, which includes the Socialist Party, People Before Profit, and a whole host of other left-wing groups, is fully anticipating that they will be able to trounce the Labour Party, which was meant to be the party that would protect the country from harsh austerity. The Labour Party is in for a rough ride in the upcoming election.

You might be wondering about the right-leaning political parties.

You have the option to inquire. However, Ireland does not possess any of these. To be honest, no.

Not in the sense of being a right-wing party in which one despises liberals, denies the legitimacy of abortion, is homophobic, xenophobic, and brandishes firearms. And you know, that might not be such a bad thing. Or perhaps not.

Every national debate must unquestionably have some element of fairness and moderation. Some looney fringe that exists if for no other reason than to demonstrate how astute we all are to huddle together in the centre ground.

And if not a completely looney fringe, then at the very least a well-reasoned opinion with which we may either agree or disagree. One of the unsolved riddles in the annals of Irish political history is why there has never been a significant right-wing party in Ireland that has managed to stay in power.

Therefore, with the 1916 Anniversary celebrations shortly to be exploited for political benefit by each and everyone who comes along, it is indeed business as usual in the so-called “Ireland of the self-interest.”

Alterations Made to Irish Society

It should come as no surprise that the referendum on “same-sex marriage” was successful in Ireland in 2015. The vote was ultimately successful, with 62% in favour and approximately 38% opposed. It is quite evident that the decision has resulted in certain unanticipated consequences, and contrary to popular belief, these repercussions have nothing to do with the legalisation of homosexual marriage.

Some elements of the Irish media continue to portray the outcome of the referendum as a win for the entire country, which is perhaps the most significant issue that has arisen as a result of the outcome of the vote. This smugness on the part of these elements of the media has been extremely excessive. Naturally, in their world, the result of the referendum is a huge win, especially considering that they campaigned in concert with the national print and broadcast media in support of the vote being carried out. But is this a win for the entirety of the nation?

According to the same line of reasoning, the referendum on abortion that took place in Ireland in 1983 and resulted in the constitutional prohibition of abortion (62 percent to 38 percent) was a win for the entire nation.

According to this line of thinking, the outcome of the referendum held in 2013 to keep the ineffective and wasteful Seanad (lower house of parliament) was a win for the entire nation.

A victory for the entire country was achieved in the referendum held in 2013 to keep the minimum age for holding the presidency of Ireland at 35 years of age rather than lowering it to 21 years of age.

It is very clear that a significant number of Irish authors and commentators are unaware of the fact that each and every third voter who went to the trouble of casting a ballot in the referendum on gay marriage was really opposed to the adoption of the new laws.

Homophobes and bigots, each and every one of them!

The ease with which the concerns of the nearly 38% of people who opposed the referendum have been dismissed as belonging not just to another era of old Ireland but as being out of touch, bigoted, uninformed, unintelligent, backward, and (insert demeaning word here) is truly astounding. They have been labelled as being “out of touch,” “bigoted,” “uninformed,” “unintelligent,” and “backward.”

Smugness is never a desirable attribute in a person or group of people; and yet, smugness, contempt, and scorn have remained the consistent tone of the conversation among the vast majority of pundits ever since the vote to legalise gay marriage was successful.

The outcome is unquestionably a significant victory for those who advocate for gay marriage (62%). Regarding the 38 percent of respondents who disagreed with the proposal and gave their reasons for doing so, The outcome of the referendum not only altered the Irish Constitution but also, it would appear, rendered them mute and abandoned them by the well-funded and still self-satisfied and arrogant liberal commentariat.

There is now sufficient evidence from both human and animal studies showing that cumulative exposure to aluminium adjuvants is not as benign as previously assumed.

The European Union and Ireland

The economy will continue to be the primary topic of discussion in Europe; nevertheless, there are currently two other important concerns that are occupying the continent’s minds.

The staggering number of people fleeing their homes in Eastern Europe and making their way westward, in especially to Germany and Sweden, is a major source of concern.

It can be challenging to get a grasp on just what the German policy on immigration is (and, by extension, the policy of the EU).

The Germans are taking a risk that is greater than the economy of Europe by allowing predominantly Syrian citizens to enter their country. The terrorist events in Paris provide politicians on the political right with an opportunity to draw a clear connection between immigration and lawlessness. Whether they are correct or not, they can refer to a liberal immigration system as an example of a regime that will encourage terrorism. They will claim that the programme would result in an increase in unemployment, and that on the social level, it will result in the formation of ghettos.

And this is not to minimise the genuine readiness and desire to assist the neediest people in Syria, Africa, and other parts of the world who are being taken advantage of by heartless gangsters and military tyrants.

Knowledge of endogenous plasma arginine vasopressin activity prior to initiation of therapy could therefore be helpful in clinical bedside decision making and should be the goal of future research.

People in Ireland are eager to lend a hand. They simply do not want to have their intelligence called into question. That they would allow a culture from outside their borders to supplant the culture of their own country, all in the name of political correctness, is an extreme example of liberalism gone wild.

Allergy is a disease of growing concern because of its already high and still increasing prevalence, and because it interferes with people’s social life, school performance and work productivity, therefore it constitutes a major burden for society.

Is it possible that people feel the same way in your country?

Another significant challenge that Europe must overcome this year is “the Brexit.” According to the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, the possibility that the United Kingdom will withdraw from the European Union is one that could have enormous repercussions for Ireland and may even require the reestablishment of the border along the six partitioned counties in Ulster. This is the opinion of the Taoiseach.

Results from preliminary clinical observations suggest that frankincense essential oil may be a viable therapeutic agent for treating a variety of cancers.

However, as was the case when the people of Scotland were given the opportunity to leave the United Kingdom but they declined, it is likely that the people of the United Kingdom will be given a variety of concessions. The pro-European machine, which is intent on maintaining the United Kingdom’s membership in the Union at all costs, will immediately follow this bait with the stick, which will consist of spreading unfounded fears about the enormous costs of leaving the Union.

The majority of bookmakers currently place the odds of a Brexit at approximately 2 to 1. (or 1 occurrence of a Brexit every 3 opportunities). Therefore, it is evident that they believe the referendum will be unsuccessful.

Having said that. You can never tell.

Culture

It is not difficult to look back on Ireland in 1916 and consider that time period to be the greatest age of Irish writing. During that time period, the early part of the century, Ireland produced a number of great authors, including William Butler Yeats, Oliver St. John Gogarty, James Stephens, James Joyce, and John Millington Synge, to name a few. A great golden age.

But hold on! The year 2016 has seen the beginning of a new writing revolution in Ireland.

Seamus Heaney was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, while Iris Murdoch, Roddy Doyle, John Banville, and Anne Enright were all given the Man Booker Prize. These well-known authors are just the top of the proverbial iceberg. There has never been a time when Irish writing has been more popular than it is right now, and with good reason; there are innumerable excellent voices producing truly remarkable writing that are not included here.

In the world of sports, Katie Taylor maintains her dominant position in Ireland, and the Irish national soccer team has qualified for the European championships to be held in France, indicating that Irish soccer is on its road back to its former glory.

On the big screen, Saoirse Ronan is garnering acclaim for her performance in the film “Brooklyn,” while Michael Fassbender, Colm Farrell, Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, and Aidan Gillen are among the talented actors demonstrating that the Irish acting scene is in an excellent place.

The Conclusion Regarding the Condition of the Irish Nation in the Year 2016

Even one hundred years after the Easter Rebellion, Ireland is still searching for its national identity. Even now, we are looking for it.

The Irish of 2016 are a confused and diverse mix, just like every other generation of Irish people that has come before them.

However, there are instances when it may be a touch excessively comfortable.

And possibly just a tad too haughty.

However, considering the disgrace that the Irish have suffered over the past ten years, those who have already written them off had best get ready to start eating their words.

I have a theodicy-adjacent question if that's alright. How can I offer prayers of thanksgiving without implying that God "likes me better" than They like other people? For example, I often want to thank God for keeping my loved ones safe through this pandemic, but it feels weird when so many have lost dear ones. I've learned a lot about how to wrestle with God through your ministry, but how to bring your positive feelings to God without toeing the line of a prosperity gospel-esque mindset?

Anon, I feel you! Some point a few years ago I had a similar unsettling realization. I knew that gratitude is important not only for our relationship with God, but for our psychological wellbeing — yet I felt so guilty for thanking God for things i knew others didn’t have. Did attributing the good things in my life to God imply that God wasn’t with those who lacked those good things? 

I brought that guilt and discomfort to God (and still do, whenever it arises anew). asked Them to help me sit with it, accept it, and then transform it into something more fruitful.

guilt transformed to motivation. discomfort transformed to commitment. what i was left with was an understanding that i did not need to stop my prayers of thanksgiving, but to expand them.

i take time to really feel and express my gratitude for the abundance i experience. and then i ask God to help my gratitude move me to a desire for others to experience that abundance too. I ask for guidance in how i can help make that abundance happen in the the lives of those around me and far from me. 

___

i also make time for lament. many of us are taught how to ask God for things and how to thank God for things, but grief and lament are not taught. however, thanksgiving and lament are not opposites, but work together. they enrich one another. we need to take time for both.

a book that helped me embrace lament was Barbara Brown Taylor’s Learning to Walk in the Dark. You can read quotes and whole passages from it in my tag over here.

one of my favorite songs/psalms to sing/pray in lament is this one. The psalmist empowers us to question God, to ask why and how and when? and then the psalmist leads us to praise God anyway — to praise in spite of and with our doubts and our questions. 

when we look at all the pain in the world — in our own lives, the lives of loved ones, the lives of those we don’t even know, and in the struggling pulse of all Creation — we feel all sorts of things. Distress, despair, anger, grief. But some of us are afraid to bring those feelings to God. We’d rather avoid the feelings in general, repress them, not sit inside them for a while. (And certainly, we should not wallow in the bad all the time.) Bt when we dare to assign intentional time to sit in those feelings, God sits in them with us. 

And there is a strange thanksgiving in there, too — that we aren’t alone in the lament. We come to see that it is true that God does not will suffering upon any one of us — that the fact that sometimes i experience blessing while you struggle, or you find success while i go without, is not because God is choosing which happy few to bless that day. God really does will abundant life for all, and grieves when sin (individual, systemic, the rot that eats at this world) blocks that abundance for anyone. 

___

in continuing to make time to feel and express gratitude, and then to make time to lament and to both desire and participate in abundance for others, thanksgiving does not elevate me above others as “better” or “more blessed” than they are. instead, gratitude reminds me of how interconnected we are with one another. In the Body we all share, “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Cor 12:26).

___

When abundance wins out in spite of sin, we rejoice! When it is we who enjoy that abundance, our gratitude should not lead to smugness or self-congratulations, but to humility. it should shape us, move us to bring similar abundance to others.

A book that has really helped me understand that concept is Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass (which you can read online for free).

Christian texts have told me that the appropriate response to all God’s gifts is gratitude, but it’s Kimmerer’s book that helped me digest and embody just what that means. We acknowledge abundance, and we use that gratitude to connect us to the giver, and to others to whom that giver would also share Their gift.

Here’s one passage from her chapter “The Gift of Strawberries,” starting on page 33 of the webpage linked above:

Even  now,  after  more  than  fifty  Strawberry  Moons,  finding  a patch  of  wild strawberries  still  touches  me  with  a  sensation  of surprise, a feeling of unworthiness and gratitude for the generosity and kindness that comes with an unexpected gift all wrapped in red and green. “Really? For me? Oh, you shouldn’t have.” After fifty years  they  still  raise  the  question  of  how  to respond  to  their generosity.  Sometimes  it  feels  like  a  silly  question  with  a very simple answer: eat them. 

But I know that someone else has wondered these same things. In  our Creation stories  the  origin  of  strawberries  is  important. Skywoman’s  beautiful daughter,  whom  she  carried  in  her  womb from Skyworld, grew on the good green earth, loving and loved by all the other beings. But tragedy befell her when she died giving birth to her twins, Flint and Sapling. Heartbroken, Skywoman buried her beloved daughter in the earth. Her final gifts, our most revered plants, grew from her body. The strawberry arose from her heart.

In  Potawatomi,  the  strawberry  is ode  min, the  heart  berry.  We recognize them as the leaders of the berries, the first to bear fruit.

Strawberries first shaped my view of a world full of gifts simply scattered at your feet. A gift comes to you through no action of your own, free, having moved toward you without your beckoning. It is not a reward; you cannot earn it, or call it to you, or even deserve it.  And  yet  it  appears.  Your  only  role  is  to  be open-eyed  and present.  Gifts  exist  in  a  realm  of  humility  and  mystery—as with random acts of kindness, we do not know their source.

...Gifts  from  the  earth  or  from  each  other  establish  a  particular relationship,  an  obligation  of  sorts  to  give,  to  receive,  and  to reciprocate. The field gave to us, we gave to my dad, and we tried to give back to the strawberries. When the berry season was done, the plants would send out slender red runners to make new plants.

Because I was fascinated by the way they would travel over the ground looking for good places to take root, I would weed out little patches  of  bare  ground  where  the  runners  touched  down.  Sure enough, tiny little roots would emerge from the runner and by the end of the season there were even more plants, ready to bloom under  the  next  Strawberry  Moon.  No  person  taught us  this—the strawberries  showed  us.  Because  they  had  given  us  a  gift, an ongoing relationship opened between us.

...It’s funny how the nature of an object—let’s say a strawberry or a pair  of  socks—is  so  changed  by  the  way  it  has  come  into  your hands, as a gift or as a commodity. The pair of wool socks that I buy at the store, red and gray striped, are warm and cozy. I might feel grateful for the sheep that made the wool and the worker who ran  the  knitting  machine.  I  hope  so.  But  I  have no inherentobligation  to  those  socks  as  a  commodity,  as  private  property. There is no bond beyond the politely exchanged “thank yous” with the clerk. I have paid for them and our reciprocity ended the minute I handed her the money. The exchange ends once parity has been established, an equal exchange. They become my property. I don’t write a thank-you note to JCPenney.

But what if those very same socks, red and gray striped, were knitted  by  my grandmother  and  given  to  me  as  a  gift?  That changes everything. A gift creates ongoing relationship. I will write a thank-you note. I will take good care of them and if I am a very gracious grandchild I’ll wear them when she visits even if I don’t like them. When it’s her birthday, I will surely make her a gift in return. As  the  scholar  and  writer  Lewis  Hyde  notes,  “It  is  the  cardinal difference  between  gift  and  commodity  exchange  that  a  gift establishes a feeling-bond between two people.”

That  is  the  fundamental  nature  of  gifts:  they  move,  and  their value increases with their passage. The fields made a gift of berries to  us  and  we  made  a  gift  of  them  to  our  father.  The  more something is shared, the greater its value becomes. This is hard to grasp  for  societies  steeped  in notions  of  private  property,  where others are, by definition, excluded from sharing. Practices such as posting  land  against  trespass,  for  example,  are expected  and accepted  in  a  property  economy  but  are  unacceptable  in  an economy where land is seen as a gift to all.

Lewis  Hyde  wonderfully  illustrates  this  dissonance  in  his exploration of the “Indian giver.” This expression, used negatively today as a pejorative for someone who gives something and then wants to have it back,  actually  derives from  a  fascinating  cross- cultural misinterpretation between an indigenous culture operating in a gift economy and a colonial culture predicated on the concept of private property. When gifts were given to the settlers by the Native  inhabitants,  the  recipients  understood  that  they  were valuable and were intended to be retained. Giving them away would have been an affront. But the indigenous people understood the value of the gift to be based in reciprocity and would be affronted if the  gifts  did  not  circulate  back  to  them.  

Many  of  our  ancient teachings counsel that whatever we have been given is supposed to be given away again. From the viewpoint of a private property economy, the “gift” is deemed  to  be  “free”  because  we  obtain  it  free  of  charge,  at  no cost. But in the gift economy, gifts are not free. The essence of the gift is that it creates a set of relationships. The currency of a gift economy is, at its root, reciprocity. In Western thinking, private land is understood to be a “bundle of rights,” whereas in a gift economy property has a “bundle of responsibilities” attached.

...

In  material  fact,  Strawberries  belong  only  to  themselves.  The exchange relationships  we  choose  determine  whether  we  share them  as  a  common gift  or  sell  them  as  a  private  commodity. A great  deal  rests  on  that choice.

For  the  greater  part  of  human history, and in places in the world today, common resources were the rule. But some invented a different story, a social construct in which everything is a commodity to be bought and sold. The market economy  story  has  spread  like  wildfire,  with  uneven  results  for human well-being and devastation for the natural world. But it is just a story we have told ourselves and we are free to tell another, to reclaim the old one.

One  of  these  stories  sustains  the  living  systems  on  which  we depend. One of these stories opens the way to living in gratitude and amazement at the richness and generosity of the world. One of these stories asks us to bestow our own gifts in kind, to celebrate our  kinship  with  the  world.  We  can  choose.  If all  the  world  is  a commodity,  how  poor  we  grow.  When  all  the  world  is  a gift  in motion, how wealthy we become.

Hello Tumblr, I think most of you have heard by now, but if not: there has been a huge explosion in Beirut, Lebanon on August 4 2020. It was caused by 2,750 metric tons of explosive ammonium nitrate stored at a warehouse at the port of Beirut, but it's still unclear what initiated the explosion. 

These are just the current estimations but more than 135 people have died, more than 80 are missing, 5,000 injured, and 300,000 people are now homeless. The explosion did not only cause damages in Beirut, damages were reported in cities even 10 km away, and the explosion was felt and heard all over the country. People in Cyprus and Greece (more than 270 km away) have felt and heard it too. Experts are estimating that the damages are worth 10 to 15 billion dollars (USD). The explosion was so powerful that it created seismic waves equivalent to those of a magnitude 3.3 earthquake

A few big hospitals are located in Beirut, and were hit by the explosion. People are running from one hospital to another, they’re rejected in 6, 7, 8 hospitals before finding a place where they can be treated. Some people are being treated on the streets on plastic chairs because the hospitals are overloaded. Pharmacies are being used as makeshift hospitals. Med students, who haven’t graduated yet, are being called to help in hospitals. People are finding people that they do not know on the streets, and are carrying them to hospitals.

The government literally does not care, and their negligence has led to the explosion: the chemicals have been stored at the port for seven years. The president waited more than 14 hours after the tragedy to address the people, when leaders from other countries had already addressed it and started organizing help (For example, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, was awake at 2 AM yesterday to work on sending aid).

The Lebanese government hasn’t cared for a long time. Since October 2019, people have been protesting over the unfair treatment. The country has fallen into an economic crisis (you can read more about it here). Since then, the local currency has lost 86% of its value, and because most food is imported, the prices have tripled everywhere. Approximately 39% of the people had lost their jobs, most of the rest have been working on half of their usual salary. A lot of people literally cannot afford food anymore, and even those well-off can only afford basics. This is a twitter thread with the most important details. The situation is only going to get worse now.

In addition, right before the explosion happened, a second wave of COVID-19 was starting in the country. Cases have already started to increase dramatically after the explosion, and will probably keep increasing.

Beirut isn’t only home to 300,000 people, it is the economic center of the country. Most of the people work in Beirut, most of the universities and schools, (and big hospitals, as I already mentioned) are located in that city. All of this is gone. The pictures are horrifying, it looks like a war zone. The port itself is very pivotal for the country’s economy, which makes the disaster way worse.

Petitions do not work in the area, and donations cannot be sent to the government, because they cannot be trusted (even during this year’s economic crisis, many countries had refused to help because they do not trust the Lebanese government). If you can help financially, please consider donating to these trustworthy sources:

Lebanese Red Cross: they have been providing medical aid and helping to treat people. They are probably the most trustworthy source possible. All of the money from the donation goes to this non-profit organization. 

Impact Lebanon: this non-profit organization has been raising money for disaster relief, but there is a processing fee that goes to the fund-raising website anytime a donation is made. 

DAFA: this local NGO has been providing help since the beginning of the economic crisis. They don’t have a donation section on their website, but this link is to their official GoFundMe page (I called to make sure). Since it’s on GoFundMe, a processing fee does to the website.

Caritas: this local NGO also has been providing help. The donation directly goes to them.

These two carrds have links to more local NGOs, which are helping after the recent events but are not specific to the explosion aftermath.  

If you can’t donate, please please please reblog this. Likes do not help, but reblogs do. When you reblog this post, someone who can help might see it, and I really mean it when I say that every bit of help counts. If you can’t donate, you can also help by watching this video on YouTube, all the money from the ads is going to the Lebanese Red Cross. There is no sounds, but please play it on full volume for it to actually help.

Also, you can help by reading about what is going on, but not only in Lebanon. Lots of countries all around the world are going through crisis, and we often don’t hear about any of these unless the country becomes on the verge of collapse. Please try to keep up with recent news, try to read headlines about what’s going on around the world, try to learn and educate yourself. Those are the first steps to real change. 

Thank you for bearing through my long post, I hope it made sense, I am still overwhelmed. It’s been a bit over 24 hours, but I am still in shock, and a lot of information might be missing. Feel free to add to this if you have relevant information.

Thursday, June 24, 2021

World’s most expensive cities for expats in 2021 revealed (CNN) Ashgabat in Turkmenistan is the most expensive city in the world for overseas workers, according to this year’s Mercer Cost of Living Survey. The annual report ranks 209 cities based on the comparative cost of expenses including housing, transportation, food and entertainment, with New York City used as a baseline comparison. The Turkmenistan capital, which was number two on last year’s list, is something of an outlier in the top 10, which mostly features business hubs like Hong Kong (last year’s priciest city and this year’s second priciest), Tokyo (number four for 2021), Zurich (number five for 2021) and Singapore (number seven for 2021). Perhaps the biggest change from last year’s Mercer survey sees Beirut rising from the 45th most expensive city for international workers in 2020 to the third priciest for 2021. Mercer puts this development down to Lebanon’s economic depression, which was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Port of Beirut explosion in August last year. Meanwhile, as the Euro gained almost 11% against the US dollar, European cities were ranked comparatively more expensive than their US counterparts. This led to New York City dropping out of the Mercer top 10 altogether, while Paris climbed the rankings from number 50 in 2020 to number 33 in 2021.

Pressure builds to open U.S.-Canada border (Washington Post) A Florida man takes out ads to call out the U.S. and Canadian governments for failing to lift border restrictions. Lawmakers use salty-ish language. Business owners worry about losing a second lucrative summer season. As restrictions on nonessential travel across the U.S.-Canada land border enter their 16th month this week, pressure is rising on both sides for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Biden to crack it open—even a little—or to provide something, anything, about what a reopening plan might look like. Ottawa on Monday did announce some changes at the border, to start July 5. They’d allow Canadian citizens and permanent residents who are fully inoculated with a Health Canada-authorized vaccine, and who test negative for covid-19 before and after arrival, to bypass some quarantine and testing requirements. But the announcement means most fully vaccinated foreigners, including Americans, who hope to enter Canada for nonessential purposes are out of luck. And a growing number of lawmakers, residents and business groups on both sides of the world’s longest undefended border are out of patience.

GOP filibuster blocks Democrats’ big voting rights bill (AP) The Democrats’ sweeping attempt to rewrite U.S. election and voting law suffered a major setback in the Senate Tuesday, blocked by a filibuster wall of Republican opposition to what would be the largest overhaul of the electoral system in a generation. The vote leaves the Democrats with no clear path forward, though President Joe Biden declared, “This fight is far from over.” The bill, known as the For the People Act, would touch on virtually every aspect of how elections are conducted, striking down hurdles to voting that advocates view as the Civil Rights fight of the era, while also curbing the influence of money in politics and limiting partisan influence over the drawing of congressional districts. But many in the GOP say the measure represents instead a breathtaking federal infringement on states’ authority to conduct their own elections without fraud—and is meant to ultimately benefit Democrats. The rejection forces Democrats to reckon with what comes next for their top legislative priority in a narrowly divided Senate.

The Cuba embargo (Foreign Policy) The U.N. General Assembly is expected to vote to condemn the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, in a resumption of what has become an annual tradition at the body following a pandemic-related pause in 2020. Up until last year, the assembly had overwhelmingly voted to admonish the United States over the embargo each year since 1992. The United States and Israel tend to be the only two nations to reject the resolution, although Brazil joined them in 2019. The vote coincides with increased U.S. support for a temporary suspension of the embargo during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a recent poll showing 66 percent of Americans surveyed supporting a suspension in order for Cuba to export its home-grown vaccines. On Monday, Cuba announced that its Abdala vaccine—one of several vaccine candidates—was roughly 92 percent effective at preventing COVID-19 infection.

France’s Macron Pushes Controls on Religion to Pressure Mosques (WSJ) President Emmanuel Macron is redrawing the line that separates religion and state, in a battle to force Islamic organizations into the mold of French secularism. In recent months, his administration has ousted the leadership of a mosque after temporarily closing it and poring over its finances. Another mosque gave up millions in subsidies after the government pressured local officials over the funding. A dozen other mosques have faced orders to close temporarily for safety or fire-code violations. The government has taken these actions as a precursor to a much broader push to rein in the independence of mosques and other religious organizations across France. Mr. Macron has submitted a bill to Parliament, called the Law Reinforcing Respect of the Principles of the Republic, that would empower the government to permanently close houses of worship and dissolve religious organizations, without court order, if it finds that any of their members are provoking violence or inciting hatred. In addition, the bill would allow temporary closure of any religious group that spreads ideas that incite hatred or violence. Religious organizations would have to obtain government permits every five years to continue operating, and have their accounts certified annually if they receive foreign funding.

Can pandemic recovery plan end Italy’s years of stagnation? (AP) The COVID-19 pandemic hit Italy especially hard, killing more than 127,000 people and sending the European Union’s third-largest economy into a devastating tailspin. Yet out of that tragedy may come solutions for decades-old problems that have held back growth and productivity—and with them, a new sense of stability for the euro, the currency shared by 19 of the European Union’s 27 members. Backed by 261 billion euros from the EU and Italian government, the country’s plan for recovering from the pandemic calls for a top-to-bottom shakeup of a major industrial economy long hampered by red tape, political reluctance to change, and bureaucratic and educational inertia. The challenge is formidable: Italy has failed to show robust growth in the more than two decades since it joined the euro currency union in 1999. Execution of the recovery plan remains a risk given Italy’s often-fractious politics. But “if they succeed with even half, it will have a big impact,” said Guntram Wolff, director of the Bruegel think tank in Brussels.

Militias in Afghanistan’s north are taking up the fight against the Taliban (Washington Post) A sweeping Taliban offensive across northern Afghanistan, unchecked by overstretched government forces, has triggered a sudden resurgence of anti-Taliban militias in half a dozen provinces, raising concerns that the country could plunge into a prolonged civil war. President Ashraf Ghani has endorsed the sudden call to arms by former ethnic rival groups. The Ghani government hopes the added support will shore up the beleaguered national defense forces, which have struggled to send reinforcements and supplies to troops facing repeated Taliban attacks. But the prospect of unleashing a hodgepodge of rogue warriors to repel their old enemies also raises the specter of civil war, a state of violent anarchy that Afghans remember all too well from the 1990s. And although the armed groups have pledged to coordinate with government forces, it is also possible that effort could unravel into confused, competing clashes among purported allies. In the past several days, fighting has been reported in nine provinces across the north, and armed militias or civilian groups have formed to repel the insurgents, often fighting alongside state forces. All are loyal to local leaders from minority Tajik, Uzbek or other ethnic groups that have no love for Ghani, a member of the dominant ethnic Pashtun group based in southern Afghanistan.

China prepares for Communist Party centenary in secret (AP) Chinese authorities have closed Beijing’s central Tiananmen Square to the public, eight days ahead of a major celebration being planned to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Communist Party. The square, which normally attracts tourists from around the country, was barricaded Wednesday and will remain closed until July 2. The party will showcase the country’s rise from civil war and disastrous political campaigns in the early years of communist rule to market reforms that have created the world’s second largest economy, with a superpower status rivaled only by the United States. Old habits die hard, however, and arrangements for the July 1 anniversary remain shrouded in secrecy. Around Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City former palace complex and other scenic sites are also closed. Flyovers by air force squadrons suggest an aerial review is in the planning, but authorities have yet to release details. The ruling party was established in secrecy in 1921, following the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1912. It held its first session at a girl’s school in Shanghai, and later moved to a lake boat to evade agents of the local warlord.

Apple Daily Shuts Down (Foreign Policy) On Wednesday, crowds of Hong Kong residents gathered in support outside the headquarters of Apple Daily, one of the last bastions of media resistance to Beijing, as it sent its final edition to print. The paper announced it would close after the arrests of senior leadership this week under the draconian national security law introduced last year. Banks froze the newspaper’s assets to avoid being charged themselves. The rollout of the national security law has seen successive groups targeted: first protest leaders, then democratic politicians, and now journalists. More than 800 Apple Daily staff have lost their jobs while Hong Kong has lost its long-cherished freedom of speech. But the impact of the closure goes far beyond journalism in Hong Kong. Each move like this raises the stakes for other sectors, especially academia and entertainment. Any challenge to the government has become a risk, making self-censorship even more likely. This kind of sweeping coercion has long been the norm on the mainland; in Hong Kong, it provides more proof China has shattered its promise to maintain “One Country, Two Systems” until 2047.

Tokyo shapes up to be No-Fun Olympics (AP) The Tokyo Olympics, already delayed by the pandemic, are not looking like much fun: Not for athletes. Not for fans. And not for the Japanese public. They are caught between concerns about the coronavirus at a time when few are vaccinated on one side and politicians who hope to save face by holding the games and the International Olympic Committee with billions of dollars on the line on the other. Japan is famous for running on consensus. But the decision to proceed with the Olympics—and this week to permit some fans, if only locals—has shredded it. The official cost of the Tokyo Olympics is $15.4 billion, but government audits suggest it’s twice that. All but $6.7 billion is public money. The IOC chips in only about $1.5 billion to the overall cost. The pressure to hold the games is largely financial for the Switzerland-based IOC, a nonprofit but highly commercial body that earns 91% of its income from broadcast rights and sponsorship.

World Powers Gather for Libya Conference (Foreign Policy) World powers gather today in Berlin to discuss a path forward for Libya, ten years after a NATO-led coalition helped oust former leader Muammar al-Qaddafi and eight months since warring factions agreed to a cease-fire in the country’s six-year civil war. The group of countries last met in January 2020. Since then, the October cease-fire has been followed by the selection in February of a transitional government. Today’s discussion will focus on the next steps in Libya’s transition, including preparations for elections in December and the removal of foreign fighters still active in the country. According to United Nations estimates, more than 20,000 foreign fighters and mercenaries from Syria, Russia, Sudan, and Chad remain in Libya. Although today’s meeting is a time to improve on positive developments, Libya is still far from a functioning state. Nearly 20 percent of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance, and the country remains a magnet for human traffickers as they move desperate migrants across the Mediterranean and into Europe.

Witnesses say airstrike in Ethiopia's Tigray kills dozens (AP) An airstrike hit a busy market in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray village of Togoga on Tuesday, according to health workers who said soldiers blocked medical teams from traveling to the scene. Dozens of people were killed, they and a former resident said, citing witnesses. Two doctors and a nurse in Tigray’s regional capital, Mekele, told The Associated Press they were unable to confirm how many people were killed, but one doctor said health workers at the scene reported “more than 80 civilian deaths.” The health workers spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. The alleged airstrike comes amid some of the fiercest fighting in the Tigray region since the conflict began in November as Ethiopian forces supported by those from neighboring Eritrea pursue Tigray’s former leaders.

No laundry day in space (AP) On the International Space Station, there is no such thing as laundry day. Right now, an astronaut needs about 150 pounds of clothes in space per year, and will wear their clothes—gym, underwear, all of it—until they cannot stand the smell, and then throw the clothes away, ejecting the shirts to eventually burn up in the atmosphere. A new study, a collaboration between NASA and Procter & Gamble Co., will attempt to find a good way to clean clothes in space.

Story of Cleopatra: How has history been unfair to her?

If someone is asked to name a few Egyptian figures, that person is likely to include Cleopatra in the list, who happens to be of Greek descent.  

We may not know much about her life but Cleopatra’s story is full of love, war, tragedy, betrayal, murder, seduction, and triumph. One can’t simply write a better drama than that. 

But…. It’s hard to understand the obsession that artists have with Cleopatra. Was she really as savage as she is perceived to be? 

For a better understanding, let travel back in time and get an insight into the life of the infamous queen of Egypt.

The Ptolemy Family:

After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C, his general Ptolemy Soter I launched a Dynasty of Greek-speaking rulers in Egypt called the Ptolemaic Dynasty. 

Cleopatra was born a member of this family. Not the most ideal place to be born in since the family had a long history of blood and murder for the gain of power. 

Also, to preserve the purity of their bloodline, members were married to their cousins or siblings. Therefore, it’s likely that Cleopatra’s parents were brother and sister. 

Throughout her reign. Cleopatra married two of her brothers. Her father died when she was 18. As per the family tradition, Cleopatra was made the queen of Egypt alongside her 10-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIII.

The siblings ruled Egypt under the title of husband and wife. Cleopatra did not want to share the throne with his brother. Soon the two became enemies and a civil war broke out. 

Her first sibling-husband, Ptolemy XIII, ran her out of Egypt after the tensions between them for the sole possession of the throne.

Cleopatra and Julius Caesar: A love Story

At that time, Rome was the greatest power in the west. During the preceding century, Rome had exercised increasing control over the Egyptian kingdom.

Cleopatra knew that the only way to win back her throne was by winning the favor of Julius Caesar. Their meeting had to be a secret so she rolled herself into a carpet and smuggled in to meet Caesar. 

Of course, he was captivated by her charm. The two of them soon became allies and lovers, and he also agreed to intercede in the Egyptian civil war on her behalf. Ptolemy XIII was killed after a defeat against Caesar’s forces.

In June 47 B.C., Cleopatra gave birth to their son named Caesarian, meaning “little Caesar.”

She joined Caesar in Rome in 46 B.C. with their loved Child.

Her presence caused quite a stir. Many Romans were outraged when he erected a gilded statue of her in the temple of Venus Genitrix.  

Well, After the Assassination of Ceaser and the death of Ptolemy, she made her son Ptolemy XIV the co-ruler.

Cleopatra and Mark Anthony:

One of the three leaders that emerged in Rome after his death was Marc Anthony.

Cleopatra sought Antony. She arrived in Tarsus on a magnificent river barge dressed as Venus, the Roman god of love. After he set his eyes on her, his heart was hers. She was successful in her efforts and they began their legendary love affair in 41 B.C and eventually got married. 

One of Rome’s leaders, Octavian, was the legal heir of Caesar but Cleopatra attempted to have Caesarian ascend the throne and hoped that Anthony would help her achieve her goal. 

Whereas Octavian painted Cleopatra as an evil seductress who made  Anthony a traitor. The lovers were married, which violated the roman law restricting Romans from marrying foreigners. In 32 B.C, Octavian declared war on Cleopatra.

Cleopatra and Marc Anthony formed forces against Octavian. The two forces met at the battle of Actium. Unfortunately, this army was no match for the Romans and so they were defeated and had to retreat to Egypt. 

After fleeing to Egypt, Marc Anthony returned to the battle in the hope that he might be able to defeat Octavian but realized that he would rather be captured by him. Cleopatra and Anthony famously took their own lives in 30 B.C. Anthony committed suicide after being lied to that Cleopatra had killed herself. Legend has it that she killed herself by letting an Egyptian asp bite her breast. 

Her death brought an end to the Egyptian Empire. Soon Octavian took control of Egypt and it was annexed with Rome.

Cleopatra didn’t just form alliances with the powerful men during her time but also loved them to death. 

Cleopatra is a notable historical figure but unfortunately, she’s constantly portrayed as a woman who used her sex appeal as a political weapon and is also symbolized as the reason for the fall of men. 

Hollywood has popularized her as a woman capable solely of political manipulations. Yet, a careful review of her life shows that we have forgotten the true personality of Cleopatra and embraced the distorted version sold by distractors.  

Literature and media have contributed to this sexualized reputation of a queen who yielded authority over such a prosperous nation.  

Reality is quite the contrary, there’s plenty of evidence that shows that Cleopatra wasn’t even physically striking as she is believed to be. In simple words, she looked nothing like Elizabeth Taylor from the movie “Cleopatra”.

               Ceramic sculpture of Cleopatra…OUP Blog

Ancient writer Plutarch claimed that Cleopatra’s beauty was “not altogether incomparable,” and that it was instead her “irresistible charm” that made her so desirable.

She was a product of her own society and considering that she was born in a cold-hearted family where murdering other members for power wasn’t a big deal, she wasn’t as savage as to go on killing for pleasure and never resorted to cruelty over her people to maintain her power. She only resorted to murder only when it was for defense or proved to be necessary. Murdering was a norm of that society her siblings would just as easily have killed her if she hadn't gotten to them first. It’s clear that she never misuse her power, 

Many rulers in the past had concubines and sex slaves, but somehow they don’t share the same promiscuous status as Cleopatra. 

Not much is known about her prowess as a leader aside from the powerful men she’s associated with, Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony. 

Why don’t we remember her as a queen who ruled the country of Egypt and the entire Eastern Mediterranean coast? 

Not many people know that she spoke nine languages and was educated in Mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, and oratory. 

Cleopatra should be known as the queen built warehouses of food to combat famine, attempted to stabilize the economy by forming fixed exchange rates for foreign currency, and brought social progress. These are the attributes she should be known for. 

Cleopatra should be known and respected for her leadership qualities.  She should be known for her achievements in an ancient and dangerous society controlled by men. It stands in testimony to her character and courage.

Orbán was in search of an ideology when he first took power. It was clear for him, as a former liberal, that absolute power cannot be conquered without an ideology and together with the liberal intellectuals. The liberal left would never accept his leadership, for they would not trust him (because he is indeed untrustworthy), and so he discovered, quite mechanically at first, in a cold way, that the only place for him was on the right. And he went to the right without feeling like a rightist. Not at all. In the beginning, in the 1990s, it was a cold calculation and nothing more. And the same goes for the people around him.

Gradually, they discovered two things that were instrumental for getting power: the first was a link to the tradition of the Hungarian right, that was originally alien to them, but which they learned by rote, like going to school. They made a pact with the old middle classes, the ones hankering after the pre-war regimes, old nationalism, hating Romanians and Serbs and all that. This is why the country is full of monuments and officially published books about the “tragedy” of the Trianon peace treaty that robbed us of our ancestral territories.

They second thing they discovered was the anti-liberal right in the West (similar to today’s alt-right). At first there was a classical suggestion: that a surfeit of human rights (leniency, liberal labor law, etc.) was suspected by the middle class in Hungary to be favorable to the criminal classes. The criminal classes being, of course, the Roma minority, a. minority terribly hated, more hated than Arabs or Africans, and not accepted in most opinion polls as being fellow humans. In those polls, with the classical questions such as “who would you accept to live next door to?”, the Roma, who have lived in Hungary for 600 years, are at the bottom of the list. Jews and Muslims and queer people come before them. So that was the usual “law and order” classical conservatism, which was also integrated into a rightist discourse about social protection of the deserving poor, and the patriotic, hard-working, white majority population that has been neglected—a well-known discourse all over the world. But, because the Roma are so destitute, and thus not real competitors in the labor market, this had a very limited mobilizing force and was successful only in some parts of the country. It was not enough for the solid hyper-majority necessary for changing the constitution. But then came the refugee crisis.

[...]

Germany is perceived as a nasty colonizing lord, because, according to state propaganda, it is forcing multiculturalism and anti-racism and liberalism on Hungary. The official explanation for this is that this is the guilty conscience of the Germans.—an indirect Jewish influence and all that nonsense. That is really successful. According to the polls, the least popular world public figure in Hungary is Angela Merkel. She is hated. There is a general popular passion against her. She is really hated. She seems to be the icon of Wilkommenskultur and acceptance of people of color. The second most hated is Pope Francis, more or less for the same reasons: pro-refugee, against homophobia, which he is in a moderate way. And he is considered to be a Jewish agent, in the pay of the Jews. Aren’t we all?

This is how Mr. Orbán took power in 2010. His regime started in earnest that year and was very much the result of the huge demonstrations against the socialist-liberal coalition government that appealed to the IMF. Many other factors also played a role, various idiocies committed by the socialist-liberal government that made people indignant—such as the Prime Minister admitting that for years he was lying to the Hungarian people. Already from 2006 the right and extreme right were in ascendancy—they could paralyze government power etc. In a sense, they were practically in power before being voted in in 2010. And there was also the idiocy of the Hungarian banks that made loans denominated in Swiss Francs without telling the population that this was, of course, a floating currency, and that they would have to pay back more than what they borrowed. There are still demonstrations today after all these years because tens of thousands of people lost their houses.

In the beginning Mr. Orbán appeared to champion, as the FPO is called in Austria, “die soziale Heimatpartei” (the Social Homeland Party). The social aspect has since vanished, as it usually does, but the debt crisis is more or less resolved, and the economy is going quite well for a middle class that is the single politically active sector of society. Workers don’t vote, and people in the villages tend to vote for the governing party because sometimes they don’t even know there are other political parties due to the media situation. Opposition has formally vanished from the screen, considered to be “le parti de l’étranger,” the party of abroad, as all ideas except those of the far right are deemed foreign.

When Orbán’s power started to consolidate, he was clever enough not to slow down, but to become even more dynamic. This immense work of destruction started: destruction of the political structure, of parties, parliamentarism, and so on. Orbán instigated reform of the judiciary, like in the Polish government, but much more radically in Hungary. An onslaught against civil society, imitating the legislation of Putin and Netanyahu about foreign-funded NGOs, making it quite dangerous to be a member of an NGO today, meaning that you can go to jail. You don’t yet, but the laws are already on the books. They are also attacking the intelligentsia, the universities.

A very grim atmosphere which, for the first time since 1989, goes on without the majority being informed about it because of the media situation. The normal solidarity (which would not be decisive anyway) is simply not available because most people have no idea. And in Hungary the first source of information is still television, not the internet, and that can be controlled very easily.

Habibi Funk is a label that collects Arabic funk, jazz and other organic sounds which they like from the 1970s and 1980s.

“We at Habibi Funk have been shocked and saddened by the explosion in Beirut 3 days ago. It was important for us to express our solidarity so we reached out to the network of musicians we have adored in the last few years to put together a release. 100% of the profits will go the the Lebanese Red Cross. All tracks from this compilation come from artists from Beirut, some of them don’t live there anymore but the city was essential for their musical career. Although the process of compiling this release was super rushed in order to help in raising funds as quickly as possible, we truly love how it turned out to be musically. Rogér Fakhr who contributed 2 tracks was a stable of Beiruts 1970s scene of musicians. He played in Fairouz's band and while his music might not be remembered outside of an informed circle, we have rarely come across a musician whose outstanding talent has been cherished more by his fellow artists. Whenever his name becomes part of a conversation among the scene of old musicians in Beirut, you hear nothing but adoration for his musical abilities and song-writing. Ferkat Al Ard is one of our favorite bands ever at Habibi Funk. It was founded by Issam Hajali (whose first solo album we re-released), Toufic Farroukh and Elie Saba. They recorded three albums in which they effortlessly combined jazz, folk, at times Brazilian music, poetry and a political attitude into a unique web of musical beauty. „هجاء“ is the title track from their third and final album. Toufic Farroukh is not only a founding member of Ferkat Al Ard, but also renowned solo artist. He left Beirut for Paris where he carved his own lane bringing together the musical influences of his homeland with jazz, recording 8 solo albums since 1996. "Villes invisibles“ feels at the same time melancholic and hopeful. Munir Khauli stems from the same clique of musicians as the aforementioned artists. He also played with renown artists such as Ziad Rahbani and Fairouz, simultaneously releasing solo material. His track "Heik ha Nishtghil?“, recorded in the mid 1980s, had a viral resurgence on social media after people realized that his description of the issues of Beirut have not changed much over the decades and many of his lines from 35 years ago still resonate as adequate today: "My, oh my, what a Lebanon. Garbage on the streets, airport closed down, car thefts thriving, "Is this how we're gonna work?" Roadblocks and militias, racial kidnapping, guns and Kalashnikovs, "Man, is this how we're gonna work?" Jobs are scarce, some folks clothed, some barefoot, the dollar rate is rising, "Where is this leading?" Violence and ferocity, senators and (parliamentary) seats, massacres and tragedies, "Is this how we're gonna work?" Bombs and explosions, booze and drugs, poverty and downtroddenness, "What a situation.“ Abboud Saadi is one of the key musicians both behind Samir & Abboud and Force. Both bands were active during the 1980s when similar groups of musicians, including Ziad Rahbani who played on the recordings of both bands, would gather in different bands dedicated to very different musical sounds. „Stand Up“ deals with Beirut during the civil war and the loneliness, the permeant state of conflict brought upon its citizens. Even before the explosion 3 days ago the situation in Lebanon was dire: Since October 2019 Lebanon’s currency lost 80% of its value, with most people not even being able to access whatever is left of their life savings due to banks’ limits on monthly withdrawal. The costs of basic goods have inflated over 50% for the third month in a row. And while the inflation level would be dramatic for every country, it’s catastrophic for a country like Lebanon, whose economy and public services rely heavily on imports. If all of this was not bad enough, the lockdown associated with the Corona virus reinforced the downwards spiral even more. As a result 65% of the country’s population has slipped into poverty, and starvation is a major threat. A report by Save The Children summarized that "50% of Lebanese, 63% of Palestinians and 75% of Syrians were worried they would not have enough to eat.” Shout out to Beirut Groove Collective, Chico Records, Sole DXB, Raphaelle Macaron and all artists involved.”

- Habibi Funk

2020 / 33

Aperçu of the week:

It‘s the end of the world as we know it (R.E.M.)

Bad (or good?) news of the week:

75 years ago, hell on earth began in Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the creatures "Little boy" and "Fat man" of the Manhattan Project were unleashed to end World War II. It's hard to find anything positive about that, because for the first time the term Weapon of Mass Destruction (the word alone makes me shiver) revealed its true meaning.

Central Europeans of my generation had to watch "The Day After" at school and learn which subway tunnels could be nuclear bomb proof. We were demonstrating against the nuclear missile stationing by the Americans in our country and were shocked by the nuclear weapon tests of all five veto powers of the UN Security Council - what a coincidence! - in the Sahara, in Kazakhstan, off the coast of Australia, among the Uyghurs and on Bikini Atoll (which should actually be called Godzilla Atoll). Scientists assume that about 300,000 deaths can be attributed to it. But at least there was no nuclear war. And the "tests" stopped when all egos were satisfied.

Actually, it would be good news that it has been so long since irresponsible politicians have resorted to the most dangerous weapon of all time. But apparently the long period of time is also causing forgetfulness, because the current development is anything but pleasing: North Korea is probably about to equip medium-range missiles with nuclear warheads, Israel regularly rattles not only with its saber in its countless regional conflicts, between India and Pakistan things have already become more relaxed, and Russia is pleased that Trump no longer wants to go back on international agreements - even when it comes to bilateral nuclear weapons control. Pandora's box can never be closed again.

Good (or bad?) news of the week:

As if the Lebanese people do not have it hard enough already. Severe recession in the economy, permanent conflict with the southern neighbour, currency crisis, masses of refugees, unstable government. And then came Corona. And then the bomb. No, I'm not talking about crude conspiracy theories. But to store for years, close to the city centre, without security precautions, despite repeatedly reported compulsion to act, almost three thousand tons of explosive material, is simply a bomb. A time bomb. It has to go off at some point.

Actually, it would be bad news that this disaster has struck so devastatingly. But the international response is remarkably positive. Within just a few hours, relief teams from several countries were on their way with rescue equipment, search dogs, medical supplies. France immediately fulfilled its moral obligation as a former mandated power. Israel, officially still at war with Lebanon, jumped over its shadow and declared solidarity and readiness to help. And even Trump wants to attend tomorrow's donor conference. And all this at a time when supposedly every nation has enough problems of its own. Tragedies touch one's own humanity. Obviously, we're not completely numbed yet.

Sense of achievement of the week: (Still almost new!)

After some back and forth between moral responsibility and the purse, we now have a new electricity supplier. A deliberately ecological and regional one. After all, solar power will not have a white - or green - vest as long as the panels are not (or cannot be) produced in an environmentally friendly way. And electricity from far away is certainly not eco-friendly, if large aisles are cut into the woods for the tracks. Our energy consumption is now covered by 100% hydropower from the neighbouring Inn Valley. Think global, act local! Even if this should actually be a matter of course, I am a little proud of it... :-)

3 accused of stealing hundreds from Menomonee Falls Pick

3 accused of stealing hundreds from menomonee falls pick Weakening global growth means India can't even use a weak currency to export its way out of trouble. Under Armour, it found, offered the sweetest, though Nike was "close," Hill said. What about jewellery? Wearing a different real gold necklace for all the occasions may burn a hole in your pocket. "You'll Have an A Rodiculously Great Time!" It's all in reference to a Miami New Times article about A Rod's association with Tony Bosch, the Miami based doctor accused of giving performance enhancing drugs to MLB players. IBM's urgency in establishing its blockchain platform in this industry (the December announcement about the Blockchain Food Safety Alliance came only a few months after IBM announced a similar partnership with other producers and distributors) has quickly moved the technology out of the shadows of cryptocurrency and into suburban supermarkets.. 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The Future of American Power

Diplomat Maleeha Lodhi on the Tortured Pakistani-American Relationship

America Must Learn From Its Missteps in Asia, Says a Pakistani Strategist and Diplomat

— By Maleeha Lodhi

— September 9th, 2021

This By-invitation commentary is part of a series by a range of global thinkers on the future of American power, examining the forces shaping the country's standing.

IN THEIR VERY first exchange after 9/11, Pakistan’s most senior leaders urged their American counterparts not to invade Afghanistan. Instead, they said, consider targeted action against al-Qaeda. In several high-level meetings that I attended then as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Pakistani officials gave warning that military action would not work. America should distinguish between al-Qaeda, the group responsible for the terror attacks, and the Taliban, who needed to be engaged.

Traumatised by the tragedy, leaders in Washington were in no mood to listen. Twenty years later, when America at last withdrew from Afghanistan, it had learned the hard way how to end its longest war. Doing so required negotiating a deal with the Taliban, but this came many years after al-Qaeda had been crushed.

Although close US-Pakistan co-operation achieved the shared goal of eliminating al-Qaeda, the course of the war strained a relationship already characterised by cyclical swings between intense engagement and deep estrangement. Long before the terror attacks of 2001, geopolitical concerns had shaped America’s regional alignments and its priorities. Bilateral ties passed through different phases. First, in the cold war, came the goal of containing communism. Pakistan became known as America’s “most allied ally”. Then came the pressing need, after 1979, to roll back the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. A subsequent phase involved defeating al-Qaeda in the “war on terror”.

The latest period has been the most challenging and, arguably, is the most consequential for future ties. The “forever war” waged by America in Afghanistan put a strain on relations with Pakistan. Leaders in Islamabad continued to call for the military strategy to give way to a political one, but those in Washington believed America’s powerful armed forces, along with their NATO allies, would defeat the Taliban.

America persisted with the war while pressing reluctant officials in Islamabad to “do more”. Americans ignored how the conflict had already spilled over to destabilise Pakistan and exact a heavy cost in lives, inflicting dire social and economic consequences, including terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. When America, during the administration of Barack Obama, came around to a fight-and-talk strategy, leaders in Islamabad again advised their counterparts to seek a negotiated end to the war.

As America’s war effort faltered, the strains in relations grew and trust eroded. Pakistan sought to keep its channel of communication open with the Taliban, believing that one day everyone would have to deal with them. Nor did Pakistan have the luxury of retreating to the other end of the world if things went wrong. Meanwhile, the American raid into Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011 plunged relations to an all-time low. Public fury erupted in Pakistan, and anger spread among military chiefs and government leaders, over America’s transgression into Pakistani territory.

Leaders in Islamabad protested strongly at being kept in the dark about the operation, though officials were privately relieved at bin Laden’s elimination. It took months for tensions to ease but the transactional nature of the bilateral relationship endured: those ties were a function of America’s interests in Afghanistan, and were not predicated on Pakistan’s intrinsic importance, much to the annoyance of its leaders.

Pakistan’s ties with the Taliban over the years enabled it to play a key role when the Trump administration sought a way out of the war and asked for help in coaxing the Taliban to the negotiating table. This eventually led to the Doha agreement in February 2020, America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the post-American era that has just begun in the region.

Even before America pulled out, geopolitical dynamics were shifting fundamentally as China stepped up its diplomatic and economic engagement, and launched its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and as Russia began to act more assertively. Regional states including Pakistan were beginning to sense a waning of both American interest and influence. Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy signalled gradual disengagement from the region.

At the same time, Pakistan’s longstanding and strategic ties with China grew more intense. Its pivotal role in the BRI symbolised this, as did the accompanying substantial Chinese investment in Pakistan’s infrastructure and development projects. Increasingly, America was seen as a self-absorbed and inconsistent partner as well as a reluctant regional player; China was perceived as having sufficient interest, money and growing global clout for a more constructive and enduring relationship.

Although China is Pakistan’s strategic priority, leaders in Islamabad also want a stable relationship with America. The United States remains Pakistan’s largest export market and a superpower with significant global influence, especially over international financial institutions whose assistance Pakistan’s fragile economy desperately needs. The government wants to avoid getting into the crossfire of an American-Chinese confrontation, but that is easier said than done.

For one reason, America has made no secret of its misgivings over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a collection of Chinese-funded infrastructure and energy projects (linked to BRI) under way in Pakistan. For another, officials in Islamabad have lowered their expectations of ties with America: for after its exit from Afghanistan, the superpower will no longer be reliant on Pakistan to support its operations there. Another factor is that Pakistan’s old adversary, India, is seen as America’s strategic choice of partner in the region.

Nonetheless, the unsettled situation in Afghanistan also creates the imperative for co-operative ties, albeit within a narrow band. American officials have reached out to their counterparts in Pakistan for counter-terrorism collaboration and intelligence-sharing, for example when William Burns, the CIA director, has visited Pakistan. Pakistan shares American concerns about terrorist groups based in Afghanistan that include Islamic State Khorasan Province, known as ISIL-K (and also as ISKP), remnants of al-Qaeda and other violent organisations. Pakistan sees the greatest threat from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which is responsible for deadly attacks in its border region.

Pakistan’s leaders share the international view that the Taliban must not let Afghan soil be used as a base for exporting violence. All of Afghanistan’s neighbours are worried about any spillover of instability. China sees a threat from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, Russia from ISlL-K and central Asian states from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. All have stakes in Afghanistan’s stability and believe in engaging its new rulers.

The future of Afghanistan rests principally on whether the Taliban can govern. Public expectations there are very different from when the group last held power, from the 1990s until 2001. Their immediate challenge, other than consolidating power, is to avert an economic collapse. Foreign-currency assets have been frozen by America and funding from the IMF and the World Bank is suspended.

The financial crunch is compounding a humanitarian crisis. Together these could lead to state collapse with all its dangerous ramifications for the region. International recognition and legitimacy will be essential for the Taliban to access funds and assistance to keep the economy afloat. They, in turn, will have to meet their commitments to run an inclusive government, contain terror groups and respect human rights.

Pakistan has a vital interest in a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. Having borne the brunt of four decades of war and foreign military interventions in Afghanistan, which left the country with 3m refugees, destabilised its border areas and set back economic development, Pakistan has the most to gain from peace. An unstable western frontier only adds to Pakistan’s security anxieties given continuing tensions on the eastern front with India. Dialogue with India has remained suspended for many years. Relations sunk to a new low when India formally and illegally annexed the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.

Despite back-channel contact between the two countries, there is little prospect of the peace process resuming. America’s policy bias towards India rules it out as a neutral arbiter to resolve the Pakistan-India standoff. This injects uncertainty and volatility into the uneasy dynamic between the nuclear neighbours, especially as the Taliban’s return to power has been a strategic setback for India, which had heavily supported the previous government in Afghanistan.

One result is that new opportunities are opening up for China to expand its influence. Another is that regional powers may look increasingly to themselves rather than to ones from beyond the region to resolve problems, such as the need for better regional economic integration. As for America, the administration of Joe Biden, having taken the bold step of ending its war in Afghanistan, must now accept that diplomacy and respecting other countries’ interests is the best way to win influence and advance its goals. Military coercion and sanctions do not pay off.

— Maleeha Lodhi is a diplomat, strategist and academic. She has twice served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States. In addition she has been the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations and its High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

The Prerequisite For Healing The Nation: A Federal Job Guarantee

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/the-prerequisite-for-healing-the-nation-a-federal-job-guarantee/

The Prerequisite For Healing The Nation: A Federal Job Guarantee

An original Work Projects Administration sign from the 1930’s. The WPA was a huge part of the New … [] Deal during the Great Depression. Sign set on a blue/gray background. Canon 5D.

This is normally the time of month when I post commentary about the latest economic data, particularly the Employment Situation Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (speaking of which, unemployment inched down again, however less than expected). But I’m not sure that’s very important right now. We all know what’s happening: at the beginning of the year, the measures required to stem the tide of COVID infections caused post-World War Two highs in unemployment. As restrictions were eased, so unemployment fell. However, the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere are already bringing on new challenges and things may well get worse before they get better. But get better they will, it appears, as vaccines are starting to become available at this very moment.

While this is all very serious and newsworthy, there’s no mystery here that requires an economist’s perspective to unravel. I therefore decided to shift gears this month and talk about a broader issue, one that existed well before COVID and which has contributed materially to the deep political divisions in American today: the increasing income inequality that has marked the US economy since the 1970s.

While I normally avoid taking sides and instead focus on laying out the cause-and-effect of economic forces (I’m going to tell you how the car works, but where you drive it is up to you), this time I can’t do that and still make my point. So here is my stance: those who believe that there was massive election fraud, that science is left-wing propaganda, that the Democratic Party is full of socialists and pedophiles, and that wearing a mask is an unconstitutional infringement of their personal freedom (and a stepping stone toward requiring all American women wear veils—yes, I have heard that)–they’re wrong. More than wrong, they’re dangerous. Their views are undermining the very soul of US democracy. It has to stop.

How did this situation evolve? Obviously, something this deep-seated and complex is not monocausal. A lot is going to have to happen to fix it because a lot happened to cause it. But I am prepared to argue that there is a necessary prerequisite to getting us back on the road to civility and respect for logic and evidence: reversing the above-mentioned trend of increasing economic inequality. Until all Americans feel safe, secure, and part of a system that works for them, Joe Biden can preach unity until he’s blue in the face and it will make no difference.

The effects of unemployment, poverty, and income inequality are widespread and pernicious. Studies link them to increased rates of suicide, mental health issues, drug and alcohol use, spouse and child abuse , and even violent extremism. Victims tend to blame themselves, as does the rest of society. This can put people into a downward spiral that leads to precisely the kind of anger, conspiracy-theorizing, and scapegoating we see today.

Again, I don’t mean to suggest that this is the only factor involved. The specifics of how these maladies manifest themselves is a function of the society in question and the historical context. I am also not saying that it is only the poor and disenfranchised who believe that there was mass voter fraud, etc., nor that they are all of the same mind. Taking Weimar Germany as an example of a polarized society—where demonstrations and street fighting had been going on since shortly after the end of World War One—not only did those most affected by the economic collapse vote both both Nazi and Communist, but they were joined by some wealthy and middle class voters as well, whose anxiety was linked not to their immediate fortunes but to their fears for Germany’s future. One can see parallels today.

Perhaps the key takeaway from the scholarly literature regarding what happened in Germany is this:

“the elections that put Adolf Hitler in power are subject to the same ordinary voting behavior explanations as are most other democratic elections worldwide…if we are interested in the likely reactions of voters and parties, we may want to focus more on governmental successes and failures in choosing and implementing public policies than on the degree of intellectual versus demagogic appeals of the candidates.”

In other words, dismal conditions are far more important to creating extreme outcomes than the nature of the candidate’s message because socio-economic conditions drive the attractiveness of a candidate’s platform. Hitler’s speeches would have fallen on deaf ears in a Germany that boasted low rates of unemployment and high levels of income. Hence my thesis that reconciliation in America can only take place if we can return to a more inclusive and prosperous economic landscape.

How do we achieve this? The core of any successful plan must include a government job guarantee, a promise to American citizens that if you want to work but can’t find a job, you can always find employment in the public sector. If that sounds like FDR’s New Deal, there’s a good reason for that: it’s very much like it, except on a much larger and permanent basis.

There is absolutely no reason to expect the private sector to provide employment for every willing worker. To business, labor is a cost to be minimized. Fair enough, it’s not their responsibility to reduce unemployment and it is by this process (given several other caveats) that they are able to offer products with low prices. But, add to this the employment-reducing forces of automation (which has apparently accelerated during our current crisis) and the outsourcing of production and it’s little wonder that we have seen a diminishing middle class and increasing rural poverty.

However these are not by any means insurmountable obstacles. We have, after all, plenty of food, shelter, clothing, and more for all Americans. That’s not the issue nor has it been for decades. The problem is jobs, or the means of securing the income necessary to take your share of the food, shelter, and clothing off the shelf. That problem can be solved with a job guarantee and here is what we have to do to make it happen:

STEP ONE: Stop confusing the market with the economy.

The former is only part of the latter, albeit a very large one in our society. However, even in our own recent history we have shifted gears very rapidly toward public sector, non-market solutions when we thought it necessary. In 1941, unemployment was still almost 10% (it had been 14.6% in 1940). By 1943, however, it was 1.9% and it fell to 1.2% the next year. What was responsible for this remarkable turnaround? The fact that after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the US started a massive government jobs program called World War Two.

The magnitude of this reversal of economic fortunes was staggering and while there was rationing, this had to do with the fact that strategic materials were being diverted to the war effort. Without that, if the economy had been geared toward increasing the well being of domestic citizens, then there would, indeed, have been a chicken in every pot. And note that this isn’t promising people the moon or something for nothing, it’s guaranteeing them a share of the output we could already have produced for them but they could not afford. Now they can.

STEP TWO: Recognize economic and social problems as no less significant than war.

Unfortunately, it appears that we, as a society, are only willing to employ our economic resources in the manner suggested above when there is a war. That we will not do so in response to social or economic calamity is a tragedy and a source of shame. No one asked, “Can we afford it?” after Pearl Harbor; instead, they thought, “How can we afford not to?” As we saw just this fall, however, that has most certainly not been the case in response to the massive economic disaster caused by coronavirus. All this despite the fact that the US cannot possibly be forced to default on debt in its own currency.

STEP THREE: Change our definition of a “job.”

While there are exceptions, there seems to be a default understanding of “job” as being something that makes a profit for someone; or, at the very least, there is an implication that private-sector jobs represent the most worthwhile undertakings. We need to rid ourselves of that notion. There are separate, distinct, and complementary roles for the private and public sectors and each has a key role. The private sector should do things that are profitable, regardless of the social benefit, while the public sector should do things that are of social benefit, but unprofitable. Profit-derived jobs are not inherently better or more difficult or more praiseworthy than those that are not. Indeed, were we to rely exclusively on the profit motive, we’d leave undone things like national defense, educating the poor, caring for the infirm, combating climate change, police and fire protection, lawmaking, disaster response, etc, etc. And yet these are essential for a civilized society and they underpin our ability to actually carry out the market jobs. And they are what the job guarantee would create.

Furthermore, we need to reconsider what a job is. If you stay at home to care for your children, are you creating a burden on society or contributing to it? Likewise for those caring for sick or elderly relatives. To reiterate a point made above, we have the ability to make food, shelter, clothing, and more for everyone. A job guarantee makes sure they get their share and that we are able to address social problems that the market ignores.

STEP FOUR: Find a political party willing to support such a program.

Unfortunately, neither political party appears to have this seriously on their agenda. Early in his presidency, Donald Trump mentioned it, but that went nowhere. Imagine if that had already been in place when COVID hit! Nothing about what is going on now is simple, but we most certainly would not have found ourselves hoping that a $1200 check would last until December. Nor is Joe Biden a fan . Rather, it appears that he is counting on the private sector to create a job for everyone who willing. That’s a losing proposition when labor is a cost to firms. Furthermore, the private sector will never address critical but unprofitable social problems like climate change. It appears that Joe Biden hasn’t moved past Step One yet.

Long story short, we can absolutely be better off in terms of national divisiveness in four years. The question is, who is willing to take up the cause backed by policies that will actually work? So far, the answer appears to be no one, but we can hope.

From Leadership Strategy in Perfectirishgifts

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Drug companies defend vaccine monopolies in face of global outcry (Washington Post) Abdul Muktadir, the chief executive of Bangladeshi pharmaceutical maker Incepta, has emailed executives of Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and Novavax offering his company’s help. He said he has enough capacity to fill vials for 600 million to 800 million doses of coronavirus vaccine a year to distribute throughout Asia. He never heard back from any of them. The lack of interest has left Muktadir worried about prolonged coronavirus exposure for millions of citizens of Bangladesh and other low-income nations throughout Asia and Africa who are at the back of the global queue for shots. Drug companies have rebuffed entreaties to face the emergency by sharing their proprietary technology more freely with companies in developing nations. The companies are lobbying the Biden administration and other members of the World Trade Organization against any erosion of their monopolies on individual coronavirus vaccines that are worth billions of dollars in annual sales. The fights over vaccine supply are not just over a moral duty of Western nations to prevent deaths and illness overseas. Lack of supply and lopsided distribution threaten to leave entire continents open as breeding grounds for coronavirus mutations. Those variants, if they prove resistant to vaccines, could spread anywhere in the world, including in Western countries that have been vaccinated first.

Colorado marks latest mass tragedy after 10 killed (AP) A shooting at a crowded Colorado supermarket that killed 10 people, including the first police officer to arrive, sent terrorized shoppers and workers scrambling for safety and stunned a state that has grieved several mass killings. A lone suspect was in custody, authorities said. The attack in Boulder, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Denver and home to the University of Colorado, stunned a state that has seen several mass shootings, including the 1999 Columbine High School massacre and the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting. Monday’s midafternoon attack was the seventh mass killing this year in the U.S., following the March 16 shooting that left eight people dead at three Atlanta-area massage businesses, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.

COVID-19 strikes Brazil’s Congress as third senator dies (Reuters) A third senator has died of COVID-19 in Brazil, raising questions around precautions taken in the country’s Congress where as many as one-in-three lawmakers has been infected with the virus devastating Latin America’s largest nation. Senator Major Olimpio, a former policeman who backed and later fell out with far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, was declared brain dead on Thursday by doctors at a Sao Paulo hospital where he had been in intensive care for three weeks. Brazil has become the epicenter of the pandemic, with by far the highest current daily death toll anywhere in the world. “People are very scared, and they are afraid to go to work,” said Silvio Ribas, a press secretary for Senator Lasier Martins, a 78-year-old politician who was released from hospital on Thursday after two weeks fighting COVID-19. At least 145 of the 513 members of the lower house have tested positive for the coronavirus in the past 12 months, along with 31 of 81 senators, according to a survey by news portal Poder360.

Spain hopes number of foreign tourists will rebound to half pre-pandemic level this year (AP) Spain hopes the number of foreign tourists visiting its sun-kissed islands and picturesque villages can rebound this year to half pre-pandemic levels, Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto said on Monday. “Maybe the ideal goal is ... to get half of the tourists we had in 2019. This, for the industry, would be an achievement,” she said in an event held by Europa Press news agency. In 2019, Spain had the world’s second highest number of foreign visitors at more than 80 million. This plummeted by more than 80% to 19 million tourists in 2020, the lowest level since 1969, as a result of the travel restrictions imposed to curb the pandemic. Tourism accounted for around 12% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 and one job in eight.

Court orders French celebrity magazine to pay homeless man €40,000 (Le Parisien/France) Since its founding in 1949, the iconic French weekly Paris Match has published countless photos of the rich and powerful—and every now and then, a paparazzi shot might cost them. Last week, instead, the magazine was ordered to pay serious money to a homeless man for running a photograph of him without his permission. A court in Nanterre, west of Paris, ordered Paris Match to pay 40,000 euros to the man for running his picture. “Everyone, no matter their degree of celebrity, their wealth, their present or future occupation, has a right to privacy and enjoys exclusive right over their image which allows them to oppose its use […] without prior authorization,” the court wrote in its decision. The photo, published without the man’s consent in January 2018, showed the unnamed 48-year-old smoking crack cocaine on a metro platform in the French capital’s 18th arrondissement. Unlike other people in the photograph, his face was unblurred, the daily Le Parisien reports. Alerted by friends who recognized him in the Paris Match article, the homeless man sued the magazine: In May 2019, the magazine was ordered to pay him 10,000 euros in damages, but failed to remove the photograph from its website and app, resulting in an additional 30,000-euro fine last week. Le Parisien quoted the man as saying that he used some of the money to “help out friends” and that he now may be able “to get [his] wife and children back.”

Merkel Seeks Four-Week Lockdown Extension in German Setback (Bloomberg) Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed keeping German lockdown restrictions in force for another four weeks after Covid-19 cases rose beyond a level that may prompt government action to avoid health-care overload. The plan would extend and slightly tighten existing curbs through April 18, according to a chancellery draft seen by Bloomberg. Merkel and regional government leaders will discuss the proposals on Monday during talks on how to proceed with the lockdown amid an upward curve of infections in Europe’s biggest economy.

Russia’s top diplomat starts China visit with call to reduce U.S. dollar use (Reuters) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov began a visit to China on Monday with a call for Moscow and Beijing to reduce their dependence on the U.S. dollar and Western payment systems to push back against what he called the West’s ideological agenda. Lavrov, on a two-day visit to China, is expected to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart at a time when both countries’ ties with the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden are badly strained. U.S. and Chinese officials on Friday concluded what Washington called “tough and direct” talks in Alaska, while Russia’s ambassador arrived back in Moscow on Sunday for consultations after Biden said he believed President Vladimir Putin was a killer. Russia is also braced for a new round of U.S. sanctions over what Washington says was its meddling in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which Moscow denies. Speaking to Chinese media before the start of his visit, Lavrov said Moscow and Beijing were compelled to develop independently of Washington in order to thwart what he said were U.S. attempts to curb their technological development. “We need to reduce sanctions risks by bolstering our technological independence, by switching to payments in our national currencies and global currencies that serve as an alternative to the dollar,” Lavrov said, according to a transcript of his interview released on Monday. “We need to move away from using international payment systems controlled by the West.”

Turkey’s turmoil (Foreign Policy) U.S. President Joe Biden joined with Europe to condemn Turkey over its decision to annul its ratification of an international treaty on preventing violence against women. Turkey’s exit from the treaty, known as the Istanbul Convention, brought thousands to Turkey’s streets in protest of the move. Turkey was one of the initial signatories and the first nation to ratify the convention. In a White House statement, Biden called the action “deeply dissappointing” and a “disheartening step backward.” The Turkish presidency released a statement on Sunday saying the convention had been “hijacked by a group of people attempting to normalize homosexuality.” Turkey’s currency was also rocked on Saturday after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fired central bank governor Naci Agbal. The Turkish lira fell 15 percent against the U.S. dollar after the news broke.

In Myanmar’s hinterland, army uproots ethnic Karen villagers (AP) In the jungles of southeast Myanmar, the army was shooting and otherwise oppressing civilians long before last month’s military coup. This largely unseen repression continues even now. In the country’s remote southeast, an army offensive has driven as many as 8,000 ethnic Karen people to flee their homes in what aid groups say is the worst upheaval there for nearly 10 years. They’re now living in the jungle, with fears growing for their health and security, and no prospect of an early return. This crisis in the borderlands has been overshadowed by the deadly crackdown on the mass movement protesting the military’s takeover of power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. But it also is a reminder of the brutal force Myanmar’s army has long used against civilians, and in particular the country’s ethnic minorities.

Think Covid’s Messed Up Your Travel Plans? Try Getting Into China. (NYT) Leave your partner and children behind. Quarantine for up to a month. Get inoculated with a Covid-19 vaccine from China, if you can find one. And prepare yourself for an anal swab. For the past year, people trying to go to China have run into some of the world’s most formidable barriers to entry. To stop the coronavirus, China bans tourists and short-term business travelers outright, and it sets tough standards for all other foreigners, even those who have lived there for years. The restrictions have hampered the operations of many companies, separated families and upended the lives of thousands of international students. Global companies say their ranks of foreign workers in the country have dwindled sharply. At a time of strained tensions with the United States and other countries, China is keeping itself safe from the pandemic. At the same time, it risks further isolating its economy, the world’s second-largest, at a moment when its major trade partners are emerging from their own self-imposed slumps. Other countries have their own travel restrictions, though few are as tight.

Dozens of towns isolated by flooding in Australian state (AP) Hundreds of people have been rescued from floodwaters that have isolated dozens of towns in Australia’s most populous state New South Wales and forced thousands to evacuate their homes as record rain continues to inundate the country’s east coast. Around 18,000 people had been evacuated from flooding in New South Wales by Monday and emergency services feared up to 54,000 people could be displaced with rain forecast to continue until Wednesday. A year ago, vast swathes of New South Wales had been charred by unprecedented wildfires following years of drought that gripped most of the state. Some of the same areas were now being by inundated by one-in-50-year and one-in-100-year rain events. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said up to 38 parts of the state had been declared natural disaster areas. “I don’t know any time in our state’s history where we have had these extreme weather conditions in such quick succession in the middle of a pandemic,” Berejiklian told reporters. “So, they are challenging times for New South Wales.”

Israel revokes permit of Palestinian foreign minister (Washington Post) Israel on Sunday revoked the VIP permit of the Palestinian foreign minister after he returned to the West Bank from a trip to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Israeli and Palestinian officials confirmed. The move appeared to be Israeli retaliation for Palestinian support for the ICC’s war crimes investigation against Israel. A Palestinian official said Foreign Minister Riad Malki was stopped Sunday as he entered the West Bank from Jordan through the Israeli-controlled crossing. Malki’s VIP card was seized, the official said. Losing the VIP status makes it harder for him to move through Israeli military checkpoints in the West Bank, and traveling abroad will require Israeli permission. The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, announced earlier this month that she was opening an investigation into possible war crimes by Israel committed in the occupied West Bank and blockaded Gaza Strip.

Small, cheap spy satellites mean there’s no hiding place (Economist) In the middle of last year, Ecuadorians watched with concern as 340 foreign boats, most of them Chinese, fished just outside the Exclusive Economic Zone (eez) around their country’s westernmost province, the Galapagos Islands. The law of the sea requires such vessels to carry gps-based automatic identification systems (ais) that broadcast where they are, and to keep those systems switched on. Some boats, however, failed to comply. This regular radio silence stoked fears that the boats concerned were sneaking into Ecuador’s waters to plunder its fish. Both local officials and China’s ambassador to Ecuador denied this, and said all the boats were sticking to the rules. In October, however, HawkEye 360, a satellite operator based in Virginia, announced it had detected vessels inside Ecuador’s eez on 14 occasions when the boats in question were not transmitting ais. HawkEye’s satellites could pinpoint these renegades by listening for faint signals emanating from their navigation radars and radio communications. HawkEye’s satellites are so-called smallsats, about the size of a large microwave oven. They are therefore cheap to build and launch. HawkEye deployed its first cluster, of three of them, in 2018. They are now in an orbit that takes them over both of Earth’s poles. This means that, as the planet revolves beneath them, every point on its surface can be monitored at regular intervals. Quilty Analytics, a research firm in Florida, expects the number of radio-frequency (rf) intelligence satellites of this sort in orbit to multiply from a dozen at the beginning of January to more than 60 by the end of next year.

Whoopsie, container overboard (Wired) Since November, at least 2,980 containers have fallen off cargo ships in the Pacific Ocean, in at least six incidents that have outfitted Davy Jones’ Locker with stocks of vacuum cleaners, frozen shrimp, some Kate Spade swag and more. Rising imports and bad weather have led to the above-typical cargo losses, as the 2,980 lost in the past few months is over twice the annual amount lost from 2008 to 2019. Bad weather is the main cause: the Essen attributed its 750 lost containers to “heavy seas,” the Eindhoven lost 260 containers after a blackout in the middle of a storm, and the Apus lost over 1,800 containers in gale force winds and large swells, one of the worst losses ever.

In what looks like one of the biggest leaks of private banking records since the Panama Papers, Buzzfeed News has published a lengthy investigation into how the world's biggest banks allow dirty money from organized criminals, drug cartels, and terror groups like Al Qaeda and the Taliban to flow through their networks.

The "FinCEN Files", as Buzzfeed calls them, offer "a never-before-seen picture of corruption and complicity." A lengthy investigation by Buzzfeed and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists - the same group that handled the Mossack Fonseca leaks -

Instead of combating financial crime, the current system of requiring banks to report all suspicious transactions to FinCen simply allows money laundering to flourish, while ensuring that any enforcement will be of the 'whack-a-mole' variety.

These documents, compiled by banks, shared with the government, but kept from public view, expose the hollowness of banking safeguards, and the ease with which criminals have exploited them. Profits from deadly drug wars, fortunes embezzled from developing countries, and hard-earned savings stolen in a Ponzi scheme were all allowed to flow into and out of these financial institutions, despite warnings from the banks’ own employees.

Money laundering is a crime that makes other crimes possible. It can accelerate economic inequality, drain public funds, undermine democracy, and destabilize nations — and the banks play a key role. “Some of these people in those crisp white shirts in their sharp suits are feeding off the tragedy of people dying all over the world,” said Martin Woods, a former suspicious transactions investigator for Wachovia.

Laws that were meant to stop financial crime have instead allowed it to flourish. So long as a bank files a notice that it may be facilitating criminal activity, it all but immunizes itself and its executives from criminal prosecution. The suspicious activity alert effectively gives them a free pass to keep moving the money and collecting the fees.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, is the agency within the Treasury Department charged with combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes. It collects millions of these suspicious activity reports, known as SARs. It makes them available to US law enforcement agencies and other nations’ financial intelligence operations. It even compiles a report called “Kleptocracy Weekly” that summarizes the dealings of foreign leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

What it does not do is force the banks to shut the money laundering down.

In response to Buzzfeed's questions about the leaked trove of SARs, the Treasury Department warned that the company's decision to publish information gleaned from the leaked SARs could make banks more hesitant to file them, because inevitably hundreds of thousands of reports are filed every year involving transactions that are legitimate. The program was first created in 1992, but it has changed substantially over the last 20 years.

Congress created the current SAR program in 1992 making banks the frontline in the fight against money laundering. But Michael German, a former FBI special agent who is a national security and privacy expert, said that after 9/11, "the SAR program became more about mass surveillance than identifying discrete transactions to disrupt money launderers.” Today, he said, "the data is used like the data from other mass surveillance programs. Find someone you want to get for whatever reason then sift through the vast troves of data collected to find anything you can hang them with."

It also warned that leaking SARs is illegal, and that the Treasury Department's inspector general would be looking into the leaks.

Since we must give credit where credit is due, Buzzfeed does point out that in addition to being a powerful law-enforcement tool, the SAR system is a "nightmare" of surveillance overreach. Particularly after 9/11, the system evolved into a tool of mass surveillance, creating a massive trove of data that could be weaponized against anybody, according to a former FBI special agent who spoke to Buzzfeed.

Congress created the current SAR program in 1992 making banks the frontline in the fight against money laundering. But Michael German, a former FBI special agent who is a national security and privacy expert, said that after 9/11, "the SAR program became more about mass surveillance than identifying discrete transactions to disrupt money launderers."

Today, he said, "the data is used like the data from other mass surveillance programs. Find someone you want to get for whatever reason then sift through the vast troves of data collected to find anything you can hang them with."

When it came time for Robert Mueller to investigate the Trump Campaign's ties to Russia, and whether the president knowingly colluded with a foreign government - a narrative, we later learned, with zero basis in fact - Mueller was able to access reams of SARS filed on Manafort, Michael Cohen and other members of Trump's circle.

What did any of this have to do with Russia? Nothing, apparently.

They requested SARs on Deutsche Bank, which had loaned Trump money; Christopher Steele, the former MI6 agent who wrote the so-called Trump dossier; an array of Russian oligarchs; Trump’s former campaign chairperson Paul Manafort; and even a small casino in the Pacific run by a former Trump employee. All told, they were looking for information on more than 200 entities.

Many of the 1,000-plus SARS received by Buzzfeed were apparently requested by the Mueller team. However, none of the SARS included any direct information on Trump or the Trump Organization.

FinCEN unearthed tens of thousands of pages of documents. Those documents, along with a few additional SARs requested by federal law enforcement authorities, make up the majority of the FinCEN Files. Some were never turned over to the committees that requested them.

A person familiar with the matter blew the whistle to multiple members of Congress. The collection does not include any SARs about Trump’s finances. (A source familiar with the matter told BuzzFeed News that FinCEN’s database did not contain SARs on either Trump or the Trump Organization.) And though the documents show suspicious payments to people in Trump’s orbit before and after key moments in the 2016 presidential campaign, they do not provide direct information on any election interference.

When banks settle AML violations with regulators, typically, they're asked to improve their controls - and in most cases, that means filing more SARs. The way the system is set up, banks are required to detail transactions, but have no say in prosecuting them, and staff cuts at FinCEN mean only a very small percentage of notices every get read.

However, since all of this data is stored, prosecutors can bring it to bear whenever a particular person or organization catches their interest.

Buzzfeed saved the banks' statements on their investigation for a separate article (one that most of its readers will probably never see). But in a series of statements, the banks explain that its not their place to investigate these types of crimes. Buzzfeed reports that banks' compliance workers are often shunted away in backwater offices in places like Jacksonville Florida (where many of Deutsche Bank's compliance employees are situated).

More than 2 million SARs were filed over the past year, a massive increase over the past decade, according to Buzzfeed. That's because, as banks have been filing more reports to cover their own backsides, regulators have endured staff cuts that left far fewer people there to examine them.

But some of the most egregious financial frauds in recent memory never generated a single SAR, including Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. When the reckoning with authorities came, JPM got off with a slap on the wrist.

PMorgan Chase got a deferred prosecution deal of its own. For years, it was the primary bank of the world’s biggest Ponzi schemer, Bernie Madoff. Despite multiple warnings from its own employees, the bank never filed a suspicious activity report on him and allegedly collected $500 million in fees. For punishment, the bank was required to pay a $1.7 billion fine and promise to improve its money laundering defenses. But after it settled the Madoff case, the bank’s own investigators said they suspected it had opened its accounts to an alleged Russian organized crime figure who is known for drug trafficking and contract murders, as well as businesses tied to the repressive North Korean regime, which the US has placed off-limits.

Buzzfeed's sources argue that the only way to fix the problem is to arrest the executives of banks that break laws.

"The bankers will never learn until you start putting silver bracelets on people...Think of the message you're sending to repeat offenders."

[...]

"These guys know what they're doing," said Thomas Nollner, a former regulator with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. “You break the law, you should go to jail, period."

Of course, the report also pointed out why this hasn't yet happened - and why it probably never will. Because thanks to the Fed and the Treasury, 'too big to fail' also means 'too big to prosecute'.

In 2012, Standard Chartered and HSBC were facing criminal prosecution. George Osborne, at that time the UK’s chancellor of the exchequer, wrote to the chairperson of the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to discuss his “concerns” that a heavy-handed response could have “unintended consequences.” He warned of a “contagion.” The implication: Close one bank and the whole economy could suffer.

Because while money might come from unsavory places - Russian organized criminals, the Taliban, etc - it still contributes to economic growth, and puts dollars into the banking system.

One ex-federal agent told Buzzfeed there's a "mosaic" of reasons why banks are rarely prosecuted for AML violations: “Even if it's bad wealth, it buys buildings,” he said. “It puts money into bank accounts. It enriches the nation.”

Rising economic uncertainties forced people to hoard more cash in the first four months of the calendar than they had done in the entire 2019, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) shows. The increase in currency in circulation between January and May 1 was Rs 2.66 trillion. In comparison, it increased by Rs 2.40 trillion in the entire 2019 (January to December). The rise in currency in circulation (CIC) is perplexing when economic activities have nosedived. Generally, CIC should rise in tandem with the growth in economic activities, as people need cash to transact. The demand for currencies also generally spikes during the festive season, and during elections. However, the increase in CIC without any such events, and that too when economic activities have shrunk, means people are withdrawing a large amount of cash and keeping it with them, instead of depositing it with banks.

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Experts say this reflects uncertainties, if not distrust in the banking system. But the rise in CIC itself is going to pose a challenge for the banking regulator. Banks had parked Rs 8.53 trillion of their excess liquidity with the central bank as of Tuesday, data showed. It is so because banks don’t want to lend and find it convenient to keep their surplus money with the RBI, earning just 3.75 per cent interest. Now, if the lockdown is lifted and the economy starts to function normally, people will want to use their cash, and likely deposit them back.

chartThis will push up the banking system liquidity even further. Banks are unlikely to start lending, and companies themselves also won’t want to increase their debt when there is huge excess capacity lying unutilised. Some of the large surpluses that banks are parking with the central bank has also been caused by the long-term repo operations (LTRO) undertaken by the central bank between February and March this year. The central bank had infused about Rs 1.25 trillion through the original LTRO.

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“Amid unusual condition, the RBI can allow banks to repay back the money by providing Call option for the regular LTRO auction conducted between February and March 15. This will reduce pressure on the RBI to sterilise money through reverse repo by providing securities. And in case demand for credit improves, banks can still borrow from LTRO,” said Soumyajit Niyogi, associate director at India Ratings and Research. That could address some of the concerns for sure, but banks will still have a huge liquidity surplus to park. However, the central bank may not have adequate bonds to support this kind of liquidity operation, considering it has about Rs 9-10 trillion worth of bonds in its books, of which about Rs 2 trillion it generally maintains as a buffer. This may force the central bank to also come up with additional policy measures that would prevent banks from sitting idle on their cash.

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It can cap how much banks can keep their money in the reverse repo window. Or it can introduce a standing deposit facility (SDF) under which the RBI can accept as many surplus funds banks have to offer, but at a rate lower than the reverse repo rate (which is currently at 3.75 per cent). The RBI can use both the reverse repo cap and also the SDF. And it can also charge banks for keeping money with the central bank, say, economists. But economists also say that banks will still not lend as long as the government doesn’t come up with a stimulus package.

“Bankers are possibly also scared about what will happen to them after the loans go sour. There is a complete risk aversion unless the government instructs banks to do some targeted lending,” said a senior economist.

It is Not China, but the Western World that should be Defined as the “Real Sick Man” Not long ago, the Wall Street Journal insulted China, calling it “the Real Sick Man of Asia”. China retaliated, and then the U.S. counter-retaliated. Emotions have been running high, journalists got deported. Suddenly, various Chinese officials expressed publicly what many in both China and Russia have been, for weeks, articulating in sotto voce: that it was perhaps the U.S. military establishment, which brought the new type of coronavirus (COVID-19) to Wuhan, in order to harm China and bring the world back, through complex backroads, under the West’s control. Suddenly, the world feels very uncomfortable. The way it is governed is clearly perverse. People do not always know why, they just feel frightened, prickly and insecure. Actually, they always have, during the last few decades, but this is somehow becoming “too much”. Countries do not trust each other. People do not trust each other. People do not trust their governments. Capitalism is despised, but nations have been robbed of alternatives. I work all over the world, and I observe all this. What I see, I do not like. Increasingly, I am fearful that what has been set in motion by Washington and London, may not end well. That a tragedy is waiting right around the corner. *** For many years I have been warning that imperialism is murdering tens of millions of people, annually. Predominantly Western imperialism, but also its offshoots in some places where the elites learned from their former colonialist master how to brutalize conquered territories, such as Jakarta, New Delhi, or Tel Aviv. Genocides and modern-day slavery have become the vilest reflections of modernity. Not the only ones, of course, but the vilest. I recently wrote for this magazine (NEO), that I have never seen the world so fragmented. Travel, Internet, Social Media – they all were supposed to improve the world, and to bring people closer to each other. They did not. I see confusion and disinformation all around me. People travel but do not see or understand. They stare at computer screens for hours each day, as they used to stare at the television screens, but they do not have any clue how the world functions. People used to come to us, philosophers, for advice. We used to interact. Not anymore. And look at philosophy itself: it has been reduced to a dry, controlled university discipline by the regime. Before, to be a philosopher used to be identical with being a thinker. Now, pathetically, a philosopher is an individual with a university degree in philosophy, which is issued by some college that is part of the establishment. And anyway, now almost each and every individual, at least in the West, believes that he or she is a philosopher; self-absorbed, posing and posting on social media, using selfies, with grotesquely boosted egos. Something has gone wrong. Almost everything has. Humanity is facing tremendous danger. Why? Because it does not understand itself. Its dreams have been reduced to some low, pathetic, sad ambitions. Its lofty ideals that were formed over long centuries have been belittled by the Western nihilist narrative. *** And then, a new coronavirus hit. Do not underestimate the coronavirus! It may have the mortality rate of an ordinary flu, but it is much more dangerous than that. Its danger is predominately psychological and philosophical, much more than medical. It arrived, unexpectedly, and illustrated to the world, that there is no global unity, no solidarity, anymore. Countries are acting and reacting in extremely brutal ways. It is frightening. It all feels like some of the bad, second-rate horror films produced by Hollywood. Governments are pointing fingers at each other, irrationally. Airlines are lying, robbing customers, while claiming that they are protecting them. I recently “escaped” from Hong Kong, after Korean Air unceremoniously cancelled flights to China, doing nothing to re-route stranded passengers. I flew for 5 days to South America, home, through several Asian airports, by the most bizarre routes, north and south and north again, then via Amsterdam and Suriname, zig-zagging through Brazilian cities, before reaching Chile. Peculiarly, at one point along the way, I ended up in Seoul, where I was earlier told I was not supposed to be to begin with, experiencing the proverbial South Korean racism on my skin, and going through outrageous humiliation and interrogation after uttering, at the gate before departing for Amsterdam, that North Koreans definitely treat people with much more respect and dignity than Seoul. I will write much more about this, in the near future, but this is not supposed to be the main topic of this essay. What is essential is that the logic itself has collapsed. The behavior of many countries has become irrational, if the rationale is supposed to be synonymous with the advancement of humanity and improvement of the lives of human beings. Now things make sense only when seen from the point of view of the desire to control and usurp, plunder and humiliate. And the coronavirus? Is the United States trying to take advantage of the situation, to monopolize the cure, and to save its economy and currency, at the expense of billions worldwide? On March 15, 2020, The Sun reported: “Donald Trump aides ‘offered huge sums to a German company in a bid to grab the coronavirus vaccine for Americans only.’” One day later, on 16 March, 2020, the Mail Online, amplified the story: “German officials are trying to stop the Trump administration from luring German biopharmeceutical company CureVac to the US to get its experimental coronavirus vaccines exclusively for Americans. President Donald Trump has offered funds to lure the company CureVac to the US. The German government has made counter-offers to make the company stay, according to a report in German newspaper Welt am Sonntag. An unidentified German government source told the paper Trump is trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States – ‘but only for the United States.’” The behavior of the Empire could easily make one sicker than the coronavirus would itself. *** The United States occupies and antagonizes countries and then it punishes them when they try to protect themselves. Israel does the same. And so, do Indonesia, India, and NATO as a block. Turkey is turning into a maniac. Iran, Venezuela and others are screaming, brutalized for absolutely no reason by sanctions and embargoes. Russia is being constantly smeared, just for helping injured nations, in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. I watch all this and I wonder: how much further can all this go? Is all this banditry and idiocy going to go on from now on, and forever accepted as a normalcy? But back to the coronavirus. It is all connected to what I mentioned above, isn’t it? Billions of people are now being stripped of their rights and will, pushed around, and fully controlled, everything justified by a disease with the mortality rate of an ordinary flu? And do people notice that the victims are now being treated like criminals, something that would have been unimaginable just a couple of decades ago. China, infected by the U.S. or not, is being continuously insulted, isolated and smeared. Western anti-Chinese propaganda kicked in, almost from the start of the epidemy. How ugly; how monstrous! Western propagandists are alert, waiting, monitoring the world. Like piranhas, they attack with lightning speed, whenever blood is spilt, or a piece of flesh gets exposed. When disaster strikes, they take full advantage of the weaknesses of their opponent. They go for the kill. And there is nothing human in their behavior. It is a calculating strike against the victim. It is the surgical swing of a scalpel, designed to kill, in the most terrifying way. China reacted in totally the opposite way: when Italy got infected, Chinese medics offered their help. They flew to Italy with medicine and equipment. And China is not alone. Whenever disasters strike, anywhere in the world, Cuban doctors and rescue commandos take off, as long as they are allowed to travel and help. Venezuela, too. It used to supply cheap fuel, even to needy people who happened to be citizens of its arch-tormentor – the United States. And Russia, in whatever form (as the biggest Soviet Republic, or as the Russian Federation), it has been helping dozens and dozens of decimated nations: by treating their sick, educating their students, building infrastructure, spreading culture through books and music, all in local languages. Russia does not talk much: it just does, performs, helps. And so do China, Cuba and others. *** I want to see the world united. I want to experience humanity embarking on a beautiful project: improving the planet, searching, together, for an egalitarian system, with no misery, no incurable illnesses, no depravity. But I am not naïve. I see what the West and its extreme capitalism and imperialism are doing to the world. And I am convinced that only the classic isms are capable of evoking compassion and solidarity in the people. Propagandists in Washington and London tell you the opposite; they will lie to you that Communism and socialism are dead, or at least totally outdated. Do not trust them; you know that their goals have nothing to do with improving life on our planet. Whatever you hear from them, trust the opposite. Right now, our human race is like a sick, very sick person. Not because of the coronavirus, but because of the response to the coronavirus. China is not at all the real sick man of Asia. No matter how it happened, China got infected, but then it rose to its feet, fought with great determination and courage, and began obliterating the disease. Chinese doctors, Chinese people in general, are now celebrating. They are ecstatic. They are winning, their first hospitals dedicated to the coronavirus patients are now closing down in Wuhan. Their system is clearly victorious, created for the people. Almost simultaneously, China has started to help other countries. Actually, China and its people are behaving like human beings are supposed to behave. And, if that is called “sick”, then what is “healthy”?