tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40148603326926124732024-02-02T05:34:35.323+00:00Underwater DemolitionsThe infrequent and often nonsensical ramblings of a curious astronomer. Contains highly non-linear material. And nuts.HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.comBlogger200125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-62207479129230498152023-12-31T16:13:00.009+00:002024-01-02T13:32:34.876+00:00 Artificial Intelligence : Digital Utopia or Dystopian Nightmare?<p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">“<i>They shamelessly print, at negligible cost, material which may inflame impressionable youths, while a true writer dies of hunger. Cure the plague which is doing away with the laws of all decency, and curb the printers. They persist in their sick vices, setting Tibullus in type, while a young girl reads Ovid to learn sinfulness. [...] Writing, which brings in gold for us, should be respected and held to be nobler than all goods, unless she has suffered degradation in the brothel of the printing presses.</i>” So wrote Italian Benedictine monk Filippo de Strata in a letter to the Doge of Venice in 1490, complaining about the introduction of the printing press to the city.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-214b8870-7fff-7f37-c1e2-da62e6506d67"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi97DLHCTw4E_6mb-4oWlkPdVNRiBLKtfigPIq9lXMeS6ARh9dTv-SX-j-hW8Qn-EgCw3KY0XBX7omj2_RhyRuJ72JnPYDFQ0qp_x-biWVx_CERexTvCXrbckjhsM8rXONMG7xzWM6DAqirs1qoe6A_Qt5YrFy5_Fnd3TtKRwJhYpwjMPrE-Wr5YOpPsXEW/s480/The_Unrestrained_Demon_(anti-electricity_cartoon)_03.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="368" height="435" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi97DLHCTw4E_6mb-4oWlkPdVNRiBLKtfigPIq9lXMeS6ARh9dTv-SX-j-hW8Qn-EgCw3KY0XBX7omj2_RhyRuJ72JnPYDFQ0qp_x-biWVx_CERexTvCXrbckjhsM8rXONMG7xzWM6DAqirs1qoe6A_Qt5YrFy5_Fnd3TtKRwJhYpwjMPrE-Wr5YOpPsXEW/w333-h435/The_Unrestrained_Demon_(anti-electricity_cartoon)_03.jpg" width="333" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">["The Unrestrained Demon". An anti-electricity cartoon from 1889.]</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Throughout history, each wave of technological innovation has been met with its own unique blend of curiosity and trepidation. Take, for example, the discovery of electricity; Initially regarded as little more than an amusing novelty, with public demonstrations of its effects ranging from Thomas Edison’s mildly entertaining electric pen to the more macabre spectacle of electrocuting animals, electricity also came to be feared as a potential danger to public health. As the decades passed, worries gradually subsided as the profound utility of electricity became apparent even to the staunchest skeptics, eventually establishing it as the bedrock of modern civilization. Consider another example: the Luddites, a group of textile workers in 19th-century England, who went about destroying weaving machinery to protest against job displacement, and who did not shy away from resorting to violence. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">These historical instances reflect an enduring concern: the anxiety accompanying new technologies and the fear that human skills will be rendered redundant. Similar concerns are directed towards the field of artificial intelligence (AI) today. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">AI has been with us for at least several decades, making great strides since the introduction of rules-based systems in the 60s, but it is only in the last few years that a significant milestone appears to have been achieved through a combination of large language models (LLMs), which are examples of Deep Learning processes, and the truly massive data sets that are used to train them. Although Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), which many consider to be the Holy Grail of AI research, still seems to be out of reach for now, narrow AI is routinely outperforming humans in several different highly specialised tasks.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, what are we to do now in the face of AI's relentless march forward? Should we cross our fingers and hope for the best like new Pollyannas, or are we to become neo-Luddites, smashing away at every AI creation in the digital domain? The answer is neither. For one, these are still the early days and the technology is in its infancy. Granted, it has already demonstrated it can provide assistance in a number of different domains, but it often makes mistakes, hallucinates and is not particularly creative unless carefully steered by an expert user. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">An AI agent can provide seemingly insightful responses to questions about highly specialised subjects where an average person lacking the expertise would be unable to. Experts in particular topics, such as programmers, engineers, artists, scientists etc., have the necessary training to pose complex technical questions using highly specialised terminology and are able to understand the contextually specialised responses of the AI. These expert users are also able to identify problems and inadequacies in these responses and improve them through successive queries which, again, the average person is not in a position to do, due to lack of specialised training. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">On a practical level, an expert user is therefore able to employ the AI systems of today as semi-skilled collaborators, and to drive gradual improvements, seeking additional help as and when it is needed. It is only the experts, who have spent a lifetime honing their skills, that have the necessary know-how to push this technology to its limits, far beyond what a casual user is capable of.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For instance, suppose you compose music for a living, and that there exists an AI agent that can help with composing music. You could ask it to prepare a template for a theme that, even though it has yet to completely coalesce in your mind, you know that it must be in C minor and that the arrangement is reminiscent of Baroque works by, say, Telemann and Pergolesi. You guess the sound you have in mind is probably about 80% more similar to Telemann and only about 20% Pergolesi. Maybe there’s even a bit of Corelli in there but you are not sure. You know exactly which instruments you want to use, you know the harmony, etc. and you pass all this information to the AI asking it to give you a test theme. Maybe you don't like what it gives you. You ask it for variations until you find one that roughly matches what you have in your mind, or one that clicks and inspires you. Then you ask it to put all the notes on a staff, print the score and you edit the details making adjustments. Then you scan the score you worked on and send it back to the AI asking it to maybe improve the timing or change the speed of this or that note, until the result sufficiently satisfies you and is close to what you envision. In short, this collaboration with the AI will significantly simplify your work as a composer, while you remain the creative director of the entire process. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Is this inappropriate? Consider Hans Zimmer, the famous film score composer, who can afford to employ a number of other composers, as well as orchestrators and sound engineers, to help him write and arrange the music for his movie scores. The use of AI could allow budget-constrained and less well-known composers to do something similar, and perhaps even to become competitive and get their music to reach new audiences.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All this will lead to a democratisation of the creative process and a creative inflation that will have a lasting impact across every professional field. To appreciate how this may play out, let us continue with our thought experiment in the music industry. Supply and competition will certainly be greater, with the marked difference that the playing field will be more level, with smaller composers now having the ability to challenge more established names. Output will exponentially increase, making it far more challenging to build and maintain a lasting reputation. In an ocean of mediocre compositions, the deciding factor will inevitably become the uniquely personal touch the composer imparts to their music. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">None of this is sufficient to conclude that fewer people will consider music as a viable career option, but it will most definitely affect how musicians build a career. It is also unlikely that people will suddenly stop wanting to learn how to master musical instruments, a difficult process which did not disappear even when synthesisers and electronic music were invented. There may even be increased interest in attending live events, such as concerts and recitals. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Take the example of painting and photography. Photography did not destroy painting; it rejuvenated it. It redefined the meaning of the art of painting and as a bonus created the altogether new branch of artistic photography and related professions. When faithful representation in painting succumbed to the undisputed superiority of the precision of the photographic plate in the late 19th/early 20th century, the creator was freed from a strict adherence to realism, thus giving birth to modern art, and a new generation of groundbreaking artists came to the foreground: Picasso, Dalí, Monet, Manet, Kandinsky, Van Gogh, and many, many others, all mounted this new wave. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is not enough space here to elaborate on the very significant social knock-on effects these developments had; this is an exercise better left to historians. The bottom line is that it would be at least disingenuous to persist on the claim that photography destroyed painting, for the additional reason that realistic representations still remain an active branch of painting today. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In today’s modern world, individuals who make a living exclusively in the field of creative painting, have a much easier time doing so compared to their predecessors in the 18th and 19th centuries, who could achieve little without the continued support of rich sponsors. Of course, we must concede that all this was made possible due to fundamental changes in social conditions for the better, but these very changes themselves were significantly influenced by the historical developments mentioned previously. It is hard to disentangle with a high degree of confidence exactly how all these trends fed on each other. Society huffed and puffed, blew the doors down, and replaced an obsolete structure with a more elaborate one.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the numerical sciences, the pocket calculator, and later the computer, did not eliminate the need to learn algebra. They accelerated the ability to perform complex calculations to an incredible degree, but did not make the learning of the underlying mathematical rules and methods irrelevant. We still continue to teach these rules and methods all the way from elementary school to university. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Where these technological developments have clearly made a difference, is in the fact that we now recognize that there are better mechanisms available to us for controlling the accuracy of our results and for minimising errors, and we employ them. No researcher today would expect their doctoral student to perform all calculations by hand, because of the comparatively greater likelihood of introducing small errors somewhere along the line, which can cost greatly, both in time wasted and increased frustration. What researchers are interested in, is the proper scientific analysis of their measurements.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In any case, the further development of AI is of such great importance that it now constitutes a strategic necessity for every country, so any discussion about impacts and limitations should start with this as a given. There are problems and challenges that are indeed significant, but they are potentially solvable by adjusting existing socio-economic models or by introducing novel solutions, as has happened again and again in the past. As societies gradually grow more accustomed to these changes, they are better able to absorb cultural shocks and reorganise around new points of equilibrium. Perhaps the greatest challenges AI will bring are of a different nature. For example, how will we be able to prevent a race to the bottom when it comes to autonomous smart weapons, and how can we ethically align the goals of a generalised AI with human goals. AI is designed to find unique solutions to very specific questions, and these may not always be the answers we would hope for. This is especially true when the AI is faced with complicated ethical choices.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now let us consider what AI can do for teaching and research. Yes, AI will eventually be able to solve standard school exercises, and explain all the intermediate steps in detail. That is, it will be able to provide specific solutions to well-formulated questions from a range of known types of problems. This suggests that the education system will need to adjust in response, and focus less on methodology and information gathering, which can easily be automated, and more on developing critical thinking and analysis skills. On the fringes of scientific research, we often don't even have well-formulated questions, nor do we know exactly what questions it would be best to ask, nor how exactly to interpret the results if there is insufficient data. Solutions are often multidimensional and not unique, and AI methods can help us navigate through a complex parameter space.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Many parents and teachers have raised concerns about the state of math literacy, primarily in the West, compared to previous decades. These concerns are raised with the unstated assumption of ceteris paribus, which is obviously somewhat of an issue, because the skills of students in many other subjects, many of which did not even exist a few decades ago, are on an entirely different level regarding the collection and utilisation of available information. Even if we concede that students today could be weaker in mathematics, the fact remains that their particular skills more than make up for it. </span></div><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span>Granted, this is an issue that should concern us, but it is not nearly as catastrophic as it is usually made to sound. Compare, for example, the level of students in computational analysis and numerical methods in the 70s with what they are able to achieve today. No comparison. The number of students choosing STEM subjects at university shows a steady increase, although dropout rates, especially in Physics, remain high.</span></div></span><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Are all concerns about the development and use of AI to be dismissed as mere scaremongering? Of course not; that would be naive and dangerous. There are many well-grounded legitimate concerns. On a societal level, we need to think hard about how to regulate the AI industry and ways must be found for professionals to be remunerated when their work has been used to train AI models. How exactly that might work in practice is yet to be determined, but we better start having these discussions now.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sooner or later every field and every profession will be affected. Moravec’s “Landscape of human competence” gets progressively more flooded as time goes by. Highly creative professions, which until recently were thought out of reach for at least a few more decades, are already feeling the first splashes. There are now AI copilots that can be used to write code and software engineers are already trying them out. They use them with a mix of elation and worry. In my own scientific field, we increasingly rely on machine learning to look for patterns in massive data sets. There is just too much of it, and it would take decades to do it without the use of such tools. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The steady march forward of AI will inevitably cause major disruptions in how society currently operates, and I strongly suspect that it will make the introduction of some sort of UBI unavoidable.
We have a long way to go.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-77523808746566198772023-04-10T13:47:00.005+01:002023-04-10T13:58:28.768+01:00The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.scdn.co/image/ab6765630000ba8ab50eadb3dadf56cc1292be78" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="200" src="https://i.scdn.co/image/ab6765630000ba8ab50eadb3dadf56cc1292be78" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>[TLDR version: Good podcast series. Skip episodes 1 to 3 unless you are a Harry Potter fan. Skip episode 4 unless you are interested in the history of trans activism. Episodes 5 and 6 provide the most substantial content and the second half of episode 7 is decent.]<div>
<br />Despite some criticisms, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2K186zrvRgeE2w0wQjbaw7?si=d21940ebc4b74703&nd=1" target="_blank">The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling podcast</a> offers an informative and engaging discussion of one of the most controversial topics of our time: the intersection of trans and women's rights, with a focus on J.K. Rowling's views as a prominent figure in the <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/terf" target="_blank">TERF </a>movement.<br /><br /></div><div>
It is worth noting that the series takes place within a generally progressive, liberal context, with little attention given to more conservative views on the right of the political spectrum.<br /><br /></div><div>
Episode 1 explores Rowling's life before Harry Potter, including experiences of domestic abuse and destitution, providing background for her views. It also covers the early stages of development of the Harry Potter story.<br /><br /></div><div>
Episode 2 covers Rowling's rise to fame with the Harry Potter series and the first wave of backlash from the Christian right in the 90s, including accusations of witchcraft and corrupting youth, death threats, and book burnings.<br /><br /></div><div>
Episode 3 follows the development of the Harry Potter fandom and begins to discuss sexual identity politics, tracing the origins of current debates to the tumblr-4chan Wars of the 2010s. It also explores some abusive aspects of online communities.<br /><br /></div><div>
Episode 4 delves into the TERF wars, exploring the development of the trans rights movement and the clashes between some trans rights and women's rights activists over whether trans rights infringe on women's rights in certain situations.<br /><br /></div><div>
Episode 5 covers the Twitter battles and J.K. Rowling's entry into the debate, coming out in support of Maya Forstater, who lost her job for tweeting that trans women cannot change their biological sex. The episode includes an interview with Kathleen Stock, a philosophy professor who lost her job after openly discussing her trans-critical views.<br /><br /></div><div>
Episode 6 features two interviews with trans people, one with Natalie Wynn, aka ContraPoints (Incidentally, her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gDKbT_l2us&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">YouTube episode challenging Rowling’s views</a> is very good and well worth watching), and one with Noah, a teenage trans boy. They discuss the medical transition process in detail, including information, options, alternatives, and safeguards, as well as cases of transition regret and scientific studies.<br /><br /></div><div>
Episode 7 explores two themes: the history of the Salem witch trials and the main criticisms against Rowling's positions from the trans community. The episode asks, "What if you're wrong?" and "What would it take to change your mind?" Rowling acknowledges the possibility of being wrong and says that more data could change her mind.<br /></div>HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-81507542612403902472022-12-20T13:20:00.003+00:002022-12-20T13:24:34.964+00:00The Gulag Archipelago<p><span style="color: white;">I’d been putting off reading this book for a long time and found that once I started reading it, I could only progress in small increments. It pulls no punches in describing the living hell that was the Soviet Gulag system and I could only take so much before having to switch to another book to take my mind off it for a while. It is absolutely gut-wrenching. It is no exaggeration to say that the terrible knowledge Solzhenitsyn bequeaths us in The Gular Archipelago opened the eyes of the world to Stalinist horrors and played a key role in bringing down the Soviet system. </span></p><p><span style="color: white;"><a href="https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/his-life-overview/biography">Solzhenitsyn </a>was <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1970/solzhenitsyn/lecture/">awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970</a> but was unable to attend the ceremony. After surviving a KGB assassination attempt in 1971, he was arrested in 1974, charged with treason, stripped of his citizenship, and expelled from the Soviet Union. His charge of treason was lifted in 1991 and he returned to Russia in 1994.</span></p><p><span style="color: white;">(The Audible audiobook version is very good and is read by his son, Ignat Solzhenitsyn.)</span></p><p><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/1784871516/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF&psc=1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51niMh0zmML._SX324_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: white;"><br /></span><p></p>HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-81506355007299779362022-11-07T14:54:00.003+00:002022-11-07T14:56:26.699+00:00Sohail Ahmed Interview (Former Islamist)<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x6umtig x1b1mbwd xaqea5y xav7gou x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz xt0b8zv x1qq9wsj xo1l8bm" href="https://www.facebook.com/SohailSNAhmed?__cft__[0]=AZVonP9Vz7PE2mslqhTogUj0b64Pl24uLD28iXbK7OqnBBXs9h9fE7fm-mwouZw8PmUtBKwqoeeuVNCpzxtlJsn2s7sMwWWlcpYDGnv8fjWgc4HJMrMqHh_DXnhYrrImxU3Vkix3Y9byKEfCFevwc4Bhr_9uqF1acpeBXGelPGLQMw&__tn__=-]K-R" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0"><span class="xt0psk2" style="display: inline;">Sohail Ahmed</span></a></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a hard man to get a hold of. A reformed radical Islamist, he was instrumental in exposing the prevalence of radical Islamism in a number of UK Universities. Today, he works as a counter-extremism & counter-terrorism expert, offering advice to UK government agencies and a number of NGOs. He has appeared in the media in the UK and the US and written about his personal journey in a number of publications. He also campaigns for LGBT rights in the Muslim community, </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a style="cursor: pointer;" tabindex="-1"></a></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">and has been a strong steady voice against Islamic extremism.</span></span></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">I’ve known Sohail for many years and have wanted to interview him about his life for a very long time. As you’ll hear, it’s quite a story. We cover his growing up in a radical islamist environment, the process through which he was further radicalized and how he eventually broke free from that environment. We talk about Islam today,what a progressive version of Islam might look like and how we could get there. We talk UK politics and immigration and about how his views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict changed over the years.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">I hope you enjoy this discussion.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">On YouTube:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="218" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bSTlWGsQD08" width="318" youtube-src-id="bSTlWGsQD08"></iframe></span></div></div><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">On </span><a href="https://on.soundcloud.com/F6GWc" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">SoundCloud</a><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div></div></blockquote></blockquote>HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-69737385215483704262022-08-06T18:23:00.008+01:002022-08-14T15:04:08.954+01:00The Sandman on Netflix<p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ4JYmRXjOJU0FKnXoErOWiGkEiojcgHt8dwXPdIbMbbDFuUxgmxGwBSBbow27Fxwyc1GevYprwc1iCO7fyjaM0woGUoiKMMXK3DnLeOgu2x-nwWQyvaMCoxBrUNsc_3rstHzixNskmgeOHQFjDcwimXIwpXj-ItwrhjJevFMvaC9BN7f55xLgQfX37g/s3771/wake.jpg" style="background-color: #446666; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="3771" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ4JYmRXjOJU0FKnXoErOWiGkEiojcgHt8dwXPdIbMbbDFuUxgmxGwBSBbow27Fxwyc1GevYprwc1iCO7fyjaM0woGUoiKMMXK3DnLeOgu2x-nwWQyvaMCoxBrUNsc_3rstHzixNskmgeOHQFjDcwimXIwpXj-ItwrhjJevFMvaC9BN7f55xLgQfX37g/s320/wake.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: #446666; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">So is the </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="nc684nl6" style="display: inline;">Netflix</span></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> adaptation of </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="nc684nl6" style="display: inline;">Neil Gaiman</span></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">’s seminal work “The Sandman” any good? Well, on the whole, I’d say it does a fair job of bringing the story to life. Just to get this out of the way at the start, there is quite a bit of graphic violence in it so I would not recommend it if you have a weak stomach, but if that sort of thing doesn’t put you off, then read on. </span></span></p><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">Of the eleven volumes of the original work (excluding important companion works), I find that the first three are the weakest. When Gaiman wrote the story in the late 80s-early 90s, he was in Terra Incognita, having resurrected an obscure character from the DC universe and been given, for all intents and purposes, carte blanche under a newly established DC subsidiary called Vertigo, specifically targeting adult readers. Vertigo published a bunch of very good works over the years (Fables, Transmetropolitan, Y: The Last Man, to name but a few) before shutting down in 2020, but the work that made everything else possible was The Sandman.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">In the beginning of the story, Gaiman has a bunch of loose ideas that he throws around hoping they will somehow stick together. Neither the final destination of the story nor the major waypoints to getting there seem to have fully coalesced in his mind while he is writing these chapters. While the events seem to transpire within the DC universe, with some DC characters making cameo appearances, he persistently picks at loose threads, testing and experimenting with boundaries before, somewhat miraculously, it all comes together and the story becomes this totally new thing tracing its own course. Yes, there are some hints and foreshadowing of what this will eventually become storytelling-wise, notably in “The Sound of her Wings” episode or the side-story with Hob Gadling, but much of the rest is exploratory at this stage. Season one on Netflix only covers the first two volumes and some of the events and characters introduced will have some role to play later in the story. The DC influences present in the comics have, thankfully, largely been left out.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">The casting choices were, for the most part, very good and the CGI ranged from tolerable to excellent. Looking forward to season two.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">If you’ve already seen it and are hungry for more here are a few recommendations:</span></div><div dir="auto"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">Read the original comic series (or graphic novels if for whatever reason the term comics offends your sensibilities)</span></li><li><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">Check the companion stories “Death: The high cost of living” and “Death: The time of your life”</span></li><li><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">Try to find a copy of Hy Bender’s “The Sandman companion” which goes really deep into literary influences</span></li><li><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">Read “The Interpretation of Dreams” by Freud and “The Archetypes and the collective unconscious” by Jung</span></li><li><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">Brush up on your Greek and Norse mythology</span></li><li><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">Read, or even better, go and see A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest by Shakespeare </span></li><li><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">Read the Bible and Apocrypha</span></li></ul><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: arial;">PS: I think the main reason why I find this series so revolutionary is this: Gaiman is extremely well read and has a deep knowledge and understanding of Myths and Legends and their semiology. He is familiar with the traditions that generated them and appreciates the historical and cultural contexts. Throughout the Sandman, he introduces minor and major figures from the canon of different historical and mythological narratives that have been molded by hundreds or thousands of years of cultural evolution and recasts them in a new light, thus robbing them of their traditional meanings and symbolic power. In doing so, he makes them relevant to today while pointing the moral compass toward the need for true humanistic values and the inevitability of change.</span></div></div>HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-89833246792188670592022-03-28T23:08:00.005+01:002022-03-28T23:08:58.445+01:00Ukraine is not a proxy war<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7RvYFCrEM2RdLbR1P-VhA-JJ-5ldJgXKEy4PbZesh6j0KfKAvsNWN92kiq92S8ArRWZq9JbD56AZfbcNCvw7hyOecEUqCrzadDFWz_0CJN_pruryiBQU4t_jerwS-R9HU8d0Iov-Dpzi9l28IQcHrcUJSlUWkzpzOcNh9jAU3rvFoom0rDjN3NrfY8w/s804/Ukraine.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="804" data-original-width="804" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7RvYFCrEM2RdLbR1P-VhA-JJ-5ldJgXKEy4PbZesh6j0KfKAvsNWN92kiq92S8ArRWZq9JbD56AZfbcNCvw7hyOecEUqCrzadDFWz_0CJN_pruryiBQU4t_jerwS-R9HU8d0Iov-Dpzi9l28IQcHrcUJSlUWkzpzOcNh9jAU3rvFoom0rDjN3NrfY8w/w200-h200/Ukraine.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p>The Kremlin argues that this is fundamentally a war between Russia and the US with Ukraine as a proxy.</span><p></p><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">I understand and appreciate the geopolitical concerns of Russia and accept that both the US and Russia, like every country, pursue their own national interests.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">However, I cannot consider both on equal footing and it is not only because one is a democracy, despite all its flaws, and the other, for all intents and purposes, an autocracy.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">Let's look at the particulars.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">There is no argument that the US has pursued its interests, often aggressively, including the invasion and occupation of third countries for prolonged periods of time.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">Even though almost all of the countries the US invaded were autocratic with a long history of abusing their own people, in many cases these actions were taken unilaterally without UN approval, without carefully considering the aftermath, and with no solid reconstruction plans that would bring the countries back into the international community.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">Where this applies, I believe that condemnation is the appropriate response.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">In comparison, Russia is an autocracy that has a similar history of invading and occupying countries and instituting regime change.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">Even in the worst cases in recent history (as far as I know and correct me if I am wrong) the US has not sought to deny the right to existence of the nations it has invaded and has not sought to annex their land and make it part of the USA. </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">In comparison, Putin’s Russia denies the existence of a Ukrainian national identity and is seeking to annex land and subjugate the population. It is not clear what the ‘denazification’ plan exactly entails.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">Thirdly, for the lands the US invaded, it had not already bound itself with an international treaty to guarantee their borders after asking them to disarm.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">In contrast, Russia was one of the international powers guaranteeing the sovereignty and borders of Ukraine on the condition that they hand over their nuclear arsenal, which they did.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">Russia unilaterally proceeded to violate that treaty.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">The reasons Russia presented to justify this invasion have been largely dismissed as untrue by official organs of the international community after careful investigations.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">Ukraine is also markedly not an autocratic regime. It has a somewhat progressive democratically elected government that Russia is trying to overthrow.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">So, Putin might indeed view and present this as a conflict between the US and Russia for zones of influence, denying the right of self determination of smaller countries, but, fundamentally, for the reasons stated above, it is not. And indeed, if you read Putin’s own statements, this is an attempt to ‘reunify’ historically Russian lands, as he sees it. </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">Russian expansionism was enabled by strong economic engagement by the West, the profits of which Putin used not to improve the living conditions of Russians, but to enrich himself, consolidate his power, violently suppress opposition and build up his military infrastructure. This is all very well documented.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">The West believed that economic freedom and engagement with autocratic regimes would gradually lead to greater political freedoms and democracy. Given the history of the last two decades and in particular what is going on right now, it has become apparent the West was wrong in this assumption and we are now watching a major shift in policy.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">Putin's propaganda paints the West as evil and hateful towards Russians. Granted, there are bad feelings from ex-soviet republics, who suffered tremendously under Soviet rule. But most Westerners genuinely want Russians to do well and be part of the international community.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">There are still a lot of bad feelings for Germany as well, perhaps even more so than for Russia, but it cannot be denied that today’s democratic Germany is an integral part and equal partner of the international community.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">Putin denies this future to the Russian people.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">The final piece of the puzzle for me is that the USA, at least in recent history and despite the hawkish language, has not threatened the world with nuclear holocaust. Which the Kremlin is doing. Right now.</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial;">Anyone who, at any time and for any reason, suggests, either implicitly or explicitly, that mutual nuclear annihilation is a reasonable strategy, is by definition a psychopath.</span></div></div>HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-76980075384021863682022-03-02T10:29:00.009+00:002022-03-28T23:14:44.898+01:00Countering Putin's propaganda<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #446666;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: 700; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;">Countering Russian propaganda</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: #446666;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #446666;"><a href="http://prod-upp-image-read.ft.com/76f23bbc-c571-11e3-a7d4-00144feabdc0" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="143" src="http://prod-upp-image-read.ft.com/76f23bbc-c571-11e3-a7d4-00144feabdc0" width="253" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: #446666;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: 700; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b4c203cc-7fff-6f7c-ae3d-e88854e5dbab"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Sources and references at the bottom of the article]</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part 1: Russian and Western statehood</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On paper, the 1993 Russian constitution declares that “Russia is a democratic, federative, law-based state with a republican form of government”. In practice, checks and balances between the different branches of government are close to non-existent and Putin, as president-for-life, practically rules without opposition. The state has almost absolute control over the media, journalists who express contrarian opinions are intimidated, jailed or murdered, political opponents are poisoned and/or jailed. Transparency International ranks Russia as one of the most corrupt countries in the world and the Democracy Index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) lists it as an authoritarian regime.</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In contrast, the overwhelming majority of Western countries score highly on both of those lists and the corresponding media landscape is a bubbling pot of diverse ideas and narratives where social and political debate is heated and intense. Demonstrations, which can get violent, take place often to protest government policies and politicians are often called to account and are voted out of office as a direct result of their decisions. There are some in the West that find such intense disputes in the public sphere disagreeable and want to grant greater authority to the state, but they remain a tiny minority.</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All of the above is of fundamental importance when we come to assess the relative veracity of competing narratives and something we must always keep in the back of our minds while we address each of the claims below.</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part 2: The Russian claims</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most of the Russian propaganda claims rely on very specific interpretations of historical events that took place 20 or more years ago, including some more recent ones, and there have since been extensive historical studies by international scholars that have significantly enriched our knowledge of those events in the intervening years until today. In many cases it has been long enough that we have witnessed and can assess their aftermath.</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let’s look at some of the most common claims.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br /></span></span></p><ol style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NATO’s expansion poses a risk to Russian security.</span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO never made a serious effort to bring Russia in. This has by now been acknowledged as a mistake. The 90s saw an increased drive for political self-determination in many post-soviet republics who sought to join NATO as a guarantor of political stability. In 1997 NATO and Russia signed the "Founding Act" on mutual relations, cooperation, and security, and the NATO-Russia Council was founded in 2002, both of which were intended to boost cooperation. Moscow received access and a permanent presence at NATO headquarters in Brussels. In 2010, after the Russian military intervention in Georgia, NATO continued to maintain that it poses no threat to Russia and called for a "true strategic partnership" between the two sides. NATO stresses at every opportunity that it is fundamentally a defensive alliance and its purpose is to protect its member states. Its enlargement is not directed against Russia because every sovereign nation has the right to choose its own security arrangements. This is a fundamental principle of European security, one that Russia has also subscribed to (in 2002 Putin himself stated that “Every country has the right to choose the way it ensures its security).</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><ol start="2" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The influence of the West is slowly decaying and this is why it has sought to start a new Cold War.</span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are often heated debates in Western democracies about a range of socio-political issues which include the rights of minorities, such as LGBT+ rights. Such heated debates are the lifeblood of democracies and it is how social institutions make progress.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These are perceived as signs of moral degradation by Russia that will inevitably lead to intense social discord and the eventual economic and political collapse of the West. There are no convincing signs to support the narrative that the West has been seeking a new cold war. This is evidenced by the economic and social ties that Western countries have actively sought to establish with the rest of the world, which have led to tremendous economic growth, primarily outside the West, often at the cost of (more expensive) domestic jobs, a fact which has contributed to the gradual thinning of the middle-class and rising social tensions. The West remains influential and technologically innovative but it does need to deal with rising economic and social inequality. While the stars of China and India are indeed rising, it is too early to tell whether what is going on in the West is evidence of an inevitable decline or a gradual transformation to peacefully accommodate a transition to a more pluralistic world.</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><ol start="3" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most local elites in post-soviet nations don’t have the historical or cultural experience of state-building and should not align themselves with the West but should instead join Russia.</span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is patently false, evidenced by the tremendous economic and social strides post-soviet countries within the EU have made in the intervening years. </span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><ol start="4" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After the first wave of NATO expansions in the 90s that followed the collapse of communism, the West tore apart what was left of Yugoslavia.</span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yugoslavia broke apart because it was a tenuous union of mixed ethnic groups with different national goals.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Socialist Yugoslavia was a federation of six republics bringing together Serbs, Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Albanians, Slovenes and others under a comparatively relaxed communist regime. Tensions between these groups, dating back to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, were successfully suppressed under the leadership of Tito. After Tito’s death in 1980 ethnic tensions began to resurface reaching a boiling point In the 90s. Calls for autonomy and rising nationalism led to intense fighting between different ethnic groups, with war crimes committed by all sides. UN peacekeepers were brought in to quell the fighting but failed miserably. The Serbian government (a close Russian ally), under the leadership of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slobodan_Milo%C5%A1evi%C4%87" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Slobodan Milošević</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, was the strongest actor in this conflict and aspired to establish a Greater Serbia. The Srebrenica massacre of 1995 was the first European crime to be formally classified as genocidal in character since World War II. Continued international efforts to stop the war failed, the UN was humiliated and many tens of thousands died. After issuing multiple warnings against Serbia and with thousands of refugees flooding European nations, NATO commenced air strikes against Serbian military positions in 1999. The NATO air campaign also targeted Serbian government buildings and the country’s infrastructure in an effort to destabilize Milosevic, until on June 10th 1999 a peace agreement was signed and the bombings stopped.</span></span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><ol start="5" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ukraine is not an independent nation but a political entity created by Lenin which later expanded westward under Stalin.</span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The notion that Ukraine is not a country but a historical part of Russia, seems to be deeply ingrained in the minds of many in the Russian leadership. Aside from its cultural proximity, Ukraine’s sentimental and spiritual appeal to many Russians derives from the fact that the Kievan Rus’ – a medieval state that came into existence in the 9</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> century and was centered around present-day Kiev – is regarded as a joint ancestral homeland that laid the foundations for both modern Russia and Ukraine. But from the time of its foundation to its conquest by the Mongols in the 13</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> century, the Rus’ was an increasingly fragmented federation of principalities. Its south-western territories, including Kiev, were conquered by Poland and Lithuania in the early 14</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> century. For roughly four hundred years, these territories, encompassing most of present-day Ukraine, were formally ruled by Poland-Lithuania, which left a deep cultural imprint on them. During these four centuries, the Orthodox East Slavic population of these lands gradually developed an identity distinct from that of the East Slavs remaining in the territories under Mongol and later Muscovite rule. A distinct Ukrainian language had already begun to emerge in the dying days of the Kievan Rus’. Following the incorporation of present-day Ukraine into Poland-Lithuania, the Ukrainian language evolved in relative isolation from the Russian language. At the same time, religious divisions developed within Eastern Orthodoxy. From the mid-15</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to the late 17</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> centuries, the Orthodox Churches in Moscow and in Kiev developed as separate entities, initiating a division that eventually resurfaced in </span><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46768270" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">later</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> schisms. In the Ukrainian independence referendum of 1991, despite continued Russian pressure, an overwhelming majority of 92.3% of voters approved the declaration of independence. On December 2nd 1991, the then President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, recognized Ukraine as an independent nation.</span></span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><ol start="6" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ukraine needs to “denazify”. </span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As is the case with many other countries, there are indeed far-right leaning groups operating in Ukraine (Azov, Svoboda, Right Sector and others), but not nearly enough to constitute a clear and present Nazi threat. A 2018 Pew research poll found Ukraine to be the most accepting of Jews among all Central and Eastern European countries. Jewish agencies also report that Jews in Ukraine generally do not face acts of violence. A coalition of far-right parties in Ukraine won only 2.3 percent of the vote in 2019 and failed to get into parliament, while Ukraine’s current President (Volodymyr Zelensky) is a Jew who lost family in the Holocaust.</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><ol start="7" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ethnic Russians in Ukraine have been “subjected to abuse and genocide for eight years”.</span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Putin is misappropriating the term genocide to justify invading Ukraine. Since the conflict in the Donbas region began eight years ago, Russian-backed rebel separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian government and more than 13,000 people have been killed, including over 3,000 civilians. Many more have been injured, with 1.5 million people displaced. Independent reports confirm that pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian separatist forces have committed human rights violations, ranging from arbitrary detention to torture.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While concerning, these abuses have been limited. And the violence doesn’t remotely resemble genocide, as defined by Lemkin and the UN convention. Russian ambassadors have circulated a document at the UN claiming Ukraine is “exterminating the civilian population” in Donbas. Russian representatives have also spoken of mass killings of people in eastern Ukraine who speak Russian. But these Russian claims have been found by a number of observers to be baseless and even fabricated, serving only to justify a military intervention. Russia has made these kinds of claims before. It sought to justify its invasion of Georgia in 2008 and annexation of Crimea in 2014 by framing them as humanitarian interventions. If Russia truly believed genocide is taking place in Donbas, it could have made its case in a more formal and less violent way. Russia could have shared evidence with different UN bodies, including the UN Office on Genocide Prevention, and petitioned for an investigation. Military intervention to prevent atrocity crimes – which include genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing – only gains a degree of legitimacy if clear evidence has been provided to the international community. It’s also necessary to collaborate with other countries at the UN or other global or regional multilateral actors. Russia has not done this. Given Russia’s lack of evidence of atrocity crimes and its failure to engage with other world powers, Russian use of military force in Ukraine cannot be characterized as a humanitarian intervention to prevent genocide. It is an invasion.</span></p><ol start="8" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“What about” the wars in Kosovo, Iraq, Syria, etc…</span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Whataboutism”, a logical fallacy, is something you will undoubtedly encounter everywhere on social media these days. You do not have to address it, since it is a logical fallacy that distracts from the question at hand (the invasion of Ukraine). This doesn’t of course mean that any of the topics raised are not worth discussing. It’s just that this is not the most opportune time to discuss them. Each individual case merits its own detailed analysis and, more often than not, disentangling historical threads and interpreting political motivations is rather complicated and time-consuming.</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><ol start="9" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Where were the demonstrations in the West when” … Iraq, Palestine, etc …</span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Demonstrations are an integral part of the political landscape in the West. They happen often and they are not always peaceful. In fact, some of the largest demonstrations ever in the West were those opposing the War in Iraq, gathering millions of people. So yes, there were demonstrations in the West when.</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><ol start="10" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The West cares only about white, Christian people” …</span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some European countries implemented very strict border controls during the refugee crisis of the mid-2010s (most asylum-seekers were escaping Syria and Afghanistan), but such positions came with political costs. In reality, the majority of EU countries, to a greater or lesser extent, opened their borders to accept refugees. However, the day-to-day conditions experienced by many refugees still leave a lot to be desired and much more can and should be done. The country with the highest number of refugees in the EU is Germany which, as of 2020, hosts some 1.2 million refugees, 243,200 asylum seekers and 26,700 stateless persons.</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part 3: What now?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It has by now been amply demonstrated that over the past couple of decades Russia has been employing a range of “divide-and-rule” tactics, using a broad range of modern tools and techniques to exert political influence and undermine the EU and NATO. While similar attempts to exert political influence in the international scene are employed by every country in the world (including Ukraine), the scale and intensity of such attacks by Russian state actors have no parallel in recent history. The Putin doctrine explicitly calls for establishing a Greater Russia by incorporating (annexing) former Soviet republics and/or establishing pro-Russian puppet governments.</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In response to these tactics, the West has primarily used established diplomatic channels to register complaints while establishing and maintaining trade deals with Russia in the hope that the resulting economic benefits would lead to gradual democratization. Unfortunately, and this has been fairly consistent, the monetary benefits of these deals have not been used to raise the standard of living of the Russian people but to further entrench the Putin regime and the Russian oligarchs supporting it, to enhance Russian military capabilities and to intensify the propaganda war demonizing the West.</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Putin’s control of the narrative in Russia has been going on for so long and the propaganda has seeped in so deep that it is now practically impossible for dissenting Russians to challenge it from within effectively. The protests that are currently cropping up like mushrooms all over Russia are necessary to show that the Emperor has no clothes but unlikely to gather enough momentum to bring about changes in policy. So it is unrealistic to expect that he will be deposed from within. At the same time, he is an unpredictable actor sitting on one of the worlds largest nuclear arsenals, so the West should be very cautious about cornering him. Attempting to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine would be a strategic mistake at this point, even if such a thing were possible. </span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nonetheless, a strong and persistent reaction is called for that will force Putin to realize that not only should he not expect to gain anything with his belligerent behavior, but that he now stands at a red line. And should this line be crossed, all bets are off. He should not be appeased because this will only create further problems in the future. As long as Putin remains uncompromisingly in power, Russia should remain isolated but not threatened, sanctions should hold while economic deals and partnerships with Russia will dwindle and gradually wither. Europe will accelerate its program to become independent from Russian energy and, unfortunately but necessarily, its armies will have to be upgraded and modernized. The threat of Putin’s imperialist ambitions has finally been acknowledged.</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part 4: The future?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What follows is what I think would constitute a ‘good’ scenario. Assuming the current situation somehow deescalates and does not spread outside the war in Ukraine, a period of uneasy stability will probably follow. Europe has now been put on alert and it is likely that caution and military spending will be maintained at higher levels than before, at least while Putin remains in power. Diplomatic negotiations with Russia will resume but with a renewed understanding of the limits of either side, leaving little room for maneuvering. Energy independence now seems like a one way road for Europe, but it will be a difficult and costly process that will chip away at some of the comforts Europeans are used to living with. This could provide further fuel to rising social tensions which populists might try to exploit to bring about political unrest. The EU must coordinate to address and alleviate these tensions before they get out of hand. Among other things, this requires outlining a clear path forward for the block and a renewed commitment to international principles. </span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the event that a reformist government, friendlier to the West, comes to power in Moscow, the opportunity should be used to gradually thaw the relationship and build stronger ties. If the Russian reforms are seen to be working and perceived levels of corruption decrease over the years, with the Russian population reaping the benefits, the possibility that Russia joins the EU and NATO should not be off the table. Student exchange programs and co-funded cooperative ventures should be established. The only way to overcome old enmities is to agree on the necessary steps that will lead to building a future together that will be of benefit to both parties. While all this is taking place, the EU and other countries must use the opportunity to broker (perhaps through the UN) a commitment to a substantial reduction of the US and Russian nuclear arsenals, with a longer plan to phase them out altogether. That would be a start.</span></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sources and references:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_Russia" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_Russia</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2020/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2020/</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2020/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2020/</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-019-0227-8" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-019-0227-8</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://medium.com/@romangerodimos/russia-is-attacking-western-liberal-democracies-4371ff38b407" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://medium.com/@romangerodimos/russia-is-attacking-western-liberal-democracies-4371ff38b407</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.rt.com/russia/550271-putin-doctrine-foreign-policy/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.rt.com/russia/550271-putin-doctrine-foreign-policy/</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29658.Postwar" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29658.Postwar</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/308060.The_Age_of_Extremes" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/308060.The_Age_of_Extremes</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/87923.The_Balkans" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/87923.The_Balkans</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/278216.The_Balkans" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/278216.The_Balkans</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1117917.Europe" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1117917.Europe</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/putins-claims-that-ukraine-is-committing-genocide-are-baseless-but-not-unprecedented-177511" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://theconversation.com/putins-claims-that-ukraine-is-committing-genocide-are-baseless-but-not-unprecedented-177511</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Whataboutism" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Whataboutism</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/nato-why-russia-has-a-problem-with-its-eastward-expansion/a-60891681" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.dw.com/en/nato-why-russia-has-a-problem-with-its-eastward-expansion/a-60891681</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_111767.htm" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_111767.htm</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-12-19/russia-feels-threatened-by-nato-theres-history-behind-that" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-12-19/russia-feels-threatened-by-nato-theres-history-behind-that</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/yugoslavia-1918-birth-of-a-dead-state/a-46538595" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.dw.com/en/yugoslavia-1918-birth-of-a-dead-state/a-46538595</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/82861.Safe_Area_Gora_de" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/82861.Safe_Area_Gora_de</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Srebrenica-massacre/Aftermath" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.britannica.com/event/Srebrenica-massacre/Aftermath</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nato-bombs-yugoslavia" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nato-bombs-yugoslavia</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lseih/2020/07/01/there-is-no-ukraine-fact-checking-the-kremlins-version-of-ukrainian-history/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lseih/2020/07/01/there-is-no-ukraine-fact-checking-the-kremlins-version-of-ukrainian-history/</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/a-historian-corrects-misunderstandings-about-ukrainian-and-russian-history-177697" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://theconversation.com/a-historian-corrects-misunderstandings-about-ukrainian-and-russian-history-177697</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/28/most-poles-accept-jews-as-fellow-citizens-and-neighbors-but-a-minority-do-not/ft_18-03-26_polandholocaustlaws_map/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/28/most-poles-accept-jews-as-fellow-citizens-and-neighbors-but-a-minority-do-not/ft_18-03-26_polandholocaustlaws_map/</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/25/vladimir-putin-ukraine-attack-antisemitism-denazify" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/25/vladimir-putin-ukraine-attack-antisemitism-denazify</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/.premium-the-far-right-just-got-humiliated-in-ukraine-s-election-but-don-t-write-it-off-1.7563138" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/.premium-the-far-right-just-got-humiliated-in-ukraine-s-election-but-don-t-write-it-off-1.7563138</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/feb/25/vladimir-putin/putin-repeats-long-running-claim-genocide-ukraine/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/feb/25/vladimir-putin/putin-repeats-long-running-claim-genocide-ukraine/</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://world.time.com/2013/02/15/viewpoint-why-was-the-biggest-protest-in-world-history-ignored/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://world.time.com/2013/02/15/viewpoint-why-was-the-biggest-protest-in-world-history-ignored/</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #446666;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/22/thousands-gather-in-london-for-palestine-solidarity-march#:~:text=Speeches%20were%20made%20by%20Labour,Palestine%20demonstration%20in%20British%20history" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/22/thousands-gather-in-london-for-palestine-solidarity-march#:~:text=Speeches%20were%20made%20by%20Labour,Palestine%20demonstration%20in%20British%20history</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/download/?url=2bdB96" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/download/?url=2bdB96</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-do-vladimir-putins-justifications-for-going-to-war-against-ukraine-add-up/a-60917168" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-do-vladimir-putins-justifications-for-going-to-war-against-ukraine-add-up/a-60917168</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/download/?url=D0j06d" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #446666; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/download/?url=D0j06d</span></a></p><span style="background-color: #446666;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><br /></span>HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-26871117017342008032021-08-13T11:53:00.011+01:002021-08-13T12:02:20.389+01:00 "Oh mother, my mother (lamentation)"<span id="docs-internal-guid-646c5c22-7fff-278a-9a45-f2b83c1ee349"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial;">This lament is based on a traditional Lebanese Good Friday hymn (Wa Habibi/Beloved). The melody follows a Byzantine theme and the singer's trills and guttural pulsations will probably sound dissonant to classically-trained ears.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #0d72a5; font-family: Arial;">
</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AP4c8bz-lQM" width="320" youtube-src-id="AP4c8bz-lQM"></iframe></div><br /><span style="color: #0d72a5; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial;">Here's my rendition of the lyrics in English:</span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">Oh mother, my mother</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">my path was sown</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">with bitterness and absinthe</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">Oh mother, my mother</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">my days of youth gave way</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">under the weight of swords.</span></i></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></i></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">Oh heaven, my heaven</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">send me water</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">to soak the desert</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">so that a soothing flower </span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">may bloom</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">from my airy frame</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">Oh mother, my mother</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">bring me Spring</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">upon the cross.</span></i></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></i></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">Oh mother, my mother</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">my sun-drenched day </span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">when will I find you.</span></i></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></i></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">Oh heaven, my heaven</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">dissolve these darkened clouds </span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">so that I may cross the frontier</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">and on one evening</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">upon the mountains</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">to raise the call</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">Oh mother, my mother</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">in my hands today</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">the nails burn so.</span></i></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></i></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">Oh heaven, my heaven</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">send me water</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">to soak the desert</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">so that a soothing flower </span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">may bloom</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">from my airy frame</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">Oh mother, my mother</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">bring me your Sun</span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: white;">upon the cross.</span></i></span></p><div><span style="color: #0d72a5; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #0d72a5; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-85929503963612495422020-10-25T10:41:00.000+00:002020-10-25T10:41:22.167+00:00Islam and the Future of Tolerance“<a href="https://islamandthefutureoftolerance.com/">Islam and the future of tolerance</a>” is a book, audiobook and film, based on the
homonymous discussion between Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz that took place at the
<a href="https://iop.harvard.edu/">Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics</a> in 2015. Sam Harris is a well
known author, philosopher and neuroscientist, Maajid Nawaz a former extremist
turned political activist and founder of the <a href="https://www.quilliaminternational.com/">Quilliam foundation</a>, the world's
first counter-extremism think-tank. The discussion is honest, nuanced and
extremely well informed, given the particular areas of expertise of the
interlocutors. Following their original dialogue, Harris and Nawaz remained in
contact and expanded on the topics raised to further clarify their respective
points, making notes along the way. The result of this effort is arguably one of
the most informative, genuine and clear-sighted discussions you are likely to
find on this topic. <div><br /></div><div>Film: </div><div>https://islamandthefutureoftolerance.com/ </div><div><br /></div><div>Paperback: </div><div>https://www.amazon.com/Islam-Future-Tolerance-Sam-Harris/dp/0674088700 </div><div><br /></div><div>Audiobook: </div><div>https://www.amazon.com/Islam-and-Future-of-Tolerance-audiobook/dp/B019711Z88 </div><div><br /></div><div>First discussion (2015): </div><div>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWclm4Bi4UM
</div>HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-49231563093922240712020-08-24T20:45:00.005+01:002020-08-24T20:45:49.364+01:00Roger & Brian Eno – Blonde<p> <iframe width="420" height="236" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/th-LZcDExOE" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /></p>HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-84668979424277427812019-07-03T11:13:00.000+01:002019-07-03T11:16:16.542+01:00Mister Sandman bring me a Dream<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" is coming to Netflix. This is a massively difficult undertaking given the experimental, non-linear, broken-up, dream-like structure of the source material and the fluctuating nature of the main character, Morpheus, the lord of Dreams. Adapting it for the screen is fraught with dangers.</div>
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At its core, it is a story about stories and their power. It deals with dreams and nightmares, wonders and horrors, myths, legends and reality. It takes a deep uncritical dive into the darkest recesses of the human subconscious but doesn't lose sight of the potentially redeeming qualities of human nature. It takes place in the present, the past and the future. It is about motivations, life choices and consequences. It is a study of broken things and of how, even when put back together, they will never be the same. It explores impermanence and loss with remarkable honesty and on a very personal level.</div>
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"The Sandman" can be complicated and confusing at times and it is certainly not for everyone. It packs far too many influences and molds them anew, creating a complex interweaving tapestry of stories that are all aspects of the one main story.</div>
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It flows very much like a dream and, at times, a nightmare.</div>
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HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-41119298312824207742019-05-17T14:15:00.002+01:002019-05-17T14:16:44.952+01:00Bohr, Oppenheimer, Einstein.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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During WWII Bohr tried to convince Roosevelt and Churchill to work together with the Soviets in the Manhattan project to speed up the results. He tried to argue that it was extremely dangerous to have separate development of nuclear weapons by several powers rather than some form of controlled sharing of the knowledge. Churchill would not hear of it. In 1944 the allies learned that germans had no atomic weapons and Bohr hoped then that greater atomic armament could be prevented by new international agreements, before the weapons could be used in war. He also hoped that new contacts could be established between Western and Russian nuclear scientists, as signs of cooperation between the soon-to-be victorious powers in the war. Both Roosevelt and Churchill did not think so. In June 1950 he addressed an "Open Letter" to the United Nations calling for international cooperation on nuclear energy.</div>
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Oppenheimer is often called the ‘father of the atomic bomb’. After the war he was chief advisor to the Atomic Energy Commission and used that position to lobby for international control of nuclear power to avert nuclear proliferation and an arms race with the Soviet Union. After provoking the ire of many politicians with his outspoken opinions he had his security clearance revoked in a much-publicised hearing in 1954, and was effectively stripped of his direct political influence; In a TV broadcast in 1965, he said this about the Trinity nuclear test, the first ever nuclear test in New Mexico: “We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.”</div>
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Einstein was a known pacifist. He hated armies. Yet he supported the Manhattan project. In a letter he sent to Roosevelt he wrote that there is the possibility that German scientists might win the race to build an atomic bomb, and warned him that Hitler would be more than willing to resort to such a weapon. He recommended that the US become directly involved in Uranium research – this led to the Manhattan project. In a letter to a friend one year before he died he wrote: "I made one great mistake in my life — when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was some justification — the danger that the Germans would make them”. In 1945 he realised that an atomic arms race might begin and wrote another letter to Roosevelt enclosing a warning against using the A-bomb. The letter was still unopened on Roosevelt's desk when he died. Einstein was chairman of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists, set up in 1946; its aims were to educate the public about the dangers of atomic warfare, to promote the benign use of atomic energy, and to work for the abolition of war. Not afraid of swimming against the tide, he tried hard to create links with the Soviet Union and to prevent the escalation of the Cold War.</div>
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HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-9468727217479736802019-05-16T10:23:00.000+01:002019-05-16T10:27:14.522+01:00Can a democracy change its mind? (The Mytilenean debate)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The place is Athens, the year 428 B.C. The war between Sparta and Athens has been raging on for about three years now. Pericles, Athens’s most influential politician, died the previous year in the plague that swept the city. The city is in disarray.</div>
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More disturbing news: one of the city’s closest allies and member of the Delian League (something like an ancient NATO), Mytilene, has decided to secede and side with Sparta. The Spartans have decided to help them, but the powerful Athenian navy, which has control of the seas, manages to capture Mytilene with the support of the local pro-Athenian faction.<br />The Athenian general contacts Athens: What shall we do with Mytilene?</div>
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The Athenians assemble to discuss this. The opinion of Cleon, a strident populist, expertly exploits Athenian anxieties and feelings of betrayal and ends up dominating in the debate: Mytilenians must die.</div>
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A ship is dispatched to Mytilene to deliver the orders. While the ship is on its way, Athenians strongly opposed to this decision demand a new debate, which is approved.</div>
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In this second debate, Cleon is furious and accuses Athenians of being victims of their own pleasure of endless debates in political matters. He urges the population to uphold the decision and not to be traitors to themselves: a decision has been made and we should stick to it.</div>
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Diodotus speaks next in support of the opposing view, arguing that haste and anger are the two greatest obstacles to wise counsel. Using Cleon’s arguments against him, he reframes the question: it is not about Mytilene’s guilt or whether it is right for Athens to seek vengeance, but about what is in Athens’s best interests. Would the proposed death penalty deter a potential future revolt and support the efforts of the Mytilenean pro-Athenian faction or would it further alienate Mytilenians?</div>
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At the end of the second debate, Diodorus’s rational arguments have swayed the opinion of the assembly towards sparing the general population of Mytilene and executing only the leaders of the revolt. A second ship is dispatched to deliver the new decision and annul the first one. Perhaps because the first ship was in no rush to deliver such grave news, the second ship arrives first and the Mytileneans are spared.</div>
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source: Thucydides, "History of the Peloponnesian War", book 3</div>
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HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-65697766344806784672017-12-29T14:31:00.000+00:002017-12-29T14:31:21.878+00:00Conversations with a 5 year old - Trains and death<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We’re at the train station of a former DDR town with time to spare before our connection arrives. A few steps outside the fence gate stands a black-varnished antique steam locomotive, built in the 1920’s, according to an inbuilt inscription. The last time it moved people from here to there was in the 60s’. It was then retired and placed on a pedestal to remind passers-by of the remarkable strides of technology since the dawning of the industrial revolution. My son likes trains so we naturally gravitate towards this fossil of a not so distant era.<br />
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- Dad, is this an old train?<br />
- Yup.<br />
- How old?<br />
- It says here it’s about 100 years old.<br />
I know he gets that. Anything above is just ‘hundreds and hundreds’.<br />
He’s clearly impressed so I press on, “and you want to know something cool? This train can move without electricity. See this door?” I point to the front of the boiler; “You can put wood in there and make a fire. This train also had a lot of water in it and it boiled when you made a fire. Hot steam then came out and made these things move”, I show him the pistons, ”can you see where they are connected?”<br />
- The wheels!<br />
- Yup, they push the wheels and make them go round, so the train moves.<br />
- Cooool. and can it go very, very fast?<br />
- Not very fast. The ICE is much faster. This train is quite old and we don’t use it anymore.<br />
He takes a good look at the train.<br />
- And what will happen to it when it is older?<br />
- Well, it will probably stay here for some years and then it will be gone.<br />
- Why will it be gone?<br />
- Because things don’t stay forever as they are, they change. See these houses? A long time from now they will be gone too, and maybe other new houses will be there.<br />
- Our house too?<br />
- Yup, our house too, but not for a long time.<br />
- And you and mama too?<br />
- Yup, mama and I too.<br />
- And Mina (his sister) and I too?<br />
- Yes, you too, but not for a very long time. Nothing lasts forever but it’s not something to worry about because you will have all the time in the world to play with your friends and laugh and make new cool things and have lots and lots of fun!<br />
- Why?<br />
- Well, you see, everything is made up of these really tiny lego blocks. They're not really lego blocks, but they are very similar. We call them atoms. This train here, touch it, it’s hard right? It’s made up of special lego blocks that are quite hard when put together. They are called metals. Now touch my hand, it’s soft, right? These are a different special type of lego block and you can put many of them together and they make up all living things, like me and you and animals and trees and so on.<br />
- And houses?<br />
- Nope, houses are not alive. They don’t eat and drink, and they don’t do kaka and pipi.<br />
The laughter eventually subsides.<br />
- And you see, what happens with all things when they are very, very old, the lego blocks that make them up are taken apart and something new can be built. So maybe some of the lego blocks that now make up papa or mama or Albert will be used to make a cool new flower or a tree or another person or something else. Like when you take your lego spaceship apart and build something else with the bricks.<br />
- And what happens then?<br />
My partner now picks up the baton,<br />
- Well, in the end we all go back to the stars. That’s where all the lego blocks come from. And that’s pretty cool isn’t it?<br />
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And there’s that smile again.</div>
HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-50773093773931077752017-08-29T09:21:00.000+01:002017-08-29T09:21:36.288+01:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Trippy history of the world.</div>
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HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-73758899552040432632017-02-06T00:37:00.001+00:002017-02-06T00:39:13.150+00:00The immersive realism of Studio Ghibli<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A beautifully presented video-essay on immersive realism in animation.
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HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-58902516577986911652017-02-04T07:53:00.001+00:002017-02-06T15:09:36.639+00:00Κλιματική αλλαγή<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Επειδή διαβάζω διάφορα ευτράπελα για το θέμα της κλιματικής αλλαγής, και καθώς το θέμα εφάπτεται του τομέα μου, επιτρέψτε μου να επισημάνω κάποια πράγματα.<br />
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Είναι πολλά τα στοιχεία που αποδεικνύουν επαρκώς οτι είναι ανθρώπινα τα αίτια της κλιματικής αλλαγής. Η κύρια αιτία είναι η αύξηση των εκπομπών των αερίων του θερμοκηπίου, όπως το CO2 (κατα ποσοστό 70%) και το μεθάνιο. Απο επιστημονικής άποψης η διαδικασία του φαινομένου του θερμοκηπίου είναι πλήρως κατανοητή. Ας πάρουμε για παράδειγμα την Αφροδίτη, η ατμόσφαιρα της οποίας αποτελείται κατα 96.5% απο CO2. Η μέση θερμοκρασία στην επιφάνειά της είναι περίπου 462 βαθμοί Κελσίου. Για σύγκριση, ο Ερμής, ο οποίος έχει πολύ λεπτή ατμόσφαιρα (χωρίς CO2) και ‘ψήνεται’ πολύ πιο κοντά στον Ήλιο, έχει μέση θερμοκρασία επιφάνειας 427 βαθμούς Κελσίου.<br />
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Ένας άλλος λανθασμένος ισχυρισμός που επαναλαμβάνουν αρκετοί δημοσιογράφοι και διαδυκτιακοί ειδήμονες είναι ότι οι διακυμάνσεις της θερμοκρασίας της Γής προέρχονται απο φυσικές διακυμάνσεις της ισχύος της Ηλιακής ακτινοβολίας. Αυτή η υπόθεση έχει μελετηθεί απο πολλούς επιστήμονες και αποδείχθηκε λάθος. Αντιθέτως μάλιστα, ενώ η ισχύς της Ηλιακής ακτινοβολίας έχει μειωθεί απο το 1980, οι θερμοκρασίες στη Γή συνεχίζουν να αυξάνονται.<br />
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Επίσης λανθασμένος ισχυρισμός είναι οτι τα κλιματικά μοντέλα έχουν μικρή σχέση με την πραγματικότητα. Γνωρίζω ανθρώπους στον τομέα μελέτης κλίματος της NASA που εργάζονται σε αυτά τα μοντέλα (για τη Γή αλλά και για άλλους πλανήτες) και έχω μια αρκετά προχωρημένη κατανόηση των φυσικών διεργασιών που προσομοιώνουν τα μοντέλα αυτά. Τα μοντέλα ενημερώνονται με τα πιό πρόσφατα δεδομένα και μπορούν να αναπαράγουν ιστορικές μετρήσεις. Όσα μοντέλα δέν μπορούν να αναπαράγουν ιστορικές μετρήσεις απορρίπτονται και παύουν να χρησιμοποιούνται.<br />
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Η συντριπτική πλειοψηφία των επιστημόνων (σε ποσοστό 97%) που μελετούν τις κλιματικές διακυμάνσεις και που έχουν εξετάσει ενδελεχώς τα δεδομένα συμφωνούν ότι η κλιματική αλλαγή είναι ένα σοβαρότατο πρόβλημα που οφείλεται κυρίως στον ανθρώπινο παράγοντα.<br />
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<b>Κλιματική αλλαγή – Επιμύθιο (Mέρος Ά)</b><br />
Μεσημεριανό με συνάδελφους αστροφυσικούς απο όλα τα μήκη και τα πλάτη της υδρόγειου στην Πανεπιστημιακή καντίνα. Βραστή πατάτα, ρεβυθόσουπα και τρία μαρουλόφυλλα.<br />
- 'Παιδιά', λέω, 'ένα γρήγορο γκάλοπ. Πόσοι απο εσάς νομίζουν ότι είναι κυρίως οι ανθρώπινοι παράγοντες που ευθύνονται για την κλιματική αλλαγή;' Μασάω το μαρούλι.<br />
Με κοιτάνε καλά-καλά.<br />
- 'Όχι, σοβαρά το ρωτάω.'<br />
Οκτώ στους δέκα σηκώνουν το χέρι, δύο συνεχίζουν να τρώνε.<br />
-'ΟΚ, ευχαριστώ. Εσείς για ποιούς λόγους δεν το πιστεύετε;' λέω απευθυνόμενος στους δύο.<br />
Ο ένας αρχίζει να γελάει – 'Μα έλα τώρα... ποιός σοβαρός άνθρωπος δεν το πιστεύει;'<br />
Ο δεύτερος -'Δεν τίθεται ερώτημα εάν πιστεύεις ένα γεγονός ή όχι.´ <br />
'Στην Ελλάδα', τους λέω, ' τίθεται και παρατίθεται.´<br />
Με κοιτάνε πάλι καλά-καλά σα να μή με πιστεύουν.<br />
'Καί στην Αμερική', συμπληρώνω.<br />
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<b>Κλιματική αλλαγή - Επιμύθιο (Mέρος Β')</b><br />
Ο ένας εκ των δύο σχολιαστών στην παρακάτω εικόνα είναι Έλληνας κλιματολόγος. Είναι της άποψης ότι για την κλιματική μεταβολή ευθύνεται ο Ήλιος. Άποψη που έρχεται σε αντίθεση με ότι βλέπουμε στις μετρήσεις που δείχνει η πρώτη εικόνα παραπάνω.
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Ο σχολιαστής είναι καταρτισμένος επιστήμονας και ανήκει στο 3% των μελετητών του φαινομένου παγκοσμίως που ακόμη αμφισβητούν τα ανθρωπογενή αίτια.
Οι μετρήσεις και τα μοντέλα πάντα εμπεριέχουν ποσοστό λάθους, ειδικά όταν πρόκειται για κάτι τόσο πολύπλοκο όσο το κλίμα. Η απάντηση δέν μπορεί ποτέ λοιπόν να είναι ένα απόλυτο ΝΑΙ ή ΟΧΙ, αλλά βρίσκεται πάντα στο φάσμα μεταξύ τους. Οι επιστήμονες υπολογίζουν τις πιθανότητες λάθους ενός μοντέλου χρησιμοποιόντας στατιστικές μεθόδους. Οι πρόσφατες εκθέσεις της ανεξάρτητης Διακυβερνητικής Επιτροπής για την Αλλαγή του Κλίματος (IPCC) του ΟΗΕ συμπεραίνουν ότι:<br />
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<span style="color: #ffe599;">'</span><i><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="color: #ffe599;">Είναι εξαιρετικά πιθανό (ποσοστό βεβαιότητας 95-100%) οτι πάνω απο το μισό της παρατηρούμενης αύξησης της μέσης θερμοκρασίας επιφάνειας της Γής απο το 1951 μέχρι το 2010 ήταν λόγω ανθρώπινων παραγόντων</span><span style="color: #999999;">.</span></span></i>'<br />
(1) http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/
<br />
<br />
Δύο μεγάλες ανεξάρτητες στατιστικές αναλύσεις που δημοσιεύτηκαν το 2014 στα επιστημονικά περιοδικά Climate Dynamics και Climate Risk Management, υπολόγισαν οτι η στατιστική πιθανότητα της ανθρωπογενούς κλιματικής αλλαγής είναι μεγαλύτερη απο 99.9%.<br />
(2)http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/~gang/eprints/eprintLovejoy/neweprint/Anthro.climate.dynamics.13.3.14.pdf
<br />
(3)http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212096314000163
<br />
<br />
Επιστημονική διαμάχη δέν υφίσταται πλέον αγαπητοί φίλοι, παρά μόνο στις τηλεοράσεις και τα πολυμέσα. Η υγιής επιστημονική αμφισβήτηση βέβαια είναι θεμιτό να υπάρχει και οι έρευνες συνεχίζονται. Τα δεδομένα πάντως την σήμερον ημέραν αφήνουν πολύ μικρό περιθώριο για εναλλακτικά σενάρια και 'alternative facts'. Εν πάση περιπτώσει, οι όποιες διαφορετικές επιστημονικές γνωματεύσεις εκγυροποιπούνται μέσω δημοσιεύσεων σε επιστημονικά περιοδικά αφού περάσουν απο ομότιμη αξιολόγιση (peer review). Δεν αξιολογούνται με βάση τα like στο facebook.
</div>
HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-59008309205453618242016-06-25T20:11:00.003+01:002016-07-10T10:37:59.974+01:00Should citizens be required to pass a test to earn the right to vote?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Let me see if I can make a compelling case for such a test.<br />
<br />
Voting is a hard-earned right, but it is also a privilege. For any electoral system claiming fair representation of the will of the people, there is something disturbing about the notion that the vote of a person who strives to stay informed about current political and social issues carries the same weight as the vote of a politically apathetic person who votes for someone because their physical characteristics appeal to them or because their parents or spouse told them so. One person - one vote is truly representative when the voter has personal opinions which they can express (or not, if they choose to) in a secret ballot.<br />
<br />
So let us consider for a moment how a Voting Rights Test (VRT) might be employed to ensure a better representation of the will of the electorate. We start with the principle of one person, one vote, with the proviso that voting rights are earned upon successfully passing the VRT, irrespective of age, colour, religion, sex, creed etc. If you are 10 and successfully pass the test, congratulations, you can vote. People convicted of a felony may temporarily forfeit their right to vote, depending on the severity of the crime.<br />
<br />
How could such a test be constructed to focus on its empowering character (as with earning a driving license) and not disenfranchise anyone unnecessarily? It could use a combination of multiple choice and simple yes/no questions to evaluate the examinee’s understanding of current socio-political issues. They should rely exclusively on factual information. For example:<br />
<br />
• The UKIP supports a five-year embargo on benefits for migrants. Yes/No<br />
• The Labour Party supports joining the Euro. Yes/No<br />
• The Conservative Party supports staying in the EU. Yes/No<br />
<br />
The questions could be set and evaluated by a committee of representatives from the entire political spectrum every year (so that they reflect current socio-political reality) and would all be available (including detailed answers) online for anyone to peruse at their leisure. A random subset of these questions would feature on the actual test. The purpose of this would be to ensure that every person that goes to vote, irrespective of where they stand on the political spectrum, has at least a basic understanding of the issues involved.</div>
HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-17233715004640182652016-02-27T10:54:00.000+00:002016-02-28T19:24:09.874+00:00Τι ισχύει για τους αιτούντες ασύλου στην ΕΕ<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Το άρθρο 14-1 της Οικουμενικής Διακήρυξης των Ανθρωπίνων Δικαιωμάτων είναι σαφές "Κάθε άτομο που καταδιώκεται έχει το δικαίωμα να ζητά άσυλο και του παρέχεται άσυλο σε άλλες χώρες."<br />
<br />
Προφανώς όταν συντάχθηκε το κείμενο δέν αναμένονταν προσφυγικές ροές τέτοιας κλίμακας, κι αυτό βεβαίως αποτελεί ένα μεγάλο θέμα. Προφανώς, επίσης, πρέπει να γίνονται έλεγχοι ώστε να διαπίστωθεί η ταυτότητα του αιτούντος και άν πράγματι ικανοποιεί τα κριτήρια ώστε να προσδιοριστεί ώς πρόσφυγας.<br />
<br />
Σημειωτέον ότι "η ΕΕ υιοθέτησε τον Χάρτη των Θεμελιωδών Δικαιωμάτων το 2000 αλλά αποτελούσε απλή «διακήρυξη», υπό την έννοια ότι δεν ήταν δεσμευτικός. Όταν τέθηκε σε ισχύ η συνθήκη της Λισαβόνας, την 1η Δεκεμβρίου 2009, άλλαξε και το καθεστώς του Χάρτη των Θεμελιωδών Δικαιωμάτων της ΕΕ, ο οποίος κατέστη πλέον νομικά δεσμευτικός. Συνεπώς, τα όργανα της ΕΕ (όπως και τα κράτη μέλη) δεσμεύονται να συμμορφώνονται προς τον Χάρτη «όταν εφαρμόζουν το δίκαιο της Ένωσης» (Άρθρο 51 του Χάρτη).<br />
<br />
Παρότι το Άρθρο 18 του Χάρτη εγγυάται το δικαίωμα του ασύλου, η νομοθεσία της ΕΕ δεν προβλέπει τρόπους για τη διευκόλυνση της άφιξης των αιτούντων άσυλο.<br />
<br />
Το Άρθρο 3 παράγραφος 1 του Κανονισμού του Δουβλίνου (Κανονισμός (ΕΕ) Αριθ. 604/2013) ορίζει ότι τα κράτη μέλη της ΕΕ οφείλουν να εξετάζουν κάθε αίτημα για παροχή διεθνούς προστασίας που κατατίθεται από υπήκοο τρίτης χώρας ή από ανιθαγενή και ότι ένα τέτοιο αίτημα θα πρέπει να εξετάζεται από ένα και μόνο κράτος μέλος. Το κεκτημένο της ΕΕ όσον αφορά το άσυλο ισχύει από τη στιγμή κατά την οποία κάποιος έχει φτάσει στα σύνορα συμπεριλαμβανομένων των χωρικών υδάτων και των ζωνών διέλευσης (Άρθρο 3 παράγραφος 1 της Οδηγίας για τις Διαδικασίες Ασύλου (2013/32/ΕΕ).<br />
<br />
Οι λεπτομέρειες που αφορούν την πρόσβαση στη διαδικασία ασύλου καθορίζονται στο Άρθρο 6. Ειδικότερα, το Άρθρο 6 παράγραφος 1 προβλέπει ότι τα κράτη οφείλουν να καταχωρίζουν μια αίτηση το αργότερο εντός τριών εργάσιμων ημερών, ή εντός έξι εργάσιμων ημερών όταν η αίτηση υποβάλλεται σε αρχές άλλες από τις αρμόδιες για την καταχώρισή της.<br />
<br />
Το Άρθρο 6 παράγραφος 2 υποχρεώνει τα κράτη να διασφαλίζουν την ουσιαστική δυνατότητα των ενδιαφερομένων για κατάθεση αιτήσεως το ταχύτερο δυνατό. Οι εγγυήσεις που προβλέπονται από την οδηγία ενεργοποιούνται μέσω της πρόσβασης στις διαδικασίες και δεν ισχύουν για όσους δεν μπορούν να φτάσουν στο έδαφος, στα σύνορα ή σε ζώνη διέλευσης. "<br />
<br />
Όμως αναφέρεται επίσης το εξής-<br />
"Δυνάμει της ΕΣΔΑ, δεν προβλέπεται καθεαυτού δικαίωμα ασύλου. Ωστόσο, η απομάκρυνση ενός προσώπου, είτε στα σύνορα είτε αλλού εντός της επικράτειας ενός κράτους, η οποία μπορεί να συνεπάγεται κίνδυνο να υποβληθεί το πρόσωπο αυτό σε βασανιστήρια ή άλλη απάνθρωπη ή εξευτελιστική ποινή ή μεταχείριση, απαγορεύεται δυνάμει του Άρθρου 3 της ΕΣΔΑ. Σε ακραίες περιπτώσεις, η απομάκρυνση, η έκδοση ή η απέλαση ενδέχεται επίσης να εγείρει ζητήματα δυνάμει του Άρθρου 2 της ΕΣΔΑ, το οποίο διασφαλίζει το δικαίωμα στη ζωή."<br />
<br />
Tο δικαίωμα (αίτησης και παροχής) ασύλου αναφέρεται όπως είδαμε σε συνθήκες της ΕΕ ενώ το ζήτημά μας είναι η νομική του ερμηνεία.<br />
<br />
Βρίσκω ότι η σύγκριση με το δικαίωμα στη εργασία είναι μάλλον ατυχής καθὠς αυτό προσδιορίζεται διαφορετικά τόσο στην οικουμενική διακήρυξη δικαιωμάτων (Άρθρο 23) όσο και στο χάρτη θεμελιωδών δικαιωμάτων της ΕΕ (Άρθρο 15). Η διαφορά έγκειται στο ότι δέν αναφέρεται ότι το κράτος υποχρετούται (is not obliged) να παρέχει εργασία, σε αντίθεση με το άρθρο περί δικαίωμα ασύλου το οποίο αναφέρει συγκεκριμένα το δικαίωμα να παρέχεται άσυλο (νομικά δεσμευτικό στην ΕΕ απο τη συνθήκη της Λισαβόνας, την 1η Δεκεμβρίου 2009) σε πρόσωπο που του έχει χορηγηθεί καθεστώς πρόσφυγα ή καθεστώς επικουρικής προστασίας.<br />
<br />
Το Υπουργείο Προστασίας του Πολίτη όπως είδαμε επισημαίνει τα εξής: ‘Η Ελλάδα οφείλει να χορηγεί διεθνή προστασία (άσυλο ή επικουρική προστασία) σε όποιον τη δικαιούται σύμφωνα με τις προϋποθέσεις που ορίζει ο νόμος.’<br />
<br />
Εάν ένα κράτοςτης ΕΕ εξετάσει μιἀ αίτηση για άσυλο και διαπιστωθεί ότι ο αιτών πληρεί τις προϋποθέσεις για να κηρυχθεί πρόσφυγας αλλά το κράτος επιλέξει να μή τον δεχθεί, τότε παραβιάζει το νόμο όπως αυτός ορίζεται απο τις προαναφερθείσες συνθήκες. Απ΄όσο γνωρίζω (διορθώστε με άν κάνω λάθος) δέν προβλέπονται συγκεκριμένες κυρώσεις, αλλά κάθε υπόθεση μπορεί να εκδικαστεί ξεχωριστά. Το δικαίωμα να λαμβάνει κάποιος άσυλο στην ΕΕ είναι νομικά κατοχυρωμένο.<br />
<br />
Η María-Teresa Gil-Bazo (Senior Lecturer in Law, Newcastle Law School) στην εργασία της Asylum as a General Principle of International Law (http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/27/1/3.full) αναφέρει ότι είναι αδιαφιλονίκητο δικαίωμα των κρατών να παρέχουν άσυλο εάν θέλουν χωρίς περιορισμούς απο διεθνείς συνθήκες (με εξαίρεση την απέλαση και άλλες υποχρεώσεις που προσδιορίζονται απο διεθνείς συνθήκες), αλλά αναφέρει επίσης ότι στην ΕΕ υπάρχουν συγκεκριμένες οδηγίες (Recast Qualifications Directive (which incorporates the Refugee Convention into a legally binding instrument of EU law for EU member states)) που κατοχυρώνουν το δικαίωμα ασύλου για τους πρόσφυγες και για τους δικαιούχους επικουρικής προστασίας. Οι οδηγίες (Directives) επιβάλλουν την υποχρέωση στα κράτη μέλη να χορηγούν το καθεστώς πρόσφυγα και το καθεστώς επικουρικής προστασίας σε άτομα που πληρούν τα κριτήρια (άρθρα 13 και 18).”<br />
<br />
Η εργασία της Gil-Bazo επίσης αναφέρει ότι "In Europe, the Sofia City Administrative Court in Bulgaria asked the Court of Justice of the EU to interpret the content of the right to asylum in the case of Halaf, already mentioned.138 Following the judgment of the EU Court, the Sofia Court ruled in the national proceedings that:<br />
<br />
-the right to asylum guaranteed under article 18 of the Charter [of Fundamental Rights of the EU] and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) includes the right of every third-country national that the Member State where he has applied for asylum fulfil its obligation of achieving the purpose in article 78(1) TFEU ‘to offer appropriate status to any third-country national in need of international protection’.<br />
<br />
In the context of the European Union, asylum has been recognised as a (legally binding) general principle of EU Law resulting from the constitutional traditions of its member states. In the words of Advocate General Maduro in the Elgafaji case: ‘[the] fundamental right to asylum … follows from the general principles of Community law which, themselves, are the result of constitutional traditions common to the Member States’."<br />
<br /><u><b>Σημειώσεις -</b></u><br />
Το προεδρικό διάταγμα 141/2013 (που αποτελεί προσαρμογή της Ελληνικής νομοθεσίας ώς προς τις διατάξεις της Οδηγίας 2011/95/ΕE) προσδιορίζει την ορολογία.<br />
<br />
γ) «αιτών διεθνή προστασία» ή «αιτών άσυλο» ή «αιτών»<br />
είναι ο αλλοδαπός ή ανιθαγενής, ο οποίος δηλώνει προ−<br />
φορικώς ή εγγράφως ενώπιον οποιασδήποτε ελληνικής<br />
αρχής, στα σημεία εισόδου στην ελληνική επικράτεια<br />
ή εντός αυτής, ότι ζητά άσυλο ή επικουρική προστασία<br />
στη χώρα μας ή με οποιονδήποτε τρόπο ζητά να μην<br />
απελαθεί σε κάποια χώρα εκ φόβου δίωξης λόγω φυλής, θρησκείας, εθνικότητας, πολιτικών πεποιθήσεων ή συμμετοχής σε ιδιαίτερη κοινωνική ομάδα, σύμφωνα με<br />
τη Σύμβαση της Γενεύης ή επειδή κινδυνεύει να υποστεί<br />
σοβαρή βλάβη σύμφωνα με το άρθρο 15 του παρόντος<br />
και επί του αιτήματος του οποίου δεν έχει ληφθεί ακόμη<br />
τελεσίδικη απόφαση. Επίσης, αιτών διεθνή προστασία<br />
θεωρείται και ο αλλοδαπός, ο οποίος υπέβαλε αίτηση<br />
διεθνούς προστασίας σε άλλο κράτος μέλος της ΕΕ<br />
κατ’ εφαρμογή του Κανονισμού (ΕΚ) αριθμ. 343/2003<br />
του Συμβουλίου, για τη θέσπιση των κριτηρίων και μη−<br />
χανισμών για τον προσδιορισμό του κράτους μέλους<br />
που είναι υπεύθυνο για την εξέταση αίτησης ασύλου<br />
που υποβάλλεται σε κράτος μέλος από υπήκοο τρίτης<br />
χώρας (L 050/25.2.2003), ή σε άλλο κράτος που δεσμεύ−<br />
εται από και εφαρμόζει τον ως άνω Κανονισμό, και<br />
μεταφέρεται στην Ελλάδα βάσει των διατάξεων του<br />
ως άνω Κανονισμού,<br />
δ) «δικαιούχος διεθνούς προστασίας» είναι το πρό−<br />
σωπο στο οποίο έχει χορηγηθεί καθεστώς πρόσφυγα<br />
ή καθεστώς επικουρικής προστασίας, όπως ορίζονται<br />
στα στοιχεία στ΄ και η΄,<br />
ε) «πρόσφυγας» είναι ο αλλοδαπός ο οποίος, συνε−<br />
πεία βάσιμου φόβου δίωξης λόγω φυλής, θρησκείας,<br />
εθνικότητας, πολιτικών πεποιθήσεων ή συμμετοχής σε<br />
ιδιαίτερη κοινωνική ομάδα, βρίσκεται εκτός της χώρας<br />
της ιθαγένειάς του και δεν μπορεί ή λόγω του φόβου<br />
αυτού δεν επιθυμεί να θέσει εαυτόν υπό την προστασία<br />
της εν λόγω χώρας ή ο ανιθαγενής ο οποίος, βρισκό−<br />
μενος εκτός της χώρας της προηγούμενης συνήθους<br />
διαμονής του για τους ίδιους προαναφερθέντες λόγους,<br />
δεν μπορεί ή λόγω του φόβου αυτού δεν επιθυμεί να<br />
επιστρέψει σε αυτήν και στον οποίο δεν έχει εφαρμογή<br />
το άρθρο 12,<br />
στ) «καθεστώς πρόσφυγα» είναι η αναγνώριση από την<br />
αρμόδια ελληνική αρχή ενός αλλοδαπού ή ανιθαγενούς<br />
ως πρόσφυγα,<br />
ζ) «πρόσωπο που δικαιούται επικουρική προστασία»<br />
είναι, με την επιφύλαξη του άρθρου 17, ο αλλοδαπός ή<br />
ο ανιθαγενής που δεν πληροί τις προϋποθέσεις για να<br />
αναγνωρισθεί ως πρόσφυγας αλλά στο πρόσωπό του<br />
συντρέχουν ουσιώδεις λόγοι από τους οποίους προκύ−<br />
πτει ότι αν επιστρέψει στη χώρα της καταγωγής του ή,<br />
στην περίπτωση ανιθαγενούς, στη χώρα της προηγού−<br />
μενης συνήθους διαμονής του, κινδυνεύει να υποστεί<br />
σοβαρή βλάβη κατά την έννοια του άρθρου 15 και που<br />
δεν μπορεί ή λόγω του κινδύνου αυτού δεν επιθυμεί να<br />
θέσει εαυτόν υπό την προστασία της εν λόγω χώρας,<br />
...<br /><br />
Κατατοπιστική είναι επίσης και η ιστοσελίδα του Υπουργείου προστασίας του πολίτη...<br />
<br />
«Είναι υποχρεωμένη η Ελλάδα να δίνει ένα ορισμένο ποσοστό διεθνούς προστασίας σε αλλοδαπούς;»<br />
<br />
Η Ελλάδα οφείλει να χορηγεί διεθνή προστασία (άσυλο ή επικουρική προστασία) σε όποιον τη δικαιούται σύμφωνα με τις προϋποθέσεις που ορίζει ο νόμος.<br />
<br />
«Μπορεί μια χώρα να αρνηθεί να δεχθεί πρόσφυγες, επειδή έχει πολλούς οικονομικούς μετανάστες;»<br />
<br />
Στην περίπτωση των προσφύγων δεν ισχύει «ποσόστωση» (δηλαδή κάποιος ανώτατος αριθμός προσφύγων, πέραν του οποίου μια χώρα δεν υποχρεούται πλέον να δεχτεί πρόσφυγες).<br />
<br />
«Τι γίνεται με τον μεγάλο αριθμό αλλοδαπών που έχουν ζητήσει άσυλο στην Ελλάδα; Δικαιούνται να παραμένουν στην Ελλάδα, και για πόσο χρονικό διάστημα;»<br />
<br />
Όσο εκκρεμεί η εξέταση της αίτησής τους, δεν επιτρέπεται να απομακρυνθούν από τη χώρα, ακριβώς γιατί ενδέχεται να είναι πρόσωπα που δικαιούνται διεθνή προστασία. Ωστόσο, από την Πολιτεία εξαρτάται πόσο γρήγορα θα εξετάσει τις αιτήσεις διεθνούς προστασίας. Συνήθως, μερικοί μήνες αρκούν για να εξετασθεί μία αίτηση - άρα η υποβολή μίας αίτησης, από μόνη της, δεν έχει ως αποτέλεσμα απαραίτητα ότι ο αιτών παραμένει για μεγάλο χρονικό διάστημα νόμιμα στη χώρα.<br />
<br />
Πηγές-<br />
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EL/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A12012P%2FTXT<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_asylum<br />
http://fra.europa.eu/en/charterpedia/article/18-right-asylum<br />
http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/27/1/3.full<br />
http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/handbook-law-asylum-migration-borders-2nded_el.pdf<br />
https://www.amnesty.gr/universal-declaration-of-human-rights<br />
https://www.unhcr.gr/.../o-n.../nomothesia-gia-to-asylo.html<br />
http://www.minocp.gov.gr/index.php?option=ozo_content&lang=GR&perform=view&id=5055&Itemid=466</div>
HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-60577839161454004442016-01-19T17:43:00.002+00:002016-01-19T17:43:40.593+00:00Thomas Paine - Agrarian Justice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"... Having now gone through all the necessary calculations, and stated the particulars of the plan, I shall conclude with some observations. It is not charity but a right, not bounty but justice, that I am pleading for. The present state of civilization is as odious as it is unjust. It is absolutely the opposite of what it should be, and it is necessary that a revolution should be made in it. The contrast of affluence and wretchedness continually meeting and offending the eye, is like dead and living bodies chained together. Though I care as little about riches as any man, I am a friend to riches because they are capable of good.<br />
<br />
I care not how affluent some may be, provided that none be miserable in consequence of it. But it is impossible to enjoy affluence with the felicity it is capable of being enjoyed, while so much misery is mingled in the scene. The sight of the misery, and the unpleasant sensations it suggests, which, though they may be suffocated cannot be extinguished, are a greater drawback upon the felicity of affluence than the proposed ten per cent upon property is worth. He that would not give the one to get rid of the other has no charity, even for himself.<br />
<br />
There are, in every country, some magnificent charities established by individuals. It is, however, but little that any individual can do, when the whole extent of the misery to be relieved is considered. He may satisfy his conscience, but not his heart. He may give all that he has, and that all will relieve but little. It is only by organizing civilization upon such principles as to act like a system of pulleys, that the whole weight of misery can be removed.<br />
<br />
...<br />
<br />
In all great cases it is necessary to have a principle more universally active than charity; and, with respect to justice, it ought not to be left to the choice of detached individuals whether they will do justice or not. Considering, then, the plan on the ground of justice, it ought to be the act of the whole growing spontaneously out of the principles of the revolution, and the reputation of it ought to be national and not individual.<br />
<br />
...<br />
<br />
Separate an individual from society, and give him an island or a continent to possess, and he cannot acquire personal property. He cannot be rich. So inseparably are the means connected with the end, in all cases, that where the former do not exist the latter cannot be obtained. All accumulation, therefore, of personal property, beyond what a man's own hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes on every principle of justice, of gratitude, and of civilization, a part of that accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came.<br />
<br />
...<br />
<br />
When wealth and splendor, instead of fascinating the multitude, excite emotions of disgust; when, instead of drawing forth admiration, it is beheld as an insult on wretchedness; when the ostentatious appearance it makes serves to call the right of it in question, the case of property becomes critical, and it is only in a system of justice that the possessor can contemplate security.<br />
To remove the danger, it is necessary to remove the antipathies, and this can only be done by making property productive of a national blessing, extending to every individual. When the riches of one man above another shall increase the national fund in the same proportion; when it shall be seen that the prosperity of that fund depends on the prosperity of individuals; when the more riches a man acquires, the better it shall for the general mass; it is then that antipathies will cease, and property be placed on the permanent basis of national interest and protection."<br />
- Thomas Paine, 1795HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-92088831603849590682016-01-19T17:38:00.002+00:002016-01-19T17:40:01.125+00:00Thus Spoke Zarathustra - The Pitiful"...<br />
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O my friends! Thus speaketh the discerning one: shame, shame, shame- that is the history of man!<br />
<br />
And on that account doth the noble one enjoin on himself not to abash: bashfulness doth he enjoin himself in presence of all sufferers.<br />
Verily, I like them not, the merciful ones, whose bliss is in their pity: too destitute are they of bashfulness.<br />
<br />
If I must be pitiful, I dislike to be called so; and if I be so, it is preferably at a distance.<br />
<br />
Preferably also do I shroud my head, and flee, before being recognised: and thus do I bid you do, my friends!<br />
<br />
May my destiny ever lead unafflicted ones like you across my path, and those with whom I may have hope and repast and honey in common!<br />
<br />
Verily, I have done this and that for the afflicted: but something better did I always seem to do when I had learned to enjoy myself better.<br />
<br />
Since humanity came into being, man hath enjoyed himself too little: that alone, my brethren, is our original sin!<br />
<br />
And when we learn better to enjoy ourselves, then do we unlearn best to give pain unto others, and to contrive pain.<br />
..."HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-51989541118813298202016-01-19T15:12:00.002+00:002016-01-19T15:12:43.930+00:00It boils down to this.<div class="MsoNormal">
In the end you have to consider the rights of the
individual.<br />
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Yes, decisive action must be taken to ensure that the perpetrators of heinous
acts are swiftly apprehended and brought to justice. Failure to do so will only
cause further damage to the victims and inevitably lead the gullible and
fearful to the extremes of the political spectrum.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yes, our borders need better monitoring; not through raising
fences, but by ensuring that there is a system in place to identify the people
who are most in need of asylum and guarantee that they are the first to get it
- as required by Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Safe passages need to be established. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More needs to be done by governments and local
communities to facilitate the process of integration. This is what sowing the
seeds of positive change involves.<br />
<br />
All the while we witness a counter current of growing xenophobia and bigotry
gradually paving the way for institutionalized group discrimination. Loud and vulgar
voices evoke the spectre of oppressive regimes whose memories still linger in
the scar tissue of our body politic. <br />
<br />
Our modern secular societies are founded on the ideas of liberty and equality
before the law. We must take heed and not fall into the trap of thinking it is
okay to sacrifice some of our rights to gain some temporary safety; or we risk
eroding the very fabric of our civilization. <br />
<br />
And we must not forget that rights exist precisely to protect minorities from
the whims of majorities; the smallest minority being the individual.<o:p></o:p></div>
HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-16954402923332731352015-08-09T16:52:00.006+01:002015-08-09T16:54:39.682+01:00The face of May<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Verses from the poem Amorgos by Nikos Gatsos, set to music by Manos Hadjidakis. Originally sung by Nana Mouskouri in the documentary GREECE, THE LAND OF DREAMS by Wolfgang Mueller-Sehn (1960).<br /><br />This particular interpretation is by Αρλέτα (Arleta).<br /><br />Ήταν του Μάη το πρόσωπο<br />του φεγγαριού η ασπράδα<br />ένα περπάτημα ελαφρύ<br />σαν σκίρτημα του κάμπου<br /><br />Κι αν θα διψάσεις για νερό<br />θα στίψουμε ένα σύννεφο<br />κι αν θα πεινάσεις για ψωμί<br />θα σφάξουμε ένα αηδόνι<br /><br />It was the aspect of May<br />the paleness of the Moon<br />a gentle stroll<br />as meadows stirred<br /><br />And should you grow thirsty<br />we'll squeeze a cloud for water<br />and should you grow hungry <br />we'll kill a nightingale</div>
HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-57795626430271429222015-03-25T08:34:00.000+00:002015-03-25T08:34:13.166+00:001821<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Όλη η ιστορία της επανάστασης σε ένα ντοκιμαντέρ‐αφιέρωμα.</div>
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HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4014860332692612473.post-59842150167515779922015-03-13T15:53:00.001+00:002015-03-13T15:53:15.222+00:00Hannah Arendt interview<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hannah Arendt interviewed by Günter Gaus (1963)</div>
HooLooVoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02844916525802861761noreply@blogger.com0