#Afghanistan was a tough period in their lives | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

swldx · 2 years

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Voice of America 0530 25 Jun 2022

6080Khz 0459 25 JUN 2022 - VOICE OF AMERICA (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) in ENGLISH from PINHEIRA. SINPO = 55344. English, "World News via remote" anchored by Tommy McNeil @0500. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Friday that held there is no constitutional right to an abortion generated a tsunami of emotion across the United States. Religious conservatives celebrated the attainment of a long-held goal while abortion-rights advocates warned that millions of American women will now face daunting obstacles to receiving what many consider a basic health care service. Four Democratic lawmakers are asking federal regulators to investigate Apple and Google for allegedly deceiving millions of mobile phone users by collecting and selling their personal data. The conservative court's decision is expected to lead to abortion bans in about half the states. Privacy experts say that could make women vulnerable because their personal data could be used to surveil pregnancies and shared with police or sold to vigilantes. Online searches, period apps, fitness trackers and advice helplines could become rich data sources for such surveillance efforts. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the European Union’s decision to grant his country candidate status Friday, a key milestone in joining the bloc. Moldova was also granted accession candidate status. EU officials described the move as historic but cautioned that both countries will have to make tough reforms before they become full members. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an international conference on food security Friday that the world is facing the “real risk” of multiple famines this year and that 2023 could be even worse. “The war in Ukraine has compounded problems that have been brewing for years: climate disruption; the COVID-19 pandemic; the deeply unequal recovery,” Guterres said by video message to the Uniting for Global Food Security ministerial conference in Berlin. Afghanistan’s Taliban appealed for international aid Thursday as the war-ravaged country struggles to deal with the aftermath of a powerful earthquake that killed at least 1,000 people, injured many more and destroyed nearly 2,000 households. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan underscored that the U.S. was the single largest donor of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and its humanitarian partners were already delivering medical care as well as temporary shelters on the ground. In the year after the vaccine was first introduced in December 2020, more than 4.3 billion people received an inoculation, saving 20 million lives, according to research published Thursday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases. If the World Health Organization’s goal of 40% vaccination coverage by the end of 2021 in low-income countries had been met, an additional 600,000 lives would be spared, the study said. @0505z “Issues in the News” panel show anchored by female announcer. MLA 30 amplified loop (powered w/8 AA rechargeable batteries ~10.8vdc), Etón e1XM. 100kW, BeamAz 138°, bearing 82°. Received at Plymouth, United States, 10777KM from transmitter at Pinheira. Local time: 2359.

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topherfoxtrot · 3 years

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#john walker #Lemar Hoskins #battle couple is the best trope #Afghanistan was a tough period in their lives #good thing the had each other #but that didn't last enough did it?#the falcon and the winter soldier #tfatws #FoxtrotMood #fuck the US military complex #i miss Lemar #jemar #battleshield

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rebel-and-siren · 2 years

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So I was rewatching Criminal Minds for the billionth time

And I have a few things to talk about

I really wish the writers hadn’t focused so much on Reid’s mother. Or Reid in general. I will admit, I’m not a huge Reid fan (pls don’t come at me), but that aside, there was so much potential with other character’s storylines.

They could’ve explored so much with Morgan’s trauma from Carl Buford outside his three episodes. That kind of thing stays with you, and they had some horrid cases that would’ve opened the floodgates.

They could’ve talked more about JJ’s kidnap and torture and losing her baby. Of her being forced to fight in a war that wasn’t hers on the other side of the world by herself. Of her being borderline suicidal in the Forever People episode and maybe her being scared she’ll end up like her sister.

They could’ve touched more on Emily’s abortion outside the one episode. We’ve seen she loves children and that she’s great with them, they had every opportunity. They could have talked about any of the crap that Emily’s been through, really. She’s been through a lot.

JEMILY SHOULD HAVE BEEN CANON.

I wish we had JJ hearing a loud noise and ducking for cover like she’s back in Afghanistan. I wish we had seen her have a panic attack only for Rossi to talk her down and tell her about his time in Vietnam.

I wish we had Morgan have a tough case regarding sexual abuse and talking to Emily about it, then her in turn having a rough case about teenage mothers getting pregnant and giving up their kids and her breaking down and telling him about her abortion at 15.

I wish we had JJ and Emily talking about the loss of their children they never got to meet, about the raw heartbreak they felt and how they just understand each other. Their coworkers have experienced loss, yes, but this is a bone deep, aching loss that they could never truly understand.

(I wish they had explored more of JJ and Emily’s relationship period. How JJ faked Emily’s death, commandeered an Interpol jet, created a new life for her and faced Reid’s naive scorn just to keep her safe. How Emily flew across the country to rescue JJ from Askari, demanded to know if JJ was okay when bombs threatened their lives in season three. How they both hallucinated each other, not their partners.)

I wish we had more JJ and Morgan being there for each other and being amazing friends. More of Morgan teaching JJ how to kick ass and raising hell when he finds out his friend is in danger.

I do love this show, it’s gotten me through some tough times, but sometimes I can’t help but think about what the writers could have made happen.

#criminal minds #jennifer jareau #emily prentiss #derek morgan #spencer reid #aaron hotchner #david rossi #jemily #Penelope Garcia

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alexanderpusheen · 3 years

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what frustrates me the most abt this china narrative is that the US created al qaeda and ISIS, those groups are recruiting and causing terrorism in xinjiang, china has been trying to handle the situation with re-education programs often suggested by westerners, and its still being treated as this major human rights violation. there are actually dozens of countries with several robust anti radicalization programs that are just as strict, like singapore, colombia, yemen, bangladesh, saudi arabia, and indonesia. this paper ive linked to was even funded by the DHS so like...why has detaining someone and basically reverse brainwashing them out of being a terrorist been so acceptable for so long but now its an issue?

if you take issue with chinas program, you have to prove its somehow exceptional to these other programs. since we really dont have any way of knowing what is truth or reality thanks to the enormous disinformation campaign going on, you fucking cant. we dont even know what the programs entail because even googling it gets you exclusively hyperbolic concentration camp accusations.

what i will say is that relations between the han majority and the uyghur minority have been strained since at least the 80s. link is the notoriously conservative and pro US intervention human rights watch, so dont say im using pro commie sources or anything. every time i do any bit of research on this i seem to find an attempt from major news outlets in the early to mid 2000s or late 20-teens to prove this all started or became dramatically worse now, but things have always been tense. and its not really a surprise that things really got bad after the collapse of the soviet union, an event that was geographically close to china and the xinjiang region and also just like, a fucking major global event in general.

what i find to be very odd is just how dramatically the narrative has changed. the diplomat, one of my favorite periodicals, went from taking very nuanced and balanced positions on xinjiang that i almost completely agreed with to being just as aggressive as outlets like the BBC and CNN in the span of five years. they have eleven pages worth of articles on xinjiang, mostly covering the terrorism and beijings response (which i agree is too harsh) and xinjiang muslims’ relationships to the greater muslim world.

an example is how this article talks about the conflict at the time which warns of escalating violence as a result of han chauvinism and beijing being unable to deal with the extremism holistically. it points out how there were uyghurs captured among taliban ranks in afghanistan and how many might have even been working with ISIL.

The threat will not be an existential one to the Chinese state, as most Uighurs would prefer a peaceful accommodation. But even if only 1 percent of Uighurs hold extreme views, there are 10 million in Xinjiang and even for a state security apparatus as formidable as China’s, 100,000 or more angry people present a tough challenge.

i think its totally right that china does not allow people in that area to have cars, woodcutting tools, and amonium nitrate (which is used in bombs) is very strictly regulated. i completely agree that this is not how you combat terrorism. most people do not want war and broadly punishing these people is itself a human rights violation that went unnoticed until now.

however, in that same year, the diplomat also published this article about the infamous turkestan islamic party. members of TIP are like, literal jihadists lmfao.

TIP fighters call on the world’s Muslims to join the jihad against Western countries in internet videos. Perhaps most worringly for China, the TIP believes that Muslims may fight locally using various means instead of coming to Syria and Iraq to conduct a “holy war” against the “infidel” Western regimes.

yeah i definitely want to hear more about what these guys have to say. the article is really good because i think it highly illustrates just how dangerous these people are. theyve killed hundreds of people across china and want to establish a fascist religious state in xinjiang. while the article speaks for itself, i believe the last paragraph really highlights why china is being singled out whereas countries like france and canada are considered allies to muslims for whatever reason:

However, as experience has shown, China takes a passive position in the struggle against global Islamic jihad in Syria and Iraq. Beijing has not sent its troops to the Middle East to fight ISIS and has instead confined itself to diplomatic support for Russia and the United States. The Chinese government uses the attacks of Islamic jihadists to persuade Western countries to support Beijing’s position on Xinjiang and turn a blind eye when the freedom and rights of Uyghurs are harshly suppressed by Chinese security forces. Therefore, China is not perceived by the West as a reliable partner in the fight against terrorism. [emphasis mine]

im just a little surprised to see that a lot of these violent attacks from extremists throughout the years have targeted not just han chinese but also other uyghurs. in the west people do not typically sympathize with terrorists as freedom fighters, even on the left, because we know that no matter how angry or how seemingly justified the violence might seem, terrorism is unacceptable and it grossly misrepresents islam. it is a fascist act because those terrorists often follow an extremely right wing version of islam. also, we know that those who carry out terrorist attacks even outside of the west are middle class and professionals in some way, not poor and marginalized people. the level of nuance afforded to terrorists outside of xinjiang is pretty staggering.

yet in china, there seems to be this excitement than they are killing chinese people, even if some of those chinese are other uyghers or otherwise muslims. those who carry out attacks in xinjiang dont get any nuance or analysis because theyre justified.

ive referenced the diplomat earlier but this article from 2013 says it perfectly: Call Tiananmen Attack What It Was: Terrorism. except terrorism is bad. and the west wants you to support the uyghurs. and make no mistake, they do not want you to support the millions of uyghurs who want to live peacefully, free of any repression, american or chinese. they want you to support the jihadists randomly blowing up chinese and tourists alike because you are meant to sympathize with their plight.

terrorism isnt something to be romantacized or cheered on. it is something someone or someones do when they feel they have no other option. people do not want to kill even those they feel they have every right to because thats a line you cant uncross. murder changes you, justified or not. see the last chapter of wretched of the earth for this.

terrorism is great, however, for destabilizing a region or a country, and xinjiang is resource-rich. establishing a US-friendly regime, no matter how good they are on human rights, is the goal. the US does not care about muslims. they do not care about human rights. china, also, does not really seem to care about muslims or human rights either. but we’ve seen this since vietnam, and the US has learned since vietnam. the vietnamese were sympathetic. they were minding their business.

after vietnam, merely being communist isnt enough to warrant invasion. theyre killing their own people. nevermind that bolsonaro kills his own people and no one wants to invade (yet--biden has mention sanctions wrt us which is scary but again, thats got everything to do with making sure latin america is loyal to the west, not HR offenses). korea, although it was before vietnam, was less publicized and learning from vietnam gave the US a valuable lesson: always blame the victim. and thus, the US blames the victims of its violence. even if its ‘justified’, even if its ‘true,’ as was the case with saddam hussein, invading and occupying was the nightmare no one but the imperialists anticipated. because they dont broadcast what occupying forces do to the occupied. i am old enough to remember abu ghraib. have it seared in my memory forever. you perhaps are also old enough to remember, but also think millions of abu ghraibs and guantanamo bays are always worth it, always justified.

i know people arent going to read this and remind me really rudely that they didnt read it but i want to really emphasize how one of imperialism and colonialisms features is ethnic and racial separatism. how the rwandan genocide couldnt have happened without previous belgian and french rule. how yugoslavia wouldve remained a single country had it not been for NATO. i think its easy to diminish the role of the colonizer in all of this, but it is actually one of its goals: divide and conquer. exacerbate the existing conflicts to the point of genocide.

and if the west succeeds in balkanizing china, you will get more racism rather than less. you will see more violence against muslim minorities rather than less. they will feel less empowered rather than more. china has to learn that they are also to blame in a way that will be catastrophic for over a billion people. han chauvinism and outright racism must be addressed beyond window dressing.

wrapping up, china is in the wrong here. what theyre doing is racist and humiliating a population that has to be empowered. and the one child rule, even for the han majority, is imo fucking evil lol like sorry tankie tumblr im tankie too but i cannot for the life of me accept that as a good thing.... but i also dont buy the accusations of genocide, because even tho a lot of these articles are kind of glossing over it, china is trying to handle the terrorism in the region. imo theyre feeding into it by getting more han in the area, but also having more han but forcing them to take worse jobs would be a show of good will. idk, this situation is extremely complex and frankly, most uyghers do not want secession.

i also take extreme issue with people saying that adrian zenz is somehow reliable. not only is he a nazi crackpot, hes also literally the only source for almost all of what we know about this in the west. that is not how you do journalism. i dont understand how people are saying ‘yeah hes an extremely fascist grifter but also i believe him because hes anti communist and also anti china’. thats also not really the point? the point is that hes also the ONLY SOURCE on almost all of this, which is alarming.

i also find it very startling that in order to keep interest in the story, every few weeks the US has to remind people that the chinese are also doing what the US is doing to women in its own camps. forget that the US is separating minors from parents (since 2008). forget that the US is sterilizing women en masse (since 2017). forget that the US is raping women at the border (since there was a border). forget the US even has camps because now they arent even called that anymore. this is not that ‘you can be angry at two things at once’ but a clearly cynical attempt to get its citizens to forget that the US is detaining, deporting, sterilizing, and raping, and gassing non US nationals.

they are not ‘your own people.’ they are me. the other. i am an immigrant to the US, currently in my country of birth, so i am the other to you, the american. the chinese are doing the evil crime of killing their own. but the americans could never kill their own because they dont consider black americans to be their own. latin american nationals are not their own. bombing millions globally is not their own. thats always justifiable. there is clearly an element of racism in how these crimes are perceived as more or less evil.

the way immigrants and black americans are brutalized in the US is almost naturalized. like its the way things are supposed to be. you can live with that. its upsetting that you have to hear about antiblackness and the like but you know thats just how life is. you dont necessarily call for the US to be sanctioned or bombed by other countries because you believe in the inherent goodness of white america. but countries like china and iran and north korea deserve to be starved and killed for their crimes. and you can never say ‘maybe bombing and starving a country isnt the answer’ because it means you agree with it. you can never say ‘this is clearly propaganda to make me hate another race so much’ because it means youre a genocide denier. im sorry, but again, i remember iraq in 2003, i remember libya in 2011. i dont buy it.

finally, theres been a lot of attacks on asian people in the US lately and if you cannot see the violent way the US talks about china the country and how that influences people to harm asians within the US then idk what else to tell you. people will really believe this shit and say the chinese are all blood thirsty islamaphobes and thus need to be harmed. ‘im not like that! i defend my asian friends from racism!’ thats nice and all but idk how spreading some sinophobic propaganda designed by the US to make you support some kind of violence against one billion chinese people isnt inherently racist. also its unhelpful because sanctions dont really solve problems. but ive spoken too much.

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go-redgirl · 3 years

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FNC’s Carlson: What Was It About Joe Biden’s Shaky Monotone That Inspired CNN’s Talking Heads?

Friday, FNC’s Tucker Carlson reacted to President Joe Biden’s address to the nation a night earlier, which according to Carlson left much to be desired.

After comparing Biden’s address to former Soviet Union dictator Leonid Brezhnev, the Fox News host questioned the fawning approval from CNN hosts and talking heads.

Transcript as follows:

CARLSON: Tons going on, as always. So, there are a lot of stories we could have opened with tonight and we talked about it. But in the end, we couldn’t get our minds off of Joe Biden’s COVID speech.

Did you see that last night? The one where he seems so sad about the lockdowns that have crushed businesses and kept kids out of school, an entire generation, he said, had driven so many to suicide, yet never once mentioned or even hinted that he and his party were the very forces behind those lockdowns.

I’m really sorry about your black eye, he says, as he punches you in the face.

It was bizarre. The whole speech was like that. It had a hallucinogenic quality like it wasn’t quite real.

But then Joe Biden himself isn’t quite real. Maybe that’s the reason he talks that way. Biden has been living in utter seclusion for more than a year. He hasn’t spoken to anyone but his own lackeys.

He hasn’t driven a car or sat on the grass and looked up at the sky or been anywhere or done anything except in the most controlled possible environment. What an incredibly weird life that is.

Joe Biden must imagine that everyone in America is as terrified of corona as he is and is living in the same kind of bunker. Joe Biden is totally cut off.

Alex Berenson described last night speech as late Soviet. The more we thought about it, the more perfect that seemed.

Here’s a clip of Russia’s own Joe Biden, the late Leonid Brezhnev. Like Biden, Brezhnev was very clearly fading in his later years after a series of health problems. Also, like Biden despite his frailty and confusion, Brezhnev never lost his enthusiasm for pointless wars.

He is the one who ordered the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. In late December of that year, Brezhnev addressed the Soviet youth in a televised speech. As you watch this, see if you can spot the similarities to what you saw last night, and keep in mind when this was shot, Brezhnev was a full five years younger than Joe Biden is today.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

CARLSON: Now, they are trying to tell him how the teleprompter works. He harrumphs a bit and looks vacant, he doesn’t quite get it.

Brezhnev didn’t actually lead Russia by this point, and you can see why. He remained the country’s figurehead, but it was the ideologues behind the scenes who ran the show.

Brezhnev had his own Susan Rice and Barack Obama to make the real decisions. The similarities, as we said, are pretty amazing.

Over at CNN, however, they didn’t see it, or maybe they did see it and they didn’t care. CNN always did love Brezhnev.

In any case, the usual chorus of toadies strained for a high note last night. Watch them tell you how wonderful the speech was, as if you didn’t have a TV and didn’t see it for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: How refreshing. How human. How compassionate. How American.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Biden tried to lift our spirits with a medicinal message about recovering our sense of collective cause. Certainly, it was healing.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He didn’t say, you need me. He said, I need you. I need you. I mean, my God that is — isn’t that it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People always talk about the feeling of the relief hey have hearing Biden, but what he’s doing now soars above that.

LEMON: What the President is saying his help is on the way. We’re all in this together. I need your help. We’re all Americans. Whoo. Hallelujah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Hallelujah, says Don Lemon. Can I get an amen? Clear the aisles. It’s time for an altar call. Brother Biden is preaching the word. Preach, Brother Biden, preach. Speak. What are these people talking about?

What was it about Joe Biden’s shaky monotone last night that inspired them exactly? Most people found it depressing. Maybe we’re being too literal here.

It probably doesn’t matter what Joe Biden actually said. He could have called for the bombing of Toronto and CNN’s panel of trained seals would still enthusiastically applaud it. It’s their job to enthusiastically applaud what Joe Biden says.

Our job is to try and figure out what Biden’s speech meant for the country. So let’s look at it for a minute.

The lockdowns have been tough, Biden conceded at the outset, God knows how we got them, but we did. Those restrictions will be lifted as soon as we can lift them, and we will return to some version of the country now only dimly remember, we’d really love to do that. We mean it, we’d love it.

But in order to go forward and take the boot off your neck, we’re going to need every American to listen very carefully and to obey our orders. Do what we tell you to do.

Now, that won’t be easy. But if you do it, there is a payoff for good behavior. If you’re obedient, there’s a chance not a guarantee, of course, but a distinct possibility, God-willing, that you may be able to see some of the people you love around July 4th, that could actually happen, ladies and gentlemen. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: If we do our part, if we do this together, by July the Fourth, there’s a good chance you, your families and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout and a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day.

That doesn’t mean large events with lots of people together, but it does mean small groups will be able to get together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Did you hear that America, there is a good chance, again, not a sure thing. But what is a sure thing these days? But a good chance that you might be allowed to have a modest cookout four months from now. That is as long as you obey regulations weather permitting, and assuming that current Federal projections unfold according to plan. That’s your prize.

This offer by the way does not apply to full-time employees, the radio station or their families.

But with luck, this could be your reward after a year and a half of lockdowns, a Fourth of July cookout in your very own backyard assuming you have one.

Don’t ever tell us that Joe Biden isn’t a compassionate generous man. Here he is offering you with some medically necessary caveats outlined by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the right to cook your own hotdogs. With the provision, obviously, that you do it in a small masked group seated far apart at a prescribed distance from one another.

Don’t get crazy and hug or celebrate or talk too loud or anything like that. Moderation is the key here. But still a socially distanced barbecue. What other wonders does President Biden have in store for us?

Well, you’re going to have to get vaccinated to find out. Sorry, that’s the other requirement. I should have mentioned it. Everybody needs the shot. Period. That’s what Biden said. And that’s a lot of shots.

The good news: now that we’re on what Joe Biden describes as a, quote, “war footing” with this virus, vaccinating people against it is a counterterrorism operation.

What we did to ISIS, we’re going to do to COVID. Biden didn’t mention drones, but we will need soldiers and that’s why Joe Biden is building a Vaccination Corps that will include active-duty members of the military, an army of vaccinators. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Two months ago, the country — this country didn’t have nearly enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all or ever near all of the American public. But soon we will.

Now because of all the work we’ve done, we’ll have enough vaccine supply for all adults in America by the end of May. That’s months ahead of schedule. And we’re mobilizing thousands of vaccinators to put the vaccine in one’s arm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Thousands of vaccinators to vaccinate everyone. That sounds amazing, but it does raise at least one vexing question: what if you don’t want to get vaccinated? Not everyone does. Some people have religious objections, other have concerns about this specific medicines. Others simply don’t want it.

Do you need a reason to turn down the vaccine? And what happens if you do turn it down? Will we be allowed to fly on airplanes? Or go to work? Or enter the front doors of Madison Square Garden?

Joe Biden didn’t specify, but it’s pretty hard to believe he would support any kind of vaccine coercion as he has told you so often over so many years, if it’s your body, it’s your choice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I support a woman’s right to choose under that constitutional guarantee provision. And quite frankly, I always will.

Folks, you know, and I am going to fight to protect a woman’s right to make her own personal decisions when it gets to your healthcare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Quite frankly, you’ve got the absolute right to make your own personal decisions about your own personal healthcare. Period. That’s in the Constitution. Joe Biden would never violate that, right. He’s been defending that right since before you were born.

It’s your body. It’s your choice. Period.

Of course, as with everything, there are caveats. If you don’t take the shot that Joe Biden wants you to take, if you persist in making your own personal healthcare, then Joe Biden is going to have to shut the country down again, no socially distanced barbecues for you, buddy. You’re going to have to eat your hotdogs alone inside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: If we don’t stay vigilant, and the conditions change, and we may have to reinstate restrictions to get back on track.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: To which CNN might say, “Hallelujah,” but we’re not CNN. Instead, we’re left wondering, could there be any civil liberties implications to any of this? We don’t know the answer.

READ MORE STORIES ABOUT:

Clips Media Politics CNN Fox News Channel Joe Biden Tucker Carlson Tucker Carlson

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newstfionline · 3 years

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Monday, November 23, 2020

Trump Using Last Days to Lock In Policies (NYT) Voters have decided that President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. should guide the country through the next four years. But on issues of war, the environment, criminal justice, trade, the economy and more, President Trump and top administration officials are doing what they can to make changing direction more difficult. Top officials are racing against the clock to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, secure oil drilling leases in Alaska, punish China, carry out executions and thwart any plans Mr. Biden might have to reestablish the Iran nuclear deal. In some cases, like the executions and the oil leases, Mr. Trump’s government plans to act just days—or even hours—before Mr. Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20. At a wide range of departments and agencies, Mr. Trump’s political appointees are going to extraordinary lengths to try to prevent Mr. Biden from rolling back the president’s legacy. They are filling vacancies on scientific panels, pushing to complete rules that weaken environmental standards, nominating judges and rushing their confirmations through the Senate, and trying to eliminate health care regulations that have been in place for years. Mr. Biden and his top aides have not publicly criticized the president’s policy actions at home or abroad, abiding by the tradition that there is only one president at a time. But the president-elect has vowed to move quickly to undo many of Mr. Trump’s domestic and foreign policies.

Doctors and nurses want more data before championing vaccines to end the pandemic (Washington Post) Doctors and nurses, coping with the daily risk of coronavirus exposure, are expected to get top priority to receive vaccines that could become available as soon as next month. But it’s an open question how many will seize their place at the front of the line. The hesitancy of some health-care workers is attracting attention as the first two vaccines, from Pfizer and Moderna, near deployment. Government, academic, and health-care officials say that significant numbers of providers want more data about the vaccine before it is deployed. A report released Thursday by the University of California at Los Angeles researchers said that 66 percent of Los Angeles health-care workers who responded to an online questionnaire (not a randomized sample) said they would delay taking a vaccine. The American Nurses Association, a national union, said one-third of its members do not intend to take the vaccine, and an additional third are undecided. Among professionals contacted by the state of New Jersey, “some did not want to be in the first round, so they could wait and see if there are potential side effects,” New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith M. Persichilli said at a Nov. 9 news briefing. Health-care leaders say President Trump’s frequent promises about vaccines have raised doubts about the objectivity of agency reviews, as have the speed of the manufacturers’ clinical trials, and unfamiliarity with the novel techniques used by the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to trigger natural antibodies.

Music to get us through (NYT) At the fearful height of the pandemic in April, Simon Gronowski, an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor, began playing jazz tunes on his piano from his apartment window in Brussels, bringing relief to his besieged neighbors throughout the lockdown that lasted into late May. “Music is a means of communication, of connection,” said Mr. Gronowski, who taught himself how to play the piano as a teenager after escaping the Nazis. Piano was a way for him to connect with his sister who had died in Auschwitz. Throughout the summer and into the fall, live jazz has become a near-constant presence across New York City. The makeshift outdoor shows have been therapeutic for musicians and fans alike.

Homicides skyrocket across U.S. during pandemic (Washington Post) In Greensboro, N.C., the violence has gotten so extreme that a shootout erupted in front of the county courthouse the other day, across the street from the sheriff’s office, leaving a 20-year-old man dead. Greensboro set a city record with 45 homicides last year, and, as of Friday, already had 54 this year. “We’ve always had a level of gang activity,” Greensboro Police Chief Brian James said in an interview, “but it’s more prolific now. I’m not sure what’s changed, but the offenders are more bold than they’ve ever been.” Homicides across America rose more than 28 percent in the first nine months of this year, and aggravated assaults increased nine percent, while rapes and robberies saw significant drops compared to the same period last year, according to statistics compiled this month from 223 police agencies. Some police commanders say the twin impacts of the coronavirus and civil uprisings against police violence caused them to redirect their officers away from proactive anti-crime programs, whether due to virus-related budget cuts or strategic redeployment of forces to handle the unrest. Other officials point to job loss and other stresses of the pandemic as fueling tension and leading to violence. And with many schools shuttered, police say, many areas have seen a rise in violence involving juveniles.

Charleston weighs wall as seas rise and storms strengthen (AP) Vickie Hicks, who weaves intricate sweetgrass baskets in Charleston, South Carolina’s historic city market, remembers climbing onto the table at her grandmother’s booth downtown when the floodwaters rushed by. Decades later, the seasoned seller of this art form passed down by descendants of West African slaves still works downtown, where merchants regularly set out sandbags and scrutinize daily weather forecasts. Hicks says the flooding’s only gotten worse. “God’s taking back his land,” she said. Now, the low-lying Atlantic seaport is considering its most drastic measure yet to protect the lives and livelihoods of residents like Hicks from the threats of climate-driven flooding: walling off its peninsula from the ocean. In 2019, the downtown flooded a record 89 times according to the National Weather Service—mostly from high tides and wind pushing water inland. And the city could flood up to 180 times per year by 2045 according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There’s also the threat each year that hurricane-driven storm surge could inundate the city’s peninsula, which is at the confluence of three rivers and mostly less than 20 feet (6.1 meters) above sea level.

Protesters in Guatemala Set Fire to Congress Building Over Spending Cuts (NYT) Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Guatemala’s capital on Saturday, setting fire to the nation’s congressional building in a show of anger over a budget bill passed this week that cut funding for health care and education. The demonstrations in Guatemala City, which also included peaceful marches in the central plaza, rocked a nation still recovering from back-to-back hurricanes that displaced thousands of people, destroyed homes and obliterated critical infrastructure. As heavy rains brought on by the second storm pummeled impoverished towns in Guatemala’s highlands and coastal regions on Wednesday, the country’s Congress passed a budget that cut spending on education and health in favor of increasing lawmakers’ meal stipends. The bill, which also proposed gutting funding to combat malnutrition and slashed funding for the judiciary, set off immediate outrage and led to demonstrations across the country. One group of protesters kicked in the windows of the Congress building and set a fire that sent flames billowing out of the entrance, social media videos showed. Police officers sprayed tear gas at demonstrators and firefighters quickly put the blaze out, according to local news reports.

Russia’s health system under strain as the virus surges back (AP) When Yekaterina Kobzeva, a nurse at a preschool in Russia’s Ural Mountains, began having trouble breathing, she called an ambulance. It was four days before she managed to find a free hospital bed. She was only admitted after her story made local headlines. Russia’s health care system, vast yet underfunded, has been under significant strains in recent weeks, as the pandemic surges again and daily infections and virus death regularly break records. Reports in Russian media have painted a bleak picture in recent weeks. Hospital corridors are filled with patients on gurneys and even the floor. Bodies in black plastic bags were seen piling up on the floors of a morgue. Long lines of ambulances wait at hospitals while pharmacies put up signs listing the drugs they no longer have in stock. Russian authorities have acknowledged problems in the health system. President Vladimir Putin even urged regional officials not to paper over the situation, saying that “feigning the impression that everything is perfectly normal is absolutely unacceptable.” During the fall resurgence of the virus, the Kremlin has consistently pointed fingers at regional governors. Regional governors find themselves in an impossible position, explained political analyst Abbas Gallyamov. They face public frustration if they don’t impose tough restrictions and the outbreak continues to rage, and they face it if they do because they don’t have the funds to ease the pain of closures.

Azerbaijanis who fled war look to return home, if it exists (AP) As Azerbaijan regains control of land it lost to Armenian forces a quarter-century ago, civilians who fled the fighting decades ago wonder if they can go back home now—and if there’s still a home to go back to. An estimated 600,000 Azerbaijanis were displaced in the 1990s war that left the Nagorno-Karabakh region under the control of ethnic Armenian separatists and large adjacent territories in Armenia’s hands. During six weeks of renewed fighting this fall that ended Nov. 10, Azerbaijan took back parts of Nagorno-Karabakh itself and sizeable swaths of the outlying areas. More territory is being returned as part of the ceasefire agreement that stopped the latest fighting. But as Azerbaijani forces discovered when the first area, Aghdam, was turned over on Friday, much of the recovered land is uninhabitable. The city of Aghdam, where 50,000 people once lived, is now a shattered ruin.

China to launch moon probe, seeking first lunar rock retrieval since 1970s (Reuters) China plans to launch an unmanned spacecraft to the moon this week to bring back lunar rocks in the first attempt by any nation to retrieve samples from Earth’s natural satellite since the 1970s. The Chang’e-5 probe, named after the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon, will seek to collect material that can help scientists understand more about the moon’s origins and formation. The mission will test China’s ability to remotely acquire samples from space, ahead of more complex missions. If successful, the mission will make China only the third country to have retrieved lunar samples, following the United States and the Soviet Union decades ago.

In Lebanon, army courts target anti-government protesters (AP) Khaldoun Jaber was taking part in an anti-government protest near the presidential palace outside Beirut last November when several Lebanese intelligence officers in plainclothes approached and forcibly took him away. The demonstration was part of a wave of protests sweeping Lebanon against corruption and misrule by a group of politicians who have monopolized power since the country’s civil war ended three decades ago. Jaber didn’t know it then, but Lebanese security forces targeted him because of his social media posts criticizing President Michel Aoun. What followed were 48 harrowing hours of detention during which security officers interrogated him and subjected him to physical abuse, before letting him go. “Three of my teeth were broken and I lost 70% of my hearing in my left ear,” Jaber said. A year after mass protests roiled Lebanon, dozens of protesters are being tried before military courts, proceedings that human rights lawyers say grossly violate due process and fail to investigate allegations of torture and abuse. Defendants tried before the military tribunal say the system is used to intimidate protesters and prop up Lebanon’s sectarian rulers. The trials underscore the growing perils of activism in Lebanon, where a string of court cases and judicial investigations against journalists and critics has eroded the country’s reputation for free speech and tolerance in a largely autocratic Arab world.

Palestinian rocket fire draws Israeli air strikes in Gaza (Reuters) Palestinian militants fired a rocket into Israel, drawing Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said on Sunday. There were no casualties reported on either side of the border. Israeli police said the Gaza rocket fired on Saturday night damaged a factory in the southern city of Ashkelon. The Israeli military said its aircraft struck in response against several military sites belonging to Hamas, the Islamist armed group that controls Gaza.

‘Save yourselves’, Ethiopia tells Tigrayans as it moves on rebel-held capital (Reuters) Ethiopia’s army plans to surround the rebel-held capital of Tigray region with tanks and may use artillery on the city to try to end a nearly three-week war, a military spokesman said on Sunday, urging civilians to save themselves. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which is refusing to surrender its rule of the northern region, said its forces were digging trenches and standing firm. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s federal troops have taken a string of towns during aerial bombardments and ground fighting, and are now aiming for Mekelle, a highland city of about 500,000 people where the rebels are based. The war has killed hundreds, possibly thousands, sent more than 30,000 refugees into neighbouring Sudan, and seen rockets fired by rebels into neighbouring Amhara region and across the border into the nation of Eritrea.

#headlines #news

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rauthschild · 4 years

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Trump Orders "Seven Days Of Peace" Test As Night Falls On American Empire Endless War Epoch

By: Sorcha Faal

An insightful new Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) report circulating in the Kremlin today noting Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov being authorized to reveal that Russia has handed over its diplomatic note to the United States with a proposal to prolong the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty) without preconditions, states this offer intended to lessen the current tensions existing between the world’s two largest nuclear weapons armed powers has been met by President Donald Trump beginning the withdrawal of US military forces from their bases in Iraq this week—a move towards ending the American Empire epoch of endless wars further being accelerated by Trump who, yesterday, ordered “a test period of about seven days to occur later this month” to see if the Taliban will fulfill a promise to reduce violence, after which the United States would then sign a deal that would begin the gradual withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan—an astonishing test of peace ordered by Trump supported by his Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, who this past fortnight documented the thousands of needless deaths this war has caused—all coming at the same exact time Trump is forcing the Pentagon to make “Tough Choice Cuts” to airpower as part of his 2021 defense budget—as well as Trump forcing the US Navy to immediately retire from service the first four of their troublesome (and truly useless) Littoral Combat Ships—all which shows Trump is acknowledging the reality that “The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century”—whose only real power is the near-universal acceptance of the dollar that keeps the United States dominant as a global hegemon—and whose endless wars were desirable by US elites since many battlefields fuel military-industrial corporate earnings—but in 2020, sees America being at a unique point in the evolution of its pre-apocalypse Empire where the pinball game has been full-tilt in favor of US hegemony since 1948—but that Trump knows has come to an end.

According to this report, since taking office on 20 January 2017, the elite leftist enemies of President Trump have tried to blame the decline of the American Empire on him—but in reality saw Trump being placed in the unenviable position of how to manage something everyone knew was already happening—perhaps best articulated this past November-2019 by Assistant Professor Nathan Schneider of the University of Colorado Boulder in his essay titled “The American Empire Is In Decline—And We’re Not Ready For What Comes Next”—wherein while he states “Trump has danced a perplexing dance with decline” and says “Trump seems to enjoy living in a tinderbox”, he most dangerously warns that “the Democratic presidential nominees have been asked little about their foreign policy visions”—thus causing him to declare with resignation: “The work of ars moriendi requires a humility and self-giving that American politics is not presently capable of—and never has been, I suspect. But that does not have to stop us from trying to practice the art of dying, in politics as well as in our lives. Can we help bring about a world that has grown out of the need for a superpower? Do we trust God to reign or only ourselves?”.

The answer to Professor Schneider’s question as the American Empire continues to implode upon itself, this report notes, sees President Trump putting his trust in God to protect his nation—while his Democrat Party enemies place all of their trust in themselves—with the consequence for these Democrats being dementedly displayed yesterday in their New Hampshire Primary presidential vote that saw the top winner being socialist US Senator Bernie Sanders, while coming in second was “moderate” candidate Pete Buttigieg—a distinction without a difference as Buttigieg won an essay contest in high school defending socialism and his hero Bernie Sanders—and aside from this vote seeing Democrat candidates “dropping like flies” and fleeing from this race—saw its leftist mainstream propaganda media pre-ordained “front runners” Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren failing to pick up even a single delegate—thus causing the leftist New York Times to solemnly put out its headline “Who Won in New Hampshire? Not the Establishment”.

With the conventional leftist wisdom of this vote saying that Democratic enthusiasm is at “ceiling breaking levels” because Trump is uniquely able to galvanize his opposition, and the leftist media further claiming that young voters and other segments which don’t normally vote “will turnout because they so hate Trump”, this report continues, neither of these things occurred—with it being President Trump, in fact, the one who had a record setting number of voters coming out to support him—numbers so large they saw Trump skyrocketing over the votes received by Presidents Reagan, Clinton, Bush and Obama—that was followed by top Republican Party US Senator Lindsey Graham “declaring the demise of the Democratic Party”—who was joined by famed Democrat strategist James Carville further warning that “the Democratic Party is now a leftwing zombie land”—but whose closest to accurate assessment of this vote came when panicked failed candidate Elizabeth Warren warned “Factions May Burn Down The Democrat Party”—most accurate because America has now entered into a brutal ideological civil war as a four-party system begins to take form—and as best described:

The US is entering into an ideological civil war, because the real conflict is not between the Democrats and the Republicans, but within each of those parties themselves.

The US is now transforming itself from a two-party state into a four-party state: there are really four parties that fill in the political space - the establishment Republicans, establishment Democrats, alt-right populists and democratic socialists.

There are already offers of coalitions across party lines: Joe Biden hinted that he might nominate as his vice-president a moderate Republican, while Steve Bannon mentioned, a few times, his ideal of a coalition between Trump and Sanders.

The big difference is that, while Trump’s populism easily asserted its hegemony over the Republican establishment, the split within the Democratic party is getting stronger and stronger – no wonder, since the struggle between the Democratic establishment and the Sanders wing is the only true political struggle going on.

To use a little bit of theoretical jargon, we are thus dealing with two antagonisms (“contradictions”), the one between Trump and the liberal establishment (this is what the impeachment was about), and the one between the Sanders wing of the Democratic Party and all the others.

While President Trump continues his masterful dismantling of the American Empire before it implodes in on itself, this report concludes, his attempts to reestablish the United States as a nation being one of “first among equals” in the emerging multipolar world are being most bitterly opposed by the rogue element within in his own government called the “Deep State”—whom over the past week Trump has delivered numerous deadly body blows to—thus causing these “Deep State” forces to retaliate against Trump yesterday in their weakest attack to date—a feeble attack that saw Mueller prosecutors lying to the Department of Justice about their recommended sentence for former Trump confident Roger Stone—and when the Department of Justice retaliated against these Mueller prosecutors, saw them resigning so they could ignite yet another leftist media firestorm against Trump—a leftist media firestorm, however, that Trump responded to by bouncing the head of these Mueller prosecutors down the steps of the Department of Justice—that was followed a few hours later by top Republican Party US Congressman Devin Nunes going on nationwide television to warn that “Mueller Team Corruption Will Be Revealed In The Coming Weeks”—all of which leads one to wonder when Trump’s enemies will finally learn the fact that he absolutely can’t be beat—and as one knows is true of all Space Force Commanders—especially those like Trump, who’s apparently now training his Space Force pilots to use their secret spacecrafts.

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maherenafsiyat-blog · 5 years

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This book. This is the best book I have ever read. Khalid Hussaini is a living legend. From its writing style to its story line, it is a mixture of perfection. I am truly inspired, touched by this book. . It is the story of two boys, in Afghanistan who are more than friends. Amir belongs to an elite family and is bestfriends with his servant, Hasan. Amir is an expert in flying the kites and Hasan, in running the kites. But it doesn't stay all rosy and happy. Life happens and Amir is left with Insomnia and Hasan, with Nightmares. War happens and the country is turned into a living hell. Now, Amir can't stop this war but maybe he can stop the war inside of him. The ending is just like its supposed to be. So true, so real. . Books change you, you just have to absorb them, not just read them. I was a different person before reading this book. Now I've changed, I've learned so much. . I have learned what a 'difficult' means, what 'life is hard' means. That there is still life in Afghanistan. That so much injustice, hate, violence, cruelty, darkness exists. And it's like a flood, we can't control that. We shouldn't just be like "life is beautiful" period. No, life is ugly too. But. Just like Amir, don't let the demons in. They will knock at your door over and over and over again asking you to be a part of this false hope. But just keep hanging in there, no matter how much it kills you everyday. Let that guilt stay. And just don't say 'it's okay' unless you undo the chaos you've created, of your part in the world. . There is a way to be good again, you know. . I've learned how pure can love stay. Love doesn't care how filthy you are and even in the ugliest of the situations, love exists. . I've learned how we think about Allah only when we need him. . I've learned how tough life can be and what real tragedies are. How we exaggerating our small life problems not knowing what real pain is. . I've learned about war, about hate, about genocide, I learned a lot of History. . And at the end I've learned one thing: Redemption. . #thekiterunner #khalidhussaini #books #novels #review #creativity https://www.instagram.com/p/BxH4UaNH_5H/?igshid=6b74n7vxh6ec

#thekiterunner #khalidhussaini #books #novels #review #creativity

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dontcallmecarrie · 5 years

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Blurred Lines

aka the incredibly niche and self-indulgent AU that spawns alternative timelines every time I so much as blink

Fandoms: Doctor Who [I haven’t been caught up since it got removed from Netflix; 10′s era and some fixits for 11′s run, too], Sherlock [playing fast and loose with canon here, and goes wildly AU after the end of Season 2]

Warnings: canon-typical violence, mental health issues at least partially stemming from an incredibly traumatic period, relationship problems, writer’s salt about Martha Jones being underappreciated

With how much the universe had been making and remaking itself, a chaotic and tangled mess, was it really that hard to believe that several wires had gotten crossed?

In this particular case, the line between fiction and reality got...smudged, and Martha’s journey didn’t end when she left the TARDIS.

However, this particular universe is even more convoluted than that— after all, this is also a universe where Moriarty and Mycroft exist alongside the Doctor and UNIT, but that’s a story for another day. [Mostly, anyway.]

This particular story, however, begins and ends with Martha Jones.

Martha Jones, the medical student who had hoped for an adventure and got a war zone during her travels with the Doctor, whose steadfast loyalty had her walking the Earth. Martha Jones, who entered the TARDIS a doctor in training and left it a battle-hardened soldier who’d faced down Weeping Angels and madmen alike. Martha Jones, who, alongside her family, had experienced an incredibly traumatic event—the Year that Never Was—and now, all she could do was carry on with her life, burdened with the knowledge of a could-have-been that wasn’t.

Suffice it is to say, Martha’s not exactly in a good place.

The aftermath of the Year was ugly, on a number of levels, and it affected her relationship with her family—but that’s not it. Her time with the Doctor’s changed her on a fundamental level, and everyone who ever knew her can see it. Martha has a very hard time wrapping up medical school, because of it, but in the end becomes a doctor.

She joins UNIT mostly as a way to get an excuse for some of said changes, because right now everyone’s just seeing a medical student with shadowed eyes and a habit of checking for exits and—well. Being able to say she’s a reservist neatly explains several questions Martha wouldn’t know how to answer otherwise. That she went on several intense and highly-classified missions just prior to re-entering as a civilian is just par for course, really.

[aka Afghanistan still happens, only things went to hell in a different way]

Martha goes back to life as a mostly-civilian doctor, with the conditional that she’d be on-call for if UNIT needed a discreet presence to look into things, and is just generally trying to carry on with her life despite the severe PTSD she’s got going on.

Incidentally, she’s also looking for a flatshare.

Meeting Mike Stamford was a happy accident; he’s a friend from medical school, and as they’re catching up her living situation gets mentioned, and...huh. Apparently Martha’s not the only one looking for a flatmate.

Mike ever-so-helpfully volunteers to introduce them, and here’s where things diverge.

See, if it’d been John Watson, he'd take one look at Sherlock—at the man whose wit was sharper than his cheekbones, who’d gotten a read on him in the span of five minutes and was basically a force of nature—and he’d be enthralled.

However, in this universe, Martha Jones is filling his shoes, and she takes one look at Sherlock—at the tall, dark-haired man who burned so, very brightly, who effortlessly commanded the attention of everyone in the room—and all she can think is: ‘oh, no. Not again.’

Here, everything that drew John to Sherlock is everything that’s pushing Martha away; the parallels are so, so blatant it’s ridiculous.

Every shred of common sense tells Martha to run. And yet.

Martha can’t help but be drawn in. He’s so, so brilliant, and he’s so similar and yet not to the Doctor, and...it’s been a while, since she left the TARDIS, since she last had an adventure like the one this man is promising.

But Martha’s still on the fence, because of obvious reasons. Her biggest issue is that Sherlock doesn’t seem to be human, [because last time that happened she’d ended up seeing her world burn] and it’s not until she’s pinning a murderous cabbie and talking about the pills that she finally lowers her guard because it turns out that for all that he pretends otherwise, Sherlock isn’t that bad.

And once Martha’s guard is down, the two get along like a house on fire.

No, really, it’s actually pretty unnerving, especially for the crew at NSY, or just anyone who’s ever known Sherlock. In the days and weeks and months that follow, it quickly becomes evident that one of the mysteries of the universe is, “just where on Earth did Sherlock find this woman?” because...well.

At first, the confusion had been of the general “who the hell can stand living with this guy?!” variety, and more than a few people, up to and including Mycroft, are actually slightly concerned by the fact that Martha Jones can listen to even the fiercest of Sherlock’s diatribes and not even blink before shoving the grocery list at him as she heads off to work, and whose only reaction to Sherlock’s most gruesome experiments had been to yell at him for using the good saucepan for it. [Really, it’s almost like Martha’s dealt with someone like Sherlock before.]

It’s not until later on that things really start piling up, however, and here’s where things get...interesting.

It’s not just the way Martha so easily falls into step at Sherlock’s right side, anymore; it’s the way Sherlock’s actually slightly less standoffish at crime scenes, and the first time he actually thanked someone for something Lestrade nearly spilled his coffee down his shirt while everyone else gaped, and that’s also right around the time the rumors start.

Ah, yes. The rumors.

Because apparently, a man and a woman moving in together automatically means they’re a couple to some people. Martha and Sherlock quickly develop a routine of saying, “we’re not together”, thanks in no small part to Mycroft’s smirking after bringing up how fast they were moving in their ‘relationship’.

Martha, who’s just been recovering from being the rebound from last time [hi, Rose], and Sherlock, who’s on the asexual spectrum [I’m leaning towards demi, for this particular AU, but really it depends] do not appreciate these rumors. Well, tough, because the more time goes on the more everyone around them ships it, because these two are very clearly good influences on each other: Sherlock has yet to pass out of malnutrition [a new record, by Mycroft's standards], and the shadows in Martha’s eyes recede as time goes on, and she makes friends among the NSY crew. [She makes an effort to befriend Molly Hooper, and helps her get over her crush.]

The more time goes on, the more annoying the rumors get. Martha’s irritated because she’s finally starting to look into dating again [and also because she’s self-aware enough to know that pursuing a relationship with Sherlock, especially at the moment, would be a Bad Idea because of the parallels she’s still occasionally seeing—plus he’s not interested anyway, so].

Meanwhile, on Sherlock’s end, he may or may not be starting to quietly panic as he’s starting to experience his first crush in god-knows-how-many years because he did not sign up for this crap, nope, where can he uninstall this weird feeling he gets when Martha smiles at him?

Also because he thinks she’s not interested in him, and he doesn’t want to ruin their friendship.

Other than that, though, things are going great: Sherlock and Martha make one hell of a team, and Mycroft’s teasing [...and basically everyone else’s, for that matter] just get more ammunition as time goes on as they’re photographed tiredly leaning into each other after particularly long cases, etc.

Bits and pieces of Martha’s past come up every so often: some rather niche trivia here, a textbook takedown of an armed suspect there, the way her bag seems to hold everything from granola bars to the better part of a pharmacy. However, they’re few and far between, and typically only end up raising more questions than answers. Sherlock’s taken it as a challenge, but even he ends up stumped sometimes because really, where the hell did his flatmate learn to handle a knife like a Black Ops commando? He’d be very annoyed at not having figured Martha out sooner, except it looks like Mycroft’s stumped too.

But for the most part, canon ensues, as the continue with their daily lives. They go on cases, fight crime, and try to ignore the increasingly-annoying rumors.

The appearance of Jim Moriarty marks the beginning of the end.

Martha’s at the of her rope, trying to hold it together when she’s seeing this huge, epic showdown between genii. She’s trying not to lose it, doing her best to carry on when Sherlock’s acting differently, and people are dying, and...well.

Suffice it is to say, Martha’s not a happy camper, even before she gets kidnapped as the last hostage. Incidentally, she also accidentally got Moriarty’s interest because of the way she reacted to said hostage situation; the way she stoically deals with the vest is a marked contrast with the way she’d viciously fought a squad of armed personnel not an hour before, and that? Is just intriguing.

...and canon marches on.

They escape, and Sherlock’s not the only one who’s alarmed by the way Martha just. Breaks down laughing, after the fact, after having seen two genii facing off against each other and having faced certain death.

Time goes on, things proceed as per canon. Everyone’s starting to suspect Martha’s an unconfirmed living saint, and the rumors only get worse and there’s now a betting pool as to when they’ll get together—and then Irene shows up.

Which, awkward. Everyone expects Martha to be jealous but really she’s just protective about boundaries, and that she’s unruffled by Irene’s blatant flirting is just raising more and more questions, even after the Woman sauntered out of the picture.

Time passes, and canon ensues. They have more adventures, Martha’s journal [because she’s too private to have a blog, in this one] gets more and more pages filled in, and things are looking up.

Cue Reichenbach.

Martha’s guard skyrockets after Moriarty’s reappearance, and trying not to panic even as the fiasco feels exactly like a deja vu of the showdown she’d seen between the Doctor and the Master. She’s scrambling for a peaceful resolution, scrambling not to lose it but it’s so, so hard because the parallels are right there and as if that’s not enough, there’s Weeping Angels running around. The entire time she’s at the end of her rope, things are looking bleak and in so many ways it’s just like last time and—and then, Sherlock dies.

Sherlock dies, and she had to watch him fall.

And with his fall, she backslides like never before, every last scrap of progress she’s made with her PTSD erased in one fell swoop, and [just like last time,] Martha Jones walks away.

Ices over, packs up her things, and only sticks around long enough for the funeral before shipping out for a UNIT mission. Only keeps in touch with a few people, whenever she has the time—a phone call here, a quick visit when she’s on leave there.

Martha throws herself into her work, to forget. And with time and distance, she starts to pick up the pieces. [Again.]

Her career is going places, and things start to settle down again. There’s been an effort to clear Sherlock’s name, but she doesn’t follow what’s going on because she’s not sure her heart would be able to take it. Besides—she’s got other things on her mind, what with the whole mess with the Sontarans and all.

cue Doctor Who canon and fixits

Somewhere along the way, Martha meets Tom Milligan [again, outside of a time that would never happen], and they hit it off. Slowly, because Martha’s still quietly grieving for her best friend and they both travel a lot for work, but...they click.

aka yep Tom’s kinda filling in Mary Morstan’s role

...and then the Earth gets stolen, and a lot of things end up going down very fast.

Using a highly-experimental device that had a good chance of killing her? Okay, came with the territory. Meeting the Doctor again? Sure, why not, this type of mess was right up his alley. Having Sherlock show up as they’re trying to figure out how to fix it, though?

Let’s just say the reunion’s...interesting, and the only silver lining in all this is the face the Doctor made when he heard her ex-flatmate’s name.

Cue fixit that doesn’t end up with Donna’s memories erased, manages to take care of the Daleks, and also manages to explain just why Sherlock Holmes is running around in 2013. Things get squared away, and there’s a happy ending for everyone as they all head off to their next adventure.

Here’s my main issue: there’s just so many ways this AU can go, so many potential spinoffs and ships possible that finding one ending is next to impossible.

The Moriarty AU is a personal favorite, for instance, but even just the original has me torn between Martha/Sherlock, or Martha/Tom Milligan [aka yep he’s kinda filling in Mary Morstan’s role in this, or Sarah], or a mix of both via queerplatonic relationships—and then there’s the fixits, because there’s some things I had an issue with in the original [the way Irene got handled by the writers, for instance] and the list just goes on.

Just—expect varying levels of crack and self-indulgence, because of Reasons. And the odd ship, too, because why not.

Also: for those curious about what happened to John—his deployment was unusually quiet. It didn’t help that troops got recalled after something went down with the new Prime Minister [hi, Mr. Saxon] which meant his convoy didn’t get ambushed and he didn’t get shot and sent home. Sure, he still has some PTSD, but not as bad as he might have otherwise, and that his hand doesn’t have a tremor means he quickly gets a job as a surgeon once his deployment’s up, and he settles back in as a civilian without having too hard a time of it. Along the way he meets and falls for Mary Morstan, and they have a happy ending living a quiet life because this is supposed to be a fixit AU and if I can minimize the angst and body count, I will.

#Blurred Lines #fic ideas #fic idea #My writing #original outline #Doctor Who #Martha Jones #Naught rambles

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1nonlymel · 5 years

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Toxic Love -

These past couple years have been a whirl wind of roller coasters throughout my life. I was married for almost what would have been 5 years. Then it call came crashing down on me when he told he wanted to end our marriage. My world and heart was in crushed into a million pieces . I have known in my heart it was over the minute he told another female that he loved her through the thin white walls . The room where he had separated us for weeks. Maybe I just needed to hear the words coming directly from his mouth to ignite the fire for me to understand my worth and how unhappy I actually was in order for me to gather the courage and strength to officially file our divorce and serving him the paperwork. I remembered that day he had just gotten back from from a family trip in Cali I handed him the paperwork and never looked back. Reflecting back would I had been married to this man having to know his true colors probably not . Narcissism was the perfect definition of him. He made me felt like I was never good enough no matter what I did . When we would reach a disagreement he was always one to deflect the situation and make me into the bad guy for wanting to work things out and would just shut me out and put the blame on me. I felt like i was the only one trying to repair the relationship through out the coarse of the relationship. Back story to this we met at a friends get together and at first I was not interested in him . My friend have given him my phone number and he tried pursuing me and surely I gave me after he did what I thought he wouldn't do was meet my mom and picked me up properly to dinner which he did. So the chasing period was great he pretty much molded himself to be the guy that I was envisioning in my mind .After 3 months of dating he was deployed to Afghanistan I had a tough decision to either wait for this man that got me to fall in love with him or to end things . At that time I was 100% committed to us and I wanted to wait . During his deployment as the girlfriend it was hard not knowing when I was able to speak to him and at times all I have were letters to keep me going. It was a struggle to cope with my emotions not knowing if my boyfriend was safe or in harms way at the time. So, the first sign I have accidentally logged into his Facebook and decided ill just his messages Now i only did this because I had found some inappropriate text messages exchanged to his girl best friend at the time. I had confronted him about it and he simply just brushed it off and said it he was just joking around with her and that nothing ever did happen between them. Anyhow of coarse to my suspension I had found messages to other women talking about how he would take them out and showing them body pictures of his progression as he was working out . I really should have ended things then and there but he was making me feel that I was in the wrong because I was out partying with my girlfriends even though I didn't cheat on me or was trying to get with anybody but enjoying a good time with my friends. Therefore i forgave him and I thought we had gone past this .Later through the coarse of our marriage I had found many instances where he was emotionally cheating on me and every time I forgave him because I thought he as the love I needed and that we are married now and that we could get through this. Back track to dating period. He had surprised me by coming back home from deployment I was overwhelmed with emotions the man I have been waiting for finally came back . He had proposed to me shortly after a few weeks later . We decided this was the next step he told me I was the only one he loved and wanted to build a life with me and to help me get healthcare of coarse I was shocked since we’ve only dated 3 months and technically long distance dating for a good year and half but I was 23 at the time and wasn't thinking completely I just thought theirs a man that fully wants to commit to me and loves me so I said yes. Our marriage was a quick garden out in an ordains backyard. He was promised me we will get the ceremony that I've always wanted once we save enough money. So we had to adjust to living together after being separated for so long. That was where disaster started we would contently fight about bills and chores that were suppose to be done since we live together. He on top of that would always talk about my weight even when we were dating he would poke my fat and tells me what I should and shouldn't be eating. It really made me feel less of a women and that I wasn't attractive in his eyes and in my mind at the time maybe that was why he was reaching out to other women . I was work out and go to the gym but of coarse that wasn't enough for me to put me down. Fast forward tragedy happened to the both of us . My grandma passed away from 2 types of cancer and his mom passed away. During that time I tried my hardest to console him mean while I was going through grieving myself. Then, my biggest mistake that I made him do was get out of the military. Yes I know I shouldn't give him that ultimatum but I was done with contently waiting I did it for 2 in a half years first time was his deployment and second was when he was re stationed in Colorado Springs. and he had wanted children with me at the time so that was all. Well, after he had gotten out it was hard for him to find employment luckily he still had national guard . I was supporting the house hold for a good 3 months until he was able to get on his feet again. There was a lot of pressure coming from me to make ends meet to pay the bills . I wasn't into being intimate with him due to the stress but he had took it as I was no longer attractive to him. Fast forward he gets a new job and shortly after his company has disbanded to another location so he was again unemployed . The fights got worse and soon after that was when he broke the news that he wanted a Divorce. Of coarse I was devastated at first who wants to be known as a divorcee . I knew I had to pick myself back up So, I decided it was time to be a home buyer one of the things I had wanted in the marriage but we never got to achieve it since he would always put down any goals I had for us. Sure enough I got approve for a loan and did my HOME WORK for a good 3 months but I ended up finding a Town Home and closed in DEC 2017 . I was very proud of myself for walking away from a man that just wasn't good for me who was emotionally abusing , and emotionally cheating and wasn't supportive of my goals. Moral of the story is never get with a narcissist and get married thinking that things will get better. Know your worth and be with someone who loves you for who you are and support your goals in life.

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berniesrevolution · 6 years

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NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE

Second Platoon did not hide its dark mood as its soldiers waded across the Korengal River in the bright light of afternoon. It was early in April 2009 and early in the Pentagon’s resumption in earnest of the Afghan war. The platoon’s mission was to ascend a mountain slope and try to ambush the Taliban at night. They were about 30 men in all, riflemen and machine-gunners reinforced with scouts, a mix of original platoon members and replacements who filled gaps left by the wounded and the dead. Many of them considered their plan foolish, a draining and dangerous waste of time, another example of a frustrated Army unit’s trying to show activity for the brass in a war low on focus and hope. They muttered foul words as they moved.

Specialist Robert Soto had been haunted by dread as the soldiers left their base, the Korengal Outpost. His platoon was part of an infantry unit that called itself Viper, the radio call sign for Bravo Company, First Battalion of the 26th Infantry. Viper had occupied the outpost for nine months, a period in which its soldiers were confined to a small stretch of lower valley and impoverished villages clinging to hillsides beneath towering peaks. Second Platoon had started its deployment with three squads but suffered so many casualties that on this day even with replacements it mustered at about two-thirds strength. With attrition came knowledge. Soto knew firsthand that the war did not resemble the carefully considered national project the generals discussed in the news. He had enlisted in the Army from the Bronx less than two years before, motivated by a desire to protect the United States from another terrorist attack. But his idealism had turned swiftly into realism, and the war had become a matter of him and his friends surviving each day as days cohered into a tour. He was doubtful about the rest, from the competence of the war’s organizers down to the merits of this ambush patrol. There’s no way this works, he thought. The valley felt like a network of watchers who set up American platoons, relaying word to those laying traps.

Soto sensed eyes following the patrol. Everybody can see us.

He was 19, but at 160 pounds and barely needing to shave, he could pass for two years younger. He was nobody’s archetype of a fighter. A high school drama student, he joined the Army at 17 and planned to become an actor if he survived the war. Often he went about his duties with an enormous smile, singing no matter what anyone else thought — R. & B., rap, rock, hip-hop, the blues. All of this made him popular in the platoon, even as he had become tenser than his former self and older than his years; even as his friends and sergeants he admired were killed, leaving him a burden of ghosts.

He faced the steep uphill climb, physically ready, emotionally spent. We’re just trying to get out of here in two months, he thought. He and his fellow soldiers had been in the valley long enough that they moved in the sinewy, late-deployment fitness of infantry squads seasoned by war. Sweat soaked his back. His quadriceps and calves drove him on, pushing him like a pack animal for the soldier beside him, Specialist Arturo Molano, who carried an M240 machine gun. The two fell into a rhythm. One soldier would get over a hard patch, turn around and extend a hand to the other. “Hey, man, you good?” Soto would ask. Molano would say he was fine. “You want me to carry the gun?” Soto would offer. Molano declined every time. Soto considered Molano to be selfless and tough, someone who routinely carried more than men of much larger size. He liked being partnered with someone like this.

After a few hours, Second Platoon reached the crest, high above the valley. The soldiers inhaled deeply, taking in the thin air. Away from the outpost’s burning trash, the air tasted clean.

(Sgt. First Class Thomas Wright, Specialist Robert Soto and Second Lt. Justin Smith in April 2009.)

A few soldiers went forward to check the trail before the rest of the platoon moved to the ambush site. With little more than whispers, the soldiers arranged themselves in a triangle astride a mountain footpath. Second Lt. Justin Smith, their platoon leader, put Molano at one corner and a second man with an M240 at another, with their machine guns angled back toward each other so their fire could create an interlocking zone of flying lead. Other soldiers set claymore mines on small stands.

Everything was ready before dark. The air was chilly and the ridge raked by gusts. Soto was shivering. He pulled a dry undershirt and socks from his pack, changed clothes, ate a protein bar and washed it down with water. He saw his company’s outpost below, across the open space, and realized this must be what it looked like to militants when they attacked. A distant call to prayer floated on the mountain air.

In early October, the Afghan war will be 17 years old, a milestone that has loomed with grim inevitability as the fighting has continued without a clear exit strategy across three presidential administrations. With this anniversary, prospective recruits born after the terrorist attacks of 2001 will be old enough to enlist. And Afghanistan is not the sole enduring American campaign. The war in Iraq, which started in 2003, has resumed and continues in a different form over the border in Syria, where the American military also has settled into a string of ground outposts without articulating a plan or schedule for a way out. The United States has at various times declared success in its many campaigns — in late 2001; in the spring of 2003; in 2008; in the short-lived withdrawal from Iraq late in 2011; and in its allies’ recapture more recently of the ruins of Ramadi, Falluja, Mosul and Raqqa from the Islamic State, a terrorist organization, formed in the crucible of occupied Iraq, that did not even exist when the wars to defeat terrorism started. And still the wars grind on, with the conflict in Afghanistan on track to be a destination for American soldiers born after it began.

More than three million Americans have served in uniform in these wars. Nearly 7,000 of them have died. Tens of thousands more have been wounded. More are killed or wounded each year, in smaller numbers but often in dreary circumstances, including the fatal attack in July on Cpl. Joseph Maciel by an Afghan soldier — a member of the very forces that the United States has underwritten, trained and equipped, and yet as a matter of necessity and practice now guards itself against.

On one matter there can be no argument: The policies that sent these men and women abroad, with their emphasis on military action and their visions of reordering nations and cultures, have not succeeded. It is beyond honest dispute that the wars did not achieve what their organizers promised, no matter the party in power or the generals in command. Astonishingly expensive, strategically incoherent, sold by a shifting slate of senior officers and politicians and editorial-page hawks, the wars have continued in varied forms and under different rationales each and every year since passenger jets struck the World Trade Center in 2001. They continue today without an end in sight, reauthorized in Pentagon budgets almost as if distant war is a presumed government action.

As the costs have grown — whether measured by dollars spent, stature lost or blood shed — the wars’ architects and the commentators supporting them have often been ready with optimistic or airbrushed predictions, each pitched to the latest project or newly appointed general’s plan. According to the bullhorns and depending on the year, America’s military campaigns abroad would satisfy justice, displace tyrants, keep violence away from Western soil, spread democracy, foster development, prevent sectarian war, protect populations, reduce corruption, bolster women’s rights, decrease the international heroin trade, check the influence of extreme religious ideology, create Iraqi and Afghan security forces that would be law-abiding and competent and finally build nations that might peacefully stand on their own in a global world, all while discouraging other would-be despots and terrorists.

Aside from displacing tyrants and leading to the eventual killing of Osama bin Laden, none of this turned out as pitched. Prominent successes were short-lived. New thugs rose where old thugs fell. Corruption and lawlessness remain endemic. An uncountable tally of civilians — many times the number of those who perished in the terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001 — were killed. Others were wounded or driven from their homes, first by American action and then by violent social forces American action helped unleash.

(Continue Reading)

#politics #the left #afghanistan #war on terror #foreign policy #imperialism #war in afghanistan

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kosupako-blog · 5 years

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Facts, Fiction and Gambia Visa

The Benefits of Gambia Visa

https://www.ivisa.com/gambia-visa

Otherwise, you'll need to make an application for a visa through your nearest UAE embassy. For visits of under a month, you don't will need to have a visa before you travel. A visa simply indicates that a U.S. consular officer has determined that you're eligible to make an application for entry to the usa for a particular intent.

Somalia is another visa free country and you can remain in the nation for as many as 30 days without a visa. We're willing and pleased to help you at our finest!

Want to Know More About Gambia Visa?

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Gambia Visa - the Conspiracy

The prisoner furthermore has to be visited by a health practitioner daily and it may just be imposed for a period of 7 days, with prolonged isolation is simply possible under strict ailments. 1 third of the nation's prison cells are at present empty. To begin with, there are not any victims here.

You'll also be requested to demonstrate your ID document to the camera in various angles so the agent can verify that it's legit. Simple and simple to use, our passport photo booth permits you to have a photo from anywhere utilizing a smartphone or tablet. The strategy gives a detailed report of the way the UK plans to be at the forefront of the international digital movement.

It's more relievable direction of doing things within this super volatile world. Above all else, the trip is about learning more regarding the cryptocurrency market. Just taking off without any prior knowledge might increase the adventure factor, but some simple information can produce the voyage a whole lot more pleasant.

4,841 people are rescued off the Libyan coast and 218 bodies are retrieved up to now in 2017. Most visitors to The Bahamas do not require exceptional vaccinations before entering the nation. Ambassadors are generally appointed by the highest degree of the house government.

But What About Gambia Visa?

If you have them done via an agency in your house country they will frequently cost you quite somewhat more and be much more hassle. The advantage of choosing Migration Expert is you will have a professional MARA registered consultant working with you from start to complete. You will manage with poor French but there's a huge difference between managing and enjoying your journey.

DO let us know whether you have nay question. The usage of holding companies makes it tough to understand who owns what, Iraki explained. This was about locating a peaceful way to solve the matter of Afghanistan.

The Key to Successful Gambia Visa

Immigrant visas are for persons who intend to live permanently in the usa. Several have sought work from private sector jobs because of the embargo. It's well worth noting that The Gambia is a little nation.

The Appeal of Gambia Visa

You should also think about checking with your transport provider or travel company to make certain your passport and other travel documents satisfy their requirements. An Every visitor can avail the neighborhood sponsorship to be able to stop by Dubai. You just need to book your return ticket and you're ready to go.

Demonstrations might occur. For the most recent information, it is wise to look into the up-to-the-minute rules regarding Temporary Reintroduction of Border Controls. Tips and individual expenses 2.

Then, your school will give you with a Form I-20. When filling out the application, it's not essential for employers to name certain beneficiaries. More info about that would be quite helpful.

Changing in a financial institution or hotel will offer you only 27D for a euro. In some circumstances you might be permitted to stay longer. An entry'' indicates the range of times you're allowed to go into the country with the visa.

So nurses are hired in order to ease the foreigners that are in huge numbers in Dubai. As a worldwide student or foreign national, you will normally require a visa for virtually any period of time. Beside it local citizen may also avail the employment in exactly the same manner even they're preferred to others.

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uboat53 · 2 years

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How Do We Achieve Peace?

I want to talk about peace for a moment. Peace is, in theory, the goal of every person. No one wants to go to war or kill other people. Except for a few psychopaths. But let's just say that, within a reasonable statistical margin of error, everyone would rather have peace than war.

So why does war keep happening?

And, more importantly, how can we actually achieve peace? That's what I wanted to take a fairly close look at, particularly in light of the events of the last few weeks, and see if I could figure out what people who advocate for peace in the world should focus on doing.

One of the first things I notice, though, is that people often treat peace and war like light and dark. In the same way that dark is literally just the absence of light, people talk about peace as being the absence of war.

I think that's wrong for a couple of reasons. First of all, this would imply that all we have to do is get people to stop fighting and war would end, but how do you do that? If people just stopped fighting it isn't as if the things they're fighting over would stop existing. In fact, many times the non-war status quo is deeply violent and exploitative. It may not, technically, be war, but it doesn't really feel like it's "peace" either. Secondly, it implies that peace, as a concept, can't exist in the absence of war. Just as dark has no meaning without light, peace would have no meaning without war if it only its absence. I would argue that peace has meaning of its own, as I'll be getting to a bit later.

So if peace isn't the absence of war, what is it?

Well, in order to get into that, I want to take a closer look at war. What is it, exactly? To quote the great Karl von Klausewitz, who made one of the most detailed academic and intellectual studies of war in his book On War which you should very much read, "War is a mere continuation of policy". In other words, war is simply a subsection of politics.

So what is politics? Well, it's tough to define as a general term, but for the purposes of this discussion I would define politics as "the process by which conflicts are resolved". You'll notice this is pretty broad and can include diverse topics like bargaining, extortion, deception, diplomacy, and, of course, warfare among an infinite number of other options. I think it works, though, and it leads us to a fairly neat conclusion.

If warfare is a continuation of policy (politics) and politics is the process of resolving conflicts, the solution to ending warfare is to ensure that there is always a non-warfare means of resolving conflicts.

Does that also provide peace? I think it can, but it doesn't necessarily provide peace. In other words, it's necessary but not sufficient. Oppression and blackmail are non-warfare means of resolving conflict but I wouldn't exactly call them peaceful. Still, I think it allows us to work out a reasonable definition of peace.

Given this, then, I would define peace as "a condition in which there exist positive methods of resolving conflicts".

Good start, but what does that look like?

Well, in order to figure that out, we probably want to take a look at some periods in history where that has happened. The problem is that, for the most part, there really aren't any...

Let's take the famous Pax Romana (Roman Peace) as an example. A roughly 200 year period (27 BC to 180 AD) in which much of the Roman world experienced relative peace. The thing is, though, that this period wasn't actually peaceful, it featured a huge number of wars, both external and civil, along with tons of revolts and smaller conflicts, not to mention the fact that Rome was effectively a slave empire that brutally oppressed a huge percentage of the population living under it.

Oddly enough, the most peaceful period in history that I can find is... right about now.

I know, it seems odd, doesn't it? We're in the middle of the invasion of Ukraine, we're just coming off the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we've got Vietnam and Korea before it. It feels like there's a lot of war, doesn't it?

But there really isn't. The post-World-War-2 era has actually seen the lowest level of interstate warfare... ever as far as we can measure. And not just war between states, civil war too. And famine and disease. Arguably, the modern era is actually the most peaceful time in human history. It's certainly not perfect, but it's a good place to start.

So how did we manage that?

Well, let's take a look at what's different about the post-WW2 period from other periods. It's not the bi-polar world, we've had that before (Rome/Persia, for example) or the unipolar world in the post-Cold-War era, other periods have seen that too, at least regionally (China or Alexander's Macedonian empire, for example).

I would say there's two big differences: (1) nuclear weapons and (2) rules-based international institutions.

Now, the second one isn't literally true. The post-WWI period featured the League of Nations, for example, so I suppose it would be more accurate to say that this modern period has featured rules-based international institutions that are accepted and supported by the great powers of the world. The first one, on the other hand, is literally true, nuclear weapons didn't exist before 1945.

So let's look at those one by one, though they are directly related. Nuclear weapons, I would say, changed the cost-benefit calculations of warfare between great powers. In the 1700s, France, Britain, Germany, and Russia could all go to war and, outside of the actual battlefield, it wouldn't have all that much effect on any of those countries. In the 1800s, Napoleonic warfare mobilized entire countries to war and that's pretty much the way we did war with increasing ferocity through the end of WW2. Countries could be seriously damaged, entire cities could even be leveled in a matter of hours, but largely it was something that could be rebuilt within a few years, a decade at most.

Nukes, however, changed the equation. By the mid-to-late-50s, nuclear warfare had the potential not just to cause damage, but to literally end life on this planet. Great powers with nuclear weapons could no longer afford to go to war and hope to pound the other side into submission, they wouldn't survive it even if they "won". This had the effect of limiting great power war. Not only that, it limited war between minor powers as well. Everyone remembered Archduke Franz Ferdinand and no one wanted to risk ending the world because some minor figure got shot in the middle of nowhere.

However, that still left the problems that the conflicts would otherwise be fought over. I mean, sure, you don't want to go to war over exactly which side of the border that new zinc mine sits, but you also still want that zinc mine to be on your side of the border.

In order to resolve those kinds of disputes, the major powers of the world set up or strengthened a number of international bodies. The United Nations and the International Court of Arbitration were set up as tribunals (effectively legislative and judicial) to oversee and rule on these kinds of conflicts. And, in order to address grievances from colonialism and other historic oppression and exploitation that had left some regions of the world much poorer than others, bodies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were set up. Later on these bodies were joined by still more like the World Trade Organization.

Though imperfect, the conflict resolution mechanisms of these bodies have resolved or mitigated conflict after conflict that, in a world without them, might have led to open warfare between nations. Organizations like the International Criminal Court have even gone beyond addressing simple interstate warfare and moved to directly address conflicts involving civil wars and other forms of oppression.

So if we want peace...?

All right, we're finally back to the initial question. Based on all of this, if we are advocating for peace, what specific actions should we be taking?

Well, oddly enough, de-nuclearization actually doesn't seem to be high on the list. Don't get me wrong, even a small risk of a nuclear war that would extinguish life on this planet isn't great, but it appears that nuclear weapons may have actually prevented a ton of conflict as well. Calling for the removal of nuclear weapons doesn't seem to be a high margin investment of peace advocacy.

Probably the most effective thing, based on the evidence so far, would be to strengthen the rules-based international order that provides a mechanism for solving conflicts without warfare. But what, exactly does it mean to strengthen them? And, more importantly, why does it feel like they're weakening in the first place? Most importantly...

Why did they work in the first place?

The key, as best I can tell, to the functioning of an international body is legitimacy. What do I mean when I say "legitimacy"? Well, I mean a few things. In no particular order, they are:

1) That the body is viewed as applying an acceptably impartial set of rules to a conflict.

2) That the body is viewed as being acceptably neutral with regards to the specifics of the conflict.

3) That the body be backed by powerful nations such that any nation that refused to obey a given ruling of that body would suffer consequences.

When these organizations were created, they satisfied these conditions with regard to the countries of the world. In some cases they relied more on #3 than on #s 1 or 2, but the basic principles held.

So what changed? Well, the world changed. And the bodies didn't. I mean, think about it, the structure of the UN is basically unchanged since its founding in 1948. At that time, the USSR had what was possibly the largest conventional military on Earth, the United States was the world's only nuclear power, Britain and France among other European nations still held large colonial empires, including most of Africa, China was generally governed by Chiang Kai-shek's nationalists, and Britain's India was in the process of being partitioned into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. Obviously this isn't the world we live in today.

But the structure of these bodies, including how much power and authority is granted to what countries or grouping of countries, are still stuck in this past. The head of the World Bank is appointed by the United States and the head of the International Monetary Fund is appointed by Europe. The UN Security Council hosts the US, Britain, France, Russia, and China as permanent and veto-weilding members. You can see the same when you look at funding and voting shares in most international bodies.

To put it simply, countries that have risen over the last half-century or more in terms of their economies and their political influence no longer believe that bodies still dominated by the powers of 1948 are acceptably neutral with regards to the specifics of their conflicts or that the rules set in 1948 are acceptably impartial.

So what can we do about that?

Well, the obvious solution is that international bodies need to be reformed to become more representative of the world that they mediate within. Countries that were considered less significant in 1948 or which didn't even exist yet will need to be given a greater voice in these bodies. Their complaints about the way the rules are written and applied need to be addressed. They need to be given a seat at the table and feel as if their concerns are heard.

One particular wrinkle in that plan is ideology. You see, the origins of these bodies lies in the liberal democratic ideals (however imperfectly implemented) of the founding nations. Depending on whose rating system you look at, a good deal of the countries that have gained influence, particularly in the last decade or two, do not hold to those ideals. Giving them a greater say in these bodies risks subverting those bodies to the extent that they may be less effective rather than more at carrying out their intended functions.

Of course, there is a solid argument to be made that many of the liberal democratic countries who founded these bodies haven't done a great job adhering to those ideals themselves, and that some of the rising countries are actually fairly representative of them. It's also possible that the ideals of these bodies impact member countries more than the reverse. There is also the argument that many of the founding nations themselves didn't actually adhere to liberal democratic ideals. The USSR and its communist bloc certainly didn't, nor did fascist Spain.

So it's complicated?

Well, yeah. I mean, it always is. The world is a complex place and any plan to address those issues is going to be equally complex, doubly so when it has to be formed within the confines of an already existing system.

Still, I think there's a solid argument to be made that the most important action that any advocate for peace in the world can take is to advocate for the reform of these international bodies. The first and most important step being to adjust them to make them appropriately representative of the world we live in today, but the second step is to try to give them the ability to change with the times.

The details of exactly what that looks like are something that will have to be hashed out between hundreds of governments and the billions of people they represent. It will likely take years, probably decades. But at the end of the day, peace isn't a static condition, it's a constant struggle. This is what is needed today so that we can pass a more peaceful world on to the next generation for them to address their own conflicts.

Hopefully we can rise to the challenge. The current conflict in Ukraine is showing the cracks in the current system as nations opposed to the international order and desirous of getting their way by force are taking their shot. If we can't do this, the next generation will have a good deal more challenges of their own to face.

Have thoughts?

I am, of course, nowhere near confident that my analysis is perfect. In fact, I'd be shocked if it was. I'm always interested in hearing constructive feedback that can correct mistakes I've made or expose me to ideas I haven't considered. This is the amalgamation of decades of thinking, talking, and debating about these particular issues as well as many related ones, but I'm hardly an expert in the field. My specialization is engineering and physics, I just do this as a hobby.

Specific areas where I'd be interested in hearing feedback, particularly from people who are experts in the topics, are the accuracy of specific examples I've used, the reasonableness of assumptions I've made, and any flaws in analysis you think that I may have made.

Of course, I am unlikely to know the full extent of what I don't know, so if you have any other thoughts, comments, questions, or concerns to bring up, I'd love to hear it. At the end of the day, my goal in this is to better understand what action I (and others) should take in order to best promote peace (and hopefully prosperity) in the world. Anything that gets me closer to that I'd rate as a good thing.

I hope you enjoyed this or, at the very least, found it interesting.

#politics #russia ukraine putin #russia ukraine war #war and conflict #worldpeace #war and peace #political strategy

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newstfionline · 4 years

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Headlines

U.S. to expand screening of passengers from China at 20 airports (Washington Post) The U.S. government warned Americans to avoid all nonessential travel to China as that country grapples with an outbreak that has claimed at least 130 lives and infected more than 6,000 people.

Trump proposes Palestinian state with capital in eastern Jerusalem (Reuters) U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed the creation of a Palestinian state with a capital in eastern Jerusalem, in an effort to achieve a peace breakthrough with Israel that will be a tough sell for Palestinians. Under Trump’s proposed Middle East peace plan announced at a White House ceremony attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the United States will recognize Israeli settlements on the occupied West Bank. In exchange, Israel would agree to accept a four-year freeze on new settlement activity while Palestinian statehood were being negotiated. Palestinian leaders had rejected Trump’s long-delayed plan even before its official release, saying his administration was biased towards Israel. Meanwhile, Israel’s government plans to vote Sunday on annexing 30 percent of the occupied West Bank.

Magnitude 7.7 earthquake hits between Cuba and Jamaica (Washington Post) One of the strongest earthquakes on record in the Caribbean, 7.7 magnitude, struck about 70 miles northwest of Montego Bay, Jamaica, shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday. Minor shaking was felt as far north as Florida, while more moderate shaking was reported in Jamaica. Shaking was also reported in the Cayman Islands and Cuba. Initial reports of damage from the region have been spotty. Because of the quake’s distance offshore, impacts may be minimized. Smaller aftershocks are likely in the region in the coming weeks.

Britain to allow Huawei equipment in parts of its 5G network, dismissing U.S. call to ban Chinese telecom giant (Washington Post) In an intense lobbying effort, the Trump administration warned about security concerns and said a contrary decision by London could threaten transatlantic intelligence and trade relationships.

Global markets rattled by Wuhan virus (Foreign Policy) Stocks fell on Monday and China’s yuan reached its lowest level this year on Monday on investors’ fears that the Wuhan virus could harm the world’s second biggest economy after China extended the Lunar New Year holiday to prevent contagion. On Monday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Wuhan, where he promised reinforcements for the health system, which has been overburdened by the rapidly spreading virus.

New fire warnings in Australia (Reuters) Australian officials warned communities in bushfire-ravaged eastern states to strengthen fire defense amid forecasts of soaring temperatures and strong winds, as one approaching blaze cloaked the capital in thick smoke. Bushfires have killed 33 people and about 1 billion animals since September, while 2,500 homes and an area the size of Greece have been destroyed. Firefighters have used several days of cooler, damper weather across much of the continent to try to gain control of more than 100 blazes still burning before temperatures rise again from mid-week.

U.S. military plane crashes in Afghanistan (Foreign Policy) On Monday, the U.S. military confirmed that an aircraft had crashed in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, but it denied claims that the Taliban shot it down. It is unclear how many people have died in the crash or whether it will further complicate the peace negotiations underway between the United States and the Taliban. Meanwhile, in 2019--during much of which talks were ongoing--the United States dropped the most bombs over Afghanistan in nearly a decade, the Military Times reports.

Netanyahu withdraws bid for immunity from prosecution (Reuters) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu withdrew his bid for parliamentary immunity from prosecution on corruption charges, making a criminal trial against him a near certainty. Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said in a statement that an immunity debate in parliament would have been a “circus” and he did not want to take part in this “dirty game”. He was indicted later that day [Tuesday].

Syria’s Idlib offensive (Foreign Policy) Russian-backed Syrian government forces are nearing the city of Idlib in the drive to recapture some of the last rebel-held territory in the country’s northwest, pushing thousands of civilians to flee toward the Turkish border. Residents fear repercussions if their towns are recaptured. Turkey already hosts more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees.

Libya Says Oil Shutdown Losses Reach Over $500 Million (AP) Total losses from the closure of Libya’s major oil fields and production facilities has accelerated, reaching more than $502 million over a 10-day period, the country’s national oil company said Tuesday.

Crowded Lagos to ban motorbikes from most of Nigerian metropolis (Reuters) Nigeria’s business capital Lagos will ban commercial motorcycles from nearly the entire city, citing overcrowding and safety, authorities said on Monday, a move that could change the commute for thousands and threaten ride-hailing startups.

#headlines #news

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blackswaneuroparedux · 5 years

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Once were warriors

Vikings are the toughest warriors ever according to National Geographic. The cover of the March 2017 edition of National Geographic has an illustration of a fearsome Viking warrior, sword in hand, glaring out from behind a steel helmet, with the title; Vikings – what you don’t know about the toughest warriors ever.

Not only were Viking warriors tough on the battlefield, but that they were tough explorers, seafarers and businessmen. Using information from the latest scientific discoveries, Vikings traveled further than earlier researchers ever suspected. Using cutting edge seafaring technology they created, Vikings journeyed to over 37 countries, from Afghanistan to Canada. On their travels they interacted with over 50 cultures, traded using Islamic silver coins, and dressed in Chinese silk and Eurasian caftans.

Vikings built thriving cities in York and Kiev, colonized large parts of Britain, France and Iceland, opened up trade routes from Russia to southern Europe, and established outposts in Greenland and North America. The article states that only Vikings do this, and that no other European seafarers of this period ventured so fearlessly from their homeland.

History shows that the ambitions and cultural impact of the Vikings can’t be overstated. Sporadic raiding by small groups of Viking warriors evolved into total warfare as Viking armies conquered three Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and impacted world history, but how the people of the north became such a fierce force lies in the 300 year period before the Age of the Vikings.

Beginning in the year 536, the lands to the north were wracked by turmoil when a series of natural disasters struck. A combination of cataclysms such as comets or meteorites smashing into Earth and at least one volcano eruption, created a vast cloud of dust that darkened the sky and covered the sun for a whole year. For the next 14 years, summer temperature plummeted, and the cold and darkness brought death and ruin to the northern lands.

These extreme weather events were the most severe and prolonged short-term periods of cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 2000 years. The effects were disastrous and caused crop failures and famine. The more than 35 petty northern kingdoms that had risen in power and territory, and had built chains of hill forts to protect them, now began to fall. In Sweden’s Uppland region, 75 percent of villages were abandoned as villagers succumbed to starvation and fighting for survival. This dire disaster is likely the inspiration to one of the darkest of world myths; Ragnarok, the end of all things and the last battle of the gods.

When the dark clouds finally dissipated and the sun was able to shine on the land, warm weather returned and the northern people rebounded. Only this time, Norse society assumed a more truculent form. Chieftains became more aggressive and their heavily armed armies began seizing and defending abandoned territories. This new warrior society celebrated the virtues of fearlessness, aggression, cunning and strength.

In this period of weaponised growth, a new energy effected all peoples of Scandinavia. Skilled carpenters created new technologies and the sleek and deadly longships they built allowed Norse warriors to sail farther and faster than ever before. This revolutionized Norse society of newly ambitious men, wifeless young warriors, and new type of ship, created the perfect storm. Northmen who had little chance of marriage or wealth back home, began aggressively exploring new lands, raiding towns and villages, and taking home treasure, slaves and women. The success of these warriors would set Europe afire.

Only the strong survived the chaos after the natural disasters that hit Scandinavia in the 6th century. The rugged wild nature and six month winters of the northern lands had for generations ensured that the people who lived there were tough, but this new Norse warrior society was even tougher. A warrior mentality was instilled in Scandinavian boys, and they were trained for combat from a young age.

Weapons became extremely important in this warrior society, and according to the Hávamál, a Northman should not be more than a few steps away from his weapons. Archeologists on the Swedish island of Gotland have found significant proof of the importance of weapons in Norse society, where nearly every man was buried with weapons.

In around the year 750, about 50 years before the Viking Age officially started, a band of Norse warriors from Uppsala in Sweden, sailed to the island of Saaremaa, off the coast of Estonia. 40 of these warriors were killed in a battle there and buried in two longships. In 2008 this burial was discovered by accident, and the discovery caused a stir among specialists, because of all the swords buried with the warriors. Most experts had assumed that Norse raiding parties consisted of a few elite armed warriors, with the rest of the crew made up of poor farm boys with cheap spears and longbows. What the archeological discovery shows is that the burial contained more swords than men, which could mean that even the earliest expeditions consisted of many Norse warriors of high status.

At some point during this aggressive movement, the term Viking was used for warriors who went out on these voyages of exploration and conquest. The social hierarchy of the northern lands was slave, freeman, warrior, chief, noble and king, but after a while, the term «Viking» was used to describe all the peoples of Viking Age Scandinavia.

The Viking Age officially started when the new breed of weaponized Northman, now called ‘Viking’, raided a monastery in Lindisfarne in the year 793. Successful early raids along the coasts of Europe provided Viking warriors with riches beyond their expectations.

In the beginning these raids were planned for the summer months with just a few longships and less than a hundred warriors. As Viking warriors grew in strength, experience and motivation, so grew their ambitions. What started as raids on small settlements with just a few longships, grew to attacks on cities like York and Paris with fleets of ships. Viking warriors sailed inland by way of rivers to overthrow kingdoms and seize large swathes of land that they colonized. In the 9th century, when Vikings raided the France, they stormed more than 120 settlements and extorted 14 percent of the entire Carolingian Empire.

It was not only raiding that was a tough activity for Viking warriors, trading was an equally tough profession. Viking warriors known as the Rus carved out trading routes from Turkey to western Russia, and along the Black and Caspian seas. Trading outposts and Viking ships laden with luxury goods such as fur, honey, amber, walrus ivory, silver, silk and slaves, had to be protected all along these dangerous routes.

Throughout the east and Europe, Vikings became feared and admired in equal measure. One of the earliest documents about Vikings was written by a Muslim diplomat called Ibn Fadlan, in 922 A.D, who described Vikings as “The wildest warriors I have ever seen”.

What these Viking warriors did, was no different than what people from many other countries did, Vikings were just tougher and more successful than the rest. Vikings fought for, and carved out kingdoms, around the world. They are an integral part of the world’s history and paved the way for the world as we know it today. If anyone doubts that Vikings were the toughest warriors ever, just remember that they are the only warriors that have a period of history named after them; The Viking Age!

#vikings #scandinavia #denmark #sweden #norway #norsk #history #war #military

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