Reflectii

The Warnings in Cold War History

Netflix viewers got an introduction, this spring, to a famous physics experiment: the three-body problem. A magnetized pendulum suspended above two fixed magnets will swing between them predictably. A third magnet, however, randomizes the motion, not because the laws of physics have been repealed, but because the forces involved are too intricate to measure. The only way to “model” them is to relate their history. That’s what Netflix did in dramatizing the Chinese writer Liu Cixin’s science-fiction classic, The Three-Body Problem: a planet light years from earth falls within the gravitational attraction of three suns. It’s no spoiler to say that the results, for earth, are not auspicious.

Janvier 2024 : c’est officiel, les Français vont pouvoir échanger leur vieille automobile thermique qui tache contre un baril de voiture électrique qui lave plus blanc ! Le leasing social vient d’être mis en place et va permettre aux heureux citoyens qui répondent aux critères contraignants de l’opération gouvernementale de disposer d’un petit véhicule électrique, choisi dans une gamme restreinte, pour un loyer mensuel inférieur à 150 euros.

Eleven Yemeni employees of United Nations agencies have been detained by Yemen’s Houthi rebels under unclear circumstances, authorities said Friday, as the rebels face increasing financial pressure and airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition. Others working for aid groups also have been taken.

Human Rights Activists in Iran have documented the arrest of 101 individuals with foreign or dual citizenship by Iranian security agencies since 2003. This analysis reveals significant flaws in the judicial system, highlighted by routine arbitrary detentions and the absence of fair legal processes.

Honestly, doesn’t it befuddle you?

I mean, don’t you think we humans are kinda mad? And worse yet, at some deep level, we simply can’t seem to stop. All too often, we just can’t curb our urge to destroy.

Looking back, the desire to make war and obliterate our “enemies” is a deeply ingrained and repetitive pattern in our history. Each individual example can, of course, be explained (away) in its own fashion, but the overall pattern? Hmmm…

Over the last couple of years, I’ve written extensively about the destructive effects of unchained Liberalism on western societies, and the resulting social breakdown. I’m not going to repeat myself much here, but rather try to address a consequential point: what I see as a disastrously misguided and ultimately futile attempt to fill the yawning void left by triumphant Liberalism with a form of ascriptive identity tribalism, why and how it began, and how it has gained pace in recent years. I’m going to draw here on anthropological studies, individual and group psychology, criminology, and even the work of a famous fourteenth century Arab historian and sociologist. But only in a non-threatening manner, and to the extent that they are useful.

ISIS has told Americans it wants to “drink their blood” in a twisted message promising attacks on the US.

Circulating on pro-Islamic State messaging channels the statement follows warnings of attacks on the major sporting events this summer including the T20 World Cup and Paris Olympics.

Europe’s biggest economy is struggling to cope with a rapidly changing geopolitical environment. Chancellor Scholz has yet to provide the necessary leadership.

Since the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany seventy-five years ago, the country has rested on four pillars. Today, none of them can be taken for granted.

L’Union Européenne est présentée comme nécessaire à notre économie et au maintien de notre pouvoir d’achat, on a l’impression qu’il est impossible d’en sortir au risque d’un cataclysme financier. Et pourtant c’est une machine à fabriquer de l’inégalité et de l’appauvrissement qui a été d’ores et déjà sciemment mise en place. Où est la vérité ?