Reflectii

Our investigation of the disastrous society-wide collapses of four premodern polities, China’s Ming Dynasty, the South Asian Mughal Empire, the High Roman Empire, and Renaissance Venice led to the discovery of an unexpected historical pattern. This revelation was not evident before these sudden collapses as all four polities had demonstrated forms of governance that persisted for centuries, had been among the wealthiest and best-governed polities of their eras, and had embraced policies fostering inclusiveness and egalitarianism that engendered strong support from the majority of their citizens.

A bit of history

Islamic finance during the time of the Prophet Muhammad was characterized by real transactions such as sale on credit and renting, rather than through modern banking systems, which did not exist at that time. The Bayt al-mal (Government Treasury) played a role in managing funds and included a branch for lending and receiving repayments of interest-free loans. This system emphasized fairness and the prohibition of interest (ribâ) as stated in the Qur’ân (2:275): (1)

Americans are increasingly uneasy about their “national” security, and increasingly concerned that war is lapping at our shores. Instead of reducing the risk of harm to America and our interests, the federal government in Washington seems to be seeking it, investing in it, fueling it and lying about it.

For many years now, Hezbollah has served as a major instrument of Iran to take over Lebanon, not only as a territory but as a sovereign state. Many Western countries would like to avoid that and invest in the former “Pearl of the Middle East”, led by France. These efforts are futile in view of the Iranian circumvention apparatus, who’s main mechanism is allocated in the border crossings between Syria and Lebanon. No matter how much pressure is put on a state level, Hezbollah will survive and even prosper, as long as one does not put an end to Hezbollah’s control over these main smuggling routes.

Here’s how everything unfolded from the start of this summer’s initially peaceful student-led protests against the judiciary’s reimposition of a contentious government job quota system to the spree of urban terrorism that ultimately forced the country’s long-serving leader to flee for her life to India.

Technologically, the Japanese have nothing to envy the Americans, whether in the electronics sector, artificial intelligence or the automotive industry. Similarly, the time when objects made in China could be considered as junk. Gigantic cities are endowed with the highest technology. In a few years, dozens of villages have been transformed into urban areas. The Chinese are great global suppliers of electronic components. Their wealthy entrepreneurs settled in Africa and project mega-projects in North America, particularly in Quebec. In 2022, the only lithium mine then operational in Canada, located in Manitoba, belonged to the Chinese company Sinomine Resource Group, which sends its production to China…1

Au cours des cinq dernières années, le concept d’intelligence artificielle a fait l’objet d’une grande fanfare, à tel point que sa primauté est considérée dans les médias comme une évidence. L’idée que les algorithmes peuvent «penser» est devenue un mythe omniprésent, un fantasme de science-fiction qui prend vie. La réalité est beaucoup moins impressionnante…

En juin dernier, dans le contexte des événements du 26 juin de cette année, jour où un groupe de militaires a fait irruption au siège du gouvernement situé sur la place Murillo pour renverser Luis Arce et prendre le pouvoir, la BBC a dit que la Bolivie était «le pays dans lequel il y a eu le plus de tentatives de coups d’État» depuis 1950.

One might need to issue a warning on conspiracy theories that are, as a matter of fact, rather mad fantasies and hallucination. Such conspiracy fantasies tend to link things that are not connected and imagining patterns where there are none.

Social media and for-profit media have tried to make people believe that there is a dictatorship in Venezuela and that the July 28 presidential election has been tainted by fraud. Washington disavows re-elected President Nicolas Maduro and several countries allied with US interests have followed the repeat scenario, but this time strengthened in the virtual domain (Internet).