Christian presence in Gaza

 

Since many decades, Israel and his allies have set up a false narrative about Palestine's people, due to the fact that they have been comparing Palestinians with Muslims. And since October 7, they have done the same. In other words, they have not mentioned that the ongoing brutal war in the Middle East has massacred Palestinian Muslims as well as Palestinian Christians who live in the Gaza Strip. To sum up, while the leaders of many Christian countries continue to be silent, Israel's government is threatening the Christian presence in the holy land.

In this context, Western powers want us to support Israel's politicians, who are the same people who agree on killing unarmed journalists, nurses, doctors and children. They are the people who remember international law and war crimes only when the victims are Israelis. 

Let's wait and see if they will lie again and again.

I took the above picture of the Christmas tree in my neighborhood.  

The shortest day of the year

 

2023'S Winter solstice is around the corner, as on December 22 the Northern  hemisphere will be furthest away from the sun. It will be the shortest day of the year.

The picture above shows the Bay of Naples (South Italy) on a cloudy morning in late Autumn. It was taken by my sister, who lives there.

That old medieval tower was built five centuries ago to protect against the threat of invasion by Arabs and turks. I saw it while I was on the rooftop of building located in the historic centre of the town.

The tower was surrounded completely by residential buildings two centuries after  it had been built. 

 Enjoy the shortest day of the year ❗

Never again

 

I know I have bored you since October 7th, due to the fact that I sometimes speak about Gaza's  massacre. But I am sorry to hear that the United States' government vetoes Security Council draft resolution that would have demanded a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

I have never heard of collective punishment of innocent people, as we see in Gaza. And, in this context, the EU should have been arguing for the protection of civilians in Gaza. On the contrary, while a genocidal war is going on, the EU president, Von Der Leyen, says: "Europe stands with Israel". But who gives her the right to speak for the citizens of Europe? We, Europeans, stand for justice for the people of Palestine. We disagree on  Israel airstrike, open declaration of siege, and fuel, electricity and water left. Not to mention of killing of children, women, journalists, nurses and doctors!

As mentioned by the Australian senator, Lidia Thorpe, at every genocide the world cries "never again". 

On the wrong side of history

Israel's crimes against humanity still continue in Gaza. But is the hitting of hospitals and ambulance convoys still illegal under the International law? And while Westerners and many Middle East countries are turning a blind eye on the massacre in Gaza, the ICC  continues to lose credibility. On the contrary, If Russia, China or Iran were to do the same atrocities as we see in the Israel-Palestine conflict, they would be prosecuted by ICC. 

In the meanwhile, Palestinian death toll in Gaza since October 7th had passed 15,500 including 6,500 children. And the death toll of Palestinian journalists has rised to 73. 

As mentioned by the Turkish president recently, this time the so-called civilized world's societies are on the wrong side of history in the Israeli genocide of Palestinian people who live in Gaza.

The 1st day of the twelveth month of the year

Today, on a cloudy morning, I saw a lovely children playground located close to a residential neighborhood in the southern outskirt of the town. 

It reminds me that  neighborhoods like that don't exist anymore in Gaza City.

 I also took a few pictures that show the sea in late Autumn.

The lanscape was pleasant and the weather was almost too good. I could see just a touch of grey clouds in the sky.

Those small wooden stilt houses are mainly used from June to October.  Situated on the sea and close to the shore, they are romantic vacation places.

The two following pictures are less romantic than the previous ones, as they show illegal waste dumping on a area surrounding the industrial district (North side of the town), due to the fact that  many construction and landscaping contractors don't use athorized methods. Typical of third world!

Unfortunately, there is still a lack of public awareness regarding the environmental, health and economic danger of illegal waste dumping.

Have a nice weekend 💦

Plogging

 

Yesterday I noticed streets and alleys were so clean in the early evening, while I was enjoyed a walk through  Civitavecchia's historical neighborhood.  And I also saw someone who was picking up trashing and litter while walking. A few minutes later it was easy to see that there were two women who were not employed to collect urban waste. I have heard of garbage collectors,  who pick up and transport waste to disposal sites or recycling centers in the morning, but not in the early evening. 

After I had asked her why she was collecting waste in the early evening, she said that it was not her job. She specified it was a new sustainable initiative which combines walking with caring of urban environment. Obviously,  she wore gloves and had a bag to collect litter along her route. 

The term "plogging" is a combination of picking up litter while jogging.

The 3rd and the 4th pictures have nothing to do with plogging. They give two different perspectives of the parich church located in the octagonal square of San Lorenzo Nuovo, which is a small village (149 km North from Rome).

With its 2,000 inhabitants, San Lorenzo Nuovo lies close to the lake Bolsena in Central Italy.

 .

Nice weekend to all the members of our blogging community!

Southern corridor

 

A political leader's first duty is the welfare, progress and protection of his/her people and country he/she serves. That's why last month Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, apparently issued a warning to his NATO allied. He said that Hungary would "go to war if energy supply were attacked". 

In 2022 Germany faced energy crisis after Nord Stream pipelines were attacked. And U.S. journalist Seymour Hersh accused Washington of orchestrating the attack on the two pipelines . 

As it is known, Nord Stream 1 and 2 were built to deliver Russian gas to some EU countries via Germany. And despite last year a few world powers worked togheter on blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines, Hungary and Serbia, which are two landlocked countries, can still purchase natural gas from the Caspian basin through the Azerbaijan, Türkiye (Trans Anatolian pipeline) and Bulgaria. 

In this perspective, the Hungarian prime minister made recently it very clear that if anybody would like to do the same thing with the Southern Corridor, as it was done with the Nord Stream, his country "will consider it as a reason for war". 

Hungary is a true independent and sovereign country, not like Vassal states. 

The two above pictures were taken by my daughters in 2019 while they were visiting the capital of Hungary, Budapest.

Have a nice weekend!

Gaza City

This post doesn't need any picture.

Last week the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in support of humanitarian truce in Gaza, but Israel and United States voted against the resolution.

A Palestinian child in Gaza is killed in an Israeli attack every 10 minutes.

I've become Grandpa!

I'm happy to announce this week I became Grandfather for the first time! On 25th October, at 3 pm, Rachele came into the world to my Daughter-in-law, Enrica, and my son, Fabrizio. 

Baby Rachele was born in Rome, Gemelli hospital.

Have a nice weekend!

Gaza City's people have nothing to do with terrorists

 

Some bloggers have already wrote something about the war in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza. And while many are acting like nothing happened, some questions haven't been answered yet! Firstly, On Saturday, October 7, Hamas fighters didn't met Israelian soldiers while they were crossing the fence, although Israel had always deployed a lot of soldiers and tanks along the Gaza Strip border in the previous years. In addition, there weren't soldiers in Israel's villages located close to the Gaza-Israel border. And last but not least, how can a musical festival be held close to Gaza Strip? ... mmm ... there is evidence  that Israel had received an official warning from Egypt of a possible attack from Gaza Strip three days before Hamas launched its deadly assault on Saturday, October 7.

In the meanwhile, according to the latest updates, more than 1228 people have been killed in Israel while in Gaza the death toll has climbed to 2329 Palestian killed. I know that some members of our blogging community don't like to discuss of such topic. I will not bore them.

Enjoy the rest of this cloudy Sunday.

How food has gone up

I have been out of blogging since late September. Naples (South Italy) and its West surroundings are experiencing an earthquake almost every 48 hours. There are 24 craters located to the West of Naples, most of them are under the sea water and on the Island of Ischia. I am worried because the risk of eruption may increase, and my mother and my two sisters live there in Naples.

As request by Nicole (through her post published on September 18th), I have taken some pictures that show how food's price has increased in Italy.

 

As it is known, since early 2022 purchasig power has been decreasing sharply also in EU contries too. 

The above picture shows walnuts € 5.99 per kilo (shipped from Chile 🤨) and chestnuts € 7.99 per kilo ❗

I hope my pictures can explain how much have fruit and veggies' prices gone up: people are buying the green lemons above € 5.99 per kilo.

Not to mention of rising prices of oil, gas and building materials used in construction, such as bricks, concrete, cupper, tiles and wood.

This morning I saw two sailing ships in the harbour ... if oil and gas prices were to rise again and again, we would see more vessels propelled by the wind 😃 LOL

It seems the seagull is waiting for lunch, considering that the grocery store and the fishmonger are there.

Have a nice weekend!

Western-centrism

In my opinion there is a biased view that favors, inconsciously or consciously, Western civilization's interests, norms and narratives. In the implementation of international law's principles we can still see that practice of privileging Western interests.

For instance, with regards to the self-determination principle we can easily see some inconsistencies. 

According to the Western media's narrative, Catalonia has NO right to secede from Spain, but Kosovo HAS a right to secede from Serbia.

The two Ukrainian provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk have NO right to secede from Ukraine.  But Taiwan has a right to secede from China.

That behaviour is still strictly related to a worldview centered on Western civilization.

The good news is that India Prime Minister has just invited African Union to join G20 as a permanent member. The head of Africa Union has already took seat.

September, 1st

On September 1st hibiscus' booms still appaer in my neighborhood. I can see them from my window. And those pink hibiscus flowers reminds me the importance of flowers and trees in the urban environment.

My daughter has come back from Ireland, where she spent her Summer holiday. She sent me a few photos of that Ireland's inspiring landscape.

She said the weather was never too hot and never too cold.

In the meanwhile, in my country many boys and girls are still enjoying their Summer holiday along Italy's beaches, as the weather is still hot here in Central Italy.

 Have a nice weekend!

1989 Baltic human chain

34 years ago, on August 23, 1989, about two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined hands. They formed a human chain stretching through the three Baltic countries. 

It was a peaceful protest .

The  above image belongs to Sonja Eftimovska.

A picture from Belfast

My daughter has gone to Northern Ireland on holiday. She's has just sent me two pictures, which she has taken in the neighborhood of the Catholic community in Belfast. 

The first photo just above doesn't need any explaination.

Have a nice weekend 

 

Assumption of Mary

 

Every year, on August 15th, Christian people commemorate the death of the blessed virgin Mary. Ortodox Christian celebrate the Assumption of Mary on August 28. The Assumption is important to many Christians, Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans and Anglicans. 

I noticed some blogging friends, such as Dark Miryam   and Veronica Lee , have enjoyed my pictures of Italy, which I posted in my previous post. Maybe, some of them have already visited my country. 

The castle in the picture above was partly destroyed during World War II.

I took all the six pictures above while I was walking across Itri, a small city in Central Italy, not far from the Gulf of Gaeta.

 

As above mentioned, today is public holiday here in Italy. Fireworks will be set on the night. I hope the weather will not be cloudy.

Happy feast of the Assumption! 

1st week of August

I don't want to bore you with political comments about what is happening in Niger and other African countires. But I would like to mention just a few words spoken by Eritrea's president, Isaias Afwerki. He recently said that neocolonialism is a continuation of classical slavery. Neocolonialist powers will control the world for coming fifty years without anyone challenging them. Now we are at the crossroad, as a better world await people of the two continents of Africa and Asia, the largest and wealthiest landmass.

                                 (Picture of the main port in Tunisia taken in 2018)

The following pictures have nothing to do with African people who are tired that colonialists are always around.

On this sunny Sunday the first week of August goes to an end ☀️

In the early week of August I have noticed that beaches are not crowded as they should, although we are in the middle of the summer ⛵

My dinghy boat, is ready. It is powered by a low-horsepower outboard engine  ⚓

Sorry to see that some uncivilized people, who come here on holiday from Rome's worst neighborhoods, are still leaving waste on the street.

A cricket was looking for supper in my mother's garden 🦗

Meanwhile, a beautiful sailing ship has just docked here at the Italian port of Civitavecchia. 

Enjoy the rest of August!