Prolonged the war in Ukraine

Investment management companies are still seeking to prolong the war in Ukraine to keep the cost of rebuilding higher daily. 

If we were to analyse the main geopolics event, that have took place since late 2020, we would see more wars compared with the previous four years: the Iran-Israel esclation, the Ukraine debacle, the war in Lebanon, the Taiwan's provocation and the Gaza's genocide. And with regards to the genocide just mentioned, after Israel's president had left 70k tonnes free-fall bombes on civilians, schools, hospitals and refugee shelters, he asked the United States Congress: "Give us the tools faster and we'll finish the job faster" ... and they gave him a standing ovation 53 times. 

Ukraine's right to defend itself is praised by many international leaders while Russia's invasion is condemned, but commentators said the same cannot be said about Israel occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are Palestinian territories.

In 1996 Samuel P. Hungtington wrote "The clash of civilizations", which still is one of the most  influential books of our wartime era. But all that we are witnessing is not a clash between civilizations, it's a clash between civilization and barbarism.

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". 

Magical day for Colombia

 

I'm so happy to hear that Colombia's military found four children more than five weeks after the plane they were travelling crashed. The four children have survived since May 1st in the Colombia's thick jungle.

People in Colombia are calling the rescue of the children "a miracle" .

My son has just sent me two pictures from NY

Just two pictures taken this week by my son, who has been visiting NY since 1st January. He has just sent me the two pictures.

It seems the weather wasn't too cold this week in NY, although the picture above shows a cloudy sky. He will be back in Italy on 9th January. 

Happy new year to all the blogging community :-)

Farmland in late Autumn

Just a few pictures of the hills that I saw yesterday while I was driving through the countryside. The owner of the farm (picture below) sells olive oil and veggies. I sometimes buy fruits and veggies that hasn't been shipped from other  continents.

I noticed that farmland shows its unusual brown and beige earthy colours in late Autumn, as it is systematic used to produced food for humans.

Some blogging friends, who live in Canada and North-East USA, are already showing, on their blogs, their environs covered with the first snow. Here, on the 42° parallel and close to the Mediterranean Sea, it is not the case. Probably we will see our environs covered with snow in early winter.

Meanwhile, Christmas decoretions are already along squares and streets.

On the Ukraine-Russia front, I am sorry to hear that the Russian government is ready for negotiations, but there's the USA's refusal to recognise new territories.  This shows that Ukraine government doesn't decide anything in terms of peace agreement. It's so sad! Poor Ukrainian people are suffering while their government isn't allowed to make any choice in terms of negotiations. Actually, other world powers, which are not directly involved in this war, will choose the terms of the peace agreement.

For instance, in my opinion Russians could leave some seized territories in East and South Ukraine if Ukrainians were not to join NATO. This is my thought that could be one of the terms of the negotiation table. 

The good news is that the USA's president would be ready to meet the Russian leader. 

China's military drills

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, two Western governments have been pushing for Taiwan to order missiles and smaller arms. In the meanwhile, China is conducting military drills near Taiwan, as it seems Chinese are practicing how to invade the island. 

According to WionNews, in the first week of May 2022 China carried out another round of drills near Taiwan. A large number of Chinese warplanes, warships and conventional missiles surrounded the island.

The U.S. has never officially supported Taiwan independence. And the sentence "Taiwan is part of China" had been written on U.S. State Department's website for decades. The fact that this sentence has been recently removed signals a shift. Consequently, the message is clear: America is ready to back an independent Taiwan. In other words, the U.S. would be ready to supply their weapons to Taiwan.

New arms race in Europe

I've noticed that world's policy-makers are not worried about the new arms race that has been triggered in East Europe. On the contrary, since Russia-Ukraine war began about three months ago the US has sent more the $ 3 billion in military equipments to Ukraine. Not to mention of other countries, such as China and the UK that are also involved in shipping weapons respectively to Russia and Ukraine. 

In addition, other European countries located close to Russian and Ukrainian border, such as Poland, Estonia, and Romania, have also been buying weapons and missiles. With its 37% of global arms export, the U.S. is world's largest weapons exporter. There are no doubts that military-industry complex and contractors are winning this war.

The picture above, which shows the Azovstal steelworks in the devastated Ukrainian city of Mariupol, was published on 6th May, 2020 by the BBC website: 

https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-61348541 

I have got that powerful picture via email from Willie, our blogging friend from Blandford.

2021 military exercises close to the Russian border

If we were to get a wider perspective of the Russian's invasion of the East Ukraine's territories, we would need same information about the military drills held in 2021 on the Ukrainian territory by US and UK. 

In June 2021 US, UK, and Australia (which is not a NATO member), held naval exercises in the Black Sea and Southern Ukraine. One month later, The US, Poland, and Lithuania held another military exercise involving more than 1200 troops in West Ukraine. In addition, from 20th September to 1st October 2021 large scale war games with US, UK, and same NATO and Ukrainians troops took place close to the Belarus border. 

As it is known, Since early 1990s Ukraine has been a buffer state between Westerners and Russia. On the other hand, according to a core principle of international law, there is the right of people to decide their own destiny in the international order (principle of self-determination). That's why it's not easy to say who is right. Obviously, that has nothing to do with shellings of residential neighborhoods, railway stations and hospitals, as we have already seen in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Libya, etc.   

Since Ukraine war began in late February, Russians have been knoking on Finland's door. In this viewpoint, the geopolitical neutral Scandinavian country was recently hit by two cyberattacks and an airspace violation by a Russian plane. If Finland's people or policy-makers of Finland try to join NATO, it would be a strategic mistake. Finland has been successfully developing economic ties with both Russia and EU. I think it would be a terrible mess for the Finnish people. 

Pharma companies' abusive vaccine deals

The world's largest pharmaceutical company, which is in talk with about 100 countries around the world, will be delivering 2 billion vaccine doses this year. But a lot of people don't know that the company ask some countries in South America to create a guarantee found. 

When the Covid-19 epidemic began to spread across the Northern hemisphere in early 2020, the CEO of the world's largest pharma company hypocritically said: "We believe that every person deserves to be seen, heard and cared for. That's why from the very beginning our vaccine development program, our company has been firmly committed to working towards equitable and affordable access of Covid-19 vaccines for people around the world".

According to the pharma companies' deals, Brazil and other countries have to take in consideration delay in vaccine delivery. It means that the Brazilian government can not penalise pharmaceutical companies for delayed delivery. 

In addition to this, manufacturer of pharmaceuticals will be exempted from all civil liability. The company also wants sovereign assets as guarantee, such as military bases, embassy buildings and sovereign founds. In other words, a vaccine maker asks for a country's military basis in return of vaccines.

While EU, Chinese and Indian pharmaceutical companies are selling free vaccines to poorer countries, there are big vaccine makers which are bullying countries. Not to mention of someone who refuses to sell vaccine raw materials and says no to sharing vaccine formulas to developing countries.

Meanwhile, while Covid-19 cases were increasing in the EU, Austria's government announced strict lockdown measures. There are fears other EU countries might do the same. It's easy to see that current vaccines may not be the ideal match for new variants, although pharmaceutical and biotech stocks have been rising on the markets.

Taliban advance as the US withdraws

On August 15th, Taliban fighters entered the outskirts of the Afghan capital virtually unopposed. This indicated the end of a Western political experiment which lasted two decades. In this context, it seems not easy to understand the reason why the US and the EU have been ignoring Taliban's cruelty toward Afghan people. 

Actually, the main objective of the world superpower is always the same: control over oil and gas resources which are located in central Asia (mainly Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan). Taliban and the US are now allies in that corner of the world where there is still a Russian (and maybe Chinese) influence.  

It happened in the 2nd half of May 2021

 

In May 2021 families, women, children and infants were killed in their homes by israel airstrikes on a small strip of land where nearby two million people are crowded.

The crisis was triggered in early May, when Palestinians began to protest in East Jerusalem over an anticipated decision of the Supreme Court of Israel on the eviction of six Palestinian families in the West Bank town of Sheikh Jarrah. In addition to this, Israel's police threw shock grenades inside the al-Aqsa mosque on the last Friday of Ramadam in East Jerusalem. Israeli forces broke into the mosque prayer hall!

After Israel had bombarded the besieged Gaza strip for the fourth time in 12 years, the U.S. approved a $ 735 Millions weapons sale to Israel. The approval was criticized by legislators in Congress, and several Democrats introduced resolutions to block the sale of precision-guided missiles.

The news reported no sense of alarm, as they didn't mention the possible crime against umanity and the Amnesty International's call for a halt to U.S. weapons sales to Israel. 

According to the Statute of the International Criminal Court, a crime against humanity is committed "as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack" ... From 14th to 21st May Israel's military campaign killed at least 253 people, including 66 children. At least 12 people were killed by Palestinian armed groups.

Cryptocurrencies' value continues to drop

 

With regards to my previous post about cryptocurrencies' regulation, I have just learnt that the American clean energy company based in Palo Alto, Tesla Inc., will no longer accept bitcoin for car purchase.

Many environmentalists and some Tesla's shareholders have been increasingly critical about the way cryptocurrencies are "mined" using vast amount of electricity generated with fossil fuels.

On 27 February, 2021, the British newpaper "The Guardian" wrote: "It's not just the value of bitcoin that has soared in the last year - so has the huge amount of energy it consumes".  In this perspective, a professor of economics at the University of New Mexico recently said that the amount of electricity used to mine bitcoin has been more than the electricity used by entire countries, like Ireland.

On the one hand, Tesla Inc. is accelerating the world transition to sustainable energy with electric cars and integrated renewable energy solutions for home and business. On the other hand, in the first two months of this year bircoin rose in value thanks to an endorsement by Tesla's Elon Musk, who planned to accept the cryptocurrency as payment. This inconsistency is often a major events that affect the markets! The perception of cryptocurrencies' value changes as the market seeks a new equilibrium making price reflect new information and major news. 

The pictures above show how electricity generated with fossil fuels may affect the environment (The power plants in the pictures are located in Italy). 

US rejoins the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement

I'm glad to see that the US is officially to rejoin the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, reversing the withdrawal by Donald Trump.  Each year we wait to not invest into mitigation today will exacerbate in the future the cost of adapting. Actually, we would need greenhouse gas level to be net to zero by the end of 2050. 🌲🌳🌳🌲

From the early 1800s, coal, oil and gas have been burnt, and have been releasing gases that trap heat from the sun. That's the main raison why there is now more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there has been for million of years.

Unfortunately, despite governments around the world are aware of planet earth's ecological limits, temperature is still going up. 🏭🚢✈

The last picture of the two donkeys has nothing to do with global warming. I took it yesterday while I was walking through the countryside. There was some grass around the fence, on the side, so I decided to feed them. 🐎🐎

Trump's second impeachment trial

Since US senate proceedings began early this week, House managers have shown evidence that Trump "incited insurrection". There are evidence that many phrases have been used by the former US President to urge his supporters, such as "the election was stolen" and "fight to stop the steal". He also said that the only way to take back the country is to fight. That's really dangerous!

Prosecutors have even produced evidence that Trump was no "innocent bystander", but the inciter-in-chief. On 6th January, he said: "stop the fraud, take the Capitol right now!".  That day he used that word "fight" twenty times in his speech.

Furthermore, some prosecutors also said Mr. Trump had the power to stop the attack, but he didn't. Five people lost their lives. If Americans want to stop something like that from ever happening again, that man must be convicted. 

A small wave of optimism

On the economic front, many experts can see a wave of optimism, as vaccination programmes progress and expectations of large stimulus by US President Joe Biden are driving global markets near record highs.

Meanwhile, in my country former European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi, is tapped for Prime Minister role, in bid to avoid early elections. Hope he will probably lead the country out of the political crisis.    

                                                          (View of Naples)

(An ancient gate in Naples. It was built in 1484)

              (The port of Naples and Vesuvius volcano covered with clouds)

                                      (Naples and its sky on a cloudy morning) 

       (Rome, 1st February, a department store in the Eastern part of the Italian 

       capital shows that people are still wearing a mask and respecting social 

       distancing rules seriously)

A dark day in the history of the oldest existing nation with a constitutional government

On January, 6th, while legislators were gathering to certify Joe Biden election victory, President Donald Trump told thousands of supporters to walk to the Capitol building. And after Trump's supporters had began to gather outside the meeting place of the U.S. Congress, legislators were forced to abandon the congressional session as the Capitol building was locked down. 

At 16:20 President elected Joe Biden called on Trump to immediatyely "demand an end of this siege". But the President Donald Trump, in a twitter video, repeated false claims that he had won the election, and, on the other hand, he urged his supporters to go home in peace. A Trump's supporter, Ashli Babbitt, was shot inside the Capitol building and died later. At 05:00 pm crowds began to disperse around Capitol Hill. 

On January 7th, at 03:40 am, according to Electoral College votes, Congress confirmed Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 U.S. election.

This week the majority of U.S. house of representatives, 222 democrats and 10 republicans, voted to impeach President Donald Trump over Capitol violence. Democrats had accused Trump, who is leaving office in five days, of inciting a crowd to storm the Capitol on January  6th. He is the only U.S. President to be impeached twice. Most people in the U.S. think that man is a danger for their democratic country, which is the oldest existing nation with a constitutional government.

Post script: the three pictures above were taken by a colleague of mine, Luigi Muci, who went to the U.S. (Pennsylvania and New york) in 2019.

New barriers between the UK and EU since 2021

The new year begins with "late evening" curfew in many EU countries, such as Italy, France and Germany. The new lockdown measures have come to replace the ideal of the smart city with that of the spectral city, while the US is surpassing 20 million COVID-19 cases, which is almost one fourth of global infections. It's easy to understand the main reason why 25% of global infected people (and 25% of global Covid-19 deaths) are in the US. While many Westerners continue to blame China, these figures show us where the epidemic really began to spread in early 2019.

Meanwhile, the UK leaves the EU Single Market and Customs Union. Actually, even with the new agreement between the UK and EU, since January 2021 businesses will face new barriers to trade in goods and services, and to cross-border mobility and exchanges. The UK, that relies on the EU for roughly half of its total trade in goods, will no longer benefit from the principle of free movement of goods and services. In addition, all the imports in the EU must meet all EU standards and will be subject to regulatory checks and control for safety, health and other public policy purposes.

The EU is the UK's biggest trading partner, as around 65 % of British agricultural exports go to the EU Member States, and 70 % of UK imports originate from the EU countries. In addition, last year Italian cheese exports grew just as fear of no-deal Brexit, as with about 7,000 tons, the UK is one of the leading markets.

We will see what UK's businesses and policy makers will be able to do, considering that a non-member of the EU does not enjoy the same benefits as what EU membership offers. 

The nightmare has gone to an end

The American electorate has spoken! Huge congrats to the US people on such great political choice. The nightmare has gone to an end, and once again the values of democracy and the principles of the American Constitution will be among the US.

According to the US Supreme Court, the 290 democrat members of the Electoral College will have no choice but to vote for the Presidential Candidate they promised to support. In this perspective, thirty-two states and Districs of Columbia have laws requiring electors to vote as they had promised.

As it is known, on July 6, this year, the US Supreme Court stated that states are entitled to remove or punish electors who changed their votes. The bad news is that in states without such penalties, electors remain free to change their votes.

The picture above was taken by a friend of mine who went to NYC last year. That's why that image shows people who are not wearing masks. 

US electoral college system

In almost every US Presidential Election, the winner of the national popular vote also won the Electoral College. What happened in 2016 was extremely rare, as while Clinton received 2.87 million more votes than Trump did, Trump received the majority in the Electoral College. Actually, in the 2016 US Presidential Election, ten members of the Electoral College voted for a candidate different from the one to whom they were pledged. 

This happened just five times in American history, but twice in the last 16 years, the other time being George W. Bush's Electoral College defeat of Al Gore in 2000. In the US Electoral College system, each state gets a certain number of electors based on the total House and Senate representatives in each state's congressional delegation. According to many political experts, the problem is that the Electoral College weights the election in favor of small, rural states. The picture above shows that smallest-population states have three elctoral votes, while California, the largest, has 55. 

With regard to US popular vote, which will be held next week, the poll found that Joe Biden hold an 8-point lead over Trump nationwide, 52 % to 44 %:

As it is known, Russia's intelligence services conducted cyber operations against targets associated with the 2016 US Presidential Election.

(source: https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf )  

I do hope this time Russian Government doesn't order an influence campaign aimed at 2020 US election. 

Origin of Coronavirus

Since late January 2020 we have heard a lot of theories about the origin of the Covid-19 oubreak, which have created mystery and suspicion on this topic. In addition, many hypothesis about the origin of Coronavirus have been used by the Trump Administration against China, by calling it a "Chinese virus".

In February and March 2020 some articles, published in the US, showed that there were many possibilities that the virus started there. Actually, in the US in 2019 there were many unexplained respiratory illnesses in Maryland, that caused pneumonia and didn't respond to antibiotic. According to China's Foreign Ministry, US military officials, who went to China in October 2019, were already infected while they were visiting Wuhan. 

Therefore, some members of the US team at the Wuhan Military Games had become infected by the virus from an accidental outbreak at Fort Detrick, the Army Biological laboratory in Maryland. That's the main reason why speculation over the Covid-19's origin have been also growing with petition demanding that the US government discloses more information on the closure of the Fort Detrick biological laboratory, that may be connected to the outbreak. As a result, the novel coronavirus had been intoduced to China when 300 US military members arrived in Wuhan, in October 2019, and infected the local population.
In this perspective, Stanford Institute's experts have mentioned that some US people may have had Covid-19 a few months earlier than the US health system suspected it could have been spreading. Actually, on April 15, 2020, the US had the largest number of cases with 609,685 people tested positive, compared with Spain and Italy, with respectively 177,633 and 162,488 coronavirus cases. And the fact that numbers in the US are four times bigger than Spain and Italy may mean that the virus has been spreading there silently since long time. 
In addition, an article published by Science Magazine reports that an infection disease expert, at Georgetown University in Washington, said that the first human infection has been confirmed as occurring in November 2019, suggesting that the virus didn't orginate in Wuhan. Someone put the origin of the outbreak in September. Then the virus spread to the Wuhan's seafood market.
There's also another hypothesis about the Biological laboratory in Wuhan, which had been collecting viruses from bats, although there's no evidence at the moment. Actually, after Wuhan "Wet market" had been closed, the health laboratory in Wuhan came under increasing scrutiny. 

With regards to the two biological laboratory, in Wuhan (China) and in Maryland (US), there is nothing "conspirational" about a lab accident, because accidents may happen. As confirmed by many scientists, the claim that the virus was engineered in US, EU, Israel, China, or elsewhere is a fake news, which can't be considered a theory.