Train from Naples to Rome

I've just come back from a week in Naples (200 km South from Rome).

 

On 8th January I showed a picture of Rome's main railway station on my blog, as I had just travelled by train for job. After I had seen the comments I noticed that our blogging friend from NY State, Tom ,  was interested in modern trains. That's why I show, once again, some photos of trains which I took in the last few weeks.

The journey by train from Naples to Rome usually takes one hour and 37 minutes, but it can take just 59 minutes on the fastest service.

The train shown in the above picture is 200 metres long. It  boasts 462 seats, distributed on 11 carriages, and travels on Italy's high-speed network at up to 300 km/h.

Slow train, as shown in the picture below, may refer to a regional rail service (I took the photo at Civitavecchia railway station).

The picture below also shows slow trains at Tara Street's railway station, in Dublin (Ireland).

The following picture has nothing to do with trains. It's a tall ship above of the Italian Navy, which is named after the explorer Amerigo Vespucci.  It was launched on 22nd February 1931.

     

Its main activity is training campaigns for naval academy cadets, who can learn the basic rules about seamanship and navigation. I didn't took the picture of the ship. It's a photo courtesy of  Luigi, a friend of mine.

Have a nice weekend 🔆  

     🚂🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃 

Three months without international assistance

 

On the basis of the current figures,  on average 247 Palestinians have been killed each day by Israel. They include 48 mothers each day,  which means two of them every hour.  And 117 children have been killed every day.  In addition,  since 7th October hospitals have been attacked every day.

According to international law, reprisal may be carried out in response to an attack. And reprisals are, firstly, activated by illegal act of a delinquet state and, secondly, they must be in propotion to the seriousness of the violations committed by the enemy.  But on 7th October the enemy wasn't Palestinian people. Israel was attacked by a terrorist organization that has nothing to do with Palestinian State, as everybody knows that Palestinian people couldn't fund such terrorist organization.

United Nation General Assembly resolutions calling for humanitarian cease fire have been ignored. 

In this context, the so called civilized world remains silent. 

1st week of the new year

I have just come back from Naples where I spent one week from 30th December to7th  January. 

I had nice walks through the historic centre of that town founded by Greeks

     in 474 B.C.

In the meanwhile, on the geopolitic front, in the first week of the new year we have continued to hear of Israel's bombardment on Gaza and Taiwan's provocation. But it seems there is a good news, as Denmark's government has  decided not to transfer the promised F-16 fighters to Ukraine. The fact that  Western equipment and weapons will not shipped to Kyiv is now the main topic in many foreign media. 

My sister sent me another picture taken in the early morning. I like to share it. On the right side of the picture there is the island of Capri.

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.