Stress on landmarks

Tourists sometimes put enormous stress on local landmarks and historical buildings. According to the Cultural heritage Administration, tourists who visit Italy and its historic sites almost regularly steal bricks. 

Last week I took the two pictures below while I was walking through the Naples' historic centre. On March 25th I also walked past the ancient Roman theatre, dating back to the first century BC. It is located in the heart of the old town and it is literally incorporated into modern buildings, as we can see in the below picture.

https://tropter.com/en/italy/naples/roman-theater-neapolis

The problem is that many tourists sometimes steal ancient bricks, dating back to the 1st century BC, from the wall of the Roman theatre. That's the reason why someone wrote "Tourist go home" on the old wall of the ancient Roman theatre. 

The sentence written in Italian language on that ancient wall means: "Be careful! Some vandal tourists are stealing ancient Roman theatre's bricks with hammer and chisel. Why do we have so much trouble in recognizing them in time?" 

Since 1995 Naples' historic centre has been listed as a World heritage site, by UNESCO, for having been a crucial centre for art and architecture since the middle ages. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/726  

It seems that while local administration units have worked to preserve the UNESCO sites for decades, protection measures have not been as successful they would like. Actually, It is not the first time that tourists have been caught vandalizing or causing trouble at Italian tangible assets that are inherited from past generations. A few years ago two American women, a Russian man and a French tourist carved their initials into a piece of the Rome's Colosseum. And a 47-year-old tourist from India tried to hide a Colosseum's brick in his pocket. 

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/tourist-to-roman-colosseum-caught-stealing-brick-as-a-souvenir-report

I took the above image of the elliptical amphitheatre in Rome last year, on April 9th. The Colosseum is the largest amphitheatre ever built, which is considered one of the new seven wonders of the world. 

Have a nice weekend!

Dog kennels

A British blogger, Mike Nuttall, wrote these words on 29th March:

"All come under the House of US Domination. The EU is a dog kennels for all poodles the US have doing their will". 

Mike Nuttal's sentence got my thinking that after WWII Germany was occupied by the winners, American, British, French and Russian (Soviet Union).

As it is known, when Soviet Union's occupation went to an end, Soviet armed forces left the German territory. But the USA didn't do the same. This means that American occupying soldiers are on the German territory. A lot of them are still there. 

In this perspective, some German politicians themself say that since 1945 Germany has never been a sovereign state. The US hegemonic weapon has far reaching claws.

I took the picture above in Berlin, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

China's peace plan

 

From 20th to 22nd March 2023 China's Xi Jinping met Vladimir Putin in Moscow. What does China gain from Xi ad Putin's talk in Moscow?

It seems, at first glance, that China has sent a message very clearly that Beijing is going to deepen its relationship with Moscow. This is easy to see, although the two countries have underlined that their meeting doesn't pave the way for a political or military alliance. Otherwise, the two Eurasian world powers are seeking more cooperation about the belt and road infrastructure project, the BRICS group, agriculture and energy.

In addition to this, China's president has quite successfully used this visit as a platform to promote China's peace deal betwwen Russia and Ukraine. In this perspective, British government has already announced it will provide Ukraine with armoured-piercing rounds containing depleted uraninum, which is a byproduct of the uranium-enrichment process needed to create nuclear weapons. And this means, in my opinion, that we make progress but then we experience events that cause us to be further behind than we were when we made the progress.

The picture above was taken eight years ago by Stefano, a friend of mine who went to China for job.

China's mediation

China's president is just arrived in Moscow. As it is known, China's government has already shown its growing role as political power, considering that last week Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed in Beijing to re-establish dispomatic ties and reopen embassies. The tensions between the two Middle East oil-producing rivals have gone to an end as a result of China's mediation. In this context, it's easy to understand that Washington elites are not so happy to see China's negotiation power.  

Xi-Jinping's state visit shows China support for Russia. But it also mean that China may offer a proposal to end the Ukraine-Russia war, although the USA has committed 54 billion aid for Ukraine, including at least 20 billion in military support. In addition to this, French foreign minister recently said that Ukraine needs to be helped immediately. And this, in my opinion, doesn't help the hypothetical negotiation table.

In the meanwhile, there is another small brick that can explain the Nord Stream pipeline's act of war. Obviously,  it can't be considered as an evidence.

Two weeks ago the cargiologist of the local hospital, here in my town, put the pacemaker into my mother-in-law's chest. She needed such surgery. But she had to wait many months, due to the fact that there weren't enough beds avalilable in the operational unit of cardiology. What I am trying to say is that, on the one hand, the quality of EU health care system needs to improve in terms of hospital services, on the other hand, EU policy-makers continue to send weaponry, military equipments and anti-missile systems to Ukraine. 

I hope China's government will be able to hold a negotiation table between Moscow, Kyiv, Washington, and London. In addition, forty African countries are in Moscow today. The conference is called "Russia-Africa in a multipolar world". We wait and see. 

All infrastructures are more vulnerables

Since late 2022 fruits and veggies' prices have been rising in Italy, but now I see that price of 1 Kg (2 lb.) of apples is € 0.99 at a local market close to Rome. This is incomprehensible, considering that according to statistics the rate of inflaction in the EU rose sharply in January and February 2023, with prices rising fastest in Hungary. But this has nothing to do with the pipelines distruction.

On the Nord Stream front, it seems that the Baltic states continue to be silent about the pipelines' sabotage. I also see that Germans, who are people that suffered the direct damage, are ambiguous over that act of war. 

Given the complexity of the sabotage, I think blowing up Nord Stream connot be an operation made by a terrorist organization. It can only be an action carried out by a state. Obviously, it is not necessary to talk about suspicion. Actually, as I already mentioned in my previous post, it is unthinkable that the two main Nord Stream's owners could be interested in destroying the two pipelines, taking into consideration that some experts put the cost of repairing the infrastructure starting at about $ 500 million. However, it is naive to believe that evidence, proofs and investigation make sure that we would find truthfulness in the end. 

In the meanwhile, yesterday an US drone was hit in the Black Sea airspace. I hope the war will not escalate.

National security threat

 

In a desperate attempt to distract the rest of the world, the USA now blame the Ukrainians for the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines, which carried gas from Russia to Northern Europe (1). But according to the New York Times, there is no evidence about who is to blame, "from Moscow to Kyiv and from Washington to London"(2). In addition, the New York Times cites anonymous US intelligence officials.

As it is known, Ukraine and some allies have opposed the project for years, due to the fact that the pipelines may be a national security threat. Obviously this is not an evidence. But how can be the Nord Stream's owners involved in the sabotage? In this context, some experts put the cost of repairing the pipelines starting at about $ 500 million (3). That's the main raison why the two main Nord Stream Owners, Russia and Germany, couldn't been interested in destroying their own pipelines.

Ukraine has denied any involvement in September's attack on the Nord Stream pipelines .

(1) Photo released by the Danish Military in September 2022

(2) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-08/ukraine-group-nord-stream-attack-intelligence-report/102066980

(3) https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/07/us/politics/nord-stream-pipeline-sabotage-ukraine.html

Urban green spaces

 

It rained all day yesterday, and this is typical of late winter here on 42° parallel (Northern hemisphere). While I was walking through the urban green space, which is shown in the picture above, I thought that such spaces are important aspect of towns and cities. They firstly provide health and wellbeing for kids, and secondly they give us ecological benefits, due to the fact that such green spaces help to combat the effects of climate change.

In the late afternoon of that rainy Friday we enjoyed  the dispersion of light in water droplet. As usual, the rainbow appeared in the section of the sky directly opposed the sun.

Nice weekend to all the members of our blogging community :-)