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solarishashernoseinabook · 9 months ago

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Could you expand on what you said in a post about libraries about the big 5 publishers screwing over libraries in terms of digital lending rights?? I’ve not heard of that at *all* and im generally pretty caught up on publisher news, so I think theres a pretty big library-shaped hole in my sources lol

All righty, a couple disclaimers here. One, this is from a Canadian library perspective, so idk how well it applies to the US. Two, I don't work in the collections department at my library, so I'm basing this off what I remember from class years ago

(also clarifying that I'll be referring to ebooks and audiobooks collectively as digital books just to make it easier)

But in short, the Big Five publishers only very reluctantly put up with libraries having physical books, and one of the reasons they do that is because only one person can have a physical book at a time. Digital books, though? Why, if a library has a copy of one of those, hundreds of people could read it at a time! That's profits they're losing! How terrible!

But, well, selling to libraries is still a sale, so the companies sell to them but restrict it as much as possible. One, libraries pay much more for digital books than your average consumer. I don't have the exact number, but it's significantly higher. Two, unlike a physical book, which a library can have rebound if it's popular but hard to find, and which could conceivably last years if it's hardcover or paperback binding, digital books have severe limits on them. Maybe the library can only buy one "copy" of a digital book - i.e., only one patron can use it at a time. That digital copy artificially expires after 20 loans or 2 years, whichever comes first. Got a waitlist of 50 people waiting to read the latest Alexander McCall Smith book? Too bad! 30 of them are gonna have to go without! Do you have a moderately popular book by Danielle Steel, which gets borrowed every couple of months? Sorry! You've had it for two years, so it's gone now! Better buy a new copy!

Now, this is the case on digital platforms like Libby/Overdrive. Each digital book acts the same as a physical book, except that most of them go away after a certain amount of time. Certain public domain books might be a one-time buy for libraries, but for the most part, every loan, every week that goes by is chipping away at a digital book's life. Certain digital platforms - Hoopla, for example - have what's called "simultaneous use" policies - maybe you only have one ebook copy of a book by Agatha Christie, but every library patron can read it at once. The trade-off for this is that my library has to pay a certain amount for every person currently reading or listening to a book on Hoopla. We have a daily budget that can't be exceeded. Every week we field calls from people who, one afternoon, wanted to open up Hoopla, but were told they couldn't take out any books - because too many of my library's 40 000 active patrons had also decided to enjoy a book that day. And not every publisher even allows simultaneous use licenses, or they don't allow it on all of their titles

A final reminder to this very long post: please do not boycott Libby or Hoopla over this, I beg of you. Your libraries are pouring a lot of money into them because they're being used. Instead, put pressure on the big five publishers to make their digital books accessible, and vote in your municipal elections to get libraries more funding so we have more budget to put into those items. An easy way to increase your library's funding is just to spend a bit of time a week in there. Hang out with your friend for a few hours, just walk in and look at the shelves, or sit there and use their free wifi to play games on your phone. Digital books are here to stay, and libraries are important for getting those books into people's hands

#long post #libraries #if i made any errors pls lemme know #i'm remembering what we were taught in class but this was...er 2019 or 2020 or so #it might've changed since then but tbh probably not for the better #asks

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newstfionline · 1 month ago

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Thursday, October 17, 2024

Canadian doctors who provide euthanasia struggle with the ethics of killing vulnerable patients (AP) A homeless man refusing long-term care, a woman with severe obesity, an injured worker given meager government assistance, and grieving new widows. All of them requested to be killed under Canada’s euthanasia system, and each sparked private debate among doctors and nurses struggling with the ethics of one of the world’s most permissive laws on the practice, according to an Associated Press investigation. As Canada pushes to expand euthanasia and more countries move to legalize it, health care workers here are grappling with requests from people whose pain might be alleviated by money, adequate housing or social connections. And internal data obtained exclusively by AP from Canada’s most populous province suggest a significant number of people euthanized when they are in unmanageable pain but not about to die live in Ontario’s poorest and most deprived areas. On private forums, doctors and nurses have expressed deep discomfort with ending the lives of vulnerable people whose deaths were avoidable, according to messages provided to AP by a participant on condition of anonymity due to their confidentiality.

Global Public Debt to Hit $100 Trillion by End of 2024, IMF Says (Bloomberg) Global public debt is set to reach $100 trillion, or 93% of global gross domestic product, by the end of this year, driven by the US and China, according to new analysis by the International Monetary Fund. In its latest Fiscal Monitor—an overview of global public finance developments—the IMF said it expects debt to approach 100% of GDP by 2030, and it warns that governments will need to make tough decisions to stabilize borrowing. Debt is tipped to increase in the US, Brazil, France, Italy, South Africa and UK, according to the IMF report, which urges governments to rein in debt.

Worldwide Efforts to Reverse the Baby Shortage Are Falling Flat (WSJ) Imagine if having children came with more than $150,000 in cheap loans, a subsidized minivan and a lifetime exemption from income taxes. Would people have more kids? The answer, it seems, is no. These are among the benefits—along with cheap child care, extra vacation and free fertility treatments—that have been doled out to parents in different parts of Europe, a region at the forefront of the worldwide baby shortage. Europe’s overall population shrank during the pandemic and is on track to contract by about 40 million by 2050, according to United Nations statistics. Birthrates have been falling across the developed world since the 1960s. But the decline hit Europe harder and faster than demographers expected—a foreshadowing of the sudden drop in the U.S. fertility rate in recent years.

Americans’ Trust in Media Remains Low (Gallup) Americans continue to register record-low trust in the mass media, with 31% expressing a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the media to report the news “fully, accurately and fairly,” similar to last year’s 32%. Americans’ trust in the media—such as newspapers, television and radio—first fell to 32% in 2016 and did so again last year. For the third consecutive year, more U.S. adults have no trust at all in the media (36%) than trust it a great deal or fair amount. Another 33% of Americans express “not very much” confidence. Gallup first asked this question in 1972 and has measured it in most years since 1997. In three readings in the 1970s, trust ranged from 68% to 72%. The news media is the least trusted group among 10 U.S. civic and political institutions involved in the democratic process. The legislative branch of the federal government, consisting of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, is rated about as poorly as the media, with 34% trusting it.

In the heartland of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, violence rages (AP) Cellphone chats have become death sentences in the continuing, bloody factional war inside Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel. Cartel gunmen stop youths on the street or in their cars and demand their phones. If they find a contact who’s a member of a rival faction, a chat with a wrong word or a photo with the wrong person, the phone owner is dead. Then, they’ll go after everyone on that person’s contact list, forming a potential chain of kidnapping, torture and death. That has left residents of Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, afraid to even leave home at night, much less visit towns a few miles away where many have weekend retreats. “You can’t go five minutes out of the city, ... not even in daylight,” said Ismael Bojórquez, a veteran journalist in Culiacan. “Why? Because the narcos have set up roadblocks and they stop you and search through your cellphone.” And it’s not just your own chats: If a person is traveling in a car with others, one bad contact or chat can get the whole group kidnapped.

Hereditary nobles have sat in Britain’s Parliament for centuries. Their time may be up (AP) Like his ancestors for centuries, the Earl of Devon serves in Parliament, helping to make the laws of the land. But not for much longer. British lawmakers voted Tuesday to approve in principle a bill to strip hereditary aristocrats of the right to sit and vote in the House of Lords after more than 700 years. The Labour Party government says the decision will complete a long-stalled reform of Parliament’s upper chamber and remove an “outdated and indefensible” relic of the past. Constitution Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds noted that Britain is one of only two countries—the other is Lesotho—with a hereditary element to its parliament.

Scale of Chinese Spying Overwhelms Western Governments (WSJ) Beijing is conducting espionage activities on what Western governments say is an unprecedented scale, mobilizing security agencies, private companies and Chinese civilians in its quest to undermine rival states and bolster the country’s economy. Rarely does a week go by without a warning from a Western intelligence agency about the threat that China presents. Last month alone, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said a Chinese state-linked firm hacked 260,000 internet-connected devices, including cameras and routers, in the U.S., Britain, France, Romania and elsewhere. A Congressional probe said Chinese cargo cranes used at U.S. seaports had embedded technology that could allow Beijing to secretly control them. The U.S. government alleged that a former top aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was a Chinese agent. U.S. officials last week launched an effort to understand the consequences of the latest Chinese hack, which compromised systems the federal government uses for court-authorized network wiretapping requests. Western spy agencies, unable to contain Beijing’s activity, are raising the alarm publicly, urging businesses and individuals to be on alert in their interactions with China. Beijing has previously denied allegations of espionage targeting Western countries while portraying China as a frequent target of foreign hacking and intelligence-gathering operations.

‘Stunning’ hidden tomb found at Petra site featured in ‘Indiana Jones’ (Washington Post) About 2,000 years ago, the powerful ancient kingdom of the Nabataeans hand-carved a city into the sandstone cliffs of Petra, Jordan. At its center: an imposing, 12-column structure that has since become known as the Treasury. Since then, archaeologists have attempted to understand what the structure was used for, with some speculating that it was a mausoleum built as the final resting place of an important ruler of this era. Now, a team of researchers has made what they called a “stunning” discovery: a chamber buried underneath the Treasury, also known as al-Khazneh, that contains the remains of 12 people and other items they say could finally reveal the structure’s secrets and shed some light on the origins of Petra. One of the items found was a ceramic vessel that “looked nearly identical to the Holy Grail” depicted in Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” which filmed at the Treasury.

Israel restarts bombing of Beirut (BBC) Israeli strikes in the Lebanese city of Nabatieh have killed at least five people, including the city's mayor, a local source has told the BBC's Riam Dalati. The strikes came after Israel attacked Beirut for the first time in five days, and after Israeli media and the Lebanese prime minister, Najib Mikati, said the US had urged Israel to stop targeting the Lebanese capital. Beirut is fast filling up with refugees from other parts of Lebanon fleeing Israel's attacks on Hezbollah. Many are living on the streets of a city itself in the grip of war. To make room, the Lebanese government postponed the start of the school year and designated 1,000 schools as shelters. In southern Lebanon, the UN has refused demands by Israel to move its peacekeeping soldiers out of the way of its forces. A Unifil spokesperson accused the Israeli military of “deliberately” firing on its positions and 40 of the nations that contribute troops to Unifil said last week that they “strongly condemn recent attacks” on the peacekeepers. For many in the current Israeli administration, the bottom line is that the United Nations and its organisations have been inherently and structurally anti-Israel.

Lebanon’s Hospitals Buckle Amid Israel’s Offensive Against Hezbollah (NYT) It was 12:54 a.m., and Elie Hachem had not slept in days when the chief nurse at his Beirut hospital called him in a panic. The Israeli military had announced that it would begin striking “Hezbollah facilities” in the area, and had ordered the hospital to evacuate. Dozens of staff members and patients were still inside, among them premature babies hooked up to incubators, Mr. Hachem said. “We only had 20 minutes,” he said, describing the events this month at St. Therese Hospital, where he is the director, on the outskirts of Beirut. “Maybe less.” The airstrike landed just 80 yards from the hospital and caused heavy damage, collapsing ceilings and flooding parts of the health facility, though no one was harmed, Mr. Hachem said. The next day, fearing their luck would run out, Mr. Hachem ordered the Christian hospital shut down. “The staff are traumatized,” he said. St. Therese is one of at least nine hospitals in Lebanon that are now shuttered or only partly functional, according to the World Health Organization.

U.S. Warns Israel of Military Aid Cut if Gazans Don’t Get More Supplies (NYT) The United States has warned Israel to increase the flow of humanitarian supplies into the war-devastated Gaza Strip within the next 30 days or risk losing military aid, American officials said Tuesday. The warning came in a letter signed by the American secretaries of defense and state that was sent on Sunday to Israel’s defense minister and its minister of strategic affairs. It was confirmed on Tuesday by a State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller. Mr. Miller said the amount of aid entering Gaza in September was the lowest it had been at any time since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that set off the Israeli invasion.

Fuel tanker explodes in Nigeria, killing 147 people (Reuters) A fuel tanker crashed and exploded in Jigawa state in northern Nigeria late on Tuesday after the driver lost control of the vehicle, leaving 147 people dead and wounding others, a police spokesperson said on Wednesday. The incident occurred in Majia town in the Taura local government area, about 530 kilometers (329.33 miles) north of the capital Abuja. The casualties were local residents who had gathered to collect fuel from the tanker after it crashed. Many roads in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, are poorly maintained and riven with potholes, causing accidents that claim dozens of lives every year.

Years of war in Congo have created a dire mental health crisis (AP) For Nelly Shukuru, there was no way out. The fighting that forced her from her home, the squalid conditions in the displacement camp in eastern Congo, the hunger, all felt inescapable. The 51-year-old planned to hang herself. She said a neighbor stopped her just in time. “In my mind, the suffering was permanent,” said the mother of six, seated in a health clinic. “The people who have died are better off than I am.” Years of conflict in eastern Congo have created a dire mental health crisis. Aid groups say the number of people seeking care has spiked as fighting intensifies. Some of the worst affected struggle to survive in cramped, violent displacement sites that aren’t conducive to recovery. More than 100 armed groups have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda. The fighting has displaced millions. “All around us there is war, and the number of people facing difficulty is increasing daily,” said Innocent Ntamuheza, a psychologist with Action Against Hunger.

#headlines #news

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the-quotable-alberta-hansard · 6 months ago

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April 17, 2024

Ms Smith: Part of the issue, Charlebois said, is there’s a risk in speaking out against the carbon tax if you’re an academic.

For decades the universities have hired like-minded people, so it’s hard to believe that campuses can actually become neutral arbitrators on anything right now. If you’re sort of leaning to becoming a pro-carbon tax expert or scholar, you’ll fit right in. But if you dare contradict the overwhelming narrative supported by the federal government, you will be punished in one way or another.

He also points out:

To start, the argument that Canadian university professors tend to be left wing is supported by recent research out of the University of London in the U.K. It found 73 per cent of academics sampled from 40 top-ranked Canadian universities identified as left-wing.

That is what we’re concerned about, Mr. Speaker: the federal government using its federal spending power in our areas of authority in order to circumvent the public debate, fund one-sided research, and not allow for a robust debate.

#this is just....ugh #i'm so tired #alberta #alberta politics #ableg #Danielle Smith #Brooks-Medicine Hat #UCP #cdnpoli

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sociologyontherock · 8 months ago

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Revisiting Wool and Needles in my in my Casket

By Lynda Harling Stalker

Lynda Harling Stalker is Professor and Chair of Sociology at St. Francis Xavier University. She is engaged in research in the areas of culture, craft, cultural work, belonging, rural outmigration, islandness, and narrative inquiry. Her research enlivens the emotional, embodied, and material aspects of creative production and culture.

In the late fall I received a lovely email from Stephen Riggins asking me to reflect back on my MA research conducted in Newfoundland. An instant smile came across my face as I was quite chuffed to be asked. Stephen’s invitation sparked another memory from a couple of years ago when I received an unexpected but very welcomed email from Doug House. Doug had been my MA supervisor and was influential in my development as an academic. He wrote that he had given a presentation to NONIA (Newfoundland Outport Nursing and Industry Association) about the history of the organisation. His father, Edgar (House and House 2015), had written a small book on NONIA’s history (1990), so Doug is the natural choice to continue this legacy. What the current members did not know was that from 1998-2000 I had interviewed NONIA knitters from across the province as part of my graduate programme. This research has become a document (albeit by a very junior academic) of a particular time and place. The women knitters were dealing with a difficult time in Newfoundland history.

Of late, Newfoundland knitting has again become popular following the publication of Christine Legrow and Shirley A. Scott’s Saltwater Knitting Books (2018-2022). These books are filled with patterns to knit double-ball mittens, trigger mittens and socks that are seen as a traditional Newfoundland knitting style. Knitted items have been so integral to Newfoundland culture that items were christened with names for objects not used elsewhere: vamps are oversocks that reach the ankle; cuffs are mittens; trigger mitts have a separate covering for the thumb and index finger (Dictionary of Newfoundland English). The knitting was always practical and well-executed and important work done by women. Magot Iris Duley (1993) talks about how the “iconic grey sock” knit by Newfoundland women during WWI led to them gaining the vote in 1925. It was very much women’s work throughout Newfoundland history, although many of the knitters I interviewed in the late 1990s said there was the proverbial man around the Bay who could knit as good as a woman.

NONIA started in 1925 when the then-Governor’s wife, Lady Allardyce, decided that Newfoundland women’s skill in knitting could / should be used to improve the health of their families. Money from selling knitted garments in St. John’s would fund the salaries of nurses to be stationed in the Outports across the island. The skills of the knitters were quickly recognised by many, including one of the first sponsors, Queen Mary, and the Canadian government christened a naval ship the HMS NONIA. The operations of NONIA have stayed much the same throughout its history. The organisation would mail out wool and patterns to knitters across the province and the women would mail back the finished garments. These garments would be sold in the store located on Water Street in St. John’s. While nurses’ salaries are no longer funded, knitters receive a piece rate for their work. This is all done as a not-for-profit organisation.

I arrived at Memorial in 1998, when the cod moratorium and the fallout from it was still fresh. Outmigration, particularly of youth and working-age adults, was reaching epic proportions. It was a time of unprecedented social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental change that left Newfoundlanders unsure what the future would hold. In this climate, I set out to interview 19 women who knit for NONIA. More than half the women were 60+, about 80% were married, and a little over 40% started knitting with NONIA around the time of the cod moratorium.

When I analysed the knitters’ narratives that were shared with me, I took a Weberian-like approach. I was influenced at the time by the work of Colin Campbell (1996a, b; 1999), which focussed on analysing the meaning and motivation behind one’s actions. Through my analysis I highlighted that the women were motivated to knit because it allowed them to pass the time, do some challenging work, relaxation, and knitting provided a sense of accomplishment and pride. As Mrs. Parson said, “It’s something that you worked at, and you’re completely satisfied; it’s self-assuring.” (All knitters’ names are pseudonyms.) The motivation was quite intrinsic. It wasn’t about external reward or validation; the motivation to knit was linked to ideas of self and almost self-preservation.

The meaning that I argued that the knitting had for the women included filling in the time, a link between generations, enacting and embodying a female identity and being a part of Outport life. Knitting was always part of the planning and figured into much that they did. This was illustrated when Mrs. Murphy articulated when preparing for a trip to Ontario, “See them two boxes there? That’s full of wool. So now I’m going up to Ontario and I’m going to take them with me. What I’m going to do is put them in the mail.” Others stated similar things; knitting was so integral to who they were and what they did that even when going on holiday they could not be parted from their knitting.

NONIA’s role in the knitter’s lives was important but not in the way many would assume. It was often speculated that organisations like NONIA provided much needed economic benefits to Outport women during the cod moratorium era. That wasn’t the case for these women. Yes, they wished to be paid and knitting for NONIA was not out of the goodness of their hearts. As Mrs. Foley stated, “I knit for NONIA for pastime. I like knitting but I found I was knitting a lot of things that I didn’t need, just to knit, before I started with NONIA. The only thing about getting paid for knitting or any other hobby, you never will get paid enough for the time you put in it, but if you enjoy what you are doing that don’t matter.”

What NONIA provided for the knitters was access to good quality materials to knit with at no cost, provided someone to knit for, and there were no time pressures. NONIA’s value to the knitters went beyond the pay they received but what NONIA did was allow these women to be able to do craftwork that allowed them to demonstrate that despite the turmoil caused by the cod moratorium they were Newfoundland (Outport) women. As Mrs. Budgell said, “I get women who say, ‘I don’t even want to knit’ ‘cause they say it’s from the Bay. You know I came from the Bay and so what? I love to do it!” The creation of knitted garments with a purpose meant that the women could, through practice and materiality, hold onto this identity that was so important to them.

A dear colleague of mine at St. Francis Xavier University, Dan MacInnes, said that the last way we can assert our identity is through our tombstones. While this may sound a bit morbid, for some of the women I spoke with this is very much the case – although it was through the placement of material items in their coffins. When talking about how important knitting was to who they were and what they did, Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Hickey said that they will be buried with wool and needles in their casket. Mrs. Hickey repeated something her children had said, “Mom, we’ll have to put some wool and knittin’ needles down in the box with you ‘cause you always got it in your hands.”

This sentiment speaks to what the women identify with and how others identified them as knitters (Jenkins 2000). I’m sure both Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Hickey have passed – I wonder if these wishes were carried through.

I think if I were to do this project again, it is belonging that would be my centralising concepts. As May (2013: 3) argues, “belonging acts as a kind of barometer for social change.” The women’s talk about the importance of knitting to them speaks to the importance of belonging to Newfoundland, particularly the outports, and the kind of knitting they did demonstrates the relational, cultural and material elements of belonging (May 2013). It seems that this desire to be seen as a Newfoundlander, belonging to the place and its people, was heightened due to the dramatic changes the cod moratorium brought to the province. If I were to advise my younger self, I would urge me to delve more into the narratives about how belonging in light of the social changes manifests itself through the practice of knitting. Maybe that will be my next project….

Works cited

Campbell, Colin (1996a) “On the Concept of Motive in Sociology.” Sociology 30(1), 101-114.

-- (1996b) The Myth of Social Action. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

-- (1999) “Action as will-power.” The Sociological Review, 47(1), 48-61.

Duley, Margot Iris (1993) “‘The Radius of her Influence for Good’: The Rise and Triumph of the Women’s Suffrage Movement in Newfoundland, 1909-1925.” Pursuing Equality: Historical Perspectives on Women in Newfoundland and Labrador. Linda Kealey (Ed.). St. John’s: ISER Books.

Harling Stalker, Lynda (2000) “Wool and Needles in my Casket: Knitting as Habit among Rural Newfoundland Women.” Unpublished MA thesis. Department of Sociology, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador.

House, Edgar (1990) A Way Out: The Story of NONIA 1920-1990. St. John’s: Creative Publishers.

House, Doug and Adrian House (2015) An Extraordinary Ordinary Man: The Life Story of Edgar House. St. John’s: ISER Books.

Jenkins, Richard (2000) “Categorization: Identity, Social Process and Epistemology,” Current Sociology 48(3), 7-25.

Kirwin, William J. (Ed.) et al. (1990[1982]) Dictionary of Newfoundland English, 2nd edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Legrow, Christine and Shirley A. Scott (2018-2022) Saltwater Knitting Books. Portugal Cove-St. Phillip’s: Boulder Books.

May, Vanessa (2013) Connecting Self to Society: Belonging in a Changing World. Baskingstoke: Palgrave.

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newsfromjwagner · 1 year ago

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Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin provided a huge $100M kickback to Russian Mafia

Zaporizhstal took several years of the entire USSR to construct and launch. Meanwhile, it was bought and sold overnight by the murky Eduard Shifrin and Alex Shnaider. Were they steel tycoons? Were they industrialists? Nope, they were literally nobodies. In fact, the sale of Zaporizhstal was a billion-dollar affair to launder criminal money. Moreover, some of the proceeds from the deal are still disputed by the former partners. So, who are Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin? Where are they now?

The history of the acquisition and sale of the steel giant “Zaporizhstal” during the time of the USSR by Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin is quite old; the events occurred long before the Ukrainian war. It still generates significant interest from the public as it illustrates the complex connections in the world of kleptrocracy. This story involves Alex Shnaider, Eduard Shifrin, Putin, and the criminal group “Solntsevo”.

Zaporizhstal industrial complex

How Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin became filthy rich

Russian-Canadian entrepreneur Alex Shnaider, in partnership with his Ukrainian associate Eduard Shifrin, garnered $850 million from the sale of the Zaporizhstal metallurgical plant, an establishment dating back to the USSR era. Out of this substantial sum, Shnaider allocated $40 million towards the development of the Trump Tower in Toronto. It is speculated that a portion of this $100 million was paid as “commissions” to individuals with connections to the Kremlin.

Shnaider, originally born in Leningrad but raised in Toronto, where his parents had immigrated, managed to achieve a place on Forbes’ billionaire list and attain the status of one of Canada’s most affluent entrepreneurs by the age of 36.

A significant component of Shnaider’s prosperity can be attributed to his father-in-law and business mentor, Boris Birshtein, a Soviet expatriate who actively engaged in business dealings with the USSR. Reports suggest that Birshtein maintained close associations with the KGB, aiding KGB agents in transferring funds overseas, participating in covert KGB business ventures, and involving a special service officer in the international laundering of KGB funds.

Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin’s cooperate with the Solntsevo gang

After the dissolution of the USSR, Birshtein had business connections with the leader of the criminal group “Solntsevo,” Sergey Mikhailov. Their partnership ended after Mikhailov’s arrest in Switzerland in 1996. The immigrant businessman distanced himself from the post-Soviet space and soon met Shnaider.

Thanks to Birshtein, Alex Shnaider established connections with influential figures in the former USSR, which ultimately allowed him to acquire “Zaporizhstal,” one of Ukraine’s largest industrial complexes, during the privatization period.

“Zaporizhstal” acquired and sold by Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin

The plant was acquired by the company Midland, owned by Alex Shnaider and his Ukrainian partner Eduard Shifrin. In 2003, they added the Russian metallurgical giant “Krasny Oktyabr” to their assets.

In 2010, Shnaider and Shifrin had the opportunity to sell “Zaporizhstal” profitably. In May of the same year, Shifrin called Shnaider and informed him that there were buyers acting in the interests of Russian authorities. Moscow allegedly wanted to take advantage of the decreased demand for Ukrainian steel and acquire the assets to maintain its influence in Ukraine. Shifrin explained that Russian authorities considered the Ukrainian metallurgical plant a “politically strategic” object and hinted that if the entrepreneurs refused, they would face repercussions in Russia.

The aftermath: Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin accumulate offshore wealth

After selling their stake in “Zaporizhstal,” Shnaider and Shifrin transferred control of the enterprise to offshore companies in Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands through the state-owned Vnesheconombank, effectively handing it over to the Russian authorities.

The Midland group, led by Shnaider and Shifrin, received $850 million for the deal, which was $160 million more than what Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov had offered. Nevertheless, as per the deal’s terms, Shnaider and Shifrin were obliged to distribute a significant portion of the funds received among several individuals: $50 million had to be transferred to Akhmetov as compensation for the failed deal, and another $100 million had to be transferred to the deal’s organizers through offshore accounts.

$100 Million in kickback: Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin Strike a Deal with the Kremlin

It is still unclear to whom the $100 million went, as the testimonies of business partners differ, although both claim that the ultimate recipients were “individuals close to the Kremlin.” According to Shifrin, the money was supposed to go to a former official in Leonid Kuchma’s administration and the head of the Ukrainian state oil and gas monopoly “Naftogaz Ukraine,” Igor Bakai, who organized the sale of “Zaporizhstal.” Shnaider asserts that Shifrin transferred the money to himself, citing the need to pay Russian officials. This is supported by two documents: a complaint from Shnaider to Shifrin filed with the London Court of International Arbitration in 2016 and written testimonies from Shifrin in response.

Alex Shnaider Invests in real estate, including the Trump Tower

After completing the deal in October 2010, Shnaider and Shifrin divided the Midland assets between themselves, and Shnaider invested $40 million of his earnings in the construction of the Trump Tower. In 2016, a company associated with Boris Birshtein was listed as a creditor for the tower’s construction, although his lawyers claim that he had no connection to the project. Trump has always overlooked the questionable reputation of his partners, and after a series of bankruptcies in the 1990s and 2000s, The Trump Organization couldn’t secure financing from major banks. The Toronto project was conceived as early as 2001, but by the time Shifrin appeared, it had long lost its initial investors.

The Trump Organization stated that it was not the owner, developer, or seller of the Trump Tower in Toronto and did not participate in financing the project. The company only provided a license for its brand and property management (until June 2017). A representative from Vnesheconombank declined to comment.

Parted ways: Alex Shnaider and Eduard go to court

Businessman Alex Shnaider filed lawsuits against his former partner in the Midland Group, Eduard Shifrin, at the London International Arbitration Court, as reported by sources close to different sides in court. Shnaider believes that the Moscow development projects of Lobachevskogo, 118 (264,000 sq. m) in Ramenki and Tsarskiy Sad (84,700 sq. m) on Sofiyskaya Naberezhnaya were not considered in the division of assets between the owners of the Midland Group.

The Split of Shifrin and Shnaider’s Business During the 2008 Crisis: Assets, Accounts, and Misunderstandings

Shifrin and Shnaider decided to split their business during the 2008 crisis. According to reports to “Vedomosti” at the time, the first was to inherit all the group’s foreign assets (such as the projects with Trump International Hotel & Tower in the Dominican Republic and Maccabi Football Club), and the second was to retain assets in Russia. At that time, the Midland Development portfolio included around 1 million square meters of commercial space and 600,000 square meters of residential and hotel space, including Midland Plaza business centers on Arbat, Diamond Hall on Olympic Avenue, Yuzhny Port near Kozhukhovskaya metro, and retail centers in the regions called Strip Mall. The partners were also supposed to split the funds in the company’s accounts, initially amounting to $295.2 million, later reduced to $185 million.

Shnaider believes that his partner misled him regarding the Lobachevskogo, 118 project, as stated by a source close to Shnaider. Shifrin told Shnaider that the project had been transferred as collateral to the company Saratovskoye OOO Torgovyy Kompleks Solsnechnyy (TKS). TKS was a partner of Midland Development in building the Strip Mall center network, and Midland Development failed to fulfill its project obligations to TKS, leading to the collateralization of Business Master (which held rights to the Lobachevskogo Street project) with TKS. However, Shnaider learned from a TKS letter that he did not receive Business Master and did not demand its transfer. It was revealed that the Cyprus-based Dayforth Trading Limited became the owner of this company, which sold a 10% stake in Business Master to Leader Invest (part of AFK Sistema).

Controversies and Claims Surrounding Business Master and Shifrin-Shnaider’s Business Dealings

Business Master was sold to AFK Sistema for $58 million, as indicated by a letter from the former CEO of Business Master, Peter Hanus, received by “Vedomosti.” Hanus confirmed to “Vedomosti” that he wrote such a letter. In reality, AFK Sistema only paid half of the transaction amount, so Shifrin’s legal entity still owns 50% of the project, according to a person close to one of the sides involved in the deal.

A source close to Shifrin says that the Lobachevskogo, 118 project was acquired by Midland Development in 2004, and Shnaider managed it inefficiently and expensively. The site remained in such a condition for a long time that it was impossible to build anything on it. Shifrin decided to buy the asset from his partner for real money, and the deal was conducted under English law, as confirmed by a source from “Vedomosti.” The project was later successfully developed in partnership with AFK Sistema. According to this source, Shnaider had no complaints about this until 2015, and the claims arose at a specific stage when the project gained greater value.

Shnaider also believes that Shifrin deceived him regarding the payment of $100 million, which was supposed to be paid to third parties in the sale of “Zaporizhstal,” as reported by a source close to the plaintiff. All the transaction procedures received corporate approval, and all agreements with third parties were fully settled and paid, according to a source close to Shifrin.

Upon the completion of the Lobachevskogo, 118 project, its value is expected to exceed $300 million, estimated by a source close to the plaintiff.

The income from selling apartments in the Lobachevskogo building could amount to more than 20 billion rubles (approximately $344.8 million at the exchange rate on February 14), calculated by the Best-Novostroy board member Irina Dobrokhotova and Est-a-Tet department director Vladimir Bogdanyuk.

Another project that Shnaider believes was not considered in the Midland Group’s division, as reported by a source close to him, is Tsarskiy Sad.

This complex belongs to Sberbank Capital: in 2011, the company brought in Midland Development as a co-investor for the project. In reality, the agreement was reached in 2009 during the division of assets among Midland shareholders, according to a source close to Shnaider. However, a source close to Shifrin claims that Shnaider had no involvement with Tsarskiy Sad and did not invest in it. A person close to one of the project’s participants states that Shifrin is not a shareholder there; after the realization of the project, he was supposed to receive a 25% share. This was also confirmed in 2011 by Ashot Khachatryan, the CEO of Sberbank Capital.

The realization of the project has been ongoing for some time; therefore, Shifrin has a right to a share in it, as believed by a person close to the plaintiff.

The value Shnaider placed on a quarter of Tsarskiy Sad is unknown. The project’s declaration stated that the total revenue in 2015 was expected to reach 16 billion rubles, and this figure is still relevant, according to Stanislav Ivashkevich, Deputy CEO for Hospitality Industry Development at CBRE.

Eduard Shifrin and Alex Shnaider’s Confidential Legal Dispute: Parties and Potential Resolutions

Shifrin and Shnaider confirmed the legal dispute, but without disclosing details as the information is confidential. Shifrin stated that neither AFK Sistema nor Sberbank Capital is related to the disagreements.

Representatives of AFK Sistema, Leader Invest (a subsidiary of AFK), and Sberbank declined to comment. Attempts to contact a representative of TKS were unsuccessful. The only legal entity with that name, according to the Rosreestr registry, has been inactive since 2010.

Claims are accepted by the court, not only at the time of the event but also when the claimant becomes aware of their rights being violated. A court in London is expensive, and the losing party is obliged to compensate the legal expenses of the winning party, so it makes sense for them to reach a settlement.

#Shnaider

0 notes

londonvstorontonews · 1 year ago

Text

Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin provided a $100M kickback to Russian mafia

How Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin became filthy rich

Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin’s cooperate with the Solntsevo gang

“Zaporizhstal” acquired and sold by Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin

The aftermath: Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin accumulate offshore wealth

$100 Million in kickback: Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin Strike a Deal with the Kremlin

Alex Shnaider Invests in real estate, including the Trump Tower

Parted ways: Alex Shnaider and Eduard go to court

The Split of Shifrin and Shnaider’s Business During the 2008 Crisis: Assets, Accounts, and Misunderstandings

Controversies and Claims Surrounding Business Master and Shifrin-Shnaider’s Business Dealings

Upon the completion of the Lobachevskogo, 118 project, its value is expected to exceed $300 million, estimated by a source close to the plaintiff.

Another project that Shnaider believes was not considered in the Midland Group’s division, as reported by a source close to him, is Tsarskiy Sad.

The realization of the project has been ongoing for some time; therefore, Shifrin has a right to a share in it, as believed by a person close to the plaintiff.

Eduard Shifrin and Alex Shnaider’s Confidential Legal Dispute: Parties and Potential Resolutions

#Steel

0 notes

katrinesview · 1 year ago

Text

Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin provided a $100M kickback to Russian mafia

How Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin became filthy rich

Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin’s cooperate with the Solntsevo gang

hanks to Birshtein, Alex Shnaider established connections with influential figures in the former USSR, which ultimately allowed him to acquire “Zaporizhstal,” one of Ukraine’s largest industrial complexes, during the privatization period.

“Zaporizhstal” acquired and sold by Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin

The aftermath: Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin accumulate offshore wealth

$100 Million in kickback: Alex Shnaider and Eduard Shifrin Strike a Deal with the Kremlin

Alex Shnaider Invests in real estate, including the Trump Tower

Parted ways: Alex Shnaider and Eduard go to court

The Split of Shifrin and Shnaider’s Business During the 2008 Crisis: Assets, Accounts, and Misunderstandings

Controversies and Claims Surrounding Business Master and Shifrin-Shnaider’s Business Dealings

Upon the completion of the Lobachevskogo, 118 project, its value is expected to exceed $300 million, estimated by a source close to the plaintiff.

Another project that Shnaider believes was not considered in the Midland Group’s division, as reported by a source close to him, is Tsarskiy Sad.

The realization of the project has been ongoing for some time; therefore, Shifrin has a right to a share in it, as believed by a person close to the plaintiff.

Eduard Shifrin and Alex Shnaider’s Confidential Legal Dispute: Parties and Potential Resolutions

#russian mafia #shnaideralex

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college-girl199328 · 2 years ago

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A few lines in business news last week marked the emergence of a new powerhouse in Canada's forestry sector, as a company called Paper Excellence officially gobbled up Montreal-based Resolute Forest Products.

After 15 years of buying up Canadian pulp, paper, and lumber mills, Paper Excellence is now the largest paper mill in the country, with about 20 percent of all mill capacity—50 percent more than its closest rival, Canfor, according to data from pulp-market analysts TTOBMA.

But for such a major player, Paper Excellence is remarkably quiet about the inner workings of its business.

Who exactly runs the company? Who is Jackson Wijaya, the elusive founder and CEO, from whom it borrows billions of dollars to fund its acquisitions, and what does it plan to do with the nearly 22 million hectares of Canadian forest it now manages--an area four times the size of Nova Scotia?

The answers are hugely important for one of Canada's most iconic natural resources, its immense tracts of forest.

"Jackson Wijaya established Paper Excellence… with a dream to build a strong business in the pulp and paper industry in the Americas and Europe," the company said in a statement to CBC and five other media outlets last week, and is to create and develop a healthy and sustainable business."

But a months-long investigation by CBC News, in collaboration with Canadian and international media partners as part of a wider look at the global forestry industry by 40 media outlets under the umbrella of the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, has found that reality and rhetoric often don't align.

The people behind or associated with Paper Excellence appear to have a pattern of using thickets of corporations, including in tax havens, to effectively shield transactions and assets from public and government scrutiny.

The company won't open up about its past financing, some of which was facilitated by the China Development Bank, which is owned by the Chinese government.

CBC's investigation also found leaked records and insider accounts that show that Paper Excellence, at least until a few years ago, appeared to have been closely and secretly coordinating business and strategy decisions with Asia Pulp & Paper, one of the world's biggest pulp and paper players, which has a track record of environmental destruction.

"It's not normal for a company that has such a huge impact on such a vast area of forests, which goes to the heart of Canadian identity in so many ways… "A company with such impact wouldn't have transparency," said Shane Moffatt, head of the nature and food campaign with Greenpeace Canada.

Ask Greenpeace or any of a dozen environmental groups why they're concerned about Paper Excellence, and they link it immediately to a conglomerate called Sinar Mas. Owned and run by a billionaire Indonesian family of Chinese origin, the Wijayas family has interests in palm oil, real estate, financial services, and a controlling stake in Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).

Sinar Mas and its subsidiaries have been the target of environmental advocacy groups for years, with reports of tropical rainforest clearing, peatland destruction, and "extensive ties" to companies linked to fires and deforestation in Indonesia.

In 2007, APP lost its sustainability certification from the Forest Stewardship Council "because of substantial, publicly available information that APP was involved in destructive forestry practices," the FSC said. It has never regained it.

And that's where it gets tricky. Paper Excellence's official founder and CEO, Jackson Wijaya, is the grandson of the tycoon who created Sinar Mas in the 1960s and has held numerous positions with Sinar Mas, including as a director of an APP China holding company and offshore corporations set up in the tax haven of Barbados.

In return, he's benefited from his family's wealth and financial connections.

The first Canadian mill acquired, in Meadow Lake, Sask., in 2007, operated under the Sinar Mas banner for several years; the mill's website said it had been purchased by an Indonesia-based company in 2008; Paper Excellence was incorporated in the Netherlands next year; it was still a fledgling company, yet it received a $17-million US loan at near-zero interest from family-owned Bank International Ningbo.

Now, 16 years later, Paper Excellence insists there are no ties between the two sides.

"Paper Excellence is owned solely by Jackson Wijaya and is completely independent of Asia Pulp & Paper," it said in a statement to the CBC and its media partners last week, "and has never been or is the ultimate owner or controller of any of the companies in Paper Excellence."

That air of independence is important to its business. Most of Paper Excellence's operations have some kind of FSC certification, which enables a pulp-and-paper company to command higher prices for its output and attract environmentally conscious brands, which are shown to be a branch of the disqualified APP Excellence and could put its certification at risk.

The company's claims of independence are also impossible to verify as a private corporation, and despite saying it's Canadian-based, its ownership chain actually traces through companies set up in the Netherlands, Malaysia, the Malaysian offshore jurisdiction of Labuan, and two shell companies in the British Virgin Islands.

CBC and its media partners, including Glacier Media in B.C., the Halifax Examiner, Radio France, and the French newspaper Le Monde, twice asked Paper Excellence to provide some kind of proof of who really owns its company; it did not.

Behind the scenes, though, there is evidence that Paper Excellence and Asia Pulp & Paper have worked cheek by-jowl on everything from regulatory submissions to supply and pricing, at least until a few years ago.

Emails and internal company documents first obtained by the Halifax Examiner show there was close cooperation between APP staff in China and Paper Excellence personnel over a relatively short period of time in the late 2010s; these are not necessarily indicative of either company's practices today.

In 2017, for instance, Paper Excellence's Vancouver-based sales executive Edwin Widjaja emailed a vice president at APP in China, asking for information on how much he should charge a potential client for a kind of wood pulp known as unbleached kraft, or UKP.

The reply came quickly, in the form of a directive now: "Don't sell any UKP to non-sister mills," the APP executive wrote first, while we decide in a couple of days on what to do for 2018, and please don't commit to any long-term contracts till we get our UKP study done."

The next year, a sales executive for Paper Excellence's two mills in France had an email exchange with the same APP vice president in China, also about unbleached kraft, and asked for a monthly breakdown of how much one of the French mills was going to produce, so "we can plan ahead of time how to introduce this new pulp to our customers."

The exchanges blur the line between corporate entities that are supposedly independent, which is a red flag, according to Ottawa-based competition expert Keldon Bester.

"That kind of language is red meat for antitrust enforcers," he said to your competitors about quantity and distribution."

The leaked records were provided to the Halifax Examiner and later to CBC by a source who said that Paper Excellence's real nerve centre wasn't in Richmond, B.C., but in Shanghai, in the same offices as APP; in fact, at the time, Paper Excellence's entire back office, including the teams handling legal, accounting, finance, and market analysis, was run by APP, and there were no boundaries between staff working for one or the other company.

The source said, for example, that the sales manager for Paper Excellence's subsidiary in France attended strategy meetings at APP's Shanghai offices with other APP teams from Asia and Europe.

"It's extremely nebulous; you never know who's working for who," another former executive at that French subsidiary told CBC's reporting partner Le Monde, on condition of confidentiality because he still works in the industry.

But an employee who worked for APP for nearly a decade said that didn't reflect his experience, which was that APP and Paper Excellence were "pretty well siloed."

However, records show APP employees seem to have handled important Paper Excellence business outright with outside lawyers, and the in-house legal department stickhandled submissions to Chinese antitrust authorities when Paper Excellence wanted to buy the Eldorado pulp mill in south-central Brazil; ironically, the drafts even went so far as to list APP as a competitor of Paper Excellence.

Paper Excellence did not respond to our inquiries about the above allegations.

APP said any suggestion that its staff have worked on behalf of or alongside Paper Excellence is wrong and has not shared confidential information with Paper Excellence nor have its employees engaged in any work with Paper Excellence," the company said in response to questions from CBC and its media partners.

Bester said the Competition Bureau's process doesn't provide much opportunity for the public to know what a company did or didn't disclose.

"If the bureau has been misled or things have been omitted that are relevant to the competition analysis, the bureau would be extremely interested in knowing that for sure because we don't know what they were and were not provided with."

It takes billions of dollars to build a new, world-class pulp mill. Paper Excellence's expansion in Canada deliberately took a different tack. Its early acquisitions initially under the Sinar Mas banner, and later in its name were older, often shuttered or insolvent mills in B.C. and Saskatchewan.

But then there were costs for upgrades and repairs, and the company's ambitions grew.

By 2012, Paper Excellence sought big financing which came in the form of a credit of $1.25 billion US obtained from a Chinese government-owned bank.

CBC's investigation has revealed that the China Development Bank had mortgages with a debenture for that amount on three Canadian pulp mills owned by Paper Excellence starting in August 2012 as part of the security for financing that was repayable on demand.

Paper Excellence would not answer questions about how much of that credit it drew on, nor why it sought financing through a Chinese government-owned bank.

The loan was typical of many of the bank's investments at the time, said Rebecca Ray, a senior academic researcher at Boston University's Global Development Policy Center and China Development Bank.

"The kind of very large-scale financing that you were talking about in 2012 for raw commodity production, that comes as no surprise to me in that's the same kind of financing in those years that we see to major commodity producers around the world … as China is establishing the supply chains that it needs to support its new cities."

The discharge of the loan also corresponds to a time frame when the China Development Bank was pulling back from large loans to natural resource companies. This was in favour of the government's revised policy of smaller, more strategic lending, she said.

Throughout 2020, the mortgages on the Meadow Lake, Mackenzie, and Howe Sound mills were discharged and replaced with loans from two Indonesian government-owned banks, Bank Mandiri and Bank Negara Indonesia, which can now be repaid as needed.

The financing to Paper Excellence is the only time the China Development Bank or the Indonesian banks have registered any mortgages in British Columbia, the province's land records show.

The company didn't directly answer why it chose to finance in this way. "Paper Excellence constantly reviews market conditions and market circumstances in determining its financing strategies/options," the company said last week.

"To see that one of the biggest forestry players on Crown land in eastern Canada is an Indonesian giant, formerly financed by China, is not reassuring to us. We do not want to plunder our forests here in Quebec," said Daniel Cloutier, executive director of the Unifor local that represents unionized workers at Resolute and Domtar.

Lumber and forestry have long been of interest to China, and the China Development Bank often plays a key role in advancing the country's goals, says Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a former top official in the federal government's Industry and Natural Resources departments, and an expert on China.

"It's often one of the first organizations in the door when China wants to enter a market and acquire resources in another country," McCuaig-Johnston said.

McCuaig-Johnston said companies owned by foreign interests with Chinese partners could decide to export their production to China and Indonesia.

"The reason Canadians should care is that we have seen in China's behaviour in other resource companies that they will often export all of the product to China for China's use," she said. "Canada needs its products from its natural resources and we need to be assured that we will have access to them."

0 notes

tanadrin · 3 years ago

Text

if i could unilaterally amend the constitution:

amendment 34: parliamentary system

amendment 35: electoral reform, public financing of elections

amendment 36: slight update to the Bill of Rights to improve overlooked protections like privacy and digital communication, and to abolish the death penalty

amendment 37: a set of conditions under which new states are automatically admitted to the Union, no congressional action required

amendment 38: new national anthem is “battle hymn of the republic.” new flag is one that isn’t ugly AF. new demonym is Statesian or Stater.

amendment 39: passports are now 105% less cringe. fuck. i am so glad i don’t have to show that thing at airports anymore. just awful.

amendment 40: open borders, and anybody who has lived in the US for six months is a citizen.

amendment 41: UBI, the official form of address for the president is now “Hey, Asshole,” and all aircraft carriers have to have Iain Banks-style names highlighting the absurdity of war

amendment 42: dolphins eligible to vote

amendment 43: we stop appending amendments to the end of the damn thing and actually include them in the main text. you know, like normal people.

amendment 44: repeal the Declaration of Independence and take over Britain from the inside.

amendment 45: abolish the Queen, cede Northern Ireland to the Republic, apply to re-join the EU. offer to move capital to Europe if necessary (but not London. Fuck London.)

amendment 46: release all government info on UFOs

amendment 47: abolish the CIA and NSA, put a maximum five year lifetime on all secrecy restrictions

amendment 48: all indian reservations get representation in Congress

amendment 49: enshrine Monroe Doctrine into the constitution, demand liberation of Greenland, French Guyana and St. Pierre and Miquelon (but the Falklands are US territory now so it’s fine)

amendment 50: maximum age for members of congress

amendment 51: revoke Statute of Westminster, re-annex Canada and Australia (as individual states; naturally Australian and Canadian first nations get seats in Congress too)

amendment 52: outlaw remakes of movies less than 75 years old

amendment 53: outlaw new Tolkien-based adaptations; you know they’re just gonna break your heart again. it’ll be like the Hobbit all over. Christ, why do I get my hopes up every time?

amendment 54: make Spanish an official language (since the US has no official language, Spanish would be the only official language). invite Mexico to join the Union on favorable terms

amendment 55: re-fund the Superconducting Supercollider. Yes, it’s probably outdated at this point, but it’s the principle of the thing.

amendment 56: moon base moon base moon base moon base

amendment 57: bitcoin is illegal. not because people use it for drugs, but because it would just be really funny to ban it

amendment 58: video game sequels are banned until further notice. come up with something more original

amendment 59: patrick rothfuss has to put up or shut up. Either finish the damn trilogy or admit it’s never coming.

amendment 60: second statue of liberty next to the first one, argonath-style

amendment 61: grand canyon named National Hole

amendment 62: we’re just gonna go crazy on nuclear power, okay? just, nuclear power everywhere. it’ll be fine, i promise.

amendment 63: all streaming services nationalized; rightsholders must license their products on request; nobody has to have five different subscriptions anymore, geez

amendment 64: outdoor advertising is banned

amendment 65: all restrooms must be re-designated into “restroom for people who believe in the inviolable gender binary” and “restroom for people who don’t.”

amendment 66: people who complain loudly about really common harmless things (pumpkin spice, vocal fry, etc) to be banished to the moon base

amendment 67: churches to be taxed as for-profit businesses, anybody who invokes religion at an official public function banished to the moon base

amendment 68: avery brooks on the $5 bill

amendment 69: nice

582 notes · View notes

macleod · 3 years ago

Note

What is a 'technocratic socialist'?

Technocracy was a movement in the late 1920's, 30s, and 40s in the Americas that was gaining heavy momentum. Sadly, in the late 1930s the Canadian government banned the political party from 1940-1942 that disrupted and stunted the growth of the party forever, as most of their growth was in Canada (or so it would seem, there is a heavy resurgence growing today!). Originally a socialist movement spearheaded by engineers that believed that the political system relied too heavily on career politicians and an elite class than experts and the working class. Technocracy was the realization that the majority of jobs and power relied on the workers, engineers, and mostly those who were part of manufacturing, farming, and other related fields (keep in mind, this was the early 20th century whereas now most modern jobs are in services and retail, sadly). They believed that instead of having armchair experts dictate everything, everyone, and the whims of the political world - that the power should be more appropriately vested in engineers and workers. They believed that we should only work a four hour day, on a four week using this as a 'calendar':

Where manufacturing workers (and most workers) would be working in shifts of four days a week, four hours a day, with three days off of work. Not only would this ensure that everyone was working, but this would equally ensure that we could have full production and productivity could rise higher than every before. This wouldn't work for most industries, but it would form a basis that could work in nearly all jobs.

Their belief was to maximize work, so that humanity can finally have more time for leisure. Entire industries would be nationalized, we would have universal healthcare, universal education, they believed that all citizens should have the right to vote regardless of color or race, they believed in womens rights, and a whole slew of more.

They opposed oppressive militaries, believed funding would be better allocated to public infrastructure than the war machine, and that the government should fund farms and factories to produce core needs such as tools and food so that every citizen should have the right and ability to eat (and use the technocratic calendar to ensure that we could!). They also believed that we could use technology to increase resourcefulness and build a better more rounded society, and a more equal world than ever before through automation, better growing patterns, better tools, better, well everything. Decisions would be based around tribunals of engineers and experts in fields (could you imagine how quickly the pandemic would have ended if this were the case?). They still had a democratic base, you could publicly veto, you could vote, you could do everything you can in a normal democratic society - but the core choices would be debated by experts and the public could decide based on a specialized councils decisions. These experts could also be voted by the public to special councils. There have been many comparisons to communism, but this is not the case - while they both had similar core values in socialism, they are quite different in forms of the concentration of power and ability. There were still separate but equal different branches of governments, and more of a democratic flavor than the preferred more authoritarian models that the other communist-flavored movements held. But, again, the movement that grew from nothing to close to 50,000 official members was eventually discarded and destroyed as pre-existing governments were wary of the changes. I think there is still a place for the movement, especially as technology has created the greatest revolution that the world has ever seen in terms of education, food equality, social equality, and leisure.

#technocracy

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abpoli · 4 years ago

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For the first time since New Year’s Day, Grande Prairie MLA Tracy Allard has issued a public statement, after it was discovered she had travelled to Hawaii in December amid ongoing public health restrictions and advisories against non-essential travel.

Allard’s statement comes in the form of a letter to her constituents, where she apologized for her decision to travel. She adds in conversation with constituents, she feels the overwhelming thing she is hearing is to “to move on and refocus on the important work of the constituency.” The letter, in its entirety, can be seen below.

Dear Constituent,

As we get into the fourth week of 2021, I recognize the challenging start to the year and I wanted to reach out directly. Many of you have contacted my office regarding my decision to travel over Christmas and your frustration over the year of Covid restrictions. I understand and hear your anger, and I am truly sorry for any hurt and frustration my actions have caused you, particularly as I think of the many sacrifices you have made during the last year.

Since my apology earlier this month, I’ve spoken to many constituents and hear a growing sentiment to move on and refocus on the important work of the constituency. I am committed to doing so and have continued to work on behalf of constituents throughout these last weeks. I am honoured to serve the City of Grande Prairie as your provincial representative and remain committed to serve through continued hard work and community engagement.

At the start of the pandemic, I had posted regular updates on social media in an effort to keep you informed as we faced the uncertainty of the time and I will be doing that again for this season with a focus on pandemic response, in particular vaccine rollout and Alberta’s Recovery Plan.

Alberta is consistently leading all major provinces for the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine, with over 92,000 doses of the vaccine already administered to Albertans. We have ensured that enough vaccine is available so we are able to provide second doses to all long-term care and designated supportive living residents. Canadian provinces are dependent on the Government of Canada for vaccine supply and we are prepared to vaccinate many more Albertans daily as supply arrives.

I often speak about hope for brighter days ahead and I have personally found it helpful in times of trouble to look beyond my current circumstance to future opportunities. I want to highlight two priorities that represent good news for Grande Prairie:

The new Grande Prairie Regional Hospital will be opening this year at long last.

The twinning of key sections of Highway 40, including the bridge, will begin this spring.

The pandemic has highlighted the need for us to care for one another in community. We witnessed the generosity of the Grande Prairie community during the Salvation Army’s Annual Christmas Kettle Campaign. This successful campaign exceeded their goal, raising over $750,000, with funds going directly to assist families in the Peace Region.

Two additional initiatives of note:

The expansion of the Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant will allow new businesses that began operating between March 1 and Oct. 31, 2020 to apply for supports, creating eligibility for support to 5,000 more Alberta businesses.

Nominations are now open for membership into the Alberta Order of Excellence. If you know a remarkable Albertan from your community who should be considered for membership, please consider submitting a nomination. Applications must be submitted Feb 15, 2020.

I look forward to serving you in the future as we look for better in 2021.

Sincerely,

Tracy Allard, MLA

#tracy allard #aloha allard #abpoli #ab news

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coochiequeens · 3 years ago

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On May 15, a woman met a pipeline worker at a bar in Minnesota and agreed to go to his house, but when they arrived, there were four other people there and she felt uncomfortable.

“She wanted to leave, she tried to leave,” said Amy Johnson, executive director of the Violence Intervention Project (VIP) in Thief River Falls, who spoke to the woman on the phone. “It was very scary with those other men there. She said he had her in the bedroom and she couldn’t leave.” The woman finally got out of the house.

The Canadian company Enbridge is building the Line 3 oil pipeline through Minnesota, a $2.9bn project that replaces a corroded, leaking pipeline, and increases its capacity from 390,000 to 760,000 barrels a day. The project has brought an influx of thousands of workers who are staying in hotels, campgrounds and rental housing along the pipeline route, often in small towns like Thief River Falls, and on or near Native reservations.

Before Minnesota approved the pipeline, violence prevention advocates warned state officials of the proven link between employees working in extractive industries and Before Minnesota approved the pipeline, violence prevention advocates warned state officials of the proven link between employees working in extractive industries and increased sexual violence. Now their warnings have come true: two Line 3 contract workers were charged in a sex trafficking sting, and crisis centers told The Guardian they are responding to reports of harassment and assault by Line 3 workers. Johnson said VIP, a crisis center for survivors of violence, has received more than 40 reports about Line 3 workers harassing and assaulting women and girls who live in northwestern Minnesota.

Enbridge spokesperson Michael Barnes said it has “zero tolerance for illegal behavior by anyone associated with our company or its projects,” and said anyone caught or arrested would be fired. Barnes said the two workers facing trafficking charges were fired by the contractor. He also said before construction began, the company worked to raise awareness of human trafficking by partnering with contractors, Tribes, local officials and Truckers Against Trafficking, which combats human trafficking.

After a lull in construction due to muddy spring conditions, workers are now returning to Minnesota. Enbridge chief Al Monaco said Line 3 is on schedule to be completed by the end of the year, but Indigenous groups and environmentalists are attempting to stop the project through peaceful protest, divestment campaigns and court action.

Advocates warned of violence

In 2018, the state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) held hearings to decide whether to approve Line 3 permits. Sheila Lamb, an Ojibwe-Cherokee city councillor for Cloquet and member of the state’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force, testified that extractive industries were linked to human trafficking and disproportionate violence against Indigenous women.

”There is no way that Enbridge or the unions can monitor these workers 24/7 and hold their hands,” she said.

Before the PUC approved the pipeline, it acknowledged in its environmental impact statement that “the addition of a temporary, cash-rich workforce increases the likelihood that sex trafficking or sexual abuse will occur. Additionally, rural areas often do not have the resources necessary to detect and prevent these activities.” The PUC approved permits on the condition that the company create a public safety escrow fund so crisis centers could apply for funding to respond to anticipated violence.

Thousands of workers arrived in Minnesota in late November 2020. Gabrielle Congrave, north-west regional navigator for Support Within Reach, which helps survivors of sexual assault, said women in the small town of Gonvick, Clearwater County, told her that a surge of pipeline workers had arrived in town, and the workers were sexually harassing and following them in vehicles. Congrave said they were “creating an aura of intimidation toward women.”

Clearbrook-Gonvick police and Clearwater County sheriff Darin Halverson said police had not received any reports of harassment or stalking this year.

Johnson said VIP had heard reports ranging in severity from pipeline workers “grabbing buttocks and breasts,” harassing women who work at hotel bars, and following women, to more violent incidents. VIP serves five north-western Minnesota counties. Red Lake and Kittson County sheriffs said they had not had any reports of violence related to Line 3; the other counties did not reply to requests for comment.

In February, VIP applied for reimbursement of funds from the Enbridge account after responding to three assaults by Line 3 workers, according to records Johnson shared with the Guardian. In one case, Johnson said a pipeline worker had assaulted his partner who had traveled with him to Minnesota from another state. In the other two incidents, Line 3 workers sexually assaulted women at hotels, Johnson said.

The reimbursement was for the cost of transportation and hotel rooms for the women to get them to safety. However the reimbursement request also says: “We are having challenges finding safe hotel rooms for clients because almost all of our hotels are filled to capacity with pipeliners.”

Johnson said VIP had responded to several other domestic assault and sexual assault incidents by pipeline workers. She shared a safe hotel receipt for one such domestic assault that occurred on April 14. In another case, she said the center helped a woman who ended up in hospital after she was sexually assaulted at a hotel party attended by Line 3 workers.

VIP records also state that young daughters of VIP staff had received “sexually explicit drop texts” when they were at a gas station close to the Enbridge campground in Thief River Falls. Johnson said the girls were minors, and the texts asked if they liked older men, and invited them to party at a camper van.

In February, police set up a sting operation targeting buyers engaging in sex trafficking. They charged seven people after suspects responded to ads and spoke to an undercover officer posing as a 16-year-old girl, according to the Duluth News Tribune. Two of those charged were Line 3 workers from Missouri and Texas employed by Enbridge subcontractor Precision Pipeline.

Susan Barney, an Ojibwe woman from Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, works for Precision Pipeline. She said the workforce is mostly male. She said most of her coworkers treated her “like family,” but one coworker from Florida repeatedly made “vulgar, inappropriate remarks” to her.

Jason Goward, who is also from Fond Du Lac and used to work with Barney, confirmed her story. “She said, ‘he’s really creepy, but if I stand next to you, he doesn’t do it as much,’” Goward said.

Barney reported the harassment to her managers and they told her he was previously reported “for making rude remarks toward women.” She said management dealt with the issue swiftly and the harassment ended.

Other genders also report experiencing violence. A man, who did not want to be named, said he was assaulted by a Line 3 worker in a Bemidji bar in February. He said they were both intoxicated and engaged in a heated conversation that escalated when the pipeline worker hit him. “He beat me, he attacked me,” he said. “He kept hitting me over and over again, even though I wasn’t doing anything to hit him back.” He said his head and ribs hurt for weeks and he felt emotionally distressed.

“I’ve worked in that industry before, I’m not trying to demonize anyone for working and providing for their family, but unsolicited violence is not good,” he said.

Preparing for more reports

Minnesota organizations 180 Degrees, the Link, Support Within Reach and VIP all received funding from the Enbridge account to prepare for violence and trafficking related to Line 3, according to records obtained by The Guardian.

Some expressed discomfort about requesting reimbursement. “It feels a lot like they’re pre-paying for trafficking our citizens,” said Lauren Rimestad, communications director at the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Johnson felt torn about requesting reimbursement, but said VIP ultimately decided, “It would be like leaving money on the table.”

Enbridge spokesperson Barnes said exploitation and human trafficking have a long history in Minnesota communities. Several anti-trafficking organizations echoed that statement, but said the influx of workers adds to the problem.

“There’s certainly connections between how we treat the land and how we treat the women,” said Nicole Matthews, executive director of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition.

She said the dynamic connects to the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women; more than 5,700 Native women have disappeared in the US and thousands more have been murdered or vanished in Canada. Matthews said the crisis is exacerbated by the fact that tribes do not have jurisdiction to prosecute non-Native offenders on tribal land.

The Link and 180 Degrees said they had not responded to trafficking associated with Line 3, but they expect to receive calls in the future. “We are getting prepared for that,” said Beth Holger, chief of the Link. Richard Coffey, program director of 180 Degrees, explained that buyers of sex trafficking are most often affluent white men who are away from home, and traffickers target those buyers, whether it’s the Super Bowl or pipeline work.

Johnson is concerned that students are out of school and working hospitality jobs, including at hotels frequented by pipeline workers. “We will constantly be on that squeaky hamster wheel of hearing about it after the fact,” she said.

The women spoke up years before the pipeline came in and they were ignored and companies like Embridge did nothing to lesssen the impact.

#Violence against Native Women #Male violence #Line 3 #pipeline #Embridge #Human trafficking #Minnesota #Too many men

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henrrik-teerwogt · 4 years ago

Audio

Slowdive

Commonly identified as shoegaze, Slowdive nonetheless exhibited a broader set of inspirations -- one that spanned four decades, including folk-rock, dub, and ambient techno -- than the majority of their '90s contemporaries. A combination of geographic origin, labelmates such as My Bloody Valentine and Ride, and a sustained predilection for dreamlike harmonies and psychedelicized layers of guitar, led to inevitable restrictive classification. The band's distinctive sound continually evolved from their late-'80s start through 1995, when they closed out their first phase with a misunderstood ambient album that shed nearly all rock convention. Two decades later, while most of the members remained involved with individual pursuits, the band was reactivated for touring and recorded again.

Formed in Reading, England in late 1989, Slowdive originally consisted of Nick Chaplin (bass), Rachel Goswell (guitar, vocals), Neil Halstead (guitar, vocals), Christian Savill (guitar), and Adrian Sell (drums). Goswell, Halstead, and Sell were previously the core of the Pumpkin Fairies, an indie-pop act that had recorded a demo. Savill was a member of Eternal, who released a single on Sarah. Within less than a year, Slowdive signed to Alan McGee's Creation label and released their debut, a self-titled EP of demos. "Slowdive" itself was named Single of the Week by Melody Maker. Morningrise, featuring temporary drummer Neil Carter, and Holding Our Breath, with ex-Charlottes member Simon Scott on board, followed as the band's second and third EPs of sleepy, escapist dream pop. "Morningrise" appeared on the U.K. pop chart for one week (registering at number 83), as did the third EP's "Catch the Breeze" (which entered at number 52). Both songs were likewise praised by Melody Maker. The same publication dubbed Slowdive part of "The Scene That Celebrates Itself," a small and loose conglomerate of guitar bands, including Lush, Moose, Swervedriver, and the pre-Britpop Blur, that could be seen at each other's shows.

Just for a Day, Slowdive's debut album, was released in September 1991. Though it placed in the Top Ten of the indie chart and climbed to number 32 on the pop chart, the U.K. press was not as supportive as it had been in the past. Months later, the Blue Day compilation appeared on the racks. It combined the band's first three singles, leaving off their version of Syd Barrett's "Golden Hair" and the instrumental version of "Avalyn." The band's sound developed significantly for Souvlaki (titled in reference to a favorite skit by telephone pranksters the Jerky Boys), released in June 1993. Assisted by Brian Eno on a couple tracks and mixed by Ed Buller, it was even more atmospheric than the debut, an exemplary "studio as instrument" album of the era, elevated by refined songwriting. Dates with Catherine Wheel were intended to promote the album in the U.S., but snags with Stateside label SBK ensured that Slowdive toured a country where their latest album was available only sparingly as an expensive Creation import. When the U.S. edition of Souvlaki did arrive, eight months after its original U.K. release, it added four bonus tracks, including three-quarters of the 5 EP. Issues with SBK came to a head when the label pulled financial support from a later tour. The band responded by funding a two-week tour themselves and sold a live cassette to help pay the way. Despite poor promotion in the States, the band had cultivated a sizable following through word of mouth and short tours.

The band's third studio album was released in 1995. Pygmalion was essentially a solo ambient recording by Halstead with guest vocals from Goswell and occasional percussion from Ian McCutcheon (ex-Mermaids), though all five members were listed in the liners. Taken further than the ambient techno slant of the 5 EP, it was mostly beatless. Within a couple weeks of the album's release, Creation, who had expected something else, dropped the band. Goswell, Halstead, and McCutcheon swiftly moved on with Mojave 3, signed by 4AD on the strength of a demo that basically became the first of their five albums released through the 2000s. In 2014, Chaplin, Goswell, Halstead, Savill, and Scott -- most of whom had remained active with numerous bands and solo activities -- resumed as Slowdive to play festivals and tour on multiple continents. The quintet eventually made a fourth album, Slowdive, released on Secretly Canadian sublabel Dead Oceans in May 2017. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi.

Discography

Just For A Day (1991)

CD 1

Spanish Air (0:00 - 0:20)

Celia’s Dream (0:20 - 0:40)

Catch The Breeze (0:40 - 1:00)

Ballad Of Sister Sue

Erick’s Song

Waves

Brighter

The Sadman

Primal

CD 2

Slowdive

Avalyn I

Avalyn II

Morningrise

She Calls

Losing Today

Golden Hair

Shine

Albatros

Catch The Breeze - Peel Session

Shine - Peel Session

Golden Hair - Peel Session

Souvlaki (1994)

CD 1

Alison (1:00 - 01:20)

Machine Gun

40 Days (1:20 - 1:40)

Sing

Here She Comes

Souvlaki Space Station

When The Sun Hits (1:40 - 2:00)

Altogether

Melon Yellow

Dagger

CD 2

Some Velvet Morning

So Tired - Single Version

Moussaka Chaos - Single Version

In Mind - Single Version

Good Day Sunshine - Single Version

Missing You - Single Version

Country Rain - Single Version

In Mind - Bandulu Remix (Out Mind)

In Mind - Reload Remix (The 147 Take)

Pygmalion (1995)

CD 1

Rutti

Crazy for You (2:00 - 2:20)

Miranda (2:20 - 2:40)

Trellisaze

Cello

J’s Heaven

Visions Of LA

Blue Skied An’ Clear

All Of Us

CD 2

Miranda - Demo Version

Watch Me - Demo Version

Yesterday - Demo Version

To Watch - Demo Version

Option One (Instrumental #1) - Demo Version

Carfo - Demo Version

Sinewaves - Demo Version

Ambient Guitar - Demo Version

Crazy for You - Alternative Version - Demo Version

Krautruck - Demo Version

Changes - Demo Version

Red Five - Demo Version

Slowdive (2017)

Slomo (2:40 - 3:00)

Star Roving

Don’t Know Why (3:00 - 3:20)

Sugar for the Pill (3:20 - 3:40)

Everyone Knows

No Longer Making Time

Go Get It

Falling Ashes

#slowdive #shoegaze #just for a day #souvlaki #pygmalion #music #ukmusic

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newty · 4 years ago

Photo

A collection of over 40 writers and their work from World War 1 and the years that followed.

11/11. Happy Armistice Day!

This is by no means a guide so much as it is recommendations and selections from my reading list, but I hope it can interest others in some extraordinary or important lives. Enjoy!

POETRY

Richard Aldington (1892-1962)

British. 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Sussex Regiment.

Themes: Callousness, Apathy, Sound, Myth & History, Art

War and Love 1915-1918 (1919)

"Trench Idyll"

"In The Trenches"

"Apathy"

"Soliloquy I" & "Soliloquy II"

Exile and Other Poems (1923)

“Eumenides”

“At a Gate by the Way”

Edmund Blunden (1896-1974)

British. 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Sussex Regiment.

Field: Ypres, Somme, Passchendaele

Themes: Survivor's Guilt, Isolation, Nature, Post-War Reflection

The Waggoner (1920)

"The Estrangement"

The Shepherd and Other Poems of Peace and War (1922)

"11th R.S.R."

"Reunion in War"

"The Troubled Spirit"

"War Autobiography: Written in Illness"

"Third Ypres: A Reminiscence"

Rupert Brooke (1887-1915)

British. Sub-lieutenant, British Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, but died of sepsis before reaching Gallipoli.

Themes: Colonialism, Memory & Death

1914 and Other Poems (1915)

"1914"

Robert Graves (1895-1985)

British. Captain, Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Field: Somme, but also in a POW and Garrison camp iirc.

Themes: Camaraderie, Grief, Flippancy/Humor, Personal Change

Faeries and Fusiliers (1919)

The Pier-Glass (1921)

"Lost Love"

Collected Poems 1955 (1955)

"Recalling war"

Frederic Manning (1882-1935)

Australian & British. Private, King's Shropshire Light Infantry. Lance Corporal, 7th Battalion. 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Irish Regiment.

Field: The Somme, Ancre

Themes: Collective identity, Numbness, Individuality, Ritual as a coping method, Myth

Eidola (1917)

"αυτάρκεια"

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

British. 2nd Lieutenant, Manchester Regiment.Also see: The Hydra (1917-1918), the Craiglockhart War Hospital magazine.

Field: Northern France

Themes: Inhumanity, Protest, Disgust & Pity

Poems (1921)

“Apologia Pro Poemate Meo”

“Mental Cases”

“Dulce et Decorum Est”

"S.I.W" (Self-Inflicted Wound)

“Wild With All Regrets”

Poems of Wilfred Owen (1931)

“The Unreturning”

The Complete Poems and Fragments (1984)

Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918)

British (also Jewish!). Private, 12th Bantam Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, then South Lancashire Regiment, then King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, then King's Own Royal Regiment.

Also see: Joseph Cohen Collection of Rosenberg documents and artifacts

Field: Arras

Themes: Heroism, Loathing, Confusion

Poems (1922)

"Significance"

"The Immortals"

Delphi Complete Poetry, Plays, Letters and Prose of Isaac Rosenberg (2015)

Not free, but like the one for Wilfred Owen, I recommend these collections since they're super cheap (like $3) and mostly comprehensive even if there are some formatting errors.

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

British. 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Also see: A Soldier's Declaration.

Field: The Somme, Arras

Themes: Activism, Self-Expression, Nature, Leadership, Camaraderie, Grief

The Old Huntsman and Other Poems (1918)

“The Kiss”

“The Last Meeting”

Counter-Attack and Other Poems (1918)

"Suicide in the Trenches" (sometimes typo'd, like in Collected Poems, as "Suicide in Trenches")

"Repression of War Experience"

"The Dream"

A Suppressed Poem (1918) (alternative/full text)

War Poems (1919)

"Everyone Sang"

Picture-Show (1920)

"Concert Party"

"Phantom" (removed from Collected Poems in 1961)

"Aftermath"

Vigils (1936)

"War Experience"

"Revisitation"

The Collected Poems 1908-1956 (1961)

Contains text edits and revisions of previous work.

MEMOIR

Will R. Bird (1891-1984)

Canadian. 42nd Battalion, Royal Highlanders of Canada.

Field: France and Belgium

Also see: his bibliography. His work seems to have been popular, but is now exceedingly rare other than in some recent reprints.

And We Go On (1930)

Reissued as Ghosts Have Warm Hands (1968) which removes several anecdotes--and in particular, removes many instances of the ghost of his brother (who often appears to guide him after dying before Bird enlisted).

Thirteen Years After: The Story of the Old Front Revisited (1931)

Funded by Maclean's Magazine, Bird returned to France and wrote a series of reflections.

The Communication Trench: Anecdotes & Statistics from the Great War, 1914-1918 (1933)

A Soldier's Place: the War stories of Will R. Bird (2018)

Fifteen anecdotes from various war-time and post-war publications.

Edmund Blunden (1896-1974)

Undertone of War (1928)

Philip Gibbs (1877-1962)

British. Extraordinarily popular war journalist and later war correspondent.

Heavily censored in publications like the Daily Telegraph and Daily Chronicle.

Field: Western Front

The Soul of the War (1915)

From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917 (1918)

Reissued as The Struggle in Flanders on the Western Front, 1917 (1919)

The Way to Victory: Vol 1: The Menace and Vol 2: The Repulse (1919)

Wounded Souls (1920)

Now It Can Be Told (1920)

US title: The Realities of War

More That Must Be Told (1921)

Robert Graves (1895-1985)

Goodbye to All That (1929)

Censored (1929), Revised (1957), and I think Uncensored (2014)

Also a personal memoir--the first few chapters detail his childhood and discuss homosexuality.

Arnold Gyde (1894-1959)

British. Captain, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment.

Field: Le Havre, Mons, Aisne

Contemptable (1916) as Casualty

Part of the Soldiers’ Tales of the Great War series

T. E. Lawrence (1888-1935)

British. Archeologist but mostly a military informant.

Field: Arab Revolt, Palestine

Themes: Isolation, Brotherhood

Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922)

Abridged "subscribers" edition subtitled with A Triumph (1926), Further abridged as Revolt in the Desert (1927), Unabridged as "The Oxford Text" (1997)

Also see: With Lawrence in Arabia (1924) by Lowell Thomas

Thomas was a war correspondent for the US, and who filmed and photographed Palestine and Lawrence and created the media boom surrounding the two.

Also see: Lawrence and the Arabs (1927) by Robert Graves

This book was initially panned for showing Lawrence as more of a flawed person than England's glorious war hero.

Edward C. Lukens

American. Lieutenant, 320th Infantry 80th Division.

Field: Meuse-Argonne

A Blue Ridge Memoir (1922)

Includes an afterword titled “The Last Drive and Death of Major G. H. H. Emory” by E. McClure Rouzer

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

Journey from Obscurity: Wilfred Owen, 1893-1918 (1963-1965) by Harold Owen

Published in three volumes: Childhood, Youth, and War

E. M. Roberts

American. Lieutenant, RAF.

A Flying Fighter: An American Above the Lines in France (1918)

I’m not finding much on this book atm, but I remember finding some articles after I had read the book that mentioned much of it was embellished.

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

Siegfried's Journey, 1916-1920 (1945)

Discusses the range of his life on leave or otherwise away from the battlefield, along with his post-war travels and struggles. For his more military memoirs, see the Sherston Trilogy below.

Also see: Lady Ottoline's Album (1976)

included entirely bc there's a cute pics of him (pg 66-67,90-93) but also bc there's a lot of cool ppl in it (also Robert Graves 68, Edmund Blunden 69)

Diaries:

Scans of 1915-1922, 1924-1927, 1931-1932: Sassoon Journals @ Cambridge

Siegfried Sassoon Diaries 1915-1918 (1983)

Highlights: 27 May 1916. 13 July 1916. 23 April 1917. 17 April 1918. 27 April 1918. 9 May 1918. 19 December 1917.

Siegfried Sassoon Diaries 1920-1922 (1981)

Siegfried Sassoon Diaries 1923-1925 (1985)

FICTIONAL MEMOIR

Giving a third person narrator one's trauma or life allows the writer to view those events in a new light–and also partially absolve themselves from ownership of their actions and feelings. Thus, it was super popular to deflect the shame of trauma.

Richard Aldington (1892-1962)

Death of a Hero (1929)

Uncensored in two volumes (1930), in one volume (1965) and (1984)

Roads to Glory (1930)

Short stories

Hervey Allen (1889-1949)

American. Lieutenant, 111th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Division

Field: Marne, Aisne, Château-Theirrey

Toward the Flame (1926) (limited preview)

Henri Barbusse (1873-1935)

French. Western Front. Anti-war.

Under Fire: The Story of a Squad (1916)

One of the first WWI novels published. Formative work for Sassoon, but also popular with Owen iirc.

Larry Barretto (1890-1972)

American. Ambulance driver in France and Belgium.

A Conqueror Passes (1925)

The soldier protagonist swiftly falls into depression upon returning to civilian life, so he abandons everything to return to France. Where he hopes to return to the mental occupation of service, he finds instead that the world has moved on without him.

James Norman Hall (1887-1951)

American. Posing as a Canadian: Royal Fusiliers. After being discovered, Lafayette Escadrille and Lafayette Flying Corps, then Captain of US Army Air Service. German POW for several months.

Kitchener's Mob: The Adventures of an American in the British Army(1916)

Describes the Battle of Loos during his time as a machine gunner with the Royal Fusiliers.

High Adventure: A Narrative of Air Fighting in France (1918)

Also see: The Lafayette Flying Corps Vol 1 and Vol 2 (1920), a history written with fellow pilot Charles Bernard Nordhoff.

Also see: Falcons of France (1929), another memoir written with Charles Bernard Nordhoff.

John Dos Passos (1896-1970)

American. Ambulance Driver in France (Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps) & Italy (American Red Cross)

One Man’s Initiation: 1917 (1920)

Reissued as First Encounter (1945)

Three Soldiers (1921)

Frederic Manning (1882-1935)

The Middle Parts of Fortune: Somme and Ancre, 1916 (1929) as Private 19022

Uncensored in two volumes

Censored edition is Her Privates We (1929), and Uncensored (2014)

Primarily depicts the mundane life of a private. A deserter crops up throughout the novel for commentary on the intersection of mental illness and perceived cowardice. The chapters on the trenches are extraordinary imo, and it's a great look at the unsensational life of billets and drill that most accounts leave out.

Charles Bernard Nordhoff (1887-1947)

American. Ambulance driver, then Lafayette Flying Corps, then Lieutenant of US Army Air Service

The Fledgling (1919)

Series of letters (and dairy entries?)

Also see: The Lafayette Flying Corps Vol 1 and Vol 2 (1920), a history written with fellow pilot James Norman Hall.

Also see: Falcons of France (1929), another memoir written with James Norman Hall.

Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970)

German. 2nd Guards Reserve Division, then 15th Reserve Infantry Regiment, 2nd Company, Engineer Platoon Bethe.

Field: Hem-Lenglet Torhout and Houthulst.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)

The Road Back (1931) (limited preview)

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

The Sherston trilogy follows his entire service, although purged of anything literary or concerning his family. He also changed the names of almost everyone in it. The third book does a great job confronting the trauma he swears he doesn't have up until the last couple pages.

Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man (1928) Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (1930) Sherston's Progress (1936)

FICTION