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occultspirits-blog · 6 years ago

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Chaldeans v.s. Pythagoreans: Ready, Set, Start Your Number Fight!

Hi all and welcome to Spirit's Throwback Thursday blog post. Today I wanted to discuss Numerology and it's origins. Numerology is a belief that the divine sends us messages through numbers, words (like your name) and synchronicities. In this time it is considered a divination tool, but this was not always the case. There are two main branches of numerology, Pythagorean and Chaldean. These branches differ slightly from one another while still maintaining the belief that numbers were equivalent to divine truths. For the sake of ease we will be discussing the two most popular, Chaldean and Pythagorean.

Pythagoras was born in Samos (a Greek island in the Aegean Sea) in the year 570 B.C. Pythagoras is most famous for the Pythagorean Theorem (A squared plus B squared equals C squared), so the squared sums of the two sides of a right triangle are equal to the squared value of the hypotenuse. But many seem to ignore the fact that Pythagoras was an astrologist, numerologist, musician and a spiritual Guru. Pythagoras had an ability to contact enlightened souls, who helped him discover all his previous lives, and make predictions. His teachings stated that every planet had a signature sound, and the sound was represented by numbers. He then taught that the numbers each had separate characteristics, and meaning to our lives.

The following is the references used in Pythagorean numerology.

a,j,s=1

b,k,t=2

c,l,u=3

d,m,v=4

e,n,w=5

f,o,x=6

g,p,y=7

h,q,z=8

i,r=9

Add all the numbers up in a person's name and then reduce to single digit. For example: Gloriann Cruz Albino would be: 7+3+6+9+1+5+5+3+9+3+8+1+3+2+9+5+6= 85, then reduce: 8+5=13, reduce again: 1+3=4. In this case 4 is the name number. The only numbers not reduced are 11 and 22 the master numbers.

Number 1: The light side: initiative, leadership, individuality, bravery, executive ability. On the dark side, selfishness, laziness, aggressiveness, narcissism.

Number 2: The light side: cooperation, harmony, love,partnership and finesse. On the dark side: over sensitivity, untactful, timid, indecision.

Number 3: The light side: artistic, creative, self expression, imagination, social, and cheerful. On the dark side: pessimistic, loose lipped, tends to exaggerate.

Number 4: The light side: constructive, systematic, practical, keeping order, builder,industrious. The dark side: lack of imagination, argumentative, very serious, ill health.

Number 5: The light: constructive, freedom, sexuality, versatility, knowledge, entertainment and amusement. The dark: changeability, carelessness, restlessness, nervousness, Jack/ Jill of all trades, master of none.

Number 6: The light: artistic, responsible, love of home and children, care about the welfare of others, unselfish. The dark: being too sensitive, coldness, nervousness, skepticism, lonely.

Number 7: The light: spirituality, the occult, analysis, researcher, wisdom. The dark: selfishness, laziness, aggressiveness and self centered.

Number 8: The light: executive ability, organization, authority, judgement, and administration. The dark: impatience, love of recognition, lack of humanitarianism, materialistic.

Number 9: The light: generous, humanitarian, sympathetic, selflessness, divine connection. The dark: moody, impulsive, must learn selfishness, careless with money, attracted to a life beyond their means.

Number 11: The light: intuition, illumination, inspiration, spirituality and prophetic abilities. The dark: too sensitive, nervousness, tension, impracticality and shyness.

Number 22: The light: materialism, spiritual master, practical and guiding light. The dark: conflict between inner feelings and practicality and attraction to magic.

While using this divination to figure things out about yourself if the number is from letters make sure you use your birth given name. For example 4 is my name number, which means the following. The light side: constructive, systematic, practical, keeping order, builder,industrious. The dark side: lack of imagination, argumentative, very serious, ill health.

Chaldean Numerology has been in use since the Babylonian era. There is a difference between Chaldean and Pythagorean Numerology, Chaldeans believed you could use the name that you are know by (nickname). Another major difference is that Chaldeans used the birth date number ( number of the day you were born on). This number reflects the personality and health of the native. The final major difference is that Chaldeans interpreted numbers 1 through 52, to symbolize the weeks in a year. Following is a letter to number analysis.

1=A,I,J,Q,Y

2=B,K,R

3=C,G,L,S

4=D,M,T

5=E,H,N,X

6=U,V,W

7=O,Z

8=F,P

The numbers 1 through 9 are related to, how the native appears in the eyes of another, and the physical and material sides of things.

Number 1: male, yang, self consciousness, originality, independence, aggressive, unique, creative, dominant, the leader.

Number 2: pair, duo, feminine, yin, seeking unions, choice, adaptable, tactful, understanding, gentle, cautious, a follower.

Number 3: manifestation, expansion, creativity, the performer, expansive, sociable, dramatic, communicative and diversified.

Number 4: dependable, attuned to the four seasons, law, order, balance, harmony, secure, stable, stability, endurance and discipline.

Number 5: vital force, freedom, change, adventure, charisma, versatility, resourceful, adaptive, change, activity, travel, promotion and speculation.

Number 6: conscientious, desire to be in harmony, truth, justice, has a good sense of balance, loving , compassionate.

Number 7: answer seeker, asks the difficult questions, solitude is needed, looks to converse with others that are like minded, introspective, intuitive, analytic, inspirational, reclusive, philosophical and mystical.

Number 8: infinity, power, achieved control, responsible, recognition, expansion and growth.

Number 9: complete cycle of growth, selfless, compassionate, wants to help others at all cost, love, compassion, patience and service.

Double digits (compound numbers) show hidden influences, that play a role in life now and in the future.

Number 10: honor, faith, confidence, rise and fall.

Number 11: gives warning of hidden dangers, trials, or treachery. This person will have great hardships to grow through.

Number 12: suffering, anxiety, seen as the sacrifice or the victim at the hands of others.

Number 13: change of plans or place, non fortunate, upheaval , destruction, havoc wreaking power, warning of the unknown,

Number 14: movements, combinations, threats of natural forces, fortunate for dealings with money, small element of risk or danger.

Number 15: occult significance, magic, mystery, but this is only used in selfish ways.

Number 16: gives a warning of a strange fatality awaiting the querent, danger of accidents, and one being defeated,

Number 17: highly spiritual, the number of immortality, legacy,

Number 18: materialism striving to destroy spirituality of nature, bitter quarrels, social upheaval, revolutions, a warning of treachery , deception, danger from the elements,

Number 19: fortunate and favorable, happiness, success, esteem and honor

Number 20: a call to action, great purpose, is a very spiritual number, that is not conducive to the material world.

Number 21: advancement, honors, elevation of life , general success, victory, determination.

Number 22: warning of illusion of delusion, a good person living in a "fool's paradise" , a dreamer of fierce dreams and false judgement.

Number 23:a promise of success, help, and protection.

Number 24: fortune, promises, assistance, gain through love.

Number 25: strength gained through experience, observation.

Number 26: grave warnings for the future, foreshadows disaster, ruin and bad advice.

Number 27: promise of authority, power, command,reward comes for production.

Number 28: full of contradictions, loss through trust, opposition and competition in trade, danger of loss through law, likelihood of having to begin life over and over again.

Number 29: uncertainties, treachery, deception, trials, tribulations, unexpected danger, unreliable friends, and grief.

Number 30: thoughtful deduction, retrospection, and mental superiority.

Number 31: self contacted, lonely and isolated.

Number 32: magical power, it is fortuitous if judgements and opinions are held back.

Number 33: no meaning of its own, uses 24 or sometimes 6.

Number 34: Has the same meaning as 25 or 7

Number 35: Same meaning as 26 or 8

Number 36: Has the same meaning as 27 or 9

Number 37: good and fortunate friendships, love and connection.

Number 38: Has same meaning as 29.

Number 39: Has same meaning as 30

Number 40: Has the same meaning as 31.

Number 41: Has the same meaning as 32.

Number 42: Has the same meaning as 24.

Number 43: revolution, upheaval, strife, failure and failure.

Number 44: Has the same meaning as 26.

Number 45: Has the same meaning as 27

Number 46: Has the same meaning as 37.

Number 47: Has the same meaning as 29.

Number 48: Has the same meaning as 30.

Number 49: Has the same meaning as 31.

Number 50: Has the same meaning as 32.

Number 51: power, the nature of the warrior , promises sudden advancement, favorable for those in military life and leaders of any cause.

Number 52: Has the same meaning as 43.

In conclusion Pythagoreans use numbers 1-9, 11 and 22. While Chaldeans use numbers 1-52. All believe that numbers are a intricate part of life. So as a Numerologist myself, I use the Pythagoras system. But just as any other divination systems, numerology is 90% belief. Blessed be.

#occult #divination #numerology #chaldean #pythagorean #spirituality

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thegentjimmy · 7 years ago

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DJing, performing and loneliness.

I’ve been meaning to write something about this for a few weeks now. Firstly when I started to feel a little depressed again after months of feeling refreshed and reinvigorated. Secondly, after Avicii died and when a lot of my friends dismissed the situation stating “Oh well, his music was shit anyway.” And finally, during mental health awareness week, when I saw loads of people lighting up my social media, the news, and the world with positive messages that it is ok to feel empty, lost and hopeless sometimes, which is important to hear, even if it does start to sometimes get a little repetitive, acceptance is key - and it seems the world has begun to embrace mental health and the benefits of discussing it and being aware of taking care of our mental well-being in our daily lives.

I’m here to talk about the darker side of my experiences within my job, a job which I love to bits. I get to play music in various forms for a living and I could not be more thankful that this and this alone, mostly pays for my electricity and food and rent. Although it’s not been an easy path, or a quick one - and the route to this situation has been dogged with difficult scenarios, the most difficult of all, constant loneliness.

When I began DJing I didn’t even consider how much solitude and isolation I was entering myself into. I just loved music. My first residency was at a bar called SOYO in Sheffield - where I would play for 4 or 5 hours on a Sunday night. I’d spend hours all day picking out music for the evening, working on my mixes, downloading, researching, picking through old CD’s and vinyl in every charity shop I could find trying to ensure that my sets were interesting and varied every time - although it often didn’t matter because unless a big group of my friends came down to see me play (which they did quite regularly and I can never thank them enough for that) I would just have the general public mouthing off in my ear about playing more Rihanna and turning my shit soul music off.

The flyer for my first ever DJ residency.

My first night at SOYO playing “Mixtape” - I bought all these cassettes for about 5p each in a charity shop and carried them in every week for decoration.

I was also working a “normal” job at the time, in a hotel as a waiter and bar tender. I was offered a second DJ residency and quickly worked out the sums, in two DJ gigs per week, I would be earning more than I would for working 30 hours at the hotel. I took great pleasure in telling my bosses to fuck off on a particularly stretched evening where I was clicked at by a man who hosted celebrity dinners, the particular celebrity this evening was Trigger from Only Fools And Horses. He wanted more champagne. I wanted him to get shat on by a flock of seagulls (the band or a load of angry sea birds) Deciding that was probably not going to happen inside a 3 star hotel, I walked out instead.

Practicing mixes whilst my housemates and I prepared for a night out on the town, no doubt a few beers in. Ironing board was a great DJ booth.

That was the second to last time that I worked as part of a “team” (there’s no ‘I’ in team, but there is an ‘I’ in ‘isolation’) and I’ve only just realised that now, writing this. I threw myself into solitude at work. Not only would I be spending long hours behind the decks picking out records (a lot of which I hated) to try and encourage people to have a good time, slowly honing my craft, earning my stripes - as they say, I would also be on my own during a lot of the day, picking out music for future gigs, emailing people to try and get work, practicing mixes, recording mixes, over and over again to try and prove that I was good enough, chasing up payments that had been promised but never delivered, all the while learning about music history, keeping up with current trends, emerging trends, reading about popular music in all its forms since the pirate radio days of the late 60′s - to 90′s rave and 00′s boy bands, really just attempting to diversify myself as a music collector and human - whilst most of my other friends were at work. And when my friends finished work and invited me out for a pint, for a birthday meal, round to their house to watch a film, or out on a date, I was busy working as many days as I could to make a living doing something that I absolutely adored. And gradually, the invitations stopped coming. And I didn’t even notice. I was obsessed with making playing music, my job. And going out after I finished my job with people that worked in bars and getting pissed because I was so desperate for human interaction. Sadly, a lot of these situations I can’t even remember. There could have been some great ideas discussed, but in all honesty, there probably wasn’t!

My friend Ben travelled back to the UK from New Zealand. It was the first time I had seen him in 5 years, and I was obviously working. He bought us double rums all night. I was very ill the next morning.

Playing the backroom at Replica, Sheffield. My remit was “Dubstep and Electro - cooler more underground music.” I was probably playing 50 Cent - Ayo Technology instead.

There was a point around 5 years ago, when I DJ’d every single day for 3 months straight. And because back then I was only just starting out, most of the gigs I did for free or for very little money. I didn’t have time to go and see my friends. I barely saw my housemates, although we did have some incredibly special moments during those years. Then, I took a job teaching - working in a small team of wonderful individuals and my entire outlook on everything changed. I was happier and fulfilled and I didn’t know why. I wasn’t feeling distant as much, even though this was only a temp job and it paid barely enough to afford food for the week. The interactions with other human beings were worth more than the £50 a shift, more invigorating to my happiness than a big bag of chips and a can of dandelion & burdock.

With the Clothes Line gang - a few Red Stripes in, having a cuddle.

I left Sheffield in 2014 and then my troubles really began. Now living in Leeds, I was short on work there, so travelled back to Sheffield regularly on the M1, via trains, on the National Express - usually alone. I would then DJ alone, for upwards of 5 hours, and then return home, where I would sleep - wake up alone, spend all day alone as my then girlfriend went to work, finding music, chasing gigs - mind constantly whirring, rarely allowing myself time to see friends, to see family or to relax - there were bills to pay and music was the only way I was going to pay them - and I would make it work.

Playing indie bangers at Bumper in Liverpool - I caught the train and after the venue closed at 5am, I waited until 8am for the first train home sat on the steps outside Lime St Station.

I fell into the worst part of my depression after the collapse of two relationships in quick succession - left alone to stew and process that heartbreak and misery for many hours a day as well as the usual non-stop work, travel, work, travel to work, travel work, work and non-stop work, that no-one even noticed that I wasn’t ok, because they were so used to not hearing from me. The assumption was (and still is in many cases) that I was that “funny guy” on their Facebook, that made them laugh or dance when they saw me (probably constantly drunk at this point, because I was absolutely fucking miserable) and not the guy that spent hours and hours on end in bed all day cry-laughing at himself for being a fucking hopeless loser and focussing on all the wrong things in a constant downward spiral of epic proportions.

First ever designated dressing room at The Leadmill in Sheffield.

A wonderful doctor friend of mine, Sarah, recognised I was depressed and encouraged me to visit my GP. I was in the GP for all of ten seconds, before I was dismissed with the NHS depression helpline number and told “It’s about a 6 month wait if you want to talk to someone.” Sarah then took it upon herself to ring me every day, even if it was just for 5 minutes - she’s a true credit to the NHS, her profession and a fucking good mate. She rang me every single day, without fail. She encouraged me to form a focus - and I decided to relocate to Manchester for a fresh start and new challenge.

I’ve since had further help, a course of counselling at which my counsellors immediate opening gambit, when I told her how I was feeling and that I didn’t know why, was to say “Well it sounds like you’re a little bit lonely.” Things clicked pretty fast after that and I realised how important it was to make time to see your loved ones, the very thing I had been missing out on for years.

Solitary figure playing music after our final year films had been screened at university. Palmed my own Dad off on my friends so I could play music most of the night.

I’ve spoken to very few musicians, performers and even photographers/videographers/cruise ship dancers/fridge repair technicians that haven’t told me that at some point during their career they’ve not felt lonely - it goes with the territory of being self-employed or working in the arts/entertainment industry. It’s all “smiles for the gram” then smashing in a fucking gram, to forget that you’re fucking miserable and sat on your own most of the time, scrolling through your phone hoping that someone, anyone messages you with a better offer than “do you fancy sitting on the sofa in your pants going over your setlist for tonight again whilst simultaneously listening to 18 shit house remixes of the latest shit house record that you don’t really like but they’re hammering it on daytime radio so you probably better download it - just incase.”

I’ve started interacting with my DJ pals more and more over the last year or so - and also the bar staff and managers in venues that I work in. Human interaction is hugely important and DJing/photographing/playing live music in bars and clubs can be a very negative environment, particularly when the general public often leave their manners at the door, or on the toilet floor after they’ve smashed in a few lines/tequilas. There’s a whole heap of rejection, huge highs that come out of the blue and big lows that shake you to your core, financially and emotionally - losing gigs sucks, being skint sucks, your favourite venues being forced to close down sucks, realising you’re too old to understand why students like certain songs sucks, being constantly berated and belittled as you just try to do your job on a Saturday night, by drunken wankers that apparently know more about music and the performing of music than you do, yet somehow, they appear to not have been booked to play this particular weekend SUCKS, being used as a cloakroom sucks, having beer spilled all over the thousands of pounds worth of equipment you’ve scrimped and saved for over the years and all over your favourite t-shirt DOUBLY SUCKS and walking out of a bar or club hoping that you’ve done a good job but not really being sure and having to then drive 3 hours home, on your own, via motorway closures, speed restrictions and road kill generally fucking sucks. But you can’t do anything else once that love has gripped you. You will play music until you die, until you breathe your last breath of grotty smoke machine fluid, get your last electric shock from a terrible bashed in plug socket in whatever bashed in, held together with sellotape club/bar you are playing in on the night and float off into the big DJ heaven in the sky, where there is a big sign saying “No morons, no requests, just 100% good music.” It’s in our blood.

DJing is better with mates. Me and the Clothes Line gang at The Harley, the night we found out that we had been nominated for an exposed award.

I’ve also found things that help to combat my loneliness at work, and the best ones are as follows. Having a group chat via social media with other DJ’s/Musicians that are working at the same time as you - sending jokes and laughing at other people’s shit requests in a group is wonderful. We also have socials where we all meet in person and laugh at people and their shit requests. And all the DJ in-jokes come out and we sit and make snide remarks like a bunch of gassed up Beyonce’s. Taking time off from weekend gigs, to socialise with friends, family and my amazing supportive and understanding girlfriend (DJ Widow Numero Uno and the best thing that ever happened to me) - I now try and plan my calendar a few weeks/months in advance so I can book these occasions in. Plus it gives you something to look forward to on the weekends/whatever other anti-social hours you are working. Taking time to try and engage with the public when they’re making requests (to a certain extent - I don’t let people take the piss!) cos as before, human interaction (even with drunk strangers that want you to play Cotton Eye Joe because it’s Sharon’s birthday and she’s 45) = Hugely important.

The SXC Bois DJ massive on a social in Manchester.

Also I’ve very much enjoyed collaborating during music making, or music playing once or twice a month, so I’m not just sat on my own making weird pop music in our back bedroom. Most importantly, taking a bit of time away from music (although it is the second most important thing in my entire life) to engage in other activities. If you’re like me and your entire focus is on one thing and it engulfs your entire existence, it can become a bit exhausting, particularly for your friends who really, REALLY don’t care who you think the next best UK underground trip-hop swing crossover band are going to be, they just don’t care. They want to talk about the football. Go and watch the football. Music/work will be waiting when you get back.

Collaborating with Duncan Vaughan, performing as Klixz for the first time, February 2018, at The Tuesday Club, Sheffield.

The invitations aren’t flying in thick and fast, but I think that some of my closer friends have now started to realise that I’m not just constantly busy these days and I do want to see them and socialise and have fun. I always have, I just didn’t make them aware of it very well. And life is busy and sometimes things get in the way of hanging out with one another, but laughing at inappropriate jokes with good friends over a decent cup of tea will always make me happier than playing Darude - Sandstorm to a festival crowd of 2,000 people adorned with glowsticks. Well, it’s kind of 50/50 actually. But you can do both, on the same day, if you’re really clever.

I hope this advice helps someone, even if it just makes you chuckle thinking about me hiding under my duvet severely depressing having a cry whilst at the same time laughing myself for how pathetic I am. Whether you’re just starting out or years into a career in music - loneliness is a real issue in the music industry and beyond - as if a constant fear of inadequacy, perfectionism, constant rejection, living hand to mouth, threat of going deaf and never being able to hear music again, venues closing and your car insurance premiums rising through the roof isn’t enough to send you over the edge, add in total unabridged loneliness to the bundle and you’ve got an unhappy sandwich soaked in misery dripping right there. But you don’t have to eat it. You always have a choice.

Fuck loneliness.

Your pal,

Jimmy x

Useful links:

24/7 helpline for musicians suffering with mental health issues:

https://www.musicmindsmatter.org.uk/

Musician meetup - if you’re in a new area and looking for someone to natter about Lou Reed and do a bit of jamming with:

https://www.meetup.com/topics/musicians/?_cookie-check=UiZDil7HvilO41v0

Musician’s Union - fighting for better lives for musicians everyday and a whole host of other useful links and help:

https://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/

The Samaritans - free phone number 116123 (UK)

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help-you/contact-us?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxtPYBRD6ARIsAKs1XJ5sL3-1_5YZp5YtWVhvwwnPIWkzdNs4rqLCMML72ZB6es__6mne5IsaAjnfEALw_wcB

Thanks for reading! <3

#music #musician #mental health #depression #dj blog #djlife #dj's #performer #sheffield #manchester

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rdclsuperfoods · 4 years ago

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Probiotic supplements aren’t just trendy, they’re ubiquitous. You can find bottles of probiotic pills, powders, and liquids for sale at any supermarket, each promoted as a cure for various ills: digestive issues, fatigue, weak immunity, brain fog, and more. While the evidence on these benefits is lacking, the marketing messages are working; the global probiotic market was worth about $49.4 billion in 2018, and forecasting experts estimate it will grow to $69.3 billion by 2023. Prebiotics, the fibers that feed probiotics, have been riding the coattails of this popularity for some time. Now postbiotics—the microbes produced when probiotics eat prebiotics—have hit the scene. They’re being sold as supplements and are starting to make the rounds on nutrition-focused corners of the internet.

The hype around all of these microbes makes sense. Yes, prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics can enhance health by positively influencing the microbiome, a term that refers to the multitudes of microorganisms that live within you, explains Carolina Guizar, a New York–based dietitian and owner of the nutrition-coaching platform Eathority. But as with probiotics and prebiotics, the postbiotic market is several steps ahead of the actual science.

While the microbiome has been a hot topic among nutrition experts (and amateur enthusiasts) for about a decade, microbiome research is still in the very early stages. A 2018 review of the literature published in the European Journal of Nutrition starts its conclusion with: “The role of the human gut microbiota in health and disease is beginning to be understood.” The authors tell us what we know, which is that the gut microbiome plays a role in mood regulation, cognition, immune function, and digestive health. But they also explain that the details are still unclear: we aren’t exactly sure what the benefits are, how the various microbes deliver them, and whether or not supplements offer any measurable benefits. Here’s what experts have to say about the state of the evidence.

It’s All Connected

We can’t talk about postbiotics without first talking about prebiotics and probiotics, because none of them stand alone. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that live naturally in your microbiome. Your microbiome exists all over your body, but here we’re talking primarily about your gut.

Probiotics are powerful. A 2019 review in Future Science OA found significant evidence for the digestive benefits of probiotics and promising evidence for their potential impact on mood and mental health. But it’s not as simple as just taking one supplement and expecting something to happen, explains George Weinstock, a University of Connecticut professor and the director of microbial genomics at the Jackson Laboratory, a global nonprofit biomedical research institute. “Probiotics” is an umbrella term for a variety of different bacteria. Roughly 5,000 strains from 1,000 species have been found in the human gut microbiome, although not everyone has all of them. Each strain acts slightly differently and has different potential health benefits.

Probiotics can’t do their thing without the help of prebiotics, a type of fermentable fiber found in plant foods that feed probiotics and keep them alive. Tamara Duker Freuman, a New York–based dietitian and author of The Bloated Belly Whisperer, explains that when probiotics feed on prebiotics, they produce postbiotics, health-promoting by-products called microbial short-chain fatty acids. As with probiotics, “postbiotics” is an umbrella term that encompasses several different microbes, all with different characteristics and potential health benefits.

Skip the Supplements

“Microbiome research really only hit the headlines a little over ten years ago,” Weinstock says. Since then the market has exploded with supplements meant to improve the microbiome, and the public is increasingly interested in how food might affect it as well.

We know that a diet high in plant-based foods is key for the body’s production of prebiotics. “The main sources of prebiotics in the typical American diet are whole-wheat bread, onions, and garlic—but so many other foods contain them,” Freuman says. Many fruits and vegetables contain prebiotics, including apples, pears, mushrooms, artichokes, cauliflower, and jicama. Beans, lentils, barley, and rye also have significant amounts of prebiotic fiber. We need to consume prebiotic fibers regularly to reap their benefits—our bodies don’t naturally house them and can’t produce them. Since they’re so prevalent in common foods, supplements aren’t really necessary.

Probiotics are also present in our foods, primarily in fermented ones like yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, and cheese, and in supplements. But what many people don’t realize is that, generally speaking, probiotics from your diet don’t have a huge impact on your gut microbiome. There are somewhere around 100 trillion bacteria in your gut. “When you take a probiotic supplement or eat a food that contains probiotics, you’re introducing them to a habitat [your gut] that’s already densely populated with microorganisms,” Weinstock explains. A supplement may boast “one billion live probiotics,” but that’s just 0.001 percent of the bacteria already in your gut. Those one billion probiotics have to fight hard to colonize your already-packed microbiome and might end up just passing through your stool.

Weinstock also notes that although labels make it seem like probiotic supplements contain a huge variety and number of beneficial bacteria, this isn’t the case. Practically all probiotic supplements contain bacteria from just two genera: Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. The Food and Drug Administration deems them safe because they’re found in common foods that we’ve been eating for centuries, like cheese. So you’re not really getting any additional benefit from these supplements, because they only contain probiotic strains that are already in your diet.

Countless other potentially beneficial strains and species are being examined. This 2020 review in the International Journal of Microbiology summarizes recent studies looking into various probiotics for potential benefits ranging from diabetes prevention to HIV treatment. Remember, up to 5,000 strains have already been found in the human gut microbiome—but their effect on the body is not yet understood, so they’re not yet approved for sale or consumption. Even when other strains start being approved, you’ll only benefit from supplementation if you’re taking a strain that isn’t already present in large quantities in your gut.

“I don’t typically recommend probiotic supplements,” Freuman says. “There is such limited evidence that they do much of anything to change the microbiome in a meaningful way or contribute to enhanced gut health for most people.”

The evidence for postbiotic supplements is even more limited. “We don’t have enough information on the safety or efficacy of postbiotic supplements at this time,” Guizar says.

Freuman explains that a prebiotic-rich diet likely supports the existing probiotics in your gut, helping them to thrive. “If you are truly interested in diversifying your gut microbiome and increasing the abundance of health-promoting species, the research strongly supports that high-fiber diets that contain very diverse types of plant-based foods are a much more effective approach,” she says.

DIY, Don’t Buy

The short of it is that there’s really no need to think about postbiotics at all. “There is very little research as to whether taking postbiotics in supplement form does anything to enhance human health,” Freuman says.

That’s not to say that postbiotics aren’t beneficial. We know that these postbiotic microbes are health promoting. But why buy them in supplement form when your body is making them constantly? Part of the benefit of postbiotics likely comes from the prebiotic-postbiotic interaction—the breaking down of ingested prebiotics by health-promoting probiotics, which in itself can help you digest fiber more comfortably. You won’t reap this benefit from a postbiotic supplement. Weinstock adds that many postbiotic microbes are volatile and difficult to preserve on the supplement shelf.

“A much surer way to secure the health benefits of these postbiotics is to simply eat a healthy, diverse, fiber-rich diet,” Freuman says.

Sit Tight

If you’re excited about microbiome research and the potential uses and benefits of prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics, great. So are the researchers and clinicians who study them. But spending lots of time and money on supplements right now is jumping the gun.

“There’s this huge amount of work that has to go into studying our tissues, metabolites, microbes, all of that, to try and correlate them with all different types of diseases,” Weinstock says. Much of what’s being studied, like the effect of the microbiome on neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, will take years to figure out, because these conditions manifest very slowly over time and have to do with things happening inside the body at extremely low levels. Weinstock is hopeful and excited about all of this. “We already have all of these microbes inside of us. We just need to figure out how to access them, how to use them,” he says. But it will take time before we can come to any real, actionable conclusions.

Ultimately, the vague potential of various microbes might be what drives such fanatical interest in them. “People want to feel like they have influence over their health,” Guizar says. No matter that probiotic and postbiotic supplements haven’t been shown to offer any substantial benefit for healthy people, or that the best way to get prebiotics is to eat the same nutritious diet that’s been recommended for decades. There’s so much we don’t know about these microbes. And for many, it’s hard to resist the idea that maybe, just maybe, a certain pill or specific supplement might have benefits beyond what the science currently understands.

via Outside Magazine: Nutrition

#IFTTT #Outside Magazine: Nutrition

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mideastsoccer · 4 years ago

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Middle East futures: Decade(s) of defiance and dissent

By James M. Dorsey

An earlier version of this article appeared in Orient.

If the 2010s were a decade of defiance and dissent, the 2020s promise to make mass anti-government protests a fixture of the greater Middle East’s political landscape. Protests in the coming decade are likely to be fuelled by the challenges Middle Eastern states face in enacting economic and social reforms as well as reducing their dependence on energy exports against the backdrop of a global economic crisis and depressed oil prices and energy markets. Complicating the challenges is the fact that youth that often constitutes a majority of the population have lost or are losing confidence in government and religious establishments at a time that social contracts are being unilaterally rewritten by political elites.

Pressure on the Middle East’s autocratic rulers is likely to increase with the departure of US President Donald J. Trump, a staunch supporter of strong man rule and the coming to office of President-elect Joe Biden. In contrast to Trump, Biden has suggested that he would emphasize democratic values and freedoms. In doing so, Biden could contribute to renewed public manifestations of widespread discontent and demands for greater transparency and accountability in the Middle East and North Africa.

Autocrats get some things right

The second decade of the 21st century has been bookended by protest. The decade was ushered in by protest across the globe, from student rallies in Chile to Occupy Wall Street to fuel price demonstrations in Jakarta. The 2011 popular revolts that toppled four Arab autocrats grabbed the headlines and provided drama.

The 2010s ended with similar drama. Protests in Chile resulted in a vote for a new constitution. A coalition of opposition parties challenged the legitimacy of the Pakistani government. Racism and the killing of people of colour by police sparked massive protests in the United States not seen since the 1960s. And like ten years earlier, demonstrators toppled Arab leaders in Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq, uncertain whether this would secure the aspired change.

The 2020s promise to be no different, nowhere more so than in the Middle East. A global public opinion survey conducted by Edelman, a US public relations firm, in the United States, Europe, and Asia showed a significant drop in trust in governments as a result of their handling of the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in the worst global economic downturn in decades. Saudi Arabia, alongside Japan, were the two countries that witnessed only a minimal drop.

Nevertheless, global mismanagement of the pandemic has hit hard in countries that are wracked by war, like Syria and Libya, nations with perennially weak economies that host large refugee populations, such as Lebanon and Jordan, and Gulf states, which have seen energy prices tumble with prospects dim for a quick recovery of oil and gas markets. Shifts towards greater autocracy in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere bode ill at a time in which populations with a youth majority are not necessarily clamouring for greater freedom but are increasingly gloomy about governments’ ability to deliver jobs and other public goods.

Delivery was already a daunting task prior to the pandemic. The World Bank reported that the number of people living below a poverty line of US$1.90 a day in a region with the world’s highest youth unemployment had more than tripled from eight million in 2011 to 28 million in 2018 and that the extreme poverty rate had doubled from 3.8 per cent in 2015 to 7.2 per cent in 2018.

Facing significantly dimmed economic prospects, the region’s autocrats, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his UAE counterpart, Mohammed bin Zayed, have, nonetheless, so far relatively successfully managed the political and social environment they operate in, judging by the responses to recent public opinion polling.

Both men have to varying degrees replaced religion with nationalism as the ideology legitimising their rule and sought to ensure that various countries in the region broadly adhere to their worldview.

“I know that the Saudi government under MbS (Prince Mohammed) has put in a lot of effort to actually do its own public opinion polls… They pay attention to it… They are very well aware of which way the winds are blowing on the street. They take that pretty much to heart on what to do and what not to do… On some issues, they are going to make a kind of executive decision... On this one, we’re going to ignore it; on the other one we’re going to…try to curry favour with the public in some unexpected way,” said David Pollock, a Middle East scholar who oversees the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s polling in the region.

The two crown princes’ similar worldviews constitute in part a response to changing youth attitudes towards religiosity evident in the polls and expressed in mass anti-government protests in countries like Lebanon and Iraq. The changes attach greater importance to adherence to individual morals and values and less focus on the formalistic observance of religious practice as well as a rejection of the sectarianism that is a fixture of governance in Lebanon and Iraq as well as Saudi religious ultra-conservatism.

The problem for rulers is that the moorings of their rule potentially could be called into question by a failure to deliver public goods and services that offer economic prospects. At the same time, social reforms needed to bolster development go hand in hand with the undermining of the authority of religious establishments. Increased autocracy that turns clerics and scholars into regime parrots has fuelled youth scepticism not only towards political elites but also religious institutions.

For rulers like the Saudi crown prince, the loosening of social restrictions – including the disempowerment of the kingdom’s religious police, the lifting of a ban on women’s driving, less strict implementation of gender segregation, the introduction of Western-style entertainment and greater professional opportunities for women, and in the UAE a degree of genuine religious pluralism – are only first steps in responding to youth aspirations.

“Youth have…witnessed how religious figures, who still remain influential in many Arab societies, can sometimes give in to change even if they have resisted it initially. This not only feeds into Arab youth’s scepticism towards religious institutions but also further highlights the inconsistency of the religious discourse and its inability to provide timely explanation or justifications to the changing reality of today,” said Gulf scholar Eman Alhussein in a commentary on the latest Arab Youth Survey,

Youth put a premium on reform

Middle Eastern youth attitudes towards religion, religiosity and religious leadership mirror their approach towards material concerns. Their world is one that focuses on the individual rather than the collective, on what’s in it for me? instead of what’s in it for us?. It is a world that is not defined by ideology or politics and does not see itself reflected in the values and objectives espoused by elites and governments. In their world, the lingua franca differs substantially from the language they were raised in.

Two-thirds of those polled by the Arab Youth Survey believe that religious institutions need to be overhauled. They question fundamental religious concepts even if they define religion as the most important constituent element of their identity. “The way some Arab countries consume religion in the political discourse, which is further amplified on social media, is no longer deceptive to the youth, who can now see through it,” Alhussein said.

“Arabs know what they want and what they do not want. They want their basic needs for jobs, education, and health care to be attended to, and they want good governance and protection of their personal rights,” concluded James Zogby an Arab-American pollster with a decades-long track record of polling in the Middle East and North Africa.

Michael Robbins, director of the Arab Barometer, another pollster, and international affairs scholar Lawrence Rubin concluded that the youth in post-revolt Sudan had soured on the idea of religion-based governance because of widespread corruption during the region of toppled president Omar Al-Bashir, who professed his adherence to religious principles. Robbins and Rubin cautioned, however, that religion could return as the catalyst for protest if the government fails to cater to youth aspirations.

“If the transitional government can deliver on providing basic services to the country’s citizens and tackling corruption, the formal shift away from Sharia is likely to be acceptable in the eyes of the public. However, if these problems remain, a new set of religious leaders may be able to galvanize a movement aimed at reinstituting Sharia as a means to achieve these objectives,” Robbins and Rubin warned. It is a warning that is as valid for Sudan as it is for much of the Arab and Muslim world.

Saudis empathetic to protests

Asked in a recent poll conducted by The Washington Institute whether “it’s a good thing we aren’t having big street demonstrations here now the way they do in some other countries,” a reference to the past decade of popular revolts in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Algeria, Lebanon, Iraq and Sudan, Saudi public opinion was split down the middle. 48 per cent of respondents agreed, and 48 per cent disagreed. Saudis, like most Gulf Arabs, appear less inclined to take grievances to the streets. Nonetheless, the poll indicates that they may prove to be empathetic to protests should they occur.

Saudi attitudes towards protest take on added significance in an environment in which governments in the energy-rich Gulf have seen their ability erode to invest in infrastructure and cradle-to-grave welfare states. The need to diversify economies away from dependence on oil and gas exports to create jobs against the backdrop of depressed energy prices and markets as a result of the global economic downturn means changing expectations and rewriting social contracts that offered economic security and well-being in exchange for the surrender of political and social rights. In May 2020, The Dubai Chamber of Commerce provided a foretaste of problems to come. Based on a survey of 1,228 CEOs, the chamber warned that a staggering 70 per cent of businesses in the emirate expect to close their doors within the next six months. Analysts added to the gloomy prospects by reporting that non-oil growth in the UAE pointed toward a contraction of the economy.

The challenges Gulf and other Middle Eastern states face are compounded by the pandemic and a painful, protracted and complex road towards economic recovery, coupled with the toll of debilitating regional conflicts. They are also complicated by an apparent conditional willingness to accept belt-tightening and the unilateral rewriting of social contracts.

“If it’s temporary, one or two years, I can adapt. My concern is that more taxes will be permanent – and that will be an issue,” said Saudi government worker Mohammed according to a report by Bloomberg after his USD 266 a month cost-of-living allowance was cancelled and sales taxes were tripled as part of painful austerity measures announced by finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan.

Mohammed’s words were echoed in a rare pushback against the government by columnist Khalid Al-Sulaiman, writing in the Okaz daily newspaper, one of the kingdom’s tightly controlled media outlets, who wrote: “Citizens worry that the pressure on their living standards will outlast the current crisis. Increasing VAT from 5% to 15% will have a big effect on society’s purchasing power and will reflect negatively on the economy in the long term,”

The surveys leave no doubt that even before the economic crisis sparked by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic the Middle Eastern youth was first and foremost concerned about its economic future. Asked what had prompted the wave of protests in 2011, 2019 and 2020, respondents pointed to unemployment, personal debt and corruption. 35 per cent of those polled in the latest Arab Youth Survey reported that they were mired in debt compared with 15 per cent in 2015. A whopping 80 per cent said they believed Arab regimes were corrupt.

“This evinces a realization that the past decade of revolutions has borne rather bitter fruit: civil war, humanitarian distress, the rise of powerful extremist elements, and the collapse of governing restraints… Today, rather than seeking to change the world, most Arabs (especially the younger generation) demonstrate that mere improvements in their material condition would suffice,” said Middle East scholar Michael Milstein.

Voting with their feet

If the surveys suggest one thing, the streets of Algerian, Sudanese, Lebanese and Iraqi cities suggest something else. Protesters in those four countries appeared to have learnt lessons from the failed 2011 revolts in Egypt, Libya and Yemen. In contrast to 2011, protesters in 2019 and 2020 refused to surrender the street once a leader was forced to resign. Instead, they maintained their protests, demanding a total overhaul of the political system, which led to the formation of a governing transitional council in Sudan and a referendum on a new Algerian constitution.

Feeling outmanoeuvred by the military and political elites, Algerians voted with their feet. While the new constitution won in the referendum with a two-thirds majority, less than a quarter of eligible voters cast their vote. “Algerian youths do not see the ‘New Algeria’ that lives in the president’s speeches. Activists are jailed for social media posts and memes, and the entire nation feels abandoned by both the political establishment and the traditional opposition,” cautioned Algerian scholar Zine Labidine Ghebouli. In Sudan, the jury is still out on whether the council will satisfy popular demand. In Lebanon and Iraq, the protesters also insisted on the removal of the sect- and ethnic-based political structures that underpin the two countries’ political systems.

Like in Algeria, protesters in Lebanon and Iraq confronting police violence and the impact of the pandemic was at an inflexion point. That was graphically visualised in late October 2020 with the reopening of a key bridge in Baghdad and the clearing out of tents from a sit-in in Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the anti-establishment protest movement that erupted a year ago to demand basic services, employment opportunities and an end to corruption.

Few doubt that the combination of repressive law enforcement, politics rather than engagement and a public health crisis at best buys elites a reprieve. The writing is on the wall, with intermittent protests erupting in Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Iran and war-ravaged Syria. “For political transformation to happen, you need a generation,” noted Lina Khatib, head of London-based think tank Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa programme.

The question is not whether another wave of protest will occur, but when and where.

“The most dangerous people in any society: "When you look at the poor economic growth, when you look at the very high demographic growth, what you see is a region that has a lot of challenges ahead of it. There are very few things that are true for every country in the world. But one of those is that the most dangerous people in any society are young men. Testosterone is a hell of a drug. There are lots of young men in this part of the world that don't have avenues to channel their innate aggression into productive, constructive forms. They are attracted to destructive avenues," said former CIA acting director Michael Morell.

“The essential situation is that this mass of citizens has reached the point of discontent but (of) desperation and therefore has done the only thing it sees as available to it other than immigrate, which is challenging their state openly in street protests. Something has to give between these two forces,” added veteran journalist and Middle East scholar Rami Khouri.

Give and take seems, however, for now, a way off. The immediate reality is a stalemate. Protesters have demonstrated their ability to topple heads of government but have so far failed to force elites, determined to protect their perks at whatever cost, to address their fundamental concerns, let alone surrender power. Aggravating the stalemate is the breakdown in trust between significant segments of youth populations and governments as well as traditional opposition forces fuelling demands for reforms that replace existing elites rather than exploring ways of finding common ground.

“Arab governments’ long suppression of the development of inclusive, democratic, and effective institutions has left a vacuum of leadership among regime and opposition forces alike. That vacuum is acutely felt today... with no trusted institution in the region who could carry out people’s rightful demands for more effective management of their countries, the endgame is unclear,” said Marwan Muasher, Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan.

In a swath of land that stretches from the Atlantic coast of Africa into Central Asia, trends and developments no longer are sub-regional. They reverberate across what increasingly looks like the Middle East’s expanding borderlands as was evident in the 2020 Caucasus war between Armenia and Turkey- and Israel-backed Azerbaijan with Iran walking a fine line despite its empathy for the Armenians. Russian security forces and analysts predict that the fallout of the war is likely to compound a combustuous mix that will spark social unrest in the North Caucasus.

Aslan Bakov, a prominent political analyst from the Kabardino-Balkaria region, warned that Muslim civil society groups were likely to lead anti-Russian protests, taking local authorities as well as the government in Moscow to task for mismanaging the pandemic and reducing financial support of the North Caucasus. As a result, the region suffered a higher Covid-19 related death rate per capita of the population and has seen employment rates soar as high as 40 per cent. Muslim non-governmental organizations have stepped in where increasingly authoritarian local governments have failed to deliver, fuelling widespread lack of confidence in state authority. Describing the situation as “ideal conditions for a social explosion,” Baskov cautioned that the unrest could escalate into ethnic and border conflicts in a region in which frontiers have yet to be definitively demarcated.

A catalyst for reinvigorated protest?

Much like US President Jimmy Carter’s support for human rights in the 1970s boosted popular resistance to the Shah of Iran and helped pave the way for the Islamic revolution, President-elect Joe Biden, with his emphasis on democratic values and freedoms, could contribute to renewed public manifestations of widespread discontent and demands for greater transparency and accountability in the Middle East and North Africa.

Supporters of a human rights-driven foreign policy juxtapose the emergence of an anti-American regime in Iran with the rise of post-revolt democratic leaders in Chile, the Philippines and South Korea. US President Barack Obama and his Vice-President Biden struggled almost a decade ago with how to handle the 2011 popular revolts.

Critics accuse Obama of enabling the Muslim Brotherhood to gain executive power in the aftermath of the revolts. The rise of the Brotherhood sparked a counter-revolution that led to a military coup in Egypt and civil wars in Libya, Syria and Yemen.

“The cases of Chile, South Korea, and the Philippines, along with a few others, are often cited…by foreign policy elites arguing that American human rights advocacy needn’t come at the expense of American interests. And yet, as we can see in…harsh Monday-morning quarterbacking of Obama’s policy toward the Egyptian uprising against Mubarak, for example, this argument still faces a steep uphill climb,” said Tamara Cofman Wittes, a Middle East scholar who coordinated US democracy and human rights policy as the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. Cofman Wittes was referring to Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian leader who was forced to resign in 2011 after 30 years in office.

Biden has pledged to “defend the rights of activists, political dissidents, and journalists around the world to speak their minds freely without fear of persecution and violence. Jamal’s death will not be in vain.” Biden was referring to Khashoggi, the murdered Saudi journalist. Biden has also said he would convene a global Summit for Democracy in his first year in office as part of an effort to confront authoritarian regimes and promote elections and human rights. The summit would be attended not only by political leaders but also including civil rights groups fighting for democracy.

Campaign promises are one thing, enacting policies once in office another. As a result, the jury is out on how a Biden administration will handle potentially sustained protest in the Middle East and North Africa. To be sure, taken together the most recent surveys of public opinion paint a picture of a youth that has shifted in much of the region from optimism at the time of the 2011 revolts to deep-seated pessimism if not despair about its future prospects and a lack of confidence in the ability and/or willingness of most governments and elites to cater to its social and economic needs. That makes predictions of civil unrest all the more real.

Fact is also that the lesson of the last decade for the coming one is that political transition sparked by waves of protest is not a matter of days, months or even a year. It is a long, drawn-out process that often plays out over decades. 2011 ushered in a global era of defiance and dissent, with the Arab uprisings as its most dramatic centrepiece.

The 2020s is likely to be a decade in which protests may produce at best uncertain and fragile outcomes, irrespective of whether protesters or vested interests gain an immediate upper hand. Fragility at best and instability at worst is likely to be the norm. To change that, protesters and governments would have to agree on economic, political and social systems that are truly inclusive and ensure that all have a stake. No doubt, that is a tall order.

Dr James M. Dorsey is an award-winning journalist, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore and the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute, and the author of the syndicated column and blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer

#middle east #Protest #Arab spring #saudi arabia #uae #youth #Religion #islam

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enigmatic-elegance · 7 years ago

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Wanna diversify your roleplay? Try these!

Just a few things that take frequently used RP tropes and spin them in uncommon ways. If you already use all these, great! If not, give em a shot in your character’s stories! This is in no way to say that the tropes themselves are bad or that you are a bad RPer for using them. I use a lot of them too! This is just a different way to think on it to maybe diversify your backstory.

1. You’ve seen dead parents, well now try..ALIVE PARENTS!

It’s very uncommon to see characters with living parents. Orphans are extremely commonplace in RP and dead parents are almost expected. I see more living parents in noble RP then any other, and that makes sense given lineage and a heavy basis on family ties. But still, I find myself infinitely more interested in a character’s story if they have living parents. It also makes it where you can RP meeting the parents, which is always really interesting. Does your character get along with them? Are they on good terms? Have they not spoken in years? Play with it!

2. Is there death in your character’s past? Try natural causes/diseases!

Most characters I’ve RPed with have death in their past. People they have killed. People killed around them. Dead family, dead friends, etc. Death is a very close thing to all of us, easy to relate to as well because most of us have suffered loss IRL. But in RP, usually, the death is violent. They were killed in battle, or murdered at night, or executed. But the most impactful deaths I have found both with my own stories and in others are the deaths that just..happen out of nowhere. Heart failure in their sleep, a flu took them, genetic illness. The reason these impact us more in general is how relatable they are. Most of us don’t know someone who was killed in a massive suicide battle with Orcs. But a lot of us know someone who died of cancer. Using the latter makes it hit closer to home, and thus your audience will feel more.

3. Try characters without a body count.

I see a lot of posts about ‘reblog if your character has killed’ and people make comments that it’s in the hundreds or thousands. Hey, cool, I got murder-happy characters too! But try your hand at a character who’s never even been in a fight. Who’s never hurt or killed anyone. It’s not only a fantastic way to RP a more passive character, but I can say from experience that moment when they get their first kill is transformational. You get to RP out the stages of grief, trying to rationalize it in their head and trying to atone in their own way. It’s something most people never RP cuz their chars are created with a 100+ body count already in their story. Give it a shot!

4. Know and live your weaknesses.

They really and truly do make a character. Many of us know what our characters are good at, but it’s equally if not more important to know what they are bad at. Where they lack. And it’s unfair to yourself as a writer to cop out on that. Using things like ‘they are so beautiful that people won’t leave them alone’ is not really a flaw, it’s a compliment veiled in some unfortunate side effects. Flaws are also more then quirks. They are deeper then a phobia. They are gaps in their logic or personality that effect how they process the world. Crippling fears of commitment, aversion to handling loss to where they blame it all on themselves, even drug addiction, these are all flaws that cause your character strife. How they fight and overcome or don’t overcome them will bring a -lot- of story to your life and other’s and will make your character infinitely more interesting.

5. Try a background role from time to time.

Be content with being an extra. Be content with being background. You don’t always need to be in the spotlight just as you don’t always need to be on the bench. If a character is constantly in the right, constantly on top, constantly the victor it gets exhausting. And if not for you, I promise that everyone around your character is exhausted by you. At the same time, being always the loser, the background, or the standby is not appealing either. The single greatest RP moments are moments of greatness punctuated by periods of mortality. If Lord Knight Dragon God Man lunges over the front line to kill the whole army, well great that’s what he does every event. But if the fucking baker picks up a baking tray and uses it to beat the shit out of a few captors? You’ll get a cheer and make you and your character feel amazing. Don’t be afraid to be background, both to support other RPers and make your moments of greatness feel even more rewarding.

6. Balance themes.

All of life is good and bad, high and low, and your characters should strive for that as well. If I meet a character who is a murder-death rogue and then they murder someone I have a tenancy to get bored. Just as I get bored if I meet a character who is super-light guy and they save a kitten. I’m not saying it’s bad to play your character as your character, but remember that everyone has their sides. If I see a good character do something bad out of necessity, I’m hooked. If I see a bad character show a moment of humanity or kindness, I’m equally enthralled. The -best- RPers in my view understand the duality of man and apply it to their characters. It makes them real, relatable, and powerful as story elements.

7. Challenge yourself.

This last one is my little challenge to you. Make a character or write one of your characters in a story you don’t normally do. If you favor Dark, try something Light. If you favor good, try something evil. If you favor fluff, try angst. Challenge yourself as a writer to RP as something or someone you don’t normally. This is how you will expand yourself as a writer and RPer and grow. Don’t be afraid of changes!

I hope these little tips gave y’all something to think over! If not, then I hope you still have a great time RPing. I am always impressed by what I see out there in terms of characters, these tips are just things I myself have discovered to fantastic effect in my own stories.

Take care!

#ooc #rp #roleplay #wra rp #wyrmrest accord #wyrmrest rp

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indiangigoloclubslove · 4 years ago

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ruffsficstuffplace · 7 years ago

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And The AWRD Goes To... (Part 53)

Six weeks to the Festival, the team focused on the performance on the night itself.

“Song choice is by far the most important component,” Aqua had said on Sunday as they were driving through the crowded streets. “The moment the MC announces what number you’re going to do is the moment you can lose a good chunk of the audience immediately.

“With that in mind, what we shouldn’t have is one of the latest hits that people have been listening to on repeat for weeks, if not months; something too niche like an anime opening, however mainstream the show itself might be; or even one of the immortal classics, as that’s too safe, too predictable of a choice, and runs the risk of someone else singing it, too.”

“Is that last one really that much of a problem?” Ruby asked.

“Yes.” Aqua replied, before she shuddered. “I used to love ‘Remembrance’ from FELINES until I heard half-a-dozen little girls and two little boys completely, utterly fucking butcher it in a row; the second rendition was a funny coincidence, and by the fourth we just wanted it all to be over.

“The audience for the Tsukimi is going to be much less patient than that, especially considering this is the highest, most professional bracket.”

“So what do you suggest we pick for our production?” Diana asked.

“Aside from the opposite of everything I just mentioned?” Aqua replied. “Something that Weiss is already familiar with, and can ideally belt out perfectly on a dime; that you all can design a kickass choreography and set around; and above all, can produce, construct, and rehearse in as little time and cost as possible.

“My family’s willing to put in quite a lot into this, but we don’t want to go that far into debt.”

“Well, in that case then, I’ve got the perfect song idea in mind: Senbonzakura.” Weiss said. “Barring my grandpa having repurposed the machinery, or donating the props and costumes, they should still be back in Hoshiko, just waiting to be brought out of storage and reassembled.

“They probably even have the old dance notation and schematics in there, too!”

“Perfect!” Aqua said, before she frowned. “Oh, wait, but didn’t you totally bomb that performance?”

“I did, but that was mostly because I was distracted by you all night!” Weiss cried, blushing. “I’m far less hormonal and much more mature now, I swear!”

Aqua chuckled. “Alright, alright, I believe you! So, status update at the Bakunawa come Saturday morning?”

“Sounds good.” Weiss said, and by Monday morning, they worked on the performance whenever, wherever, and however they could:

Doing research, brainstorming ideas, and designing elements on the way between classes, during meals, and in the back seat of the Bakunawa’s van, on their scrolls, in their notebooks, or on whatever they could write on at the moment;

Calling up friends and family, requesting all manner of support, be it Nick and Freya for materials from the still quarantined Schnee home, assistance from Ruby’s numerous mechanically inclined friends at the Bunker, or the numerous dealers and suppliers spread out all over Mistral;

And meticulously compiling, indexing, and occasionally translating all that information, put into a series of binders on all four of their desks, and a special folder synced to all of their scrolls.

“How do you guys even manage to keep up?!” Lotte asked as she helped sort through giant piles of papers, ripped out pages of notebooks, and the odd napkin from the dining hall or the Bakunawa, mostly in Akko and Ruby’s handwriting.

“My grandfather was a never-ending idea factory himself,” Weiss said as she worked on a different pile. “You don’t accomplish as much as he did if you never figured out how to organize your own brain, and teach other people how to do the same.”

“Supervising large projects on severe time constraints, limited resources, and a distinct lack of manpower is nothing new to me,” Diana said as she put those piles into the plastic sleeves of yet another binder. “You could say that was something of my specialty back in Atlas, with how many I ended up at the helm of, officially or otherwise.”

“Diana! Weiss!” Akko cried as she came scrambling to them. “Where was that thing about the giant human and summon mountain/pyramid at the end of the performance?!”

“Page 17,” Weiss said, handing her a binder labeled “Unorthodox And/Or Ill-Advised Ideas.”

“Thanks!” Akko said, before she returned to the far wall of their room, where Ruby and Constanze were busy modifying the sketches and blueprints mounted on it.

The page in question was scanned, uploaded, and even 3D printed for the benefit of the Bunker students they were video-conferencing with, before they exploded into discussion once again, animatedly chatting and typing.

“I hate to sound pessimistic, but are you sure you guys can pull this off?” Lotte asked as she watched them. “I didn’t realize it’d your plans would this adventurous.”

Weiss snorted. “Oh, believe me, Lotte, with Akko involved? It’s only a question of how impressed the audience will be on the night itself. All you have to worry about is your end of the plan.”

“How’s working in the Bakunawa’s kitchen, by the way?” Diana asked. “Seemed like a very lively and energetic place, even from the dining area.”

“Very well, and it really is!” Lotte replied, smiling. “The Urbinas are very open to ideas and recipes from Jasminka, they’ve been really generous with the herbs and spices they let me experiment with, and overall it’s been a pleasure to work with such talented, passionate people.

“If I really had one complaint, it’s that things can get kind of… scary.”

“How so?” Diana asked. “Is it the constant flames erupting from their woks?”

“Oh, no, that’s not a problem, I just get kind of nervous when ingredients explode, fly into the air, or get neatly sliced into hundreds of tiny pieces,” Lotte replied. “Sometimes, I take a step back and see if my glasses and my bangs are still in one piece, or they just haven’t had time to fall apart yet...”

Diana stopped and looked at Lotte blankly. “… Pardon…?”

“All three of the Urbina brothers are former huntsmen,” Weiss explained. “They like to use their old weapon techniques and semblances in the kitchen, though they keep two separate sets of cooking and combat equipment.”

“They keep the second on the kitchen walls as decoration.” Lotte added.

Diana nodded. “That sounds incredibly dangerous, and possibly illegal,” she said as she resumed filing and indexing.

“It can be, it’s not, and they’re all top-of-the-line professionals both in the culinary and the hunting worlds, I assure you,” Weiss said. “Heck, I even got some amazing techniques and pointers from them that I still use today.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if I ever want to start diversifying and expanding my technique, thank you,” Diana said, before they focused entirely on their work.

By Saturday morning, AWRD, BLJC, Whitley, and Aqua were at the Urbina’s apartment above the Bakunawa, having one last discussion and revision session, until they had a final draft just before lunch.

“Alright, this plan is about as perfect as it’s going to get!” Aqua said as she looked at the finished blueprint on the Urbina’s living room floor. “So, when are you guys going to start building the set? You going to need the van to move people and materials around? Because I’m sure Uncle Jun-Jun can switch the shifts around so we can help!”

“We’ve actually got a construction crew already hired, no need to worry!” Weiss said. “They’re a full package deal, thanks to some negotiation and Grandpa pulling some strings.”

Aqua chuckled. “Ole Nick pulls through with a miracle yet again! Think we can work in ditching their caterer and taking us on instead? My family’s cooking will probably be some great incentive to get the work done!”

Akko chuckled nervously. “Ahaha, yeah, I really don’t think we should do that...”

Aqua looked at her curiously, before her face fell, and she slowly turned to AWRD and Whitley with a hard look. “You didn’t.”

Weiss forced herself to look Aqua in the eyes, before she quietly said, “We did.”

“Aqua, please understand: we need professionals, who’ve been licensed and can be relied upon to do top-notch electrical work, carpentry, and mechanical rigging, especially in such time-and-resource-constrained circumstances as this.” Diana started.

“You know the Tsukimi’s super strict about their regulations!” Akko said. “We can’t just go submit anything for final inspection that we’re only really pretty sure won’t collapse and possibly injure a lot of people, or break the stage!”

“My friends from the Bunker wanted to help, but getting them over here and back to Wind Path without getting in the way of either their or our classes is too expensive and inconvenient.” Ruby continued. “Not to mention it’s exam week, and the professors promised midterms are when the training wheels come off...”

“And I assure you, they were our very last resort, and we tried every alternative avenue short of selling our souls to questionable powers, but all of them were fully-booked, too expensive, or lacking in the expertise and reputation we require.” Whitley finished.

Aqua closed her eyes, sucked in a deep breath, then said, “Do you guys mind if I talk with Weiss in private for five minutes? We’ll just be in my room...”

There were no objections. Aqua started heading down the hall and to her room, the rest of the team and Whitley gave Weiss reassuring looks, before she quietly followed after her.

Aqua’s sister Topaz and her cousin Aubergine were already in the room when they arrived, but with one pointed look, they were down the bunk bed ladder, or grabbing the contents of their desk and hauling out the door in a hurry.

Aqua locked the door after them, before she turned back to Weiss. “What did they want for it?” she asked flatly.

“To become an official sponsor for our production, have the company and their contractors’ names mentioned during our opening spiel,” Weiss replied. “It was their one condition on account of how sudden and work-intensive this whole thing is.”

Aqua nodded once. “I see.”

“Look, Aqua, I didn’t want to make this decision either, but--” Weiss started.

Aqua held her hand up, Weiss stopped. “Did you know that we were supposed to get more from Bunyan than just my hospital and therapy bills paid, that fat stack of hush money so PR could start burying the events of that day into the ground?”

Weiss was quiet for a moment, before she said, “No, no I didn’t, actually...”

“Yeah, they were supposed to get me new legs, too,” Aqua continued. “Not the same mind-controlled, highly advanced robot limbs that your grandpa has, but one of those clunky exo-rigs they give to their lumberjacks, the ones who’ve seen accidents especially.

“Sure, it would have been unsexy as hell, save for certain niches, but I wanted to take it if it meant walking again. You know why I started learning how to get around in a wheelchair instead?”

“… No, why?”

“Because the rig would have had ‘Bunyan Logging Co.’ etched on it, big, bright letters, complete with the logo, right alongside the Creidhne Corporation’s. And between having to learn how to get around less two legs, or having a constant, painful reminder of how I lost said limbs in the first place, strap me into a wheelchair, thanks.”

Weiss sheepishly looked down.

Aqua sighed. “Look, Weiss: I understand why, and accept that we need Woody’s help. I don’t like it, but neither did I enjoy seeing ‘Bunyan Logging Co.’ on the checks we paid to the hospital and cashed in the bank.”

She narrowed her eyes as she pointed a finger at Weiss. “But there is no way I, nor anyone else here will ever have him, any members of his crew, or hell, even representatives from the company under this roof, eating our food, or even being within a block or three of our street if we can help it.

“Understand?”

“Yes.” Weiss replied. “I should mention that we actually already arranged for a neutral meeting ground.”

“It’s not Haven, is it?” Aqua asked. “No offense, but it takes a long ass while to get all the way up there from way down here, and I’ve still got my job at the shop.”

“It’s in the lower city too, and I’m sure you’ll find it’s an excellent choice,” Weiss said, before she told her where it was.

Aqua nodded. “Alright, yeah, that’ll work! Just tell me when to go, and I’ll…” she sighed “… try to show up there. How soon do I have to meet up with him?”

“About a week, week and a half,” Weiss replied. “For now they’ll just be rebuilding an old stage and making improvements to some real estate we got from the school, and the repair and retrofitting for the set pieces—it has been four years since they were last used, after all.

“We’ll probably start needing your input when it’s time to rehearse, and problems are bound to show up.”

Aqua nodded again. “Well, my connections are certainly going to be happy about all this new business coming their way… and Weiss? One more thing: try not to have that vicious guard dog of yours maul Woody’s ass again until at least the day after the Festival

“It’s gonna be really bad for our PR otherwise.”

Weiss sighed and looked at her sword hand. “I will, Aqua, I will...”

Five weeks to the Festival, early morningon a Monday, AWRD made their way to the training grounds, Ruby and Akko on the bikes hauling a cart full of props and materials from the Schnee home, Weiss and Diana riding with the cargo, reading aloud and quizzing each other.

Soon enough, a train of vehicles started to roll past them, all painted and branded as Bunyan Logging Co. or one of their well-known partners. At the head of it was an all too familiar pick-up truck, hauling lumber instead of gang members in its bed.

The cars all came to a stop one-by-one, older professionals and Timber Wolves dressed in work uniforms than gang colours getting out, unloading equipment, taking in the area, or pulling out scrolls and clipboards.

Weiss tried to keep from scowling too hard as she watched Woody carefully step out from the passenger side of his truck, a brand new scar on the other side of his head, his hair now shaved into a Mohawk.

“Wow, your professor really wasn’t being exaggerating when she said they just gave you a patch of dirt out in the woods, did you?” he asked as the team rolled up beside him.

“Let’s just get onto business, Woody...” Weiss muttered. “You mentioned there was something you needed to personally discuss with us?”

“Yep: your blueprint and your plans are almost entirely unfeasible with the time and the budget you’ve given us.” Woody replied, pulling out his scroll and projecting his annotated version of the plans—red “ink,” alarmed notes, and entire sections and figures crossed out and overwritten abounded.

“I don’t know what in the hell my mom told Weiss’ grandpa, but I am sure as shit we’re not going to be able to do all of this.”

“Woody, my grandparents and mother managed to build the original set, concept to finished product, in a single month, all by themselves, up to and including setting it up during the Tsukimi Festival with time to spare.” Weiss said calmly. “Our modifications are just shaving off size or retrofititng to fit the new regulations, or even streamlining things with newer, better, easier technology.”

She said gestured out to the sizable crew around them. “Are you saying this army can’t do what three people could?”

“No, I’m saying that unlike your family, this crew has to abide by labour laws, union laws, and the laws of time and space,” Woody replied. “As much as I’m sure you’d love us to be working round the clock, 24/7, and performing some fucking miracles while we’re at it, we can’t.”

Weiss groaned. “So what can you do?”

“We’ll have your stage rebuilt and designed to the Tsukimi regulation rigging and wiring by the end of this week,” Woody said, scrolling down to a different section of his plans. “The rest of this crap is getting mounted on the trees on temporary test rigs, until you guys figure out how exactly we’re supposed to cram all that in the same space outside of theoretical plans, let alone set it up and tear it down fast enough to avoid disqualification during the Festival.

“We’re blue collar, not blue fairies.”

“Fair enough.” Weiss replied. “Is there anything else?”

“That was it.” Woody said. “You guys just leave your crap, and you can go.”

“With pleasure...” Weiss grumbled.

Soon enough, all the crates were unloaded, AWRD was heading back to the school, and the crews were all assembled before their supervisors. From the cart, Diana and Weiss watched a wave of unease, surprise, and resignation quickly spread through them as soon as the plans and the work they needed to be doing.

“I have to say, it’s getting extremely hard not to tempt fate right now...” Diana said quietly.

“Please try your damndest not to, Diana,” Weiss whispered back. “We’ve got our own big problem to deal with...” she said, looking at their notes, their books, and the details of their exams coverages.

Diana nodded, before they resumed studying for prelims.

#and the awrd goes to #white rose #dianakko #rwby #little witch academia #fanfic

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swseats · 5 years ago

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ECLECTICLE 6/18

You Protest Your Way...

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel

I have come to realize that for some of us, just existing can be a political act in itself. The simple act of showing up -- being in those spaces where the default is heteronormative and white -- could make a difference. I think of it as my subtle way of disrupting the status quo. The intention is to be visible. To be seen. I want to chip away at the perception of Black people as a monolith. The number of seminars and workshops and mixers I’ve gone to, fully knowing that there would be few if any of “us” there, is legion. I go partially for the education and interaction, but also to be a presence that says “We’re here too and we deserve to be here”. A kind of normalizing, as it were, of seeing Black faces in these largely white environments.

Perhaps being present has made a difference. Maybe it has broadened someone’s horizon, or challenged their perceptions of who Black people are. Perhaps not. It is difficult to tell. But one thing I do know for sure is that it’s not been enough. It is time to do more than just put my feet on the floor in the morning and walk out my front door.

“To spend one's life being angry, and in the process doing nothing to change it, is to me ridiculous. I could be mad all day long, but if I'm not doing a damn thing, what difference does it make?”

― Charles Fuller

I’m not one for public demonstrations and protests. Maybe it’s the crowds, but that’s not my jam. I choose to protest in other ways. First of all I vote. Supporting those candidates with platforms that center on equity and changing the systems of supremacy that keep so many of our country’s ills in place. I can also vote with my dollars, shopping responsibly and supporting small local businesses where I can. I also seek to amplify voices and causes that should be heard more often. Especially Black voices. I want to diversify the conversation and add to the richness of the dialogues we have day to day. And when I can, donate financial support to groups doing important work in the community.

Now, more than ever, it is time to use what privilege and voice I may have to actively create the world that I want my children to live in. A world that is fair, just, and equitable. A world that looks at itself, with open eyes, seeking to learn from the atrocities of the past, while holding fast to the promise of the future.

Equity and equality are two strategies we can use in an effort to produce fairness. Equity is giving everyone what they need to be successful. Equality is treating everyone the same. Equality aims to promote fairness, but it can only work if everyone starts from the same place and needs the same help.

-- Amy Sun

What I’m Eating:

SOFRITO

To quote food writer Illyanna Maisonet (1st Puerto Rican food columnist in the country and 2019 IACP Award Winner), “Nearly every savory Puerto Rican dish begins with the soulful application of this aromatic paste”. As I’ve experienced more and more Puerto Rican cuisine I’ve fallen in love with the flavor and versatility of sofrito. Around my household this punchy flavor bomb -- composed of tomato, onion, garlic, cilantro, and jalapeno (my family’s fave combo) -- has managed to find its way into everything from eggs and omelettes, to burritos, to quick pasta bowls and more. It’s wonderfully simple to make and we always have some on hand to spice up all kinds of dishes. Here is a link to Illyanna Maisonet’s Sofrito Recipe. It’s simple and delicious. You’ll want to use it again and again!

What I’m Reading:

Atlas Obscura is always full of fascinating yet oddball bits of information. For instance, who knew the prolific Black French author Alexandre Dumas had written a hefty tome on cooking? Now to keep my eye out for a copy! Alexandre Dumas’s Magnum Opus Was a Massive Cookbook

"You have a community out there who are willing to hold you and hold space for you." - Iresha Picot GirlTrek Uses Black Women's History To Encourage Walking As A Healing Tradition

A long but interesting read that helps us recenter conversations and actions on black and brown health and wellness. “‘So, what we’re not going to do is …’: Respectability politics and white supremacist logic during…” by Lisa Betty

What I’m Listening To:

From Okorie "Okcelo" Johnson's 2018 Album Resolve, this track ( "Zoot Suit") embodies all the things I love about the cello. A traditional instrument taken into a modern, mellow, and melodic direction. This was my #SundayMorningSoundtrack for sure. Artist: Okorie Johnson Cut: Zoot Suit

Why does it not surprise me that space suits have not been redesigned to accommodate more women astronauts in “lo these many years”. And that's not all. Big Picture Science Skeptic Check: Data Bias - Racial and gender disparity.

What’s Doing?:

The Town Kitchen

I really can’t say enough good things about the folks at The Town Kitchen and what they are doing in the Bay Area. The Town Kitchen is a local community-driven food company that employs and trains our youth by delivering chef-crafted meals and supplies to corporate and home clients.

With every $100 spent with The Town Kitchen Provisions, 3 hours of employment and apprenticeship for under served youth in the Bay Area is created.

If you're looking for a business lunch, wanting to switch things up at home, or need to fill in on some of those pantry items, consider ordering from The Town Kitchen. It’s good food and a good way to make a difference in the community.

#SWSEATS #sofrito #what i'm eating #what I'm reading #what i'm listening to #blackfoodwriter #blackfoodblogger #Food Writing #Eclecticle

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freelanews-blog · 5 years ago

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President Buhari’s visit to Russia and Get takeaways

President Muhammadu Buhari has returned to Nigeria from his four-day visit to the Russian Republic extremely happy with the success of the visit, which outcome is the best response to a few skeptical audiences back home, including a toxic newspaper editorial, “Buhari, Stay On Your Job,” by the Lagos-based Punch Newspaper asking him to not travel. Based upon the results, it must be concluded that the President’s mission was fully accomplished. The definite high point was the decision by the Russians to agree to a government-to-government understanding that would see them return to complete the Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill and commission it. Nigeria had expended well over USD 5 billion without it coming to fruition. When he campaigned early in the year for his re-election, which he won with a majority of four million votes, marking a difference of 14 per cent against his closest rival, President Buhari reiterated an earlier promise to complete Ajaokuta to provide jobs and the steel backbone that the nation’s industrial complex needed so desperately. Could this have been achieved if he had locked himself inside the Aso Rock Villa? The answer is obviously a “no.” Yet, this was not all that he secured. Presidents Buhari and Vladimir Putin opened a “new chapter” in the historically important relationship between the two countries as they both agreed to expand cooperation in energy sector, petroleum and gas, trade and investment, defence and security, mining and steel development, aluminium and phosphate, education and agriculture and a plethora of other issues which, to my pleasure had been spelled out in an elaborate manner by Tonye Princewill, an astute leader in the All Progressives Congress, APC in an opinion article he widely circulated. President Putin noted that the traditional friendly relationship between Nigeria and his country has gained a new momentum, symbolized by a 93 per cent growth in trade between the two nations in 2018, promising that “Russian companies are ready to offer their scientific and technological developments to their African partners, and share their experience of upgrading energy, transport and communications infrastructure.” In President Buhari’s view, this summit was a necessary anchor “to kick start what has been a very cordial and mutually beneficial relationship in past years…there are similarities between Russia’s journey under your leadership (Putin’s) and Nigeria’s aspirations for the future. We can learn a lot from the experiences of Russia’s ongoing reforms of transitioning from an oil dependent economy to a modern, diversified and inclusive economy.” Russia is clearly seeking to reconstruct the important role the country played in its Soviet era. They had traditionally supported African countries in their fights for independence and sought to build industrial infrastructure and develop national economies. In another sense, the focus of the summit on multilateralism, the advocacy for the reform of the United Nations and climate change action is a direct response to Trump era unilateralism. It is noteworthy that Nigeria got everything our delegation asked for. When German Chancellor, Angela Merkel visited President Buhari in Abuja in August last year, she made reference to a pertinent defect in the relationship between Europe and Africa when it comes to the promotion of projects. “When we give you a project, we show you the door to a bank. We tell you to go and obtain financing. The Chinese give you the project, they give you financing. That is something we will have to look at,” she said to President Buhari. Before the Europeans make up their minds on this, the Russians are now having a go at the idea. For every viable project Nigerian officials suggested in the course of this summit, the chances of the financing appeared within sight. It is in the light of this that one of Russia’s leading rail line service providers, MEDPROM indicated their interest in undertaking the 1,400-kilometer Lagos-Calabar rail track that will pass through all the states in the South-South sub-region. The agreement and MoU signed between the NNPC and the Russia’s Lukoil is another spectacular agreement along these lines. Lukoil owns seven refineries and a record turnover of USD 38 billion. The two oil giants will upgrade their commercial relationship to a government-to-government backed partnership, to work together in upstream operations and in revamping Nigeria’s ill-functioning refineries. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources. The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari signed for the Nigerian side while Vagit Alekperov, President, signed on behalf of Lukoil. In support of this, President Buhari made clear that he wished to work with Russian businesses to improve the efficiency of our oil and gas sector, giving a strong assurance that his administration will “ensure this initiative is implemented within the shortest possible time.” Of no less significance is the MoU resolving past issues, paving the way for the revival of the rested joint venture between the NNPC and Russia’s gas giants, GASPROM for the development of Nigeria’s enormous gas resources and its infrastructure. In that waggish but poisonous editorial, the newspaper in question raised concerns about terrorism, kidnapping and general insecurity in the country. It asked a question, wondering why the President would travel abroad when there is, in the country, the problem of kidnapping and fire from oil tankers had caused the loss of life and devastation of shops. Yes, these are sad and unwelcome. This is a President who is praised for his prompt response to the Onitsha fire, first by releasing a message of commiseration same evening and thereafter, dispatching the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs on a condolence mission. The minister gave directive on the spot to the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA for the immediate deployment of emergency assistance to the Southeast. Either out of ignorance or mischief, the Punch failed to see how important it is for the President to seek international support in tackling home grown terrorists, the Boko Haram, reinforced by 2000 ex-ISIS fighters as disclosed by Mr. Putin. Not only did President Buhari get that needed support to fight Boko Haram terrorists, he got the two countries to cooperate extensively in the strategic fields of defence, civil nuclear energy and in dealing with piracy and oil pipeline vandalism in the Gulf of Guinea. The Nigerian leader also got a deal for the technological upgrade and timely delivery of the balance of seven, out of an existing order for 12 Attack Helicopters. These, and an assortment of military hardware are direly needed by Nigeria to deal with the new wave of crime bedevilling the country. Interestingly, one of the three key themes of the whole conference is security. African states with Russia’s support have, as an outcome, drawn up a regional security architecture that would use new technological solutions to ensure security for cities, securing the borders and creating a buffer against the illegal movement of explosives, weapons, drugs and smuggling to reduce terrorist danger to the continent. Still on security, the Nigeria-Russia Military Technical Agreement that lapsed a few years ago without being renewed will be given due attention by Nigeria. Russia had been ready with her part. President Buhari gave a response to this, saying, “I have directed the Minister of Defence to work with the Ministry of Justice to conclude this matter within the shortest possible time.” The significance of this agreement lies in the fact that it opens the door to the procurement of military hardware, on a government-to-government basis, eliminating middlemen and reducing cost, as well as the training of military personnel, modernization of the armed forces, refurbishment and renewal of infrastructure and equipment, which President Putin said he is ready to assist Nigeria to undertake. The one perennial business and, if you like emotional topic between the two countries is the protracted issue of the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria, ALSCON, Ikot-Abasi, Akwa-Ibom State. It too, will be resolved. President Buhari announced that he had asked the Ministry of Justice, “to submit a comprehensive report on the UC Russel (the Russian owners of the plant) matter…I want to assure you that the aim of our reforms is to ensure such investments are concluded and actualized in a professional and painless manner.” There are many of our citizens who do not reckon with the fact that this country has a nuclear programme for about 40 years, one however, that has not gone beyond the setting up of research stations. Arising from these discussions, President Putin invited President Buhari to join him in taking the next step in the implementation of the project by commencing the construction of the nuclear power plant. The two Presidents also addressed issues in education and agriculture. Russia said she would give additional scholarships. There are currently 100 Nigerian students studying under her scholarship and so far, 797 students from Nigeria have benefited from scholarships for training in Russia in various academic fields. On agriculture, Russia agreed to support Nigeria in laying a solid foundation for food security. This will partly come through raw materials (phosphate) supply for President Buhari’s very impactful Presidential Fertilizer Initiative that has seen the reopening of dozens of blending plants and the return to work of thousands of employees. Russia, now the world’s largest producer of wheat according to President Putin, will work with Nigeria in growing wheat to meet domestic and market needs. This is in response to President Buhari who made a request to Putin, that “we seek your Government’s support especially in the area of wheat production. Today, Nigeria produces less than one hundred thousand metric tons of wheat locally while our imports are projected to exceed five million tons in 2020. We therefore need your support to bridge the deficit which will create jobs and save our foreign exchange for other important areas like security, defence and infrastructure.” The two leaders also discussed regional and international issues of mutual interest, with President Buhari pointedly asking for Russia’s support for Nigeria’s aspiration to assume a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, in the envisaged reform of the UN. Realizing that the relationship between our two countries had suffered the loss of the momentum characteristic of the Soviet era, President Buhari said “to move forward, may I suggest that our countries organize the fifth Joint Commission meeting to review and ratify all the agreements (about 40) contained in the Inter-governmental Nigeria-Russia Joint Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation Protocol of November 11, 2016,” to which his Russian counterpart agreed. For the African continent that been looked at as a potential bright spot in the world economy for a long time, the flurry of summits between the leaders of the major economies of the world and the Heads of African states and government is a clear indication of Africa coming of age. For Nigeria and President Buhari in particular, the Russia-Africa Summit had served the desire the two countries to diversify and further strengthen the bonds of our robust bilateral relations. A solid foundation has indeed been laid for the promotion of the mutually beneficial cooperation between both nations. Read the full article

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moonwalkertrance · 6 years ago

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The Prince and the President: Khashoggi Case Raises Saudi-Turkey Tensions

ANKARA, Turkey — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has long cast himself as a champion of the Arab Spring uprisings and the political Islamists who once seemed poised to ride them to power.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia anchors the opposite camp in an ideological battle raging across the Middle East: the anti-Islamist strongmen who quashed the revolts.

The two leaders, each the head of a major regional power, have until now kept their relations cordial in the interest of stability. But over the past week, tensions between them have erupted over the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist who vanished after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul nine days ago.

Mr. Erdogan has repeatedly challenged Saudi Arabia to explain Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance, while Turkish officials say they have video and audio evidence proving he was killed, and have unleashed a stream of leaks suggesting that the royal court ordered it. The crown prince and his spokesmen have insisted, without providing evidence, that Mr. Khashoggi left the consulate freely, professing that they, too, are worried about him.

The dispute pits two staunch, headstrong nationalists against each other — both with ambitions to reshape their region. They also share an aversion to public criticism and a history of refusing to back down from a fight.

“These are two people who each think he is the most important person in the Muslim world,” said Steven A. Cook, a scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations who studies both countries. “Ego is a factor on both sides.”

On Thursday, there were signs that the two leaders were looking for a way out. Mr. Erdogan’s office announced that he had agreed to a Saudi request to form a joint “working group” that will examine Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance.

Certainly, each man has much to lose.

Mr. Erdogan is struggling to manage a teetering economy and his entanglement in war-torn Syria. He can ill afford a new battle with a deep-pocketed regional power like Saudi Arabia.

For Prince Mohammed, the affair threatens to severely damage the image of moderate reformer that he has worked for years to cultivate. Eager to diversify the Saudi economy before it runs out of oil, he has courted Washington, Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Hollywood with promises to open up and modernize the kingdom.

The prince has already endured his share of criticism in the West for leading a devastating war in Yemen, temporarily detaining the prime minister of Lebanon, and locking up hundreds of businessmen in a luxury hotel on suspicion of corruption. If he is held responsible for Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance — and perhaps death — that could strengthen domestic enemies bruised by his swift rise to power.

Internationally, it is already undermining his courtship of Western visitors and investors. Several participants said Thursday that they were dropping out of an investment conference known as Davos in the Desert that the prince is hosting this month in Riyadh.

“His credibility in the West and in the U.S. is at stake,” said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. “The credibility gap is going to be huge, and the Saudi boosters in D.C. are going to find it extremely difficult to portray the image that they were generally quite successful in trying to push.”

With lawmakers from both parties in Washington now threatening to seek sanctions over the case, Saudi leaders appear surprised by the magnitude of the international reaction. Prince Mohammed has canceled or postponed meetings with diplomats and other foreign visitors, and Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has been unusually quiet.

Mr. Erdogan, for his part, has almost taunted the crown prince with questions, testing how close he can come to blaming Saudi Arabia for Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance without explicitly doing so.

“Is it possible that there is no camera system at a consulate, an embassy?” he said, according to Turkish news reports. “Is it possible there was no camera system in the Saudi Arabian Consulate where this incident happened? I mean, if a bird flies from here, a mosquito flies, those systems would capture it. And they have the most advanced ones.”

“It is not possible for us to remain silent about such an incident happening in our country,” Mr. Erdogan said.

Mr. Erdogan’s greatest concern is not foreign but domestic: borrowing taken on during his 15-year drive to build up the Turkish economy has left its corporate sector sagging under the weight of more than $200 billion in foreign debt. That has dragged down the value of Turkish currency, spurring high inflation.

Although Saudi Arabia is hardly its biggest investor, Turkish officials have boasted that their country did $8 billion a year in business with the kingdom. Wealthy Saudi holidaymakers are a staple of Istanbul’s tourist industry.

“The stakes are very high, and that is why Erdogan will be very restrained,” said Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, the Ankara office director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. “Turkey is going through hard economic times, and Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries have the ability to tip the balance of Turkey’s economy.”

The disappearance of Mr. Khashoggi also threatens something less tangible: the prestige Mr. Erdogan’s Turkey has enjoyed around the region as a refuge for Arab politicians and thinkers under pressure from their own governments.

“Because Turkey has become such a haven for Arabs who no longer feel safe in their own countries, there is a lot of reputational damage for Erdogan,” said Tamara Cofman Wittes, a scholar at the Brookings Institution and a former State Department official.

Several analysts said they already saw hints that Mr. Erdogan might be exploring a face-saving retreat for both sides — for example, by allowing the crown prince to acknowledge Mr. Khashoggi’s death but pin the blame on some rogue element in his government.

The announcement of the joint working group in the case added to the speculation. But how that cooperation might work, given the Turkish allegations against the Saudis, remains to be seen.

Over the years, Mr. Erdogan and Prince Mohammed have worked to suppress their differences.

When the Turkish leader cracked down after a failed military coup two years ago, Saudi Arabia was quick to help him, extraditing a Turkish military attaché suspected of playing a role in the plot. Mr. Erdogan singled out the kingdom for special thanks, and Prince Mohammed reciprocated by joining his father, King Salman, in congratulating Mr. Erdogan on his survival.

When Egyptian newspapers recently quoted Prince Mohammed calling Turkey part of an “evil” alliance in the region, he hastened to deny it, issuing a statement that he was criticizing the Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood, not the government of Turkey.

But tensions between them still rose.

Mr. Erdogan remains close to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Saudi Arabia considers a national security threat and has branded as a terrorist organization. Turkey has also remained close to Qatar, another regional friend to the Brotherhood.

As he has consolidated power, Prince Mohammed has become increasingly bold. At age 33, he has charmed younger Saudis and many in the West by promising to diversify the Saudi economy and weaken the kingdom’s religious authorities. He has let women drive and allowed concerts and movie theaters — all novelties for the kingdom.

On a tour of the United States this year, Prince Mohammed was welcomed as a statesman. He met with President Trump; dined with Rupert Murdoch; had his picture taken with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Bill Gates, and Tim Cook of Apple; and hung out with the actor known as The Rock.

But many of his actions have backfired.

His military intervention in Yemen has so far produced only a stalemate and humanitarian crisis. His detention of the prime minister of Lebanon was ultimately ineffectual. And his imprisonment without due process of hundreds of wealthy businessmen, including several of his royal cousins, unnerved many of the investors he had set out to woo.

And now there are the allegations about Mr. Khashoggi.

Ms. Wittes, the Brookings scholar, said that if the Saudis “are willing to assassinate a journalist on foreign soil because he was mildly critical, these international partners are going to be much less likely to send their students, researchers and experts to the kingdom or to set up long-term partnerships with the kingdom.”

Being seen in the eyes of the world as responsible for such a grisly assassination might once have been enough to disqualify a crown prince from succession to the Saudi throne. But Prince Mohammed, who is known as MBS, appears to have amassed more control than any leader in decades over the sources of hard power in the kingdom — the military, the national guard and the Interior Ministry — as well as the oil ministry.

Many analysts say there is almost no one left to challenge him — provided he maintains the good will of his elderly father.

“There is no real coalition that can mobilize against MBS,” said Mr. Ulrichsen, the Middle East fellow. “He seems to be secure in his position. And that seems to be the reason we see such actions.”

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