#like these countries fuel war over generations and say no to people fleeing these wars

[nerozane]

My mum who just fled the Vietnam war and arrived late 70s when Malcom Frazer was PM was given the option to study at uni for free (she didnt because of filial piety which is why I fucking hate it culturally) as a refugee and had decent grades. Even when my sperm donor who struggled with school and was a south Viet conscript had vet support + refugee support if he wanted to pursue education (he didn't because he was a cunt + undiagnosed ADHD and addiction issues).

Now, if you're a refugee, you literally need to cough up your own money for that. And have a support network to boot, esp if you bring your family and children/dependents with you. Since those programs my parents had access to have their funding slashed by a fuckton.

Me, their spawn several generations later and born in this country? Had to cough up only $23k for student loans (not incl. inflation since HECS loans index not via interest but via inflation), and I graduated at over a decade ago. And I've been looking to go back to uni again for a career change and that amount is for a year and a half of the degree I was planning (not to mention the hardship scholarship I can qualify for has not scaled up for inflation since I was in uni either). And I did a double degree that wasn't in medicine for that $22k over ten years ago.

So yeah. I have an axe to grind with those politicians who got free education but then scrapped it for votes and to fatten the checks of their rich besties.

[minervacasterly]

Queen Mary (I) Tudor -The Woman behind the Legend of 'Bloody Mary'

"As Mary continued to face Protestant treason she became even more ruthless, with the infamous burnings intended to eliminate what she perceived as a stubborn and destabilising minority. In our context we see Mary's actions as those of a fanatic. In her context she was eliminating fanatics, and of the most dangerous kind, incorrigible rebels against God and queen. But Mary also had to work positively, to build a future, and this unravelled in the face of her infertility and declining health. She failed in her ultimate duty to produce a child and this meant, once again, that the wider family was key to the future. Mary's preferred choice as her heir, was Margaret Douglas, could not compete with the claims of Henry VIII's second daughter and, as Elizabeth took note, it was the knowledge that she would succeed her sister that fueled the disorder and rebellion against Mary. With the loss of Calais in the last year of Mary's life it would be easy for her enemies to paint the young, Protestant Elizabeth's accession as a brilliant new dawn. It is as such that it is still projected. Mary remains associated with her late seventeenth-century sobriquet 'Bloody Mary', and an infamous recent advertisement for the London Dungeon depicted her face transforming into a demon-zombie. Elizabeth, by contrast, has been played in films by a series of beautiful actresses: Elizabeth is ever Cate Blanchett, fairy queen, to Mary's bitter, grey-faced Kathy Burke. Yet these sisters were neither simple heroines nor villains. Both were rulers of their time and we can only understand Elizabeth if we see, as she did, what the Tudor sisters had in common and how she could learn from Mary's example. Most significant for Elizabeth was the fact that Mary's Protestant enemies had sought to redefine the nature of a 'true' king. They argued that religion was more important than blood, or victory in battles -a true king was Protestant- and that all women were by nature unsuited to rule over men. Elizabeth's response was to offer her ordinary subjects a theatrical representation of herself as a 'true' ruler: the seeds of which had been sown by Mary herself in her speech during the Wyatt revolt, in which she is a mother who loves her subjects as if they were her children. Here was a female authority figure accepted as part of the divine order." ~Leanda de Lisle, TUDOR

"The blackening of Mary's name began in Elizabeth's reign and gathered force at the end of the 17th century, when James II compounded the view that Catholic monarchs were a disaster for England. But it was really the enduring popularity of John Foxe which shaped the view of her that has persisted for 450 years. Attempts to soften her image have been made, but their tendency to depict her as a sad little woman who would have been better off as the Tudor equivalent of a housewife is almost as distasteful as the legend of Bloody Mary. To dismiss her life as nothing more than a personal tragedy is both patronizing and mistaken. One of the main themes of Mary's existence is the triumph of determination over adversity. She lived in a violent, intolerant age, surrounded by the intrigues of a time when men and women gambled their lives for advancement at court. Deceit, like ambition, was endemic among the power-seekers of mid-Tudor England who passed, in procession, through her life. Pride, stubbornness and an instinct for survival saw her through tribulations that would have destroyed a lesser woman. Her bravery put her on the throne and kept her there, so that when she died she was able to bequeath to Elizabeth a precious legacy that is often overlooked: she had demonstrated that a woman could rule in her own right. The vilification of Mary has obscured the many areas of continuity between her rule and those of the other Tudors. Today, despite the fact that much more is known about her reign, she is still the most maligned and misunderstood of English monarchs. For Mary Tudor, the first queen of England, truth has not been the daughter of time." ~Linda Porter, THE MYTH OF BLOODY MARY

"Foxe's account would shape the popular narrative of Mary's reign for the next four hundred and fifty years. Generations of schoolchildren would grow up knowing the first Queen of England only as "Bloody Mary", a Catholic tyrant who sent nearly three hundred Protestants to their deaths, a point made satirically in W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman's 1930s parody 1066 and All That. Mary's presence in a recent survey of the most evil men and women in history is testament to Foxe's enduring legacy. But there is, of course, a different Mary: a woman marked by suffering, devout in her faith and exceptional in her courage. From a childhood in which she was adored and feted and then violently rejected, a fighter was born. Her resolve almost cost her her life as her father, and then her brother, sought to subjugate her to their wills. Yet Mary maintained her faith and self-belief. Despite repeated attempts to deprive her of her life and right to the throne, the warrior princess turned victor and became the warrior princess turned victor and became the warrior queen. The boldness and scale of her achievements are often overlooked. The campaign that Mary led in the summer of 1553 would prove to be the only successful revolt against central government in sixteenth-century England. She, like her grandfather Henry VII and grandmother Isabella of Castile, had to flight for her throne. In the moment of crisis she proved decisive, courageous, and "Herculean" -and won the support of the English people as the legitimate Tudor heir. Mary was a conscientious, hardworking queen who was determined to be closely involved in government business and policy making. She would rise "at daybrea when, after saying her prayers and hearing mass in private," she would "transact business incessantly until after midnight." As rebels thereatend teh capital in January 1554 and she was urged to flee, Mary stood firm and successfully rallied Londoners to her defense. She was also a woman who lived by her conscience and was prepared to die for her faith. And she expected the same of others. Her religious defiance was matched by a personal infatuation with Phililp, her Spanish husband. Her love for him and dependence on her "true father", the Emperor Charles V, was unwavering. Her determination to honor her husband's will led England into an unpopular war with France and the loss of Calais. There was no fruit of the union, and so at her premature death there was no Catholic heir. Her own phantom pregnancies, together with epidemics and harvest failures across the country, left her undermined and unpopular. Her life, always one of tragic contrast, ended in personal tragedy as Philip abandoned her, never to return, even as his queen lay dying. In many ways Mary failed as a woman but triumphed as a queen. She ruled with the full measure of royal majesty and achieved much of what she set out to do. She won her rightful throne, married her Spanish prince, and restored the country to Roman Catholicism. The Spanish marriage was a match with the most powerful ruling house in Europe, and the highly favorable marriage treaty ultimately won the support of the English government. She had defeated the rebels and preserved the Tudor monarchy. Her Catholicism was not simply conservative but influenced by her humanist education and showed many signs of broad acceptance before she died. She was an intelligent, politically adept, and resolute monarch who proved to be very much her own woman. Thanks to Mary, John Aylmer, in exile in Switzerland, could confidently assert that "it is not in England so dangerous a matter to have a woman ruler, as men take it to be." By securing the throne following Edward's attempts to bar both his sisters, she ensured that the crown continued along the legal line of Tudor succession. Mary laid down other important precedents that would benefit her sister. Upon her accession as the first queen regnant of England, she redefined royal ritual and law, thereby establishing that a female ruler, married or unmarried, would enjoy identical power and authority to male monarchs. Mary was the Tudor trailblazer, a politiccal pioneer whose reign redefined the English monarchy." ~Anna Whitelock, MARY TUDOR: PRINCESS, BASTARD, QUEEN

Furthermore, as the country shifted from Catholicism to Protestantism, people began to find it easier to vilify her. During the Victorian age, England was at its height. People would say that the sun never set on the English Empire, and as a result, there was a growing sense of nationalism. Previously beloved figures like Queen Elizabeth I, Kings Edward III, Henry V, among others, were no longer kings and queens for people to admire and look upon but national symbols of pride, who were almost god-like. Edward III's victories against the French, Henry V's conquest of France, Elizabeth's Protestantism and victory against Spain with the Spanish Armada and other Catholic rivals, were extolled, and glorified, while Mary I's foreign ancestry was looked down upon. Ironically, all of these monarchs were also foreign in one way or another. You can say that Queen Elizabeth I wasn't because her parents were English, but what about her paternal ancestry, or her maternal one? No matter which way you look at it, she had foreign ancestry as much as any monarch. In fact, the Victorian era's own monarch, was of foreign descent as well! Victoria wasn't even an English name. She was named after her mother, Victoria of the Saxe-Coburg clan who was German and she married her cousin, who was also German. It was very common for royals to marry other royals, which meant that their offspring would be of foreign descent. In Mary's time this wouldn't be a reason to look down on her, on the contrary, she could point to her royal ancestors, be they foreign or not, with pride as a sign of how much royal blood flowed through her veins, making her eligible to be her father's heir. But as it has been pointed out before, times change and with it, so does our view of every historical figure.

[newstfionline]

Sunday, August 22, 2021

US keeps ban on nonessential border crossings to slow COVID (AP) The U.S. government on Friday extended a ban on nonessential travel along the borders with Canada and Mexico to slow the spread of COVID-19 despite increasing pressure to lift the restriction. U.S. border communities that are dependent on shoppers from Mexico and Canada and their political representatives have urged the Biden administration to lift the ban. In addition, Canada recently began letting fully vaccinated U.S. citizens enter the country. But the Department of Homeland Security said in a tweet Friday that the restrictions on nonessential travel were still needed to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and the delta variant. It extended the ban until at least Sept. 21. The travel restrictions have been in place since early in the pandemic in March 2020 and repeatedly extended while allowing commercial traffic and essential crossings to continue.

Booming business at dollar stores shows the widening gulf between haves and have-nots during pandemic (Washington Post) Kyle Dishman can’t afford to shop at the local grocery store anymore. Instead he goes to Dollar General, where he can make $40 stretch into a week’s worth of groceries and the occasional can of motor oil for his Chrysler 300. He sticks with pasta, frozen pizza and canned vegetables, fully aware that “any food you can buy for only $1 is not the greatest for you.” But Dishman says prices have gone up so much that he’s started rationing his food. A growing number of Americans are relying on dollar stores for everyday needs, especially groceries, as the coronavirus pandemic drags into its 18th month. Chains such as Dollar General and Dollar Tree are reporting blockbuster sales and profits, and proliferating so quickly that some U.S. cities want to limit their growth. Foot traffic at Dollar General is up 32 percent from pre-pandemic levels, far outpacing the 3 percent increase at Walmart. Analysts say the explosive rise of dollar stores is yet another example of how the pandemic has reshaped the economy and widened the gulf between the wealthiest and poorest Americans. “It’s a striking disparity: In this country, there is now dollar-store land and there is Whole Foods land,” said Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), a nonprofit advocacy group. “And if you live in Whole Foods land, it’s very hard for people to understand just how desperate circumstances are for the rest of the country.”

More Americans now say government should take steps to restrict false information online than in 2018 (Pew Research Center) Amid rising concerns over misinformation, Americans are now a bit more open to the idea of the U.S. government taking steps to restrict false information online. Roughly half of U.S. adults (48%) say the government should take steps to restrict such misinformation, even if it means losing some freedom to access and publish content. That is up from 39% three years ago, with Democrats driving much of the increase. Meanwhile, a majority of the public continues to favor technology companies taking steps to restrict online misinformation.

Hurricane Grace hits Mexico's Gulf coast, weakens; 8 killed (AP) Hurricane Grace hit Mexico’s Gulf shore as a major Category 3 storm before weakening on Saturday, drenching coastal and inland areas in its second landfall in the country in two days. At least eight people died, authorities said. The storm had lost power while crossing over the Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday, swirling through Mexico’s main tourist strip, but it rapidly drew in power from the relatively warm Gulf of Mexico before reaching the Mexican coast again late Friday. At least eight people, including children, died and three were missing after mudslides and flooding, said Cuitláhuac García, governor of Mexico’s Veracruz state. García said 330,000 people lost power in the storm but it was gradually being restored.

Haitian quake victims rush aid sites, take food and supplies (AP) Haitians left hungry and homeless by a devastating earthquake swarmed relief trucks and in some cases stole desperately needed goods Friday as leaders of the poor Caribbean nation struggled to coordinate aid and avoid a repeat of their chaotic response to a similar tragedy 11 years ago. The attacks on relief shipments illustrate the rising frustration of those left homeless after the Aug. 14 magnitude 7.2 earthquake, which killed nearly 2,200 people, injured more than 12,000 and destroyed or damaged more than 100,000 homes. The frustration over the pace of aid has been rising for days and has been illustrated by the growing number of people crowding together at aid distribution sites. But Friday was the first time there was such widespread stealing.

UNICEF warns millions of Lebanese face water shortages (Reuters) More than 4 million people in Lebanon could face a critical shortage of water or be cut off completely in the coming days, UNICEF warned, due to a severe fuel crisis. Lebanon, with a population of 6 million, is at a low point in a two-year financial meltdown, with a lack of fuel oil and gasoline meaning extensive blackouts and long lines at the few gas stations still operating. “Vital facilities such as hospitals and health centres have been without access to safe water due to electricity shortages, putting lives at risk,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement. “If four million people are forced to resort to unsafe and costly sources of water, public health and hygiene will be compromised, and Lebanon could see an increase in waterborne diseases, in addition to the surge in COVID-19 cases,” she said, urging the formation of a new government to tackle the crisis.

Ethiopia's Tigray crisis: US accuses Abiy's government of blocking aid (BBC) The US international development agency has blamed the Ethiopian government for a shortage of humanitarian aid in the country's conflict-torn Tigray region. USAID accused the government of "obstructing" access to Tigray, as it warned that food aid was set to run out this week for the first time. Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of famine amid the conflict between government and rebel forces. USAID called on the Ethiopian government to "immediately allow humanitarian assistance". It noted that aid trucks have been unable to leave the town of Semera in the neighbouring Afar region—currently the only accessible land route into Tigray. About 100 trucks of aid are needed in Tigray each day, yet just 320 have managed to reach the region since the end of June, a UN spokesman told the BBC. "At least two important aid organizations have already run out of food," said Saviano Abreu from the UN humanitarian agency, Ocha. "Without urgent and unimpeded food assistance, there will be an imminent threat to the lives of over 400,000 people in Tigray already in famine-like conditions and over 1.8 million people now in emergency levels of hunger could slide into starvation," he said.

In Kabul, a fearful wait for US to deliver on evacuation vow (AP) Tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan waited nervously on Saturday to see whether the United States would deliver on President Joe Biden’s new pledge to evacuate all Americans and all Afghans who aided the war effort. Biden faces growing criticism as videos depict pandemonium and occasional violence outside the airport, and as vulnerable Afghans who fear the Taliban’s retaliation send desperate pleas not to be left behind. The Gulf nation of Bahrain on Saturday announced it was allowing flights to use its transit facilities for the evacuation, an option that should ease pressure after the U.S. faced issues Friday with its facilities at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar rapidly filling up. The backlog forced flights from the Kabul international airport to stop for several hours. The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, said it would host up to 5,000 Afghans “prior to their departure to other countries.” So far, 13 countries have agreed to host at-risk Afghans at least temporarily, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. Another 12 have agreed to serve as transit points for evacuees, including Americans and others. But the growing question for many other Afghans is, where will they finally call home? Already, European leaders who fear a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis are signaling that fleeing Afghans who didn’t help Western forces during the war should stay in neighboring countries instead. The desperate scenes of people clinging to aircraft taking off from Kabul’s airport have only deepened Europe’s anxiety.

Taliban took Afghanistan but face cash squeeze (AP) The Taliban face a frontal challenge in cementing control of Afghanistan: Money. Despite their dominant military blitz over the past week, the Taliban lack access to billions of dollars from their central bank and the International Monetary Fund that would keep the country running during a turbulent shakeup. Those funds are largely controlled by the U.S. and international institutions, a possible leverage point as tense evacuations proceed from the airport in the capital of Kabul. Tens of thousands of people remain to be evacuated ahead of the United States’ Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw its troops from the country. But the Taliban also do not currently have institutional structures to receive the money—a sign of the challenges it might confront as it tries to govern an economy that has urbanized and tripled in size since they were last in power two decades ago. The shortfall could lead to an economic crisis that would only fuel a deeper humanitarian one for the roughly 36 million Afghans expected to stay in the country.

The Taliban is flaunting captured U.S. weapons that may be worth billions. Can it use them? (Washington Post) As the Taliban swept into power across Afghanistan, it captured many millions, perhaps billions, of dollars worth of U.S. military equipment that had once belonged to Afghan forces. Footage from areas captured by the militant group shows bedraggled but celebratory fighters in control of U.S.-made guns, armored vehicles and even Blackhawk helicopters and drones. Beyond the flashy hardware, experts are also concerned that the extremist group would now be in charge of sophisticated technology, including biometric devices used by the U.S. military to identify Afghans who assisted Americans and allies. It’s an impressive haul for a group that was once dismissed as a band of rural Luddites when it emerged in the 1990s. But despite its austere interpretations of Islam and rejection of much of modern society, the Taliban has shown flexibility when it comes to technology. It is already active on the Internet and social media. And its fighters are no strangers to U.S. military equipment. “The Taliban have already been using sophisticated military equipment that they have captured from Afghan national security forces in recent years,” said Robert Crews, an expert on Afghanistan at Stanford University. “They have used everything from night vision goggles and scopes to sniper rifles and armored vehicles and artillery.”

Battered Airlines Owed Billions as Governments Withhold Cash (Bloomberg) Airlines are owed almost $1 billion across 20 countries as governments seek to hang on to hard currency, depriving the industry of vital cash at a time when travel has been devastated by the coronavirus crisis. Figures published by the International Air Transport Association show that Venezuela is withholding a further $4 billion that’s been outstanding for years and may be permanently lost to carriers. Lebanon, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Zimbabwe are the worst offenders among other states, accounting for 60% of the $963 million deficit, according to IATA.

[renniecirque]

More Rennie HCs!!!

how do they listen to their music? ipod, mp3, computer, cd, records, etc? Records, his phone, sometimes his school laptop

do they take baths or showers? do they prefer one over the other? Bath! Rennie is old fashioned and loves taking a soak in a warm tub filled with herbs and calming scents. It’s not uncommon to find him fast asleep in the tub after a long day.

do they wear their hair down when they sleep, or tied up / braided? Down. Though during the summer he clips his bangs up out of his face!

how many blankets / pillows do they like to have on their bed? 2 blankets! One thin one and another that is minky/soft. Rennie is the king of pillows; he has 4. 3 to lay on, one to hold.

what do they normally dream about? nightmares or nonsense? Dreams are strange for Rennie as they aren’t quite nightmares but they can leave him unsettled. He often replays the past in his sleep. 

do they wake up groggy or alert? do they like mornings? Groggy as heck. You’d think he was a different person with how silent and dragging his body-like he is if he has an early morning class. Some say it looks like someone dragged him across the field and left him there with how he looks in the morning. Not at all.

what do they sleep in? pj’s, normal clothes, nothing? A cardigan over his old night gown. He also wears night shorts under it. Though he also now has a matching lounge pj set with his friend.

what do they smell like? do they use perfume or cologne? Rennie either smells like coffee or fresh pine/floral scents. He uses sprays whenever he feels like it but doesn’t make a habit of it. 

what shampoo scent do they like the best and why? Lavender! Anything that reminds him of his home in the forest. Plus it has soothing attributes. 

bar soap or liquid? do they like loofahs? Bar! He’s quite fond of homemade oatmeal soap. Eh he’s indifferent.

do they prefer sleeping alone or with someone else? Sleeping with someone else. Back at his home, he used to share a bed with his brother and now currently with his sister in the small cottage. It just feels safe to him.

do they like the room cold or hot when they sleep? Cold. Layers are easier to deal with than sweating.

do they stay up too late? do they like staying up? Very much so. Rennie is a big night owl and likes to stay up until dusk before heading to bed. Sadly school makes that more difficult.

do they know how to drive? do they like to drive? NO WAY DFKGKDJ Rennie is used to using brooms or carriage if needed!

do they prefer taxis / buses / subways, etc? or none of the above? N/A. The valley doesn’t really have things like that.

do they have pets? what kind? dogs, cats, etc? No pets. Though Rennie is quite familiar with the animals that lurk near his home.

do they prefer cats or dogs? or neither? Neither.

what are their phobias? do they have any at all? Lightning, war, abandonment issues.

what do they hate being teased about? are they teased often? Their loud voice, getting too excited over things and not knowing when to tone it down- not often thankfully.

did they have any fears growing up that they’ve since conquered? Rennie had a fear of how weak humans were when playing went horribly wrong- ultimately adding fuel to an already tense war and causing them to flee their home. I wouldn’t say it was a full conquered fear just… Rennie copes with it better than he used to. Though not in the most friendly way.

do they have a fear they want to conquer, but haven’t yet? Abandonment issues. Since his brother left, Rennie realized just how quiet the family home is without the one who stood up for him all of this time.

how do they show fear? sweating, shaking, blankness, anger, etc? Biting his lip, twisting his hair, can range from fight to flight depending on the severity. Laughing especially.

do they have a short temper? what’s most likely to set it off? Not terribly short. Setting him off usually involves underestimating him or blocking his way for long periods of time. He also doesn’t stand for weak people getting bullied by fraud mages who think they’re hot shit just because they’re in the brawn dorm.

do they get scared easily? does loud noises, shouting, etc, scare them? Not super easily- though sudden crashes can make him jump. Yelling does put him on edge, especially if it is directed towards him.

what are they most passionate about? what could they debate about for hours? Rennie is very passionate about learning anything and everything about magic! It’s his goal to become a well-rounded magician his mother and father could be proud of. He is also very passionate with his work making clothes for his sister and goods to sell back home. Definitely the history of magic and it’s influence across the world. How each country lives in very different ways involving magic.

what do they never, ever want to speak of, ever? The incident where he hurt a human child on accident. Where his brother risked it all to protect him, even if it meant getting hurt himself on top of severe punishment from the school. How he dropped his birth name because there is terrible magic in knowing one’s true name. He didn’t wish to be controlled by the past anymore.

do they have kids? do they want kids? if so, how many? No kids, he’s a kid himself. Rennie wouldn’t be Against having a family though it’s hard to gauge. Maybe 1-2 kids??? He does like family.

is there something they’d like to change about themselves physically? Not really… though he wouldn’t complain about being a little taller.

is there something about their personality they want to change? The trickster side of himself he shows for sure. While it can be fun at times, he often uses it as a shield to hide his real feelings.

do they have good fashion sense? or do they just wear whatever? Generally Rennie wears whatever is comfortable, though he has an appreciation for certain styles. He at least tries to look presentable.

do they critique others easily? do they judge from afar? To a degree, yes. Though it is more from afar and only within his mind. He only lays light jabs to people and prefers to keep snide comments to himself. No sense picking unnecessary battles.

are they too hard on themselves over the little things? Eh not really! Rennie has a very carefree approach to much of his school life, only getting serious when it comes to his own courses and if others are trying to push him/his friends around. He only gets upset when he fails something he knows he can pull off.

are they the jealous type? what are they most likely to be jealous of? Not very jealous, no. If anything, he’s more envious and resigned to the fact that there are some fae who can live and exist among humans without worry. He’s envious some can survive the strife within the Valley with little issue.

are they possessive over their things? or over other people? Both? Definitely more over people. Those Rennie welcomes into his life are like family and he is not going to let people hurt those he cares about. Not being seen as a dangerous monster by others is all Rennie hoped for.

would they rather be alone or in a relationship? While Rennie feels safer being with other people, I still think he’d rather be alone. I don’t think Rennie would trust someone so openly with his heart as a Fae. Plus relationships with non-fae lead to an endless cycle of heartache.

what do they think about polyamorous relationships? would they do it? They never considered it but nothing is off the table???

do they have parents / parental figures? do they have a good relationship with them? Rennie has his mother and father! For the most part it is very positive. A strict yet loving household, Rennie’s father expects his children to upkeep the family tradition and talent with magic and good schooling. While Rennie’s mother simply wishes for her children to grow well-rounded and respectful. The change in their lifestyle really showed her what really is important and that’s family above influence.

do they have siblings? if so, how many? do they like them? Rennie has an older brother and his baby sister! He’s the middle baby! Rennie loves his siblings more than anything, especially having a close bond with his brother Brier. Brier tries to distance himself from Rennie now not in a mean way but as a- I’ve protected you for so long and I want you to live and survive on your own way. He can’t always be there, so he needs Rennie to be able to protect and live for himself.

do they have a big family or a small family? no family? A decently big family of 5!

where would they want to live if they could live anywhere? Why? Anywhere outside of the Valley. While Rennie’s home is comforting, the memories of The Valley of Thorns are very raw still and being in a place always on the edge of war exhausts him greatly. Humans and Fae never mix, no matter how hard they try to reconcile the kingdoms.

are they happy in their current living situation? why or why not? Honestly? No. The small hut feels welcoming and warm but Rennie feels he’d feel much better being in another country. Being at NRC for semesters gives him that escape from the reality.

do they like living alone or with another person / other people? Other people for sure!

did they go to college, or are they attending? did / do they like it? Not yet.

what’s their dream job / profession? do they have one? Rennie would love to be a teacher for incantations and potions.

if they could control one thing in the world, what would it be? I have no idea kdfjkdfj maybe how people get along? He’d never want wars again.

do they like tv shows or movies? or neither? Rennie doesn’t mind movies, though he really only watches them at school with friends.

do they have social media? do they like it or hate it? obsess over it? Rennie has a Magicame however, he barely knows how to use it.

do they have a creative outlet? if so, what is it? Sewing!!! Rennie loves making clothes and blankets in his free time.

where do they see themselves in 2 / 5 / 10 years? 2 years he hopes to be a great 3rd year student others can look up to. In 5 years he hopes to graduate NRC like his brother and make his family proud. In 10 years he hopes to be working his dream job and training his baby sister in magic alongside his parents.

[kyndaris]

2020: Unprecedented Times

Most people, at the start of the year, had high hopes for 2020. For many, it was the start of a new decade (though, ask anyone on the street and the start of a decade is open to debate). Here in Australia, the start of 2020 merely carried on the disasters of 2019. Beset by bushfires all along the Eastern coast, we watched as our tourism numbers slump as the denizens of Sydney wore masks as a means to fight the harmful effects of smoke inhalation. Many small businesses, particularly in small towns, felt the brunt of the natural disaster. Homes were destroyed by the thousands. Worse was the fact that livelihoods that were dependent on visitors from all around the world (in particular, China) were also badly affected.

Why would anyone come to Australia, after all, when there was smoke in the air and the air quality was teetering on dangerously toxic?

Many hoped that once the fires had petered out, however, life would return to normal. Little did they know that by March, the world would be caught in the grips of COVID-19. After all, though there were the occasional news headlines of a new disease plaguing China in early January (which resulted in me warning my grandmother that maybe she not go over to celebrate the Year of the Rat), most people were focused on Donald Trump’s impeachment.

Then, of course, there was the assassination of an infamous Iranian general:  Qasem Soleimani. Once again, the world’s attention was arrested by the acts of the United States of America. Most were worried that the tension between Iran and the United States of America would boil over. At the time, it almost felt like a repeat of Trump’s antagonism towards North Korea.

In the United Kingdom, Brexit was well underway. After his re-election in December 2019, Boris Johnson continued his negotiations for a way that Britain could leave the European Union.

On a more personal scale, Australia was wracked by sport club funding scandals and climate change protests.

As for me, I was more concerned about the video game delays. Now that I write this, in December of 2020, I look back and think that perhaps it was appropriate for Cyberpunk 2077 to have been delayed until next year in order to fix the bugs that have the plagued the title ever since launch. Still, I was also vastly disappointed that Vampires the Masquerade II would not be releasing anytime soon. And saddened to hear that The Last of Us Part II had been pushed back.

After COVID-19 swept across the globe and taken hold in most countries and continents (which now extends to Antarctica thanks to a few Chileans testing positive), I watched as stupidity rose to the fore. Lockdown protests, the politicisation of the wearing of masks and the attacks on East Asians. Despite the severity of the virus and how infectious it was, I was disheartened to see so many people flout social distancing rules and break lockdown requirements. Most notably among the rich and famous such as politicians and NRL (National Rugby League) players.

Of course, being in Australia, our bid to ‘flatten the curve’ proved incredibly effective. Articles I’ve read indicate that this was mostly due to Australian’s observance of laws and regulations, as well as our trust in science. In fact, I’ve heard the refrain, ‘at least we’re not America’ spoken quite a few times this year. And honestly, after looking at the statistics, with the Land of the Free having upwards of 18.5 million cases with 326,000 (and counting) deaths, I couldn't agree more to the sentiment.

The whole ‘do as we say, not as we do’ approach by its President further served to fracture society and gave rise to conspiracy theories that served no purpose but showcase the height of people’s ignorance and distrust. It didn’t help that most Western countries also placed more importance on the ‘economy’ than people’s lives. Many global leaders were of the opinion that the ‘cure should not be worse than the disease’ and that a few deaths to keep the budget afloat was a necessary evil. 

Well, to that, I say, ‘Bah! Humbug!’ Without acting decisively and quickly, many nations have ruined their economy AND seen their people die in droves. When people are falling sick and suffering from long-term effects, they’re hardly likely to spend money. Nor will they be able to contribute to society and be able to continue working. Instead, you’ll be saddled with additional welfare taxes. By going hard and fast, closing down the economy for two months, maybe three, you can bounce back harder and stronger without fear of contagion.

Now, many countries are struggling with high numbers of new infected each day AND an economy that’s in tatters. Good job. 

It also doesn’t hurt to give back to the community and help struggling businesses. Schemes such as Jobkeeper and Jobseeker (at least in Australia) were able to alleviate some of the stress for many workers. And honestly, perhaps if the world had implemented a universal basic income, this would also enable people ensure their basic needs are met without sinking into poverty.

The fact that so many only see the short-term rather than long-term is astounding. And as for Sweden’s model? The less said about it, the better. ‘Herd immunity’ without a working vaccine? Madness. Utter madness. Particularly when the virus is airborne.

After enjoying a decent summer, numbers rose again in Europe and much of it was back under lockdown. A new strain, that has proven much more infectious, was discovered in the South of England! Trump tested positive for COVID-19, but to the dismay of many, he recovered quite quickly.

But 2020 did not end there. Once again, the struggles between ethnic minorities were brought again to the limelight. The death of George Floyd saw the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and served to highlight the disproportionate number of those living in poverty and in prison. As a person of colour myself (being of East Asian descent), I tried to explain some of this to my colleagues. But some of them saw Black Lives Matter as a predominantly American issue - and disregarded the fact that many Indigenous Australians were also in prison, caught in a vicious cycle of crime and violence.

It wasn’t long, however, that Australia experienced its own second wave in Melbourne, due to breaches in hotel quarantine. And honestly, it came as a surprise when it also happened in Adelaide and we learned that they weren’t testing hospital workers or those in high-risk workplaces on a REGULAR basis. You would have thought that all workers that transported aircrew or worked as security for those quarantining in hotels would be temperature-checked and given a swab every few days (or at least once a week). But no.

This is why we can’t have good things. 

Christmas in Sydney has also been somewhat neutered by the fact that there has been another sizeable outbreak in the Northern Beaches local council. And, of course, many people in Greater Sydney have been barred from other states. Gotta love those hard state borders where we treat each other as separate countries. Still - if it protects the people, the Premiers will stop at nothing. Even if it means families can’t be together. But better that than seeing Australia become the United States of America. 

Jumping from COVID-19, 2020 also saw an explosion in Beirut due to the storing of large amounts of ammonium nitrate at the port. Approximately 178 people were killed and more than 6,500 were injured. Locust swarms in Africa  descended upon crops, threatening food supply and livelihoods for millions of people. The West Coast of the United States of America suffered from catastrophic wildfires. Meanwhile, in south-east Asia, countries were hit by flooding and typhoons. As a side note, Armenia and Azerbaijan  restarted their ongoing feud. 

And to cap it all off, 2020 decided to further traumatise the future generation, a suicide video was uploaded to Tiktok. 

And oh, the US election. Where our favourite President tried to delay and impede mail-in-votes. In the days following the 3 November 2020 election, the world eagerly watched as the votes were counted and each state was certified. Trump, as is always his way, attempted to claim victory in the early hours of the morning of 4 November 2020, before deriding voter fraud with no evidence to substantiate his claims.

The weeks that followed saw a number of lawsuits that were lodged. Most, of which, were simply dismissed out of hand. And while his supporters have continued to claim that fraud was evident in the 2020 election, there has been no substantial pieces of evidence provided. Affidavits and hearsay, fortunately, do not a case make.

In Australia, our once promising relationship with China took a turn for the worse. While instances of racism, after the initial COVID-19, did not help, it also seemed that the finger pointing among government officials and demands for inquiries into wet markets only served to fuel the fire between the two nations. After initiating a trade war with the United States of America, China then saw fit to put significant tariffs on Australian beef, barley, wine and coal (to name but a few). 

The spat between Australia and China also took on a more insidious tone when several Australian journalists were forced to flee.

And with the unveiling of alleged war crimes committed by Australian troops in Afghanistan, the relationship between the two nations have come to an all-time low. China’s tweet of a doctored image that had an Australian soldier about to cut the throat of an Afghan child saw our Prime Minister taking to social media to demand an apology. 

All in all, 2020 has felt like both an incredibly short and long year in equal measure. For an introvert, such as myself, it’s been mostly the same. In fact, I can’t believe that it’s already at an end. Though my gaming has continued, as has my writing, I felt like I hardly interacted with any of my friends or did anything conducive to my social skills. While I’ve been made permanent at my place of work, it’s also felt a little stagnant. For a good long while, particularly in March, it felt like we were on the cusp of something huge and terrible. As the numbers climbed, I desperately wanted a hard lockdown to be called when leaders vacillated. 

2021 does not promise to be much better. While vaccines have rolled out in several countries, it’ll be a long time coming before the world manages to attain a sense of normalcy. For this blogger, I look forward to just kicking back and finally getting my hands on a PlayStation 5.

As for anyone that has worked on the front lines during this pandemic, I just want to say a big hearty ‘thank you.’ All of  you have sacrificed so much and seen so many terrible things. I wish that we all listened to your warnings instead of inundating emergency rooms thinking COVID-19 was a hoax.

Remember: keep at least 1.5 metres away from another person, wash/ sanitise your hands regularly and wear a mask if you can’t socially distance or are in an enclosed space. 

[things2mustdo]

Bitcoin is further evidence that the “glass ceiling,” the idea that women are kept from reaching the ranks in corporations and in financial success because of a nebulous “patriarchy,” is nonsense.

Economists have disproved the glass ceiling on more than one occasion in the past, so the more well-read will not be shocked by this. Yet, the existence of the glass ceiling has remained a major talking point for feminists. The silence of feminists during the rise of Bitcoin has been deafening.

Bitcoin is an interesting case study because it is modern and doesn’t have the excuses that you hear when the glass ceiling argument breaks out. There is no Bitcoin establishment or “old boys’ club,” because Bitcoin has no establishment. Bitcoin is hardly established, and there is no one central authority.

Feminists claim that “institutions have always had biases” and “it’s a man’s game,” but Bitcoin didn’t come with any biases. It didn’t come with anything. It was nothing ten years ago, and its meteoric growth is well-known.

Bitcoin was created in 2009, a time where women had established themselves in various industries, most notably tech (see: Meg Whitman, Sheryl Sandberg). Nine years later, only three percent (at most) of Bitcoin use (suggested through Bitcoin community engagement) is by women.

Is this the patriarchy keeping women from investing? No. There is nothing that stops women from investing in Bitcoin. Women don’t even need to go to banks to introduce an intermediary which could discriminate against them.

So why aren’t more women investing in Bitcoin? There are a number of reasons for this.

1. Bitcoin is Boring

There are no emotions involved in cryptocurrency investing. Women are more likely to get involved in areas that stir their emotions, from the social sciences to humanitarian work to political rallies.

Bitcoin is mathematical. It was created with a white paper and some computer programming. Since more women take up studies in the arts or humanities than math, it is more difficult to understand the concept and takes more work.

Also, because women prefer soft subjects to hard ones, women end up in jobs related to the arts and humanities versus the hard sciences. They will be more likely surrounded by men and mostly women that also did not study math and computer science and will not be interested in—or understand—Bitcoin.

In addition, Bitcoin isn’t tangible. You can’t feel it in your hands, so you cannot wave it around to boost or lower your status without hopping on a male-centric Reddit page (HODL!!). This reduces the emotional connection to it because there is no physical thing to attach a feeling to. Where money can be a sign of prosperity or options, the numbers in a bit wallet are less tangible.

2. There Is A Lot Of Risk

Women generally value security and strength, which we have seen in relationship dynamics and the number of careers chosen as opposed to entrepreneurs. Men are more willing to take chances.

One of Bitcoin’s tenets is that it is less risky than fiat dollars because it is not subject to inflation and to crumbling governments, so it should be more stable. However, Bitcoin is still young and has a wildly fluctuating value. It is this perceived value that people see as risky, not the idea. It is these wild fluctuations in value that appeal to men.

Bitcoin is also a long-term investment. Bitcoin believers believe the cryptocurrency will be more durable than fiat and will be a superior currency. Women are much more likely to spend and distribute wealth than to build it through investing.

3. Bitcoin Is Competitive

Men eat what we kill. We evolved to eat the animals we hunted, and we still do that in the modern economy. In a tribal setting, the man that hunted the most for his tribe was rewarded with more power and more women to bang. We evolved to be competitive and to fight for the top spot.

These days, men are more likely to participate in sports and more likely to try new things to get ahead (see here). Bitcoin is competitive with other cryptocurrencies as people (men) race to market and grow their currency of choice. Bitcoin is also competitive as a store of wealth. The more men own, the more men can use our primal brains to associate with power and sex.

These are the reasons why only three percent of Bitcoin users—a completely decentralized, open world without bias—are women. These are the same reasons that men make more money than women in the workplace. It isn’t the patriarchy. It’s the evolutionary and behavioral differences in men and women that decide the numbers.

Men are competitive, find freedom in long-term wealth, and are more excited about new ideas and a new, selfish way to increase wealth. At least, more than women.

Read More: Bitcoin Is Creating A New Class Of Millionaires

Right at this very second, the largest transfer of wealth in the history of humanity is underway.  It has been going on since 2009, but it’s really picked up speed in the last 6 months.  A couple of days ago, I wrote a detailed post on RVF explaining Bitcoin in layman’s terms.  I strongly suggest that every reader of this post spend 10 minutes on that explanation, but if you’re too lazy then here’s the summary:

Bitcoin is the world’s largest cryptocurrency, essentially money for the Internet.  It is an open source Internet protocol, like HTTP.  It was hypothesized and first developed by an anonymous author or group under the name “Satoshi Nakamoto”.

Bitcoin is pioneering the idea of a deflationary currency, something which has never been possible before in humanity’s history.  Gold and silver come close, but not all of it has been dug out of the ground yet.  The only two possibilities for Bitcoin are that its value goes to zero, or increases.  There is no possibility that the value ever decreases or stabilizes (in the medium term).  In the long term, Bitcoin’s value will increase at a decreasing rate, but never stop, as it can be lost but not replaced.

Unlike gold and silver, Bitcoin can be essentially perfectly subdivided, and transmitted anywhere on the planet for almost nothing between any two parties with an Internet connection.

Bitcoin is decentralized like the Tor network, so it cannot be regulated or controlled by any government or authority body.

One Bitcoin has climbed from less than $200 to peaks over $1000 in the last month.  Every currency and medium of exchange on the planet is down against the Bitcoin over the last year, including gold and oil.

Innovation Means Winners And Losers

There is a hard limit of just under 21 million Bitcoins.  That means less than 1 in 300 people could own a full one, even if evenly distributed, which they are not (there’s already a number of investors that own hundreds or thousands or more).

One Bitcoin can be subdivided down into 100 million Satoshis (the smallest unit).   Even if the world’s money supply was entirely Bitcoin, one Satoshi would be worth just a couple of cents in today’s USD, allowing for small transactions.  If this were to happen, many many people would be reduced to poverty, living their entire lives on a few Millibits (thousandths of a Bitcoin) or Satoshis.

The new 1% is anyone that currently owns at least one Bitcoin, the world just doesn’t know it yet.  Like this, but on a world scale.  For the most part, this includes white, technically-minded, middle-aged American men but increasingly comprises Chinese technophiles and a cross section of society in economically unstable countries like Cyprus and Argentina.

The US government is starting to clue in and realises it needs to know what’s going on, but all they need to understand is that they can benefit from supporting it, or be trampled as they attempt to regulate something beyond their control.

I can’t say it any better than one of the commentators on the linked article (although I disagree about the inevitability of war and death), so here’s “Dumbhandle”:

US Government: Pay attention. You have almost destroyed the future of our country by retarding bitcoin usage in the US with the ham fisted application and mismanagement of various regs. Wealth is fleeing already to China and accelerating. You have a very short time to deregulate in order to attract bitcoin wealth to the US before the bitcoin black hole inevitably sucks in all world fiat currencies and the flow of XBT wealth to China and other counties accelerates.

Against all odds, your Chinese colleagues have realized this and are working as a team to effectuate capital accumulation over there. They are winning, because they understand fiats and the petro are finished. You need to immediately pull in some experts from the bitcoin community to explain this to you so you can take proper emergency evasive action to reverse the flow back to the US. Here is your goal: deregulate to reverse the capital flight. Then watch the global conversion of fiat to bitcoin. Watch bitcoin accumulate in the most innovative place in the world, the US. Sit back and watch a golden age bloom here and it spreads globally. Any other course will result in wars and death on a massive scale. Now we will watch you screw it up.

Bitcoin Doesn’t Care

Just like hypergamy and evolution, Bitcoin doesn’t care.

It doesn’t care if you didn’t know

It doesn’t care if you don’t understand

It doesn’t care if you don’t believe

The critics will cry that “Bitcoin is just a bubble” (alternatively: pyramid scheme), and they’d be right.  It’s a bubble in exactly the same way as the US dollar, which also gets its value entirely from community consensus (the paper it’s printed with cannot be eaten, used as construction material and is pretty poor fire fuel).  I am more prepared to trust a democratic, distributed, deflationary technology than the self-serving government printing press, and I suspect a lot of others might too.  I’m not alarmed by Bitcoin’s incredible growth, it’s just following the same S curve that tech giants like Facebook and Twitter tend to.

Absent any flaw being found in the source code (which has been publicly available and reviewed for years), or more likely one being introduced by the core development team (still a vanishingly unlikely proposition), I believe 1 Bitcoin will be worth at least US$ 100 000 by 31st December 2016.  The Winklevoss twins think even higher.  Max Keiser thinks even higher.  Even Peter Thiel (Paypal co-founder) agrees the revolution has begun.  Although ultimately, we’re all pure speculators on a very untested new technology.

The only other potential issue is advances in quantum computing that smashes apart current encryption standards, but that would cause far larger problems with all online privacy.  If anyone would come out on top it’s the forward-thinking and technically-minded Bitcoin community.

Adapt or live with regret among the masses.  You have been warned.  At the very least, do some reading and make an informed decision.

Bitcoin daily closing prices on MtGox for the last 4 years (to Nov 29), from sub-5 dollars to over $1000.  The closing of illegal, anonymous online marketplace Silk Road knocked the price off for a while, but it freed Bitcoin from any accusations of being useful only for drug deals.  The road up is going to be rocky, but there is no stopping the train now.

NB:  In the time taken for this post to go through the ROK submission and editing process, closing prices have doubled.  The original version of this article had the graph below finishing at $450.

https://www.returnofkings.com/10595/there-is-no-hedge-against-inflation

[nadiaportia]

Community OC asks! What is some original lore you added to the Arcana-verse with your character? (locations, cultures, magic, etc) Tell us about them!

Thanks for the question! This is gonna be a really long one, so brace yourself, especially because I also start going off about my OCs so thanks for unleashing that lol.

For starters, the OCs I have in The Arcana originally come from another story - one that's sci-fantasy - so there already in a way was a location where the plot went down, and because I liked this so much when I transferred those very beloved and actually quite old OCs (talking 2015 here), I decided to also bring aspects of their world into the Arcanaverse, and because until now so few places besides Vesuvia are actually explored (there's Prakra, Nevivon, the South, Nopal and a whole bunch of places where we only know the name and very few information) that I decided to go further and explore the places beyond the map we got - so the three home countries of my OCs are all my own creation with some real life historic influences.

Oriol, the country where my OC Deirdra Margalit comes from, is a small country further to the east than Nevivon and the Strait of Seals with a temperate to meditterranean climate. I largely based it off Southern France and Catalonia in that it's a country with a large rural population as well as a intellectual elite that amassed wealth living in the cities and its capital. By the time the story is set it's ruled by a queen but there is a succession war in which the Queen's cousin claims the rule under the pretense of wanting to introduce reforms to the benefit of the rural population while the Queen refuses to do so, which spirals into a full-blown civil war with the Queen's loyalists on one side and the nationalists on one side. This civil war basically ends up dividing families and reaches its peak with a battle raging in the capital. Many Oriolians flee the country either into its neighboring regions or by ship and sail to places much further away when the loyalists win the war. That part is very much inspired by the Spanish Civil War from 1936-39 as well as the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The smallfolk of Oriol have magic that's mostly connected to nature, mundane one could say with it being used to make their lives a bit easier, they put great importance on community and family and fight for their principles with tooth and nail. Deirdra's family were on the side of the nationalists, with their parents hiding fellow nationalists during raids and their younger brother joining the partisans in secret. When said brother is killed and his body is brought home, Deirdra joins the partisans to avenge their brother and fights by their side along with their comrade-in-arms and eventual girlfriend Renée. They witness the final loss of the capital and Deirdra is forced to flee via ship along with other nationalists and after several weeks of being on the sea, they end up in Vesuvia.

Bizatena is a city-state similar to Vesuvia and its ruler doesn't have any sovereign to answer to. It's located to the west of the map and lies on a peninsula with the Sea of Persephia to one side and the open vast ocean to the other. The region enjoys a mediterranean to semi-arid climate with mountains at its gates and a vast desert beyond. The Palace is built on a hill and a cliffside, around that inner circle the nobility have their residences and around those, the "normal" people live. Bizatena is named after Byzantium/Constantinople and Athens and run by a council consisting of nobles from old and influential familes that is headed by the Emir of Bizatena. Over the years they have kept themselves atop of their game by making powerful allies and maintaining naval trade with other regions after they were once a great empire with Bizatena being its capital that fell apart and is now only a (nevertheless bright) shadow of its former glory. Magic of any kind is highly regarded and basically has the status of a religion, many of the councilmembers are magicians themselves and orphans usually are raised by magicians in one of the many temples all over the city. Sayelle grows up in one of these temples with the other magicians-in-training who become like siblings to her and her many mentors as parental figures, the most important among those being a magician named Farida who takes her under her wing after recognizing her talent and ambition. She becomes so good that when she reaches adulthood, she and Farida are invited to the Palace where Sayelle becomes a court magician and while she is enjoying her new life, her mentor thinks that she's removing herself too much from the real world and the people's problems. Ultimately Sayelle leaves Bizatena to explore the world and find out about and study the other types of magic practised by people elsewhere.

The homecountry of Ximena is the Calpacian Empire with its capital Cartagenth. It's located in the north of the Southern hemisphere and stretches itself across various climate zones with its capital being by the seaside. The capital and its surroundings are very much inspired by Central America as well as Spain, more specifically Baroque/Renaissance era Spain. It's the military and naval powerhouse of the region and its ruler and is allied to the city state of Bizatena and the city of Karnassos to the East, both once great realms that have long outlived their golden age. The ruler of Calpacia, the Zaan, resides in the Cartagense Palace and is supported by their advisors and the court, with both the Magician's Guild and the War Council having special standing. The Cartagense elite and aristocracy in general is very far removed from the rest of their compatriots to the point where they have a lot of regional pride. They place an incredibly high value on all forms of art, be it theater, architecture, sculpturing, music, paintings and so on to the point where most noble families receive an extensive education in all of these areas and specialize in at least one. Magic takes a sort of second place to them but is still valued but among the non-magician nobles seen as more of a tool or a means to an end than an actual way of life. Ximena is born as the youngest of three daughters of a marquesa and into a highly influential noble family and her intitution, ability to listen and tactfulness is what leads to getting trained as a magician from her childhood onwards and put on the track to one day lead the Magician's Guild (since the matriarch of her family, her aunt Esmé, a general and current leader of the War Council, wields so much power at court, it's practically a given that it'll happen) but finds out that she is merely going to be put into a position of power to abuse said power and the whole time she was wilfully ignorant and thus complicit about being a driving force in a cruel and unjust system. Because going against the family wishes doesn't sit well with her at all, her aunt banishes her and takes away her title so Ximena ends up leaving Cartagenth and Calpacia and spends the next years fueled by paranoia (then again... you're not paranoid if they are out to get you) going from place to place without staying a lot of time at one until one day she meets Asra.

This is at least the stuff surrounding my main OCs directly, there are a lot of other tidbits such as the places they go to on their respective journeys. In the original story all of these characters were based in what in my Arcana!verse became Cartagenth/Calpacia but that‘s really something for another day. 😅

Thanks a lot for asking! 💞

[hogtown-socialist-alternative]

East Germany 1989: The Berlin Wall Comes Down as Power Lay in the Streets

  By Ingmar Meinecke -November 9, 2019

On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall was pulled down in dramatic scenes. In the latest of our series marking the events of 1989 in Eastern Europe, Ingmar Meinecke of SAV (German section of the CWI-majority), who as a teenager participated in these events, explains what happened.  

“Dear friends, fellow citizens, it is as if one has opened the windows after all the years of stagnation, of spiritual, economic, political stagnation, the years of dullness and stale air, of phrase-mongering and bureaucratic arbitrariness, of official blindness and deafness. What a change!”

With these words the socialist writer Stefan Heym began his speech on November 4, 1989 in front of more than half a million people on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin. Just one year lay between the mass demonstrations in the former East Germany (German Democratic Republic -GDR) at the beginning of October 1989 and the unification of the GDR with the Federal Republic of Germany on October 3 1990. In this short time, the GDR’s government was overthrown, the Berlin Wall that had been erected in 1961 by GDR’s Stalinist rulers and had since served as a barrier between the two systems was opened and the then West German currency, the Deutsche Mark was introduced to the East.  

Initially, it seemed the whole GDR population was passionately demonstrating, with the aim of creating a new society based on real socialism. Yet just a few months later, a new government led by the conservative CDU set off down the road of capitalist restoration and the GDR disappeared from the map. How was it possible that the train of revolution was diverted off of the tracks into the direction of capitalist restoration?

Growing discontent

Following the defeat of Germany in the Second World War and the division of the country by the occupying powers, a new regime was formed in the East in 1949. Although the GDR rejected the capitalist form of economy, the state itself was modeled on the Stalinist bureaucratic dictatorship in the USSR. Calling itself socialist, it was far from being a socialist democracy, run instead by a group of elite bureaucrats. Their real nature was demonstrated by the brutal suppression of the heroic workers’ uprising in 1953. Even after 1953, society in the GDR was never completely calm. Yet the ruling elite did all they could to maintain control.

By the mid-1980s, there had been mass strikes in Poland, led by the trade union Solidarność. In the USSR itself, the new rhetoric of Perestroika and Glasnost had begun to appear and the news fell on fertile ground in the GDR. The GDR’s ‘communist’ leadership tried to stop this: when the Soviet magazine “Sputnik” criticized the pre-war Communist Party of Germany’s approval of the pre-war Hitler-Stalin Pact, it was banned in the GDR without further ado.

But three events in 1989 fueled the growing mood of discontent. It was widely disbelieved, when in May, the GDR’s ruling party the “Socialist Unity Party” (SED) claimed that 98.5% of the population had supported it in local elections. But people became angry when party leaders justified the brutal suppression of the workers and students protesting in China’s Tiananmen Square. And then, following the example of the Czechoslovak and Hungarian people, there was an accelerating wave of people fleeing the GDR. By the end of September, 25,000 had already left the country.

This wave of refugees started a discussion: why are so many people leaving? What kind of country is it that people just run away from, leaving their belongings, friends and family behind? The official reaction of “not shedding one tear for these people” disgusted many.

The opposition is formed

On Monday September 4, 1200 people gathered outside the Nikolai-church in Leipzig after the weekly “prayer for peace” for a demonstration. Their slogans were: “We want out” and “We want a new government”. Security forces intervened. This was repeated the next Monday. By September 25 there were already 8000 people and their slogan “We want out!” was replaced by “We stay here”!

In September the first opposition groups were formed. The New Forum issued an appeal, which 4500 people signed within the first fortnight, with the demand for a democratic dialogue in society. By mid-November, 200,000 signatures had been collected. But party leader Erich Honecker and the SED leadership did not want a dialogue. The demands of the New Forum were rejected. But that made the group even more popular.

The masses out on the street

When sealed trains of refugees from Prague travelled through Dresden to the West in October, there were serious clashes between demonstrators and the police at the station. On the evening of October 7, the 40th anniversary of the GDR, several hundred young people gathered on Berlin’s Alexanderplatz, before moving towards the Palace of the Republic, where Honecker and Co. were celebrating. Two to three thousand people chanted “Gorbi, Gorbi!” (referring to Gorbachev) and “We are the people”! By midnight, special units of the People’s Police and the State Security had started to attack, arresting over 500.

This raised the temperature. Two days later, on Monday October 9, all eyes were on Leipzig. Would the GDR experience its own ‘Tiananmen Square’? Three days earlier, a threat had appeared in the Leipziger Volkszeitung: “We are ready and willing (…) to stop these counterrevolutionary actions finally and effectively. If necessary, with weapons.”

But cracks appeared in the state power. Three secretaries of the Leipzig SED district leadership took part in a call for de-escalation, which was broadcast in the afternoon on city radio. As a result, Leipzig experienced the largest demonstration to date with 70,000 people. The call “We are the people” sounded powerfully over the Georgi Ring. The Internationale was also sung. On the same evening 7000 people demonstrated in Berlin and another 60.000 in other parts of the country.

Now there was no stopping the acceleration of the protests. The demonstrations continued throughout the week: 20,000 in Halle and as many again in Plauen, 10,000 in Magdeburg, 4000 in Berlin. The next Monday brought a new record: 120,000 in Leipzig alone! Now even the official GDR state newspapers started, for the first time, reporting objectively about the demonstrators, who, just a week earlier they had called ‘rioters, hooligans and counter-revolutionaries’. On the same day, employees of the “Teltower Geräte und Reglerwerk” company resigned from the FDGB, the official state trade union federation and announced the formation of the independent trade union “Reform”, calling for others to follow their example.  They demanded “the right to strike, the right to demonstrate, freedom of the press, the end of travel restrictions and official privileges”.

Erich Honecker resigned as General Secretary of the SED on October 18 and was succeeded by Egon Krenz. But this did nothing to calm the masses, rather they took to the streets in larger and larger numbers. Krenz was met with suspicion by the masses. On the Monday demonstration in Leipzig on October 23, attended by 250,000 people, the slogans were “Egon, who asked our opinion?”, “Free elections”, “Visa-free to Hawaii!” or “A leading role for the people”! But these were no longer just demonstrations. At the riot police barracks in Magdeburg, the conscripts elected a soldiers’ council. Pupils acted to annul disciplinary notes on behavior and timekeeping and abolished Saturday lessons.

The breakthrough

The demonstrations in Leipzig continued to grow – 20,000 on October 2, 70,000 on October 9, 120,000 on October 16, 250,000 on October 23, 300,000 on October 30 and finally 400,000 on November 6. There was also a demonstration of more than 500,000 (some say up to one million) in East Berlin on November 4. By the end of October, the protests had swept the whole country: in the North and South, large and small towns involving workers and intellectuals. The main demands included free travel, an investigation into the state violence of October 7/8, protection of the environment, an end to the privileges and monopoly on power of the SED. The government finally resigned on November 7. On November 8, the entire Politburo followed.

On the evening of the November 9, politburo member Günter Schabowski spoke to the press. Shortly before the end of his speech, at exactly 19:07, he announced that the GDR had opened the borders. Excitement spread. He explained that from eight o’clock the next day everyone could collect a visa. People, however, did not wait for visas, but began to besiege the border crossings to West Berlin. The border guards were surprised. By midnight, individual commanders were opening the crossings in the face of pressure from the masses. The Wall fell. Over the next few weeks the entire country travelled west.

The ‘Tug of war’ and the opposition’s hesitancy

Now a tug-of-war broke out between the masses on the streets, the opposition groups and the state bureaucracy. The question that nobody really dared to say out aloud, but which hovered over everything, was “who has the power?” The state and party apparatus increasingly lost influence, but the opposition groups did not take up the reins of power. At first, the masses expected that the leaders of the opposition groups, often accidental figures who ended up at the centre of attention, as well as some SED reformers, like the new head of government Hans Modrow, and well-known artists and intellectuals would do this.

When the full extent of corruption was revealed in early December, workers were more determined than ever to get rid of the whole of the old establishment. They had just seen how, in Czechoslovakia, a two-hour general strike quickly brought the Communist Party there to see reason. Now the New Forum in Karl-Marx-Stadt also demanded a one-day nationwide general strike on December 6. Immediately this call was condemned in unison by the FDGB, the official opposition parties and Bärbel Bohley, one of the national leaders of the New Forum. They were all afraid, that the situation could get out of hand. The call was withdrawn. Nevertheless, a two-hour political warning strike of workers in several companies in Plauen did take place on December 6 accompanied by independent strike actions in other places.

The Modrow government now tried to involve the opposition in order to stabilize the situation. On November 22, the Politburo of the SED spoke in favor of organizing a “round table” with the opposition. It met for the first time on December 7, issuing a statement which stated: “Although the ‘Round Table’ does not exercise any parliamentary or governmental function, it intends to address the public with proposals for overcoming the crisis. (…) It sees itself as a component of public control in our country.”

But control is not the same as governing. Surprised by the pace of developments, the opposition groups wanted to continue a dialogue with the SED and the state authorities instead of taking power themselves. Rolf Henrich, co-founder of the New Forum, said in an interview with the newspaper “Der Morgen” on the October 28 that for the time being the movement could do without a comprehensive program. Instead he advocated a topic-related dialogue that would no longer take place on the street alone.

This half-heartedness and indecision by the opposition evolved out of their failure to answer two fundamental questions. Firstly: how could the old top and the bureaucracy really be driven out of power? Secondly: what should the new society look like, especially its economic system, and what would be the role for the other part of Germany, the capitalist West-Germany? These questions were now permanently on the agenda and not always clearly defined, but interwoven.

Until November, the GDR revolution was clearly pro-socialist. This could be seen in the statements of almost all opposition groups, the banners, chants and speeches at the demonstrations. The writer Christa Wolf said on November 4: “Imagine a socialist society where nobody runs away” and got a huge applause for it. “Unlimited power to the councils” was written on a banner. But how was this “better socialism” or council rule to be achieved? There were no answers. Power lay on the streets. But the opposition of autumn 1989 left it there until it was finally picked up by the West-German Premier Helmut Kohl and Co., opening the way to capitalist reunification.

The economic situation proved to be decisive. From December, reports about the ailing state of the GDR economy began to accumulate. From then on, secret figures and facts about the country’s low productivity and indebtedness became known. Visits to the West made the GDR workers aware of the higher standard of living there. Social divisions in West Germany faded into the background. The mood grew against starting another ‘experiment’ after the ‘GDR experiment’. The self-confidence of the working class was severely weakened by the poor condition of the state-owned enterprises. Added to this was the lack of leadership as described above.

From December, the Federal government and the capitalist class in West Germany made a turn. Until then, they had been cautious about going too brashly in the direction of reunification. They had considered a slow transition of the GDR towards capitalism to be less dangerous. But it gradually became clear to them that a GDR with open borders could destabilize the Federal Republic. At the same time, they recognized the weakness of both the crumbling SED bureaucracy and the GDR opposition and saw an opportunity to enter this vacuum, integrating the entire GDR into the Federal Republic, and thus opening up a new market.

The majority of GDR workers did not want any more experiments in 1990. But then they were exposed to the experiment of capitalist counterrevolution, the smashing of a state economy that led to millions of unemployed as a result of factory closures, privatization and the devaluation of the currency. This has become an almost permanent state of affairs, in which the East is still disadvantaged in many respects in comparison to the West.

The missed opportunity

Until November 1989 and even after, many elements of the political revolution that the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky considered necessary to implement against Stalinism, this bureaucratic distortion of socialism were to be seen in these events. But in the end, the other outcome that Trotsky had considered possible developed: capitalist restoration. The decisive factor was that no opposition force had developed strong roots among the workers and employees that could point the way to a viable concrete and truly socialist society.

Stefan Heym summarized this missed opportunity a few years later: “Don’t forget, there was no group, no organized group that wanted to take power. (…) There were only individuals who had come together and formed a forum or a group or something like that, but nothing you need to make a revolution. There was no such thing. And so it all imploded and there was no one to take power except the West. (…) Imagine that we had the time and opportunity to develop a new socialism in the GDR, a socialism with a human face, a democratic socialism. This could have been an example for West Germany and the development could have been different.”

[caeliri]

Deadwinter

Summerglen was silent in the dismal winter daylight.

Alabaster drifts had consumed the village, swallowing any errant sound that might have manifested in the abandoned town and obscuring the abandoned equipment of the masons and the carpenters who had toiled beneath the unhindered sun just a few short months prior. Now, the bustling streets were barren, buried in drifting dunes of heavy snow, the even, orderly, repaved roads undisturbed.

The village had not reached completion, not with Caeliri’s lofty aims to capitalize on it’s utter decimation. It was morbid, but the destruction of Summerglen allowed them to alter the wild weave of the gradual, organic growth that had birthed the village into something more conducive to continued expansion and quality of life for villagers and visitors both.

With the remnant stones from the ruined homes and businesses, they had begun to reorganize and rebuild - until the Alliance invaded. Still reeling from the damage done by the last invasion of the Dawnspire’s lands, and the monumental losses that Summerglen had suffered in it’s citizens stubborn desire to remain rooted in their homes, Caeliri had not allowed the same mistake. As soon as the Alliance began to press against the eastern coast of the Dawnspire, she’d all but forced her people to the Citadel to wait out the Siege.

She wondered where they were now - had they escaped to Sunhaven when the alliance took the Citadel? Had they scattered to the winds like so many dandelion seeds? Had they found themselves lost in the endless ebb of snow and sleet that the heavens rained upon them, and been consumed in icy dunes much the same as their village had?

Her breath fogged in the air, but the hazy clouds that wafted from her lips could not compete with the blur of hot tears welling on her lash line.

All that she had accomplished lay in ruins once more - this time by her own hand.

Arbiter moved through the steep sloughs unburdened, his hoof-falls even and measured as he plowed through the knee-deep snow. The Deadwood that haloed Summerglen in a ring of ash had been more difficult to traverse, with hidden pits and overturned trees that had made the destrier stumble more than once. They were lucky they had made it through without him snapping an ankle.

As they approached the estate, Caeliri pulled Arbiter to a halt and dismounted; she lost half of her height in the snow, stiffening as it slid down into her boots.

In their haste to leave Hallowhearth, one of the stablehands had left the stall doors open, and though wind had blown a fair dusting of snow into the empty stalls, it was clear enough to lead Arbiter inside and put him up where the wind could not bite at his haunches and where his own body heat - and a horse blanket pulled down from the upper echelons of the half-attic above the stable - would keep him through the night. If she could have made it to Summerglen on foot, she might have left him in the citadel.

The cherry wood doors of Hallowhearth had been locked upon her leaving - Lyla must have been responsible, for Caeliri would have never betrayed the self-scribed adage of her House - to dissuade looters, and it seemed they had held firm in her absence. With a twist of her gilded key and the wealth of her weight pressed up against the rightmost door, the frozen hinges stubbornly gave way and allowed her enough space to slip in between the two carved goliaths. Within, Hallowhearth was freezing, the stone floors like ice beneath her boots, the thin, stained glass windows doing nothing to keep out the cold. Accompanied by the clack of her own footfalls, Caeliri made her way into the Great Hearth - Hallowhearth’s living room - and set herself down before the vast, empty fireplace.

It was an ashy abyss.

Still, it held her rapt, and hours came, and hours went, and no matter how hard or long she stared at the jagged spikes of charcoal jutting from the ash-licked rack, her frustration could not ignite their blade-like edges.

“Thank the Light, you’re actually here.”

Reflexively her hand fell on the crystalline blade that sat sheathed beside her, gloved fingers tensing over Anar’alah’s hilt until the voice registered.

Liadove stamped his feet at the threshold of the Great Hearth, sending spheres of tightly packed snow skittering across the floor like pale spiders fleeing from a giant. His clothes hung loosely off his frame, layered and vast in an attempt to hold his body heat, and as he moved into the estate’s vast living room his gait was stiff and restricted.

She released Anar’alah before he could round the couch and see, fingers slowly peeling away from the blessed blade that Telchis had gifted her upon her ascension to her station.

Caeliri had never truly seen the need for a personal guard, not in the first days of her knighthood, not now that she was, undoubtedly, a prime target for the Phoenix Guard’s unyielding suspicion, yet through her denials of his aid Liadove Winterthorn had remained steadfast in his duty.

He was not someone to fear.

“I had a feeling -- didn’t want to be riding all over the countryside in this weather though.”

“Not many other places to go.”

“You could have left Quel’thalas all together.”

That made Caeliri snort. They both knew that she would never; running from the repercussions of her actions was not something she did. “On what ships? They’ve all been conscripted by this point. For once, I think my penchant for being familiar and well-known would be a great disadvantage.”

Exhaling, Liadove looked at the empty hearth, brow creasing deeply at the dead space.

“You could have gone to Alah’danil.”

The familiar name made Caeliri flinch - she was trying hard not to think of the coastal paradise that was a second home to her, trying to quell the keening grief at the sudden, violent death of the future she was meant to build there with Lord Dawnstrider.

“Veloestian has no part in this - I would not make him suffer for my choices.”

“He will suffer all the same,” Liadove countered, “if you are deemed a traitor to the state.”

Her.

A traitor.

Anger ignited in her veins, a vicious, screaming heat that burst free from her breast and coursed through her body. At her sides, her fingers balled until her knuckles went white as the snows that enfolded them, and she spoke, her voice low and even and lacking it’s usual melodic ring.

“Do you know why we are even bound up in this moronic war?”

“Because the Alliance invaded our country.”

“No,” her voice static and stony, she continued, “It is because Sylvanas invaded Darkshore. Sylvanas began open aggressions against the Alliance unbidden, for whatever mad purpose drives her. She ordered the Horde to invade the homeland of the Kal’dorei, she ordered the Horde to set their capital ablaze, to murder their men and women and children without scrutiny, to snuff out the lives of innocents, should it further their progress towards their ultimate goal. Sound familiar?”

Liadove’s lips pursed and his eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Whether we like it or not, we began aggressions against the Alliance first; the Horde struck the first blow, and it was an unholy, deplorable blow. We burned the Kal’dorei’s home to ash for the simple sake of conquest. The Alliance have every right to the rage that fuels their march across our country.”

“How can you say that?” Fury rippled through Liadove’s voice, a rare and poignant flare that made Caeliri’s ears swivel. “You, of all people - you would blame the people of Quel’thalas, the people who are boiling their boots to feed their families, who are being found frozen and blue by cold, empty hearths in their own homes?”

“The common folk of Quel’thalas have done nothing to deserve this,” Caeliri interjected, “they do not lend their aid to wars, they do not involve themselves in the politics of the ruling class. But Quel’thalas, as a nation, is not blameless.”

Hackles still high, Liadove grit his teeth and forced out, “What do you mean?”

“When the Alliance invaded the Undercity, the Archon knew they would come for us next - he said as much to me many months before they made landfall. He anticipated the coming devastation - we are the last foothold of the Horde on the Eastern Kingdom. It does not take a military mastermind to determine they would come for us in time.

And what did Lor’themar do?

Nothing.

What did the Archon do?

Nothing.

Ah, wait, no!” For a moment, Caeliri’s voice crested high and saccharine, a mockery of her common candor, ”Silly me, there was something - we placed a gag order on anyone who dared to speak against her, threatened anyone who would think to question her judgement or her reasoning or the validity of murdering thousands of innocents to further whatever veiled gains she sought to make.”

Her tone came crashing back down again, but her words had lost their measured pace, favoring a furious fervor that caused words to bleed together and her volume and cadence to pitch wildly, “We could have decried Sylvanas’ genocide, distanced ourselves from her decision, assured the world we did not stand behind her actions, and we did not. We remained silent, complicit--

“--For our own safety--”

“-- so that makes it just?” Caeliri stared at Liadove, and for the first time her question was not rhetorical. “It is the same argument I made, to myself, to others, over and over again. We held our tongues for our own safety, and what has that accomplished? Quel’thalas is paying the ultimate price - for someone else’s mistakes. Worse yet, rather than work to remedy such, the commanders of Quel’thalas’ armies have opted to further the animosity between us, to give the Alliance all the more reason to strike back harder and with greater vengeance, to draw blood for generations to come. Novastorm and Silverbrooke claim they act in the interest of their children, but their short-sighted vengeance fails to comprehend that the children of every Alliance soldier they slay will grow with hatred in their hearts, and one day return to kill their children in turn. It’s a cycle, and endless fucking cycle, of hate, of hurt, of violence, of revenge, and it does not stop until someone makes it stop.”

“And you’re going to make it stop,” there was and edge of mockery to his voice that made Caeliri’s nostrils flare.

“No. I’m not an idiot, regardless of what people may wish to think of me. I know I can not stem the tide of violence alone - I’m not a fucking martyr, or some kind of savior. I am a girl who has grown up against the backdrop of war, who has grown tired of the endless cycle of vengeance and death and it’s defendants. I will not be a part of it, not anymore. I will not remain complicit, I will not be made silent. If they wish to vilify me, to call me a fool, to imply I am a coward for standing steadfast upon my principles, let them. I have grown weary of wasting breath to try and sway the hearts and minds of those who were set on violence from the start, and of bending myself to validate every vile action of those around me. I have had enough, Liadove.”

“You would break your oath, then? Sully your own honor?”

A sharp, jarring laugh crested from Caeliri’s lips, and the unhinged melody made Liadove’s body erupt in vast mountain ranges of gooseflesh.

“The Oath-” her composure regained, Caeliri lifted a hand to wipe a welling of tears from her left eye, and if it was unclear if they was laughter-born or honest grief, “do you know what the Sunguard’s oath even is?”

Silence.

“By the light of the sun, for the glory of Quel'Thalas, I vow my life, word, and honor, to uphold the laws of my nation and the code of the Sunguard.   I promise to defend the weak from oppression and protect my kin from foes both foreign and domestic. I will conduct myself with compassion, valor and truth at all times. These duties I take up willingly, in the name of Silvermoon and the Sin'dorei.”

“Aren’t you acting in direct violation of your oath?”

“Aren’t they? Where is the compassion in their actions, the valor, the truth? We can’t choose which parts of the oath to adhere to, and which to discard, else the whole of it is meaningless.”

“But your life will be forfeit if you betray your oath,” now there was anger and desperation both bleeding into his voice, growing ever more fervent with his volume. “What of Summerglen? What of all the plans you have put in motion?”

Caeliri’s eyes shot away, “Summerglen can find a new steward - I’m hardly irreplaceable. You may be lucky enough to have someone with greater experience appointed to the station in my absence.”

Now, Liadove was shouting, his voice echoing through the empty halls of Hallowhearth like thunder, “What of Lord Dawnstrider,--”

“Don’t.”

 “--and your plans to start a family? You would abandon him for the sake of your principles?”

“DON’T.”

“You would let yourself be taken from Firestorm, after all that he as lost as well?”

His words struck her heart, a series of blows fatal to the flames that had been stoked in her breast, and Caeliri began to deflate, her slight form caving in on itself beneath the weight of her own choices, and the ripple of hurt she had cast out into the cosmos. Her jaw, set in stone seconds before, began to quiver violently.

When she spoke again, she was cowed and quiet, words barely above a whisper, “It would be selfish to invalidate the just for my own self-gain--”

“Bullshit!” Liadove slapped a hand on the arm of the couch, “Is your sense of self-worth really so fundamentally damaged that you would not allow yourself the future you have earned?”

Caeliri flinched.

“I can not stand here and denounce those who act without honor or compassion, and then proceed to do the same--”

“You’re being stubborn. These ideals you are so desperate to cling to are a farce! By your own account, even the Archon, a man you idolize, is vulnerable to abandoning his principles when it suits him. Everyone will if the opposite outcome is advantageous to them! I do not want to see you executed or sentenced to incarceration for the rest of your life because you will yield on this ideal! Ideals are not reality--”

“--nor will they ever be, if we do not actively act towards upholding them. They are not reality, but they are the pinnacle we wish to strive for, and they are pointless if we do not struggle. They are not meant to be easy to act upon--”

“Fuck the philosophy, Caeliri, that’s not the point.”

“Then what the FUCK is?” She leapt to her feet, arms cast wide, bloodless fingers splayed to beseech the air around them, and the reborn anger in her voice was only strengthened by the hot tears that rushed down her cheeks. “What is the point in having morals if you do not uphold them when they are tested? What is the point in striving to survive if you only feed into an endless cycle of misery and hatred? What is the point in saving Quel’thalas today if it will be destroyed tomorrow by the mistakes we have made? What. Is. The. Point?”

“The point is I don’t want you to go to prison!” Liadove slammed his hand down on the couch again, this time hard enough send the whole thing scooting towards him, the sound of wood on marble ugly and loud. 

“The point is, you made promises, to Veloestian, to Vaelrin, to your friends, to your family, and you will break them all in one fel swoop if you break your Oath! The point is, we need you when the war is done, to do what the others will not - do you think they will give a moment’s pause once they are given their accolades to aid those still left suffering? From all that you had said of them, they will, all of them, ride off to their estates or to their places of comfort and assure their lives are stable and good and happy and leave the rest of us to pick up the pieces of a country in ruins!”

“The point is, you are my friend, and I do not want to see your life ruined because of a fantasy you refuse to relent on. Caeliri, you deserve the happiness you sought for yourself, and you will ruin everything you have worked to accomplish if you continue on this path.”

Now, the room was filled with nothing but their labored breaths, their points exhausted even if their anguish was not. There was nothing more to say, not without folding back on their own words, without chasing each other ‘round and ‘round and ‘round and ‘round and ‘round until one or both of them grew weary of words.

Silence and their slowing breathing reigned between them for several painful, pregnant moments, moments where their eyes were unwavering from one another’s.

“Why did you come here, Liadove?”

He rolled his shoulders - once, twice, thrice - and cracked his neck to release the tension that had built through his upper torso. “Originally, I came to tell you that the other Kin’tari have abandoned their posts. They have disavowed themselves of the Sunguard, and of Lord Truefeather, it seems, and set out across the countryside to serve the common folk, and aid in dissuading and dispersing the bandits emboldened by Morningstar’s offer of clemency.”

Victory roared through Caeliri’s sea-green eyes, and a smile began to creep up her face at the latent validation in Liadove’s news, but he continued, “and to tell you that the Archon calls for you.”

That killed the smile blooming on her features. “What?”

“He has put out a public statement denouncing your actions in the battle for the Dawnspire, and summoned you to appear before him before weeks end.”

Any glimmer of satisfaction that had been worming its way into her features drained away then, and she gawked, jaw slack and eyes wide.

“If you do not go…” He didn’t need to tell her. It was the fate she had already assumed would befall her. “Caeliri, I beg of you -- return to the Archon, bite your tongue, accept his judgement. You may yet walk away from this with your future in tact.” His plea was met with silence, and he slammed his hand again on the plush surface of the couch, the sound dull but loud. “Are you listening to me?!”

“Yes.”

Silence.

Liadove’s desperation ebbed towards anger again. “You said yourself that you can not make this right. It is beyond you. It is beyond any one person to turn the hearts and minds of mortals for more than a fraction of a moment, and even then…” He let his hands fall away from the couch at last, palms stinging slightly from the intensity of his repeated strikes. ”You can not undo what has been done, and you can not atone for the sins of others. Don’t ruin your life to try and teach the world a lesson - you are the only one who will suffer for that.”

Liadove turned on his heel, the move graceless and awkward and stiff, and headed for the door, a miasma of fear and frustration propagating in his wake.

Outside, the pale dunes were disturbed by burst of wind that sent a mournful moan through the village, scattering the snow like so many motes of ash against a grey and gloomy sky. Arbiter brayed in his stable, the sound a muted, distant call of distress, and then Summerglen was silent once more.

brief mentions; @thenaaru, @quelfabulous, @felthier

@thesunguardmg

[hope-for-olicity]

It’s hard to grasp the scale of El Salvador’s problem with gender violence. In the Central American country of just six million people, one woman was the victim of a femicide — a man murdering of a woman or girl because of her gender — every 24 hours in 2018. That’s one of the worst rates of femicide in the world, according to the United Nations.

Sixty-seven percent of Salvadoran women have suffered some form of violence in their lifetime, including sexual assault, intimate partner violence and abuse by family members, a 2017 national survey found. But only 6% of victims had reported abuse to authorities. (In the U.S., more than half of domestic violence incidents are believed to be reported to police, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.) Advocates say many fear repercussions for speaking out, aren’t able to access public services to report, or simply don’t consider violent treatment unusual.

“El Salvador is a country with so much gang violence, so much brutality, so many murders, that nobody pays attention to violence against women,” says Almudena Toral, a filmmaker who traveled with reporter Patricia Clarembaux to report on the situation for TIME and Univision. There were 51 murders for every 100,000 inhabitants in 2018, the second highest in Latin America after crisis-stricken Venezuela. “It’s invisible in this huge ocean of violence.”

From September 2018, Toral and Clarembaux followed María, a woman seeking asylum in the U.S. after a lifetime of gender-based violence in El Salvador. When she was 12, a gang member forced her to become his girlfriend. Three years later, having had two of his children and faced constant abuse and death threats, María attempted suicide, nearly becoming a victim of a crime El Salvador calls “femicide suicide.”

El Salvador is the only country in the world with a law against “femicide suicide” — the crime of driving a woman or girl to suicide by abusing them. The law, enacted in 2012 as part of broader legislation seeking to curb violence against women, is a striking recognition by the government of the psychological damage suffered by victims and the need to hold perpetrators accountable. According to government statistics, 51 of the 285 femicides that occurred in the first six months of 2018 were suicides. The majority of cases affect women and girls under 24.

In 2018 El Salvador’s attorney general announced the creation of a new unit to oversee crimes related to violence against women, girls, LGBTQI people and other groups vulnerable to violence. Authorities do seem to be slowly managing to turn the tide. Total femicides fell 20% between 2017 and 2018, to 383. And in the first four months of 2019, 30% fewer women died by femicide than in the same period last year. But that still means that by April, 76 women and girls were killed just for being female.

Impunity remains an obstacle in a country where prosecutors live in fear of retaliation from perpetrators of violence. According to the U.N., only a quarter of femicide cases make it to court and only 7% result in convictions. And, since the femicide-suicide law came in, only 60 cases have been investigated and only one has resulted in charges. “There are good laws, and good intentions from prosecutors,” Toral says. “But there’s also a lot of corruption, a failure to report, a lack of resources. You have to ask, in the end how much are laws worth on their own?”

The reasons for El Salvador’s gender-based violence are complex, Clarembaux says. Women face violence from male family members, who often have authority over them in the Catholic country’s patriarchal social structure. El Salvador’s violent gang culture also plays a key role in the abuse of women. “Gang members see women as sexual objects,” Clarembaux says, noting that women are often dragged into conflicts, “despite not being allowed to have important, decision-making roles in the gang, like decision-making.” María, for example, was initially forced into her relationship because her brother owed her partner a gun.

El Salvador’s gang problem has its roots in the United States. From the start of the country’s civil war in 1980, hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans fled to the U.S. Some got involved with gangs in Los Angeles and formed the notorious MS-13. When the civil war ended after 12 years, leaving the economy in ruins, infrastructure destroyed and 75,000 people dead, the U.S. deported almost 4,000 gang members with criminal records back to El Salvador.

The country’s institutions, depleted by the war, weren’t strong enough to control the gang activity. “You deport that many gang members back to a post civil war society where nothing works, where everything has to be rebuilt, where there’s chaos,” Toral says. “Then obviously it’s going to fuel the violence now.” By 2018, MS-13 was active in 94 per cent of El Salvador’s 262 municipalities.

Today violence against women and femicide are major factors driving Salvadorans to the U.S. again. In 2016, 65,000 women attempted to seek asylum in the U.S. after fleeing gender-based violence in the El Salvador and its neighbors Honduras and Guatemala, which together make up a region known as the Northern Triangle. María joined their ranks in 2018 and U.S. authorities granted her permission to apply for asylum in the U.S. after she passed a “credible fear” test.

But she still faces uncertainty. Only around a quarter of the 23,563 credible fear cases where a migrant filed for asylum ended with them being granted that protection in 2018, according to federal data. If María is not granted asylum and loses an appeal, she could be deported back to El Salvador.

Salvadoran women are at the center of the Trump Administration’s efforts to overhaul the U.S. immigration and asylum systems. Last year, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions tried to override a 2014 precedent that allows women to use domestic violence and persecution by gangs as a reason to apply for asylum, using the case of a Salvadoran woman known as A–B. In December, a federal judge ruled there was “no legal basis” for the decision, but Human Rights Watch says A-B’s case remains “in limbo” and that thousands of women in similar situations may be drawn into legal battles over their status.

In early 2018 President Donald Trump attempted to cancel Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Salvadorans, paving the way to deport some 200,000 people back to El Salvador, many of whom have been putting down roots in the U.S. since the early 2000’s. Though a federal judge blocked the order, and Salvadorans are currently covered by TPS until January 2020, their future in the U.S. remains uncertain.

Perhaps most worrying for women in El Salvador in the long term, on March 29, Trump announced he was cutting $500 million in aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras over their failure to stem migration flows to the U.S. Critics say the decision will undermine recent progress on violence against women and other violent crime in El Salvador, driving even more people to flee the country.

Whatever the Trump administration’s intention with these policies, as long as they face widespread violence at home, Clarembaux says women will continue making the journey north. “They only do this because they have no choice,” she says. “They want to be safe.”

[ayittey1]

Is Democracy Necessary for Africa’s Development?

The Asian experience suggests that democracy is not necessary to engineer an economic miracle. However, the Africa’s postcolonial experience suggests ineluctably that democracy is vital to sustain economic success.

 During the Cold War, the World Bank, the IMF and the West so did not pay much attention to democracy, focusing only on economic liberalization. It was argued that if only the leaders in the Third World could get their economies right, it would unleash powerful forces of change. As people grew wealthier, they would demand greater say in how to spend their money and how their country is run, which would force political change. But this did not happen in Africa and many parts of the Third World. China in particular became wealthy but remained politically oppressive and non-democratic.

 Economics liberalization can indeed produce prosperity but all successful economic liberalization under dictatorships eventually hits a political ceiling. This stage is often reached or triggered by a crisis: falling copper prices in Chile in the late 1980s, falling cocoa prices in the case of Ivory Coast in the late 1990s, the Asian financial crisis in the case of Indonesia in 1998, among others. Investors or people who lost money during these crises demanded explanations or accountability. When the leadership was “sanguine” enough to flee or open up the political space and addressed the grievances of the people, the economic prosperity continued without any political tumult. Such was the case in Chile under Augusto Pinochet in the 1980s. By contrast, Suharto, who ruled Indonesia for 32 years with an iron fist, did not open up the political space. Indonesia imploded in 1999.

 Like Indonesia, Ivory Coast was for decades held up as an “economic success story” and a bastion of stability by the World Bank, the IMF and international donors. From independence in 1960 to 1993, the country was ruled by the autocratic Felix Houphouet-Boigny. It imploded and descended into civil war in 2005 and 2010 for election shenanigans and lack of democracy. Ditto for Madagascar – an economic success story in 2004 descended into civil war for lack of democracy.

 In summary, two facts must be noted. First, no dictator has brought lasting prosperity to any postcolonial African country. There is no such thing as a benevolent dictator. The only good dictator is a dead one! Rwanda is often trotted out as an exception to the rule in Africa but exceptions don’t make the rule. More importantly, Rwanda’s economic miracle is not sustainable. See this link http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jms/article/view/68539

 Second, democracy does not guarantee prosperity but the lack of democracy can destroy a country. So many African countries would have been saved had they been democratic: Liberia, 1990; Somalia, 1991; Rwanda, 1994; Zaire, 1996 ; Serra Leone, 1997; Ivory Coast, 2005 and 2010; Libya, 2011, etc.

 After more than two decade of "democratization," the process has stalled through vexatious chicanery, vaunted acrobatics and strong-arm tactics. In 1990, three decades after independence, only 4 African countries were democratic: Botswana, The Gambia, Mauritius and Senegal. After the collapse of communism in 1989, the number grew to 15 in 1995, it has rocked back and forth since. It slid back to 13 in 1998 and inched back to 16 in 2003 and has remained there: In 2005, the 16 out of the 54 African countries were: Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde Islands, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Seychelles Island, South Africa and Zambia. By January 2017, this pitiful number of democracies had increased to 17 out of 54 countries. Two countries – Madagascar and Mali – were plucked off the list and three new ones added –Gambia, Mozambique and Tanzania. At this rate – 13 democracies in 27 years – it will take Africa exactly 76.84 years to become fully democratic, other things being equal.

 Political tyranny is still the order of the day. In most countries, the parties that ruled under the old system are still in power and the opposition groups, lacking the ruling parties' fund-raising powers and patronage, seem powerless to dislodge them. According to Delphine Djiraibe, president of the Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights: "With few exceptions, the problems are the same across Africa: leaders are not committed to genuine democracy. They organize electoral masquerades to stay in power. They oppress the African people" (The New York Times, July 12, 2001; p.A3).

 The prognosis is not very good. MORE African countries will implode because they are not democratic. Watch CAR, Cameroon, Sudan, Sudan and other countries as well. We have already lost Zimbabwe. The prognosis for Zimbabwe is bleak.

 Protests started over steep hikes in fuel prices. This is how revolutions start, innocently beginning with protests over increases in food prices, fuel prices, high cost of living, etc. These are ECONOMIC, non-political issues but paranoid and autocratic governments see them as threats to their legitimacy or to destabilize their grip on power and brutally clamp down. People are killed, provoking more protests, which then morph into POLITICAL demands for the president to resign. That was how the Arab Spring started in 2010 – over lack of jobs, dignity, etc. – non-political issues.

 Currently, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Sudan and Zimbabwe appear to be following this trajectory. But rah-rah street protests, chanting “Maduro Must Go!” alone are not enough to remove an entrenched dictator from power. Protesters must also have control of at least one or more of the following key state institutions – the media, the judiciary, the civil service, security forces or Parliament. The revolution in Georgia was called the Rose Revolution because protesters charmed the security forces with roses. Shut down the civil service and any military regime will collapse – don’t have enough soldiers to run the civil service. I wrote about these and modalities of revolutions in my book, Defeating Dictators. Now and then, street protests may produce a free and democratic society – South Africa in 1994; Ghana in 2000; Tunisia in 2011. [I was one of the architects of the revolution in Ghana in 2000.] But more often than not, street protests, uprisings or revolutions do not produce desired outcomes. They may:

1.     Degenerate into Civil War – Libya in 2011; Syria in 2011.

2.     Produce a Stillborn Revolution. The protests may initially oust the dictator from power but would eventually claw his way back to power again – Kerekou in Benin in 1996; Sassou-Nguesso in Congo (Brazzaville) in 2002.

3.     Egyptian Scenario -- Revolution Reversed. Protests initially ousted Egyptian military dictator, Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011 but eventually another military strongman, Abdel al-Sisi retook power in 2013. Military still in charge; it runs a third of Egypt’s economy.

4.     Liberian Scenario -- Revolution Hijacked by Crocodile Liberator. Protests initially oust the dictator but is replaced by another despot worse than the one ousted – Ethiopia in 1977; Uganda in 1986; Liberia in 1990; Ethiopia in 1991; Congo DR in 1996; Sierra Leone in 1997; Ivory Coast in 2005. This scenario has been a frequent occurrence in Africa and elsewhere. I wrote about this eventuality. Check this link https://goo.gl/bL9ne4

5.     South African Scenario. Here an autocrat is replaced with some thug from the same corrupt cabal that ruined the country in the first place -- Angola (replacing dos Santos with Lourencos), South Africa (Zuma with Ramaphosa) and Zimbabwe (Mugabe with Mnangagwa).

The South African scenario has become all too frequent since in Africa government has metastasized into a criminal enterprise. Anyone chosen from the ruling elites to succeed a failed president would himself be a crook. Such was the case in Zimbabwe, where the anti-corruption czar, Ngonidzashe Gumbo, was himself a bandit, jailed for 10 years for defrauding the commission of $435,000.

 In Zimbabwe, there is an additional obstacle that dims the country’s future. That is the military generals who installed Mnangagwa. Mugabe used them to militarize his regime and strengthen his grip on power. He inserted them in the administration of strategic ministries, corporations and agencies. They came to be known as “securitocrats.” Mugabe gave them free reign and cast a blind eye to their naked plunder of Zimbabwe’s mineral wealth – for example, they are alleged to have looted $15 billion of revenue from Marange diamond fields. Eventually they found themselves in an untenable situation. Mugabe was 91 years old and his younger wife Grace, was rearing to succeed him. Finding that unacceptable, the Generals eased Mugabe aside and installed Mnangagwa – Mugabe’s right-hand man and former security chief who was responsible for the slaughter of at least 20,000 Ndebele in Matabeleland (opposition stronghold) in 1982.

 So genuine reform in Zimbabwe is impossible. The military generals won’t let that happen because they know what they have done. Their hands are dripping with blood and their pockets full of booty. Even if the protests force them to act, they would replace Mnangagwa with another crocodile – revolution hijacked.

 To have a brighter future, Zimbabwe needs to make a clean break with the past but the military generals won’t let that happen. So the country will muddle through or spin its wheels in a quicksand. Other countries – such as Angola, Mozambique, Nigeria and South Africa – are also stuck in a state of perpetual reform without accomplishing much. Only Aby Ahmed of Ethiopia may provide an exception to the rule that a despotic Marxist regime cannot reform itself but the jury still out on that one.

[minervacasterly]

Queen Mary (I) Tudor -The Woman behind the Legend of 'Bloody Mary' "As Mary continued to face Protestant treason she became even more ruthless, with the infamous burnings intended to eliminate what she perceived as a stubborn and destabilising minority. In our context we see Mary's actions as those of a fanatic. In her context she was eliminating fanatics, and of the most dangerous kind, incorrigible rebels against God and queen. But Mary also had to work positively, to build a future, and this unravelled in the face of her infertility and declining health. She failed in her ultimate duty to produce a child and this meant, once again, that the wider family was key to the future. Mary's preferred choice as her heir, was Margaret Douglas, could not compete with the claims of Henry VIII's second daughter and, as Elizabeth took note, it was the knowledge that she would succeed her sister that fueled the disorder and rebellion against Mary. With the loss of Calais in the last year of Mary's life it would be easy for her enemies to paint the young, Protestant Elizabeth's accession as a brilliant new dawn. It is as such that it is still projected. Mary remains associated with her late seventeenth-century sobriquet 'Bloody Mary', and an infamous recent advertisement for the London Dungeon depicted her face transforming into a demon-zombie. Elizabeth, by contrast, has been played in films by a series of beautiful actresses: Elizabeth is ever Cate Blanchett, fairy queen, to Mary's bitter, grey-faced Kathy Burke. Yet these sisters were neither simple heroines nor villains. Both were rulers of their time and we can only understand Elizabeth if we see, as she did, what the Tudor sisters had in common and how she could learn from Mary's example. Most significant for Elizabeth was the fact that Mary's Protestant enemies had sought to redefine the nature of a 'true' king. They argued that religion was more important than blood, or victory in battles -a true king was Protestant- and that all women were by nature unsuited to rule over men. Elizabeth's response was to offer her ordinary subjects a theatrical representation of herself as a 'true' ruler: the seeds of which had been sown by Mary herself in her speech during the Wyatt revolt, in which she is a mother who loves her subjects as if they were her children. Here was a female authority figure accepted as part of the divine order." ~Tudor by Leanda de Lisle "The blackening of Mary's name began in Elizabeth's reign and gathered force at the end of the 17th century, when James II compounded the view that Catholic monarchs were a disaster for England. But it was really the enduring popularity of John Foxe which shaped the view of her that has persisted for 450 years. Attempts to soften her image have been made, but their tendency to depict her as a sad little woman who would have been better off as the Tudor equivalent of a housewife is almost as distasteful as the legend of Bloody Mary. To dismiss her life as nothing more than a personal tragedy is both patronizing and mistaken. One of the main themes of Mary's existence is the triumph of determination over adversity. She lived in a violent, intolerant age, surrounded by the intrigues of a time when men and women gambled their lives for advancement at court. Deceit, like ambition, was endemic among the power-seekers of mid-Tudor England who passed, in procession, through her life. Pride, stubbornness and an instinct for survival saw her through tribulations that would have destroyed a lesser woman. Her bravery put her on the throne and kept her there, so that when she died she was able to bequeath to Elizabeth a precious legacy that is often overlooked: she had demonstrated that a woman could rule in her own right. The vilification of Mary has obscured the many areas of continuity between her rule and those of the other Tudors. Today, despite the fact that much more is known about her reign, she is still the most maligned and misunderstood of English monarchs. For Mary Tudor, the first queen of England, truth has not been the daughter of time." ~The Myth of Bloody Mary by Linda Porter "Foxe's account would shape the popular narrative of Mary's reign for the next four hundred and fifty years. Generations of schoolchildren would grow up knowing the first Queen of England only as "Bloody Mary", a Catholic tyrant who sent nearly three hundred Protestants to their deaths, a point made satirically in W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman's 1930s parody 1066 and All That. Mary's presence in a recent survey of the most evil men and women in history is testament to Foxe's enduring legacy. But there is, of course, a different Mary: a woman marked by suffering, devout in her faith and exceptional in her courage. From a childhood in which she was adored and feted and then violently rejected, a fighter was born. Her resolve almost cost her her life as her father, and then her brother, sought to subjugate her to their wills. Yet Mary maintained her faith and self-belief. Despite repeated attempts to deprive her of her life and right to the throne, the warrior princess turned victor and became the warrior princess turned victor and became the warrior queen. The boldness and scale of her achievements are often overlooked/ The campaign that Mary led in the summer of 1553 would prove to be the only successful revolt against central government in sixteenth-century England. She, like her grandfather Henry VII and grandmother Isabella of Castile, had to flight for her throne. In the moment of crisis she proved decisive, courageous, and "Herculean" -and won the support of the English people as the legitimate Tudor heir. Mary was a conscientious, hardworking queen who was determined to be closely involved in government business and policy making. She would rise "at daybrea when, after saying her prayers and hearing mass in private," she would "transact business incessantly until after midnight." As rebels thereatend teh capital in January 1554 and she was urged to flee, Mary stood firm and successfully rallied Londoners to her defense. She was also a woman who lived by her conscience and was prepared to die for her faith. And she expected the same of others. Her religious defiance was matched by a personal infatuation with Phililp, her Spanish husband. Her love for him and dependence on her "true father", the Emperor Charles V, was unwavering. Her determination to honor her husband's will led England into an unpopular war with France and the loss of Calais. There was no fruit of the union, and so at her premature death there was no Catholic heir. Her own phantom pregnancies, together with epidemics and harvest failures across the country, left her undermined and unpopular. Her life, always one of tragic contrast, ended in personal tragedy as Philip abandoned her, never to return, even as his queen lay dying. In many ways Mary failed as a woman but triumphed as a queen. She ruled with the full measure of royal majesty and achieved much of what she set out to do. She won her rightful throne, married her Spanish prince, and restored the country to Roman Catholicism. The Spanish marriage was a match with the most powerful ruling house in Europe, and the highly favorable marriage treaty ultimately won the support of the English government. She had defeated the rebels and preserved the Tudor monarchy. Her Catholicism was not simply conservative but influenced by her humanist education and showed many signs of broad acceptance before she died. She was an intelligent, politically adept, and resolute monarch who proved to be very much her own woman. Thanks to Mary, John Aylmer, in exile in Switzerland, could confidently assert that "it is not in England so dangerous a matter to have a woman ruler, as men take it to be." By securing the throne following Edward's attempts to bar both his sisters, she ensured that the crown continued along the legal line of Tudor succession. Mary laid down other important precedents that would benefit her sister. Upon her accession as the first queen regnant of England, she redefined royal ritual and law, thereby establishing that a female ruler, married or unmarried, would enjoy identical power and authority to male monarchs. Mary was the Tudor trailblazer, a politiccal pioneer whose reign redefined the English monarchy." ~Mary Tudor: Princess, Bastard, Queen by Anna Whitelock Furthermore, as the country shifted from Catholicism to Protestantism, people began to find it easier to vilify her. During the Victorian age, England was at its height. People would say that the sun never set on the English Empire, and as a result, there was a growing sense of nationalism. Previously beloved figures like Queen Elizabeth I, Kings Edward III, Henry V, among others, were no longer kings and queens for people to admire and look upon but national symbols of pride, who were almost god-like. Edward III's victories against the French, Henry V's conquest of France, Elizabeth's Protestantism and victory against Spain with the Spanish Armada and other Catholic rivals, were extolled, and glorified, while Mary I's foreign ancestry was looked down upon. Ironically, all of these monarchs were also foreign in one way or another. You can say that Queen Elizabeth I wasn't because her parents were English, but what about her paternal ancestry, or her maternal one? No matter which way you look at it, she had foreign ancestry as much as any monarch. In fact, the Victorian era's own monarch, was of foreign descent as well! Victoria wasn't even an English name. She was named after her mother, Victoria of the Saxe-Coburg clan who was German and she married her cousin, who was also German. It was very common for royals to marry other royals, which meant that their offspring would be of foreign descent. In Mary's time this wouldn't be a reason to look down on her, on the contrary, she could point to her royal ancestors, be they foreign or not, with pride as a sign of how much royal blood flowed through her veins, making her eligible to be her father's heir. But as it has been pointed out before, times change and with it, so does our view of every historical figure.

[genuinetonki]

Battle cry of freedom iraq war

On Sunday, Al Jazeera English presenter Peter Dobbie described Ukrainians fleeing the war as “prosperous, middle class people” who “are not obviously refugees trying to get away from areas in the Middle East that are still in a big state of war these are not people trying to get away from areas in North Africa, they look like any European family that you would live next door to.” “It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed” White supremacy is a core European value. The BBC presenter responded: “I understand and of course respect the emotion.”īut people with 'blue eyes and blonde hair' dropping bombs over the Middle East and Africa is OK.Īnd 'Blue eyes and blonde hair' is Hitler's words from the Mein Kampf about the superior Aryan race. “It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blonde hair and blue eyes being killed every day with Putin’s missiles and his helicopters and his rockets,” Sakvarelidze said. On Saturday, the BBC hosted Ukraine’s former deputy general prosecutor, David Sakvarelidze. Absolutely disgusting dehumanization of people of color.ĭ’Agata later apologised, saying he spoke “in a way I regret”. is a relatively civilized city where you wouldn’t expect this to happen.” Ditto for Iraq (before the American attack in 2003) Afghanistan was also a peaceful and “civilised” place in 1979 before the Soviets invaded (and became the battle zone between the West and Soviet block). Utterly stupid and ill informed statement. The racist subtext: Afghans, Iraqi & Syrian lives don’t matter, for they are deemed inferior-“uncivilized.” /hC1JAkIHym His comments were met with derision and anger on social media, with many pointing out how his statements contributed to the further dehumanisation of non-white, non-European people suffering under a conflict within mainstream media.Ītrocities start with words and dehumanization.Ītrocities unleashed upon millions in the ME, fueled by dictators labeled as reformists in the west. This is a relatively civilised, relatively European – I have to choose those words carefully, too – city where you wouldn’t expect that, or hope that it’s going to happen.” Media pundits, journalists, and political figures have been accused of double standards for using their outlets to not only commend Ukraine’s armed resistance to Russian troops, but also to underlying their horror at how such a conflict could happen to a “civilised” nation.ĬBS News senior correspondent in Kyiv Charlie D’Agata said on Friday: “This isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan that has seen conflict raging for decades. On social media, the speed of such an international response – which includes the exclusion of Russia from some cultural events and treatment of it as a pariah in sports – has raised eyebrows at the lack of such a reaction to other conflicts across the world. The war has triggered swift condemnation by several countries, immediate sanctions by the United States and other countries targeting Russian banks, oil refineries, and military exports, and marathon emergency talks at the UN Security Council (UNSC). The United Nations says more than 360,000 Ukrainians have fled the country, with the majority crossing the border into neighbouring Poland. Ukraine’s health minister said at least 198 Ukrainians, including three children, have been killed so far during the invasion. The war began on Thursday after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to enter Ukraine, following months of a heavy military build-up on the border. Mission flown by the 15th USAAF out of Foggia, Italy.As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues into a fourth day, an outpouring of support for Ukrainians has been witnessed across much of Europe, Australia, and the West in general. Please go to theįiles for The Boardgamer's Guide to B-17, NOT BEING UPDATED and will remain, as is, forever. These old "alphabet pages" are being retained due to the many external links that refer to them.

[newstfionline]

Sunday, May 16, 2021

IRS to the rescue? Tax audits eyed for infrastructure cash (AP) Republicans say they won’t raise taxes on corporations. Democrats say they won’t raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year. So who is going to pay for the big public works boost that lawmakers and President Joe Biden say is necessary for the country? Enter the IRS. Biden is proposing that Congress build up the depleted and often-maligned agency, saying that a more aggressive collection of unpaid taxes could help cover the cost of his multitrillion-dollar plan to boost infrastructure, families and education. More resources to boost audits of businesses, estates and the wealthy would raise $700 billion over 10 years, the White House estimates. It’s just the latest idea emerging in the bipartisan talks over an infrastructure bill, which saw Biden huddle at the White House this week with congressional leaders and a group of Republican senators. The GOP senators, touting a $568 billion infrastructure plan of their own, said they were “encouraged” by the discussion with Biden, but all sides acknowledged that how to pay for the public works plan remains a difficult problem.

DarkSide, Blamed for Gas Pipeline Attack, Says It Is Shutting Down (NYT) The criminal hacking group DarkSide, which the F.B.I. has blamed for carrying out a ransomware attack that crippled fuel delivery across the Southeastern United States this week, has announced that it is shutting down because of unspecified “pressure” from the United States. In a statement written in Russian and provided to The New York Times on Friday by the cybersecurity firm Intel 471, DarkSide said it had lost access to the public-facing portion of its online system, including its blog and payment server, as well as funds that it said had been withdrawn to an unknown account. It said the group’s main web page and other public-facing resources would go offline within 48 hours. “Due to the pressure from the U.S., the affiliate program is closed,” the statement said, referring to intermediary hackers, the so-called affiliates, it works with to break into corporate computer systems. “Stay safe and good luck.” What that pressure may have been is unclear, but on Thursday, President Biden said the United States would not rule out a retaliatory strike against DarkSide that would “disrupt their ability to operate.” Cybersecurity analysts cautioned that the DarkSide statement could be a ruse, allowing its members to regroup and deflect the negative attention caused by the attack.

Spanish politics (Times of London) Isabel Diaz Ayuso, 42, head of the Madrid Assembly, is Spain’s rising conservative star; Pedro Sánchez, 49, is the prime minister. She inflicted a humiliating defeat on his Socialist government when she doubled her Popular Party’s number of seats in snap regional elections last week, in large part due to her keeping open the Spanish capital during the pandemic. Their defeat has rocked Spain’s political landscape. Ayuso walloped the Socialist party, shaking Sánchez’s standing, while totally wiping out the centre-right Citizens party and hobbling the advance of the far-right Vox party. Dismissed by her opponents as a Trumpista populist and lightweight novice, Ayuso is now tipped as a future national leader and her brand of liberal conservatism is being held up as a model for winning future general elections. While the left licks its wounds and looks for scapegoats for its loss, in the streets of Madrid people stop her to hail her as a heroine. “You are a fighter. You have courage,” a woman interjected to say to her during her interview with The Times. “Thank you for defending us.” Ayuso believes Sánchez’s days are numbered. “The election has generated enormous hope in Madrid and across Spain for those who are looking for an alternative type of politics,” she said.

Masks off, Poles cheer reopening of bars and restaurants (AP) Poles pulled off their masks, hugged their friends and made toasts to their regained freedom as restaurants, bars and pubs reopened for the first time in seven months and the government dropped a requirement for people to cover their faces outdoors. The reopening, for now limited now to the outdoor consumption of food and drinks, officially took place on Saturday. Yet many could not wait for midnight to strike and were out on the streets of Warsaw and other cities hours earlier on Friday evening to celebrate, gathering outside popular watering holes. Some brought their own beer to hold them over until the they could buy drinks at midnight—though some bars were also seen serving up beers and cocktails early. “Now they are opening and I feel so awesome. You know, you feel like your freedom is back,” said Gabriel Nikilovski, a 38-year-old from Sweden who was having beer at an outdoor table at the Pavilions, a popular courtyard filled with pubs in central Warsaw. “It’s like you’ve been in prison, but you’ve been in prison at home.”

Spy Agencies Seek New Afghan Allies as U.S. Withdraws (NYT) Western spy agencies are evaluating and courting regional leaders outside the Afghan government who might be able to provide intelligence about terrorist threats long after U.S. forces withdraw, according to current and former American, European and Afghan officials. The effort represents a turning point in the war. In place of one of the largest multinational military training missions ever is now a hunt for informants and intelligence assets. Despite the diplomats who say the Afghan government and its security forces will be able to stand on their own, the move signals that Western intelligence agencies are preparing for the possible—or even likely—collapse of the central government and an inevitable return to civil war. Courting proxies in Afghanistan calls back to the 1980s and ‘90s, when the country was controlled by the Soviets and then devolved into a factional conflict between regional leaders. The West frequently depended on opposing warlords for intelligence—and at times supported them financially through relationships at odds with the Afghan population. Such policies often left the United States, in particular, beholden to power brokers who brazenly committed human rights abuses.

India’s coronavirus crisis spreads to its villages, where health care is hard to find (Washington Post) BANAIL, India—The illness traveled silently through the narrow lanes of this prosperous village in Uttar Pradesh, infecting both young and old. People complained of fevers, cough and breathlessness. Then they began to die. Vipin Kumar, a farmer in his 40s, was one of them. More than 20 people with coronavirus symptoms have died in the village over the past two weeks, according to locals, a significant increase over the three or four deaths per month the village saw before the pandemic. Most of them, like Kumar, were never tested. “Not a day goes by when there are no deaths,” said Hariom Raghav, a farmer and businessman who had just returned from a cremation. “If things continue like this, the village will empty out soon.” The story of Banail has been playing out in villages across India as the virus continues its deadly surge: Rural areas, where over 65 percent of India’s 1.3 billion people live, had been spared in the first wave of the pandemic but are now facing devastating numbers of infections. Three quarters of all districts in India are reporting a positivity rate of more than 10 percent, a health official said Tuesday, an indication of how widely the virus had spread.

China lands on Mars in major advance for its space ambitions (AP) China landed a spacecraft on Mars for the first time on Saturday, a technically challenging feat more difficult than a moon landing, in the latest step forward for its ambitious goals in space. Plans call for a rover to stay in the lander for a few days of diagnostic tests before rolling down a ramp to explore an area of Mars known as Utopia Planitia. It will join an American rover that arrived at the red planet in February. China’s first Mars landing follows its launch last month of the main section of what will be a permanent space station and a mission that brought back rocks from the moon late last year.

Back-to-back tornadoes kill 12 in China; over 300 injured (AP) Back-to-back tornadoes killed 12 people in central and eastern China and left more than 300 others injured, authorities said Saturday. Eight people died in the inland city of Wuhan on Friday night and four others in the town of Shengze, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east in Jiangsu province, local governments said. Tornados are rare in China. In July 2019, a tornado killed six people in the northeastern Liaoning province, and another tornado the following month killed eight on the southern resort island of Hainan.

As protesters flee Hong Kong, Taiwan quietly extends a helping hand (Washington Post) Bobbing off the coast in a Zodiac speedboat scrubbed of identifying features, Kenny and four others waited nervously for the last leg of their desperate, 350-mile journey. The five had been arrested months earlier on the front lines of demonstrations in Hong Kong. They had escaped across the South China Sea, steering toward Taiwan with just some snacks, identification and a satellite phone. Now came the final hurdle: convincing the approaching Taiwanese Coast Guard—and the government—not to turn them back. Taiwanese authorities brought the five ashore, housed them in a government complex and provided clothing, cigarettes, television, table tennis games—even English teachers. Eventually, the Taiwanese, who treated the presence of the five as a state secret, helped arrange flights to the United States, their new home. The experience of the five shows the lengths to which self-ruled Taiwan has gone to protect and help fleeing Hong Kong protesters. As Beijing tightens the noose around Hong Kong’s democracy movement, Taiwan has emerged as a key destination for those escaping the dragnet—just as Hong Kong offered sanctuary for dissidents from mainland China in the 20th century. “Hong Kong was once a safe harbor, but now, Hong Kongers need a safe harbor,” said Samuel Chu, a second-generation activist whose father helped students flee China after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Israel strike in Gaza destroys building with AP, other media (AP) An Israeli airstrike destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets on Saturday, the latest step by the military to silence reporting from the territory amid its battle with the militant group Hamas. The strike came nearly an hour after the military ordered people to evacuate the building, which also housed Al-Jazeera, other offices and residential apartments. The strike followed another Israeli air raid on a densely populated refugee camp in Gaza City killed at least 10 Palestinians from an extended family, mostly children.

Medics: Israeli airstrikes kill 26 in downtown Gaza City (AP) Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 26 people Sunday, medics said, making it the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territory’s militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago. The Gaza Health Ministry said 10 women and eight children were among those killed, with another 50 people wounded in the attack. Rescuers raced to pull survivors and bodies from the rubble. Earlier, the Israeli military said it destroyed the home of Gaza’s top Hamas leader in a separate strike in the southern town of Khan Younis. It was the third such attack in the last two days on the homes of senior Hamas leaders. Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators try to broker a cease-fire.

With strikes targeting rockets and tunnels, the Israeli tactic of ‘mowing the grass’ returns to Gaza (Washington Post) For more than a decade, when analysts described the strategy utilized by Israel against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, they’ve used a metaphor: With their displays of overwhelming military strength, Israeli forces were “mowing the grass.” The phrase implies the Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip and their supply of crude but effective homemade weapons are like weeds that need to be cut back. But the long-term benefits of the “mow the grass” strategy have come under question. Zehava Galon, a former lawmaker with the leftist Meretz party, wrote for Haaretz that the strategy results in “perpetual war” that forgets “human beings are also able to talk, not only to carry a club.”

Arab World Condemns Israeli Violence but Takes Little Action (NYT) The Arab world is unified in condemning Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and the way the Israeli police invaded Jerusalem’s Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites. Governments have spoken out, protests have taken place, social media is aflame. But by and large the condemnation is only words, not actions—at least so far. The region’s concerns have shifted since the last major Israeli incursion into Gaza in 2014, with new fears about Iran’s influence, new anxieties about popular unrest in Arab countries and a growing recognition of the reality of Israel in the Arab world. Even those countries that normalized relations with Israel last year—the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco—have all openly criticized Israeli policies and called for support of the Palestinians and the defense of Jerusalem. The escalation of violence has put a great strain on those governments, which had argued that their closer relationship with Israel would help restrain Israeli actions aimed at the Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza. “I have not seen any Arab state that has not expressed support for the Palestinians on a rhetorical level, and it would be very difficult for them to say anything otherwise,” said H. A. Hellyer, a scholar of Middle East politics at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington. “But what they do about it is very different.”

[voidcrow]

The Battle of the Road to Caen

A historical treatise by Josephine Childress-Busey Published November the ninend, MMVII

1119 is a year that many of my fellow historians look to as that in which the world's fate was forever derailed from its course. To assume this is to ignore the factors that enabled the brief battle fought on that day.

Personally, this scholar is more given to arguing that the true tipping of destiny's scales came in 1102. This was, after all, the year in which Pope Paschal II excommunicated the nation of Norway seemingly on a whim. Paschal never openly stated a reason for condemning the Norwegian people to spiritual damnation and would take whatever rationale he had to his grave. Whatever the case, the ripples started here-- ripples that, by the time they reached English-ruled Normandy, crashed ashore as a tsunami.

The news that they were no longer Christian in the eyes of the Christ-on-Earth rattled the Norwegian people. Collective dismay hastily evolved into collective anger, fueling a nationalistic movement that saw the Norwegians embrace their pre-Christian traditions to set their identity apart from that of other European powers. Chief among these deviations was their choice to reject Catholicism outright and return to the old polytheistic beliefs of the Norse, wearing the derogatory term "pagan" as a badge of pride.

That winter, Norwegian raiders made landfall in Scotland by longboat for the first of many new pillages. The Vikings had returned.

For over a decade thereafter, the fruits of Norway's ongoing pillages fueled a war of expansion back in Scandinavia. Gradually, Sweden and Finland were absorbed. In 1117, forces under the command of Snorri Ragnvaldsson captured Jutland. This move had the dual effect of not only wiping the Kingdom of Denmark off the map, but giving the Norwegians a convenient staging point for raiding the Holy Roman Empire, Poland and northern France by land.

By this point, England had gained more territory on mainland Europe-- specifically, the county of Brittany that lay west of Normandy. A road running between the cities of Rennes and Caen became one of England's busier trade routes, so it should come as no surprise that a band of Vikings came along to prey on caravans along this road. Each time they captured a haul of goods, they'd keep the food and drink to supply themselves, send the treasures home to Norway, and feast in celebration until their fingers itched for another plundering. As the English nobles thought little of this problem in the grander scheme of things, this group of Vikings was able to keep up the profitable venture for two years, until a young English serf-- born in Cornwall but living in Brittany at the time-- roused himself from his drunken stupor to loudly declare that enough was enough.

His name was Alfred Codd, and he had no earthly idea what he was doing-- only that he was tired of bar brawls and pushing around wheelbarrows full of dung.

When spring came in the year 1119, Codd was successful in convincing the Earl of Brittany to let him levy and command a militia. He put out a call for able-bodied citizens of Rennes to defend king and country from the Viking menace... but less than a thousand answered, all desperate peasants like himself. Those volunteers with experience in hunting were equipped with a bow. The rest were armed with pitchforks. Their armor mostly amounted to padded cloth and leather vests, with the few available chainmail shirts being given to Alfred himself and some of the pitchfork-wielders. In total, around seven hundred men were put at arms-- four hundred archers, and three hundred "spearmen" (insomuch as farming tools can be treated as spears). Following the morning sun, they departed from Rennes through its eastern gate and started trekking up the Road toward Caen, certain that the Vikings would show themselves somewhere along the path.

English morale was low on the morning of April the sixenth, and it is little wonder, as Alfred woke up with a hangover only minutes before the fighting began, and his second-in-command had to remind him what was going on. Through a spyglass, it had been determined that the Viking band headed toward them numbered about one thousand, and consisted wholly of melee infantry and light horsemen with axes. After splashing some cold water on his face and having his second punch him in the face a few times to induce alertness, Alfred ordered the peasant mob into a formation; he told the archers to stand together in a short, broad column and instructed the "spearmen" to surround them as a two-row-thick box, then ordered them all to stand their ground.

On being told it would help the men's morale to say a few words before battle was to be joined, Alfred Codd spoke thus:

"Bah, my head rebels against me. Thank you for joining me, brave Britons. I'm told many a general likes to rouse his men before battle with some manner of lip service to God. I am not one of them. Instead I will pay lip service to Maggote, a fine barmaid here in Normandy whom I am proud to call the first person ever to punch me out cold. God's blood, what a woman. Would that she would join us today. Now, our foes are Norwegians who would see us dead and our treasures looted. I, erm... I respect the Vikings-- not for their violence or their heathen beliefs, but for their prowess and courage in battle, and the hardiness forged by the harsh winters of their homeland. It is a shame, therefore, that we must now fill them with pointy sticks. Still, I confess that my codpiece is tightening at the prospect. Is that a snake? A snake! Kill it! Kill the bloody snake! Wait; it's only a twig. Thank the Lord. What else? Remember to watch out for spears. Oh, shite, they're almost here. Hold steady, lads!"

Alfred's oratory skills would improve over time.

After delivering the above speech, he took up his pitchfork and joined the other "spearmen". The Vikings stopped on their way west when they noticed the English army standing on the road in formation. Confident in their ability to quickly do away with the rabble but with no options to attack from a range, the raiders charged forth.

Whilst Alfred used protests and threats to keep his infantry from breaking formation, the four hundred hunters began to let fly. Their accuracy was lacking, but by virtue of there being so many bowmen and a decent supply of ammunition being available to them, they filled the air of the battlefield with enough arrows that for some of them to find their mark was an inevitability. At least ten volleys were fired before the mounted Vikings could complete their charge, and by the time they did, a third of the raider band was already dead.

The Viking horsemen plowed into a section of the "spearmen" box, trampling over some, causing dozens of others to spend a few moments fleeing, and even wedging some ways into the archers' formation. But now these horsemen were surrounded. Horror gave way to confidence, the hunters nearest to the mounted Vikings drew clubs, and together with the pitchfork wielders, they crushed the cavalry. It quickly became clear that, given some time at a smith's grinder for sharpening, a pitchfork lent itself decently to killing a horse or forcing a cavalryman off his mount in a pinch.

Alfred was able to rally the mob back into formation, and the hunters continued firing on the approaching Norwegian footmen. A little over half the Viking band had fallen by the time its main bulk closed in for melee combat. Flanking the English proved futile; the box of "spearmen" surrounded their archer comrades on every side. The melee struggle was grueling, but the long reach of the Britons' pitchforks did prevent many Vikings from being able to get a solid swing in without being skewered, and the hunters carried on firing over the melee lines to kill more raiders that were waiting behind those already engaged in combat.

In the end, the raider band-- reduced to a fifth of their numbers-- gave in to survival instinct and was put to rout. Alfred Codd looked around to see many of his fellow peasants on the ground, bloodied and writhing. The victory would turn out to be less Pyrrhic than it seemed; among the many dozen injured, only two had actually died of their wounds. These numbers surprised Alfred himself, but not as much as his family's elevation to the nobility as a reward for his accomplishment that day.

"If this is to be my lot in life," remarked Alfred upon his appointment to the lofty position of a general, "then I will need a substantially larger codpiece."

Spirits were high across the French provinces of England in the wake of the battle, a minor triumph over the Viking Resurgence though it was. Yet Lord Alfred was scarred by it in more ways than one, and wrote as much in his personal journal:

I drink to the dead now, until I achieve a blissful stupor. Us suffering a mere two losses would be much happier news to me had those two not been my only friends.

Granted command over an army of professional archers, heavy infantry and horsemen, Alfred Codd was soon summoned across the English Channel to the isles of Britannia. The new wave of Vikings had brought the Kingdom of Wales to its knees, handed Scotland some grievous defeats and placed fortresses along the eastern coast of England. It was time to bring these isles to order.

[atlanticcanada]

Russia shells areas in Ukraine where it vowed to scale back

Russian forces pounded areas around Ukraine's capital and another city overnight, regional leaders said Wednesday, just hours after Moscow pledged to scale back military operations in those places. The shelling further tempered optimism about any progress in talks aimed at ending the punishing war.

Russia did not spell out what exactly it planned to do differently, and while the promise initially raised hopes that a path toward peace was coming into view, Ukraine's president and others cautioned that the remarks could merely be bluster.

Ukrainian officials said Russian shelling hit homes, shops, libraries and other "civilian infrastructure" in the northern city of Chernihiv and on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv.

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The barrages came as Britain's Defense Ministry warned that while heavy losses have forced some Russian units to return to Belarus and Russia, Moscow would likely compensate for any reduction in ground maneuvers by using mass artillery and missile strikes. The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said Russian troops were intensifying their attacks around the eastern city of Izyum and the eastern Donetsk region, after redeploying some units from other areas.

Moscow, meanwhile, reacted coolly to Kyiv's proposed framework for a peace deal, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying it was a "positive factor" that Ukraine has submitted its written proposals but that he saw no breakthrough.

As the war unleashed five weeks ago by Moscow ground on, so, too, did the fallout beyond Ukraine's borders. The United Nations said the number of refugees fleeing the country has now surpassed a staggering 4 million, while European industrial powerhouse Germany issued a warning over its natural gas supplies amid concerns that Russia could cut off deliveries unless it is paid in rubles. Poland announced steps to end all Russian oil imports by the end of 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted with skepticism to Russia's announcement amid talks in Istanbul on Tuesday that it would reduce military activity near the capital and Chernihiv.

"We can call those signals that we hear at the negotiations positive," he said in his nightly video address to the Ukrainian people. "But those signals don't silence the explosions of Russian shells."

That skepticism only gained ground Wednesday morning.

"The so-called reduction of activity in the Chernihiv region, was demonstrated by the enemy strikes including air strikes on Nizhyn, and all night long they were shelling Chernihiv," said the regional governor, Viacheslav Chaus. "Civilian infrastructure facilities, libraries, shopping centers, many houses were destroyed in Chernihiv."

Oleksandr Pavliuk, the head of the Kyiv region military administration, said Wednesday that Russian shells targeted residential areas and civilian infrastructure in the Bucha, Brovary and Vyshhorod regions around the capital.

They weren't the only attacks by Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday that the military targeted fuel depots in two towns in central Ukraine with air-launched long-range cruise missiles. Russian forces also hit a Ukrainian special forces headquarters in the southern Mykolaiv region, he said, and two ammunition depots in the eastern Donetsk region.

The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces noted intensified shelling and attacks in the Donetsk area, where it say Russian forces were focused on trying to win control over the besieged city of Mariupol and other cities.

Donetsk is in the eastern industrial heartland of Donbas, where the Russian military says it has shifted its attention. Top Russian military officials have said twice in recent days that their main goal now is the "liberation" of Donbas, where Moscow-backed rebels have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014.

Western officials also said Moscow was now reinforcing troops in the Donbas in a bid to encircle Ukraine's forces there. And Russia's deadly siege in the south continues.

Some analysts have suggested that the apparent scaling back of the Kremlin's aims and the pledge to reduce activity around Kyiv and Chernihiv may merely reflect the reality on the ground: Its troops have become bogged down and taken heavy losses in their bid to seize the capital and other cities.

Meanwhile, a missile destroyed part of an apartment block in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk early Wednesday, reportedly killing two people and wounding four. Separatists blamed Ukrainian forces for the attack.

"I was just sitting on the couch and -- bang! -- the window glass popped, the frames came off, I didn't even understand what happened," said one resident, Anna Gorda.

Still, there were hints of the outline of a possible agreement to end the war after the latest round of talks Tuesday in Istanbul.

Kyiv's delegation offered a framework for a peace deal under which a neutral Ukraine's security would be guaranteed by a group of other countries. Among other things, the Kremlin has demanded all along that Ukraine drop any hope of joining NATO.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said Moscow would in the meantime "fundamentally ... cut back military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv" to "increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations."

Despite the apparent signs of progress, Zelenskyy warned the world and his own people not to get ahead of themselves.

"Ukrainians have already learned during the 34 days of the invasion and during the past eight years of war in the Donbas that you can trust only concrete results," he said.

Western countries also expressed doubts about Russia's intentions.

"We judge the Russian military machine by its actions, not just its words," British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab told Sky News on Wednesday. "There's obviously some skepticism that it will regroup to attack again rather than seriously engaging in diplomacy."

He added that "of course the door to diplomacy will always be left ajar, but I don't think you can trust what is coming out of the mouth of Putin's war machine."

An assessment from Britain's Ministry of Defense said that Russia's focus on the Donbas region "is likely a tacit admission that it is struggling to sustain more than one significant axis of advance."

"Russian units suffering heavy losses have been forced to return to Belarus and Russia to reorganize and resupply," the ministry said in a statement Wednesday. "Such activity is placing further pressure on Russia's already strained logistics and demonstrates the difficulties Russia is having reorganizing its units in forward areas within Ukraine."

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. has detected small numbers of Russian ground forces moving away from the Kyiv area, but it appeared to be a repositioning of forces, "not a real withdrawal."

In response to Moscow's pledge, U.S. President Joe Biden and his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said they would wait to see what Russia's actions are.

Blinken added that Russian indications of a pullback could be an attempt to "deceive people and deflect attention."

It wouldn't be the first time. In the tense buildup to the invasion, the Russian military announced some units were loading equipment onto rail cars and preparing to return to their home bases after completing exercises. Ten days later, Russia launched its invasion.

The war has trapped many civilians in the ruins of Mariupol and other devastated cities and millions more have fled for safety. Tetyana Parmynska, a 28-year-old from the Chernihiv region now at a refugee center in Poland, said she hoped for peace. Nearby, a man played songs on a battered black piano decorated with a white peace emblem.

"Children are suffering, and our city, and everything," Parmynska said. "We have no strength anymore."

Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report

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