#prague press conference

[tangerina24]

More from the Coverdale Page anger phase

When he lost his mind over that Coverdale Page thingy… and his poor band already have had enough😁

[zvaigzdelasas]

[Eurasianet receives funding from the NED, OSF, the FCDO, & others]

Delimitation discussions appear stuck at present over Azerbaijan’s demand that it gain control of eight villages in border areas currently under Armenian jurisdiction. Pashinyan in comments to journalists signaled a willingness to unilaterally hand over four of the disputed villages. In doing so, he also suggested a practical way of settling the boundary between the two states. His initiative appears intended to deprive Azerbaijan of a pretext to launch new military action to seize territory, including any assault that could cut Armenia’s direct access to Iran.

“The de jure border that existed at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union was reaffirmed by the [1991] Alma-Ata declaration and not only by that declaration, but also by the agreements held in Prague on October 6, 2022,” Pashinyan said at a March 12 news conference.

Four of the disputed villages – Baghanis Ayrim, Lower Askipara, Kheyrimli, and Gizilhajili – were on the Azerbaijani side of the border between the two former Soviet republics and were occupied by Armenian forces in the 1990s, during the first Karabakh war, which concluded in 1994 after the signing of the Alma-Ata declaration.

Citing the Alma-Ata and Prague agreements, Pashinyan acknowledged that “the former administrative border, which existed during the Soviet Union, is somewhat beyond that present administrative border.” He went on to call for both states to reaffirm the frontier defined by the Alma-Ata agreement. [...]

Earlier in 2024, Armeniamaintained that Azerbaijan currently controls 31 villages situated in roughly 200 square kilometers of land that are rightfully Armenian. There had been some talk in Yerevan of proposing a trade involving all the disputed settlements. But Pashinyan in his most recent comments made no mention of such a swap.[...]

Prior to Pashinyan’s March gambit, Azerbaijan had staked out an intransigent position about the return of the eight villages. “As for the four non-exclave Azerbaijani villages occupied by Armenia, their affiliation to Azerbaijan is beyond any doubt and they are subject to immediate liberation,” Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev said in the statement issued March 9, two days after the latest round of border delimitation talks. Mustafayev leads the Azerbaijani negotiating team.

“The issue of liberation of four of Azerbaijan’s exclave villages occupied by Armenia will also be resolved within the delimitation process,” he noted.[...]

The villages that Pashinyan seems willing to unilaterally hand back are important to Armenia from an infrastructure point of view. A highway to Georgia, as well as a pipeline carrying Russian gas to Armenia, pass through these villages. Pashinyan also addressed the issue in press comments, saying that he has instructed relevant state bodies to “reroute those lines so that they pass through Armenia’s de jure territory and so that we don’t have problems in that area.”

The prime minister’s remarks triggered an immediate outcry from long-standing government critics, who accuse Pashinyan of treachery and a failure to defend state interests.

“By unilaterally giving in, not only do you not create a guarantee that Azerbaijan will not attack, but on the contrary, you give them better conditions to attack you from those positions,” Anna Grigorian of the Hayastan alliance said in comments broadcast by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

18 Mar 24

[jokeroutsubs]

EXCLUSIVE NEWS: Joker Out sign with Wasserman agency.

As reported by Siol, Metropolitan, and other Slovenian media outlets, Joker Out have signed a contract with a booking agency, Wasserman. The Wasserman agency, which was established in 2002, is one of the biggest agencies in the world and is active in a total of 32 countries around the world.s

The following is a translation of the Siol article, published today, 7.11.2023:

DO NOT REPOST!

New success for Joker Out

Exciting news is coming from the camp of the hottest Slovenian group. Recently, an agency that takes care of a number of celeberities has taken them under their wing, they just recieved a gold plaque in Finland for their song Carpe Diem, meanwhile they're playing multiple sold out concerts.

After playing the biggest headlining concert in their career, Joker Out signed a contract with the booking agency Wasserman, who represents many famous musicians, such as Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Billie Eilish, Imagine Dragons, Lorde, Skrillex and Run The Jewels.

[Photo caption: Joker Out with the golden plaque which they received for their success on the Finnish music market. Photo: Vita Orehek]

After signing with the agency Wasserman, the group recieved another award - a golden plaque for their single Carpe Diem, which gathered two million streams in Finland. The award was presented on Friday by Virgin Music Group at a press conference in Belgrade which was confirmed by IFPI Finland. The song Carpe Diem has gained over 40 million streams worldwide.

"Proof that language isn't a barrier for a successful international career"

"This award isn't only a confirmation of their success outside their national domestic market, but also proof that language isn't a barrier for a successful international career," said Fabian Stilke, general manager for Universal Music Group in the western Balkan region.

[Photo caption: Concert in Belgrade. Photo: Vita Orehek]

In October, Joker Out played two concerts in Novi Sad, were guests at Rakičan manor, fired up Vienna, and played two more euphoric concerts in Belgrade at the end of last week.

The Serbian music portal Headliner wrote that it was a concert "As if tomorrow didn't exist". On Friday and Saturday, they're preparing the same party in Tvornica Kulture in Zagreb, which will be followed up by concerts in Warsaw, Vilnius, Wroclaw, Poznan, Prague, Rijeka, Skopje, Munich, The Hague, Amsterdam, Madrid, Barcelona, Celje, Maribor and Novo mesto.

Translation cr: @joyridinglove, proof read by IG Gboleyn123

DO NOT REPOST!

[mrpagesfrontispiece]

March 23, 1933.

On that date, Adolf Hitler put the Enabling Act up for a vote before the Reichstag. The passage of this act marked the end of the Weimar Republic, and German democracy as everyone knew it. But there was resistance. Otto Wels, one of the greatest speakers to ever live and Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, stood before his peers in the assembly, many of whom were ready to capitulate to Fascism, and gave the following speech.

Ladies and gentlemen! We Social Democrats agree with the foreign policy demand raised by the Reichskanzler of equal treatment for Germany, all the more emphatically since we have always fundamentally championed it. In this context, I may be permitted the personal remark that I was the first German who stood up to the untruth of Germany’s guilt for the outbreak of the world war before an international forum, at the Bern Conference on February 3, 1919. Never was a principle of our party able to or did in fact prevent us from representing the just demands of the German nation to the other peoples of the world. 

The day before yesterday, as well, the Reichskanzler made a statement in Potsdam to which we subscribe. It says: “From the lunacy of the theory of eternal winners and losers came the madness of reparations and, in their wake, the catastrophe of the world economy.” This statement is true for foreign politics; it is no less true for domestic politics. Here, too, the theory of eternal winners and losers is, as the Reichskanzler says, lunacy. 

But the words of the Reichskanzler remind us of others that were spoken in the National Assembly on July 23, 1919. At that time it was said: “We are defenseless; defenseless but not without honor. To be sure, the enemies are after our honor, there is no doubt. However, that this attempt at defamation will one day redound back upon the instigators, that it is not our honor that is being destroyed by this global catastrophe, that is our belief to the last breath.” 

This appears in a declaration that a social democratic-led government issued at the time in the name of the German people before the whole world, four hours before the truce expired, in order to prevent the enemies from marching further. – That declaration is a valuable supplement to the statement by the Reichskanzler. 

A dictated peace is followed by few blessings, least of all at home. A real national community cannot be based on it. Its first prerequisite is equal law. The government may protect itself against raw excesses of polemics; it may rigorously prevent incitements to acts of violence and acts of violence in and of themselves. This may happen, if it is done toward all sides evenly and impartially, and if one foregoes treating defeated opponents as though they were proscribed. Freedom and life can be taken from us, but not our honor. 

After the persecutions that the Social Democratic Party has suffered recently, no one will reasonably demand or expect that it vote for the Enabling Act proposed here. The elections of March 5 have given the governing parties the majority and thus the possibility of governing in strict adherence to the words and meaning of the constitution. Where such a possibility exists, there is also an obligation to take it. Criticism is salutary and necessary. Never before, since there has been a German Reichstag, has the control of public affairs by the elected representatives of the people been eliminated to such an extent as is happening now, and is supposed to happen even more through the new Enabling Act. Such omnipotence of the government must have all the more serious repercussions inasmuch as the press, too, lacks any freedom of expression.

Ladies and gentlemen! The situation that prevails in Germany today is often described in glaring colors. But as always in such cases, there is no lack of exaggeration. As far as my party is concerned, I declare here: we have neither asked for intervention in Paris, nor moved millions to Prague, nor spread exaggerated news abroad. It would be easier to stand up to such exaggerations if the kind of reporting that separates truth from falsehood were possible at home. It would be even better if we could attest in good conscience that full protection in justice has been restored for all. That, gentlemen, is up to you. 

The gentlemen of the National Socialist party call the movement they have unleashed a national revolution, not a National Socialist one. So far, the relationship of their revolution to socialism has been limited to the attempt to destroy the social democratic movement, which for more than two generations has been the bearer of socialist ideas and will remain so. If the gentlemen of the National Socialist Party wanted to perform socialist acts, they would not need an Enabling Law. They would be assured of an overwhelming majority in this house. Every motion submitted by them in the interest of workers, farmers, white-collar employees, civil servants, or the middle class could expect to be approved, if not unanimously, then certainly with an enormous majority. 

And yet, they first want to eliminate the Reichstag in order to continue their revolution. But the destruction of that which exists does not make a revolution. The people are expecting positive accomplishments. They are waiting for effective measures against the terrible economic misery that exists not only in Germany but in the whole world. We Social Democrats bore the responsibility in the most difficult of times and for that we had stones cast at us. Our accomplishments for the reconstruction of the state and the economy, for the liberation of occupied territories, will stand the test of history. We have established equal justice for all and a social labor law. We have helped to create a Germany in which the path to leadership of the state is open not only to princes and barons, but also to men from the working class. You cannot back away from that without relinquishing your own leader. The attempt to turn back the wheel of history will be futile. We Social Democrats know that one cannot undo the facts of power politics with mere legal protests. We see the power-political fact of your present rule. But the people’s sense of justice is also a political power, and we shall not cease to appeal to this sense of justice. 

The Weimar Constitution is not a socialist constitution. But we stand by the principles enshrined in, the principles of a state based on the rule of law, of equal rights, of social justice. In this historic hour, we German Social Democrats solemnly pledge ourselves to the principles of humanity and justice, of freedom and socialism. No Enabling Act gives you the power to destroy ideas that are eternal and indestructible. After all, you yourselves have professed your adherence to Socialism. The Socialist Law has not destroyed social democracy. German social democracy will draw new strength also from the latest persecutions. 

We greet the persecuted and the oppressed. We greet our friends in the Reich. Your steadfastness and loyalty deserve admiration. The courage of your convictions and your unbroken optimism guarantee a brighter future.

These immortal words burned brightly in the minds of all who fought for Democracy in the years that were to come. And another thing; Democracy did come! The Nazis lost! Because, as the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward Justice.” The night is dark, but it is joy which comes in the morning. No power on earth has been able to resist Democracy for long, and no power ever will. Four years of Hell are nothing compared to what we shall feel once the ideals we hold sacred triumph again, and I guarantee you that they shall triumph. If ever you should feel hopeless, remember Otto Wels, and imagine what must have gone through his mind as he watched his nation burn itself to death. But so too remember Otto Wels as the Russians marched into Berlin, as the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy, and take heart knowing that like him you too shall see your country born again, brighter than ever before.

We greet the persecuted and the oppressed. We greet our friends in America. Your steadfastness and loyalty deserve admiration. The courage of your convictions and your unbroken optimism guarantee a brighter future.

[mariacallous]

The president of the Czech police announced that a 24-year-old student from the village of Hostoun, outside Prague, was responsible for a mass shooting at the Czech capital’s Charles University on Thursday that left 15 people dead.

Among the dead was the shooter himself, whose father was also found dead earlier in the day, the Czech police president, Martin Vondrasek, told a press conference flanked by the interior minister, Vit Rakusan.

The death toll could rise as Prague’s emergency services reported that about 30 others had suffered various injuries, including nine who had sustained serious wounds.

At 15:17, the Czech Police announced on social media they were responding to a shooting at a university building on Jan Palach Square, where Charles University’s Faculty of Philosophy is located.

Approximately, 40 minutes later, the Czech Police posted that the shooter had been killed and the building was being evacuated after the entire area had been closed off. The police president said the shooter, who remains unnamed, died by his own hand, but not before he had shot at the arriving police. No police were injured.

Television pictures showed students being led out of the building, while other students could be seen standing on ledges of the building in downtown Prague. At 17:17 the police announced they had evacuated the entire building and were searching it for explosives.

A former reporter for BIRN, Jakob Weizman, who is now a student studying at the university, posted on social media that he was stuck inside his classroom in Prague and was waiting to be evacuated. “Locked the door before the shooter tried to open it,” he said.

Fatal shootings, especially mass ones, are rare in the Czech Republic, though not unheard of. In 2015, a gunman opened fire at a restaurant in the eastern town of Uhersky Brod, killing eight people before shooting himself dead.

[stephensmithuk]

Taking a Cure and Breaking Carlsbad

Because there is really nothing new under the sun at the end of the day, some people were just as obsessed about their health as they are now.

CW for discussion of historical atrocities and capital punishment.

Taking the Waters

It was believed in the 19th century and indeed for a few centuries before that "taking the waters" from wells in certain inland towns with natural springs was good for your health. A lot of places had gained this reputation, like Bath in England and Spa in Belgium. Yep, that's where the name comes from.

You could either drink the waters, bathe in them or both. This was segregated by sex, as you would generally be naked in the latter case.

The arrival of the railways made "taking a cure" a good deal easier. Bath was connected to London by the Great Western Railway and today you can get there by 125mph train in under 90 minutes from Paddington.

So, many of the rich and famous would take holidays in these places, where they would drink the water, go on a restricted diet, take long walks and undergo various treatments, prescribed by spa physicians.

Some of these were medically sound. Some come across as quackery of the first water, pun fully intended.

Treatments included - and you can still find many of these in modern day spa facilities - mud baths, massages, seaweed wraps, steam rooms etc. There was also something called a Vichy Shower, which involves lying on a slab while being sprayed with water from multiple nozzles in a shower bar.

Yes, Vichy in France is a spa town. The reason the collaborationist government went there in 1940 is because it had a lot of hotels to put everyone up.

Karlovy Vary

Anyway, Carlsbad was the former English spelling of Karlsbad, a town in Bohemia then under Austrian rule. You may know it better under its modern name of Karlovy Vary, today in Czechia (aka the Czech Republic, its long form name), about sixty-six miles west of Prague. It has an airport, but the flights are limited there - you will generally need to go to Prague, then get a coach or train.

Three American places and one in Canada still bear the name Carlsbad, the most notable being the coastal city in California, now home to a Legoland.

The name in both German and Czech means "Charles' baths".

While there were settlements in the area going back to the Bronze Age, legend has it that Charles IV, King of Bohemia, found a warm spring by accident while exploring the local area and the waters healed his injured leg. In any event, he gave the place royal privileges in 1370.

His successor, Wenceslaus IV, would give the town a right of asylum and the place also had a ban on carrying weapons.

In 1526, Louis II would drown as he fled defeat by the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Mohács, ending his dynasty as he had no legitimate children. Austrian Ferdinand I was elected as his successor and to cut a long story short, Bohemia lost its independence, becoming part of the Austrian Empire.

The 16th and 17th centuries weren't great for the place; a massive flood, a big fire and Swedish troops looting the place three times in seven years during the Thirty Years' War.

In 1819, the town would hold a conference of representatives from the states of the German Confederation, passing decrees increasing press censorship and banning nationalist societies among other things in an attempt to slow moves towards unification.

In the event, that unification would happen in 1871, but Austria would be excluded from the new Germany and instead unified with Hungary in the Dual Monarchy, aka Austria-Hungary. Karlsbad would be in the Austrian part of this new Empire and was in fact majority-German speaking.

Anyway, back to Karlsbad. The town was rapidly developing in popularity as a resort during the course of the 19th century and would become even more popular in 1870, when a railway line was built from Prague to Eger (now Cheb) on the border with Germany.

The railway line allowed for through carriages to operate from across Europe. In 1888, it took a day and 8 1/2 hours to get there from London. By 1911, CIWL was offering a through sleeping carriage, along with parlor/dining car from Ostend to Carlsbad, the former reachable from Charing Cross via train and ferry. The journey was now doable in 26 hours and 21 minutes.

The appeal for spa fans was clear - 80 springs with water running up to 74 degrees Celsius. Mineral water and herbal bitters were bottled and exported all over Europe. The mountain scenery and fresh air allowed people to take walks as part of their "cure."

The best-known spa by the Raffles time was the Imperial Spa, of which more later.

There were also plenty of hotels or pensions. The September 1888 Bradshaw's Continental advertises eight of them, with no less than seven boasting of English-speaking staff or indeed managers. The most famous hotel, opened in 1701 and still going strong in 2024 is the Grandhotel Pupp, which featured extensively in the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale where it played the Hotel Splendide. Indeed, Karlovy Vary has a big starring role in that film.

Churchgoers were well-provided for, with churches for multiple denominations. The Anglican one is now a waxworks museum of all things.

Many rich and famous faces would show up at Carlsbad and nearby Marienbad. Chopin and Beethoven visited there. Anthony Joseph Drexel, founder of what is now J. P. Morgan & Co visited there in 1893... then had a fatal heart attack.

As the Redux points out, all these rich people were prime targets for thieves.

An 1884 guide to the place can be found here:

Things were going pretty swimmingly for the spa town... and then the First World War happened, rather damaging the tourist industry.

The collapse of Austria-Hungary saw the town incorporated into the new country of Czechoslovakia following the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1919. Local protests in March 1919 ended in six deaths after things turned violent and Czechoslovak soldiers opened fire, but the local population of what was now Karlovy Vary soon accepted their new situation. A 1930 census made clear that the place remained overwhelmingly German in its composition.

The place didn't recover to its pre-war popularity; the Great Depression really didn't help in that department. The German-speaking areas of Czechoslovakia had a lot of industries, like toy-making, which were reliant on exports... and protectionism was now very much in vogue. There were also tensions between the German minority and the Czech majority.

Then a certain Austrian man with a toothbrush moustache came along. Karlovy Vary was in what was becoming known as the Sudetenland... and you can probably see where this is going.

In September 1938, the Munich Agreement, signed without the Czechoslovaks being involved (who had to accept it), saw the Sudetenland handed over to Germany. By March 1939, the Germans had invaded and annexed the rest of the Czech part of the country, Poland and Hungary had taken various bits of territory and a pro-Axis client state was set up in what was left of Slovakia. However, it does not seem there was any mass support for this by the Germans of Karlovy Vary.

The Nazis set up the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in the Czech bits they'd got in March 1939.

While a full discussion of their horrific rule is beyond the scope of this post, Karl Hermann Frank, born in what was then Carlsbad, would be placed in charge of the Nazi police apparatus in the protectorate. He would eventually become Minister of State, the most powerful official in it and in these roles would play a primary role in the mass murder of the Jewish population in the Protectorate. He would also give the orders to destroy Lidice and Ležáky, murdering nearly all their inhabitants, in reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1942.

Karlovy Vary would play host to a Gestapo prison; I imagine the town also saw some use by soldiers on leave.

Karlovy Vary was out of the effective range of Allied bombers for much of the war but came under heavy bombing twice in the final months of the conflict; bombers heading for Dresden in February 1945 appear to have also bombed Karlovy Vary (and Prague) by mistake. The town was heavily damaged, but the spa part escaped destruction.

Karlovy Vary was part of an agreed stop line for George S. Patton's Twelfth Army Group in May 1945 as they raced east. They met some resistance as they approached (namely the dangerous 88mm guns that had to be taken out individually), but the town surrendered without a fight on 7 May 1945; German forces there just wanting to surrender to the Americans and not the Red Army, who would treat them much worse.

However, it had already been agreed that this would be an area under Soviet occupation and Patton's forces had to cross back over the restored border into Germany, handing the place over on 11 May.

The Czechoslovakian-government-in-exile had declared its German and Hungarian minorities collectively responsible for the occupation. The Allies at the Potsdam Conference agreed that Germans east of their new borders should be transferred in an orderly fashion to Germany i.e. expelled.

It would be anything but orderly. Many had already fled west to get away from the Soviets, either in organised evacuations or on their own initiative, the later continuing after the surrender. At least 100,000 civilians died in this flight from aerial attack or other causes, such as the atrocious winter of 1944-45.

Now, Czechoslovakia would kick out nearly all the rest. Germans and Hungarians had their land seized, their citizenships revoked and were sent west or north; around 1.3 million and 800,000 respectively.

Mobs and those in uniforms engaged in massacres with varying degrees of official connivance; with the harsh conditions of the expulsion as well, it is estimated by a joint German-Czech commission that 15,000 to 16,000 died, along with another 3,400 suicides.

Others ended up in internment camps, also with harsh conditions.

Those who could prove they were anti-fascists or who were essential for the economy, a number estimated up to 250,000, were allowed to stay. In other cases, Communist Party redistributed assets to Czechs in the border areas, getting a lot of support in post-war elections as a result.

The expulsion/deportation remains something of an elephant in the room in the now three countries - it was historically a much bigger issue. West Germany paid compensation to those thrown out from its own funds and the international community concluded that Czechoslovakia taking their assets meant that no reparations needed paying. A Czechoslovak law granting immunity for crimes committed in 1945 in the name of liberation remains in force. A joint agreement in 1997 saw Germany accept responsibility for Nazi crimes and Czechia express regret for the deaths in the expulsions; various attempts at reconciliation have happened. The surviving Sudeten Germans do not want their land back in general, just official recognition.

The events have come up from time to time in the politics of the area, but I shall leave that discussion for others to have.

In the aftermath, the Czechoslovaks also conducted war crimes trials of those who had engaged in such horror upon their country. Karl Hermann Frank, captured by the Americans the day after the war ended, was extradited back to Czechoslovakia, and sentenced to death by the People's Court in Prague. On 22 May 1946, he was executed in front of 5,000 people in the courtyard of Pankrác prison; it was a ticketed event with "scalpers" to boot in what would be the final public execution in Prague. It was also photographed and filmed for the media; the footage can be found easily online, so you may not want to look this up. Especially as the method of hanging was the Austro-Hungarian pole method, not a pleasant way to go.

The Communists, starting to lose popularity, sized power in a coup in 1948 and created a Soviet-aligned state.

The Grandhotel Pupp had already been nationalised, the Pupp family having been expelled and was renamed the Grandhotel Moskva in 1951.

The Karlovy Vary Film Festival began in 1946 and quickly became prominent after it introduced an international film competition two years later, by 1956, it was a top-tier festival, up there with the likes of Venice and Cannes. Moscow got jealous and forced the festival to go from annually to bi-annually; it alternated with the festival in the Soviet capital until 1993.

The need for "hard currency" such as the West German mark to be used to pay for imports into the CSSR meant Karlovy Vary continued to market itself to foreign tourists, especially West Germans. The erection of the Iron Curtain made travel to and from Czechoslovakia a lot harder, as you now needed a visa to go there from the West; there was also a mandatory foreign exchange requirement, although paying for the hotel could cover that. East Germans, who could travel to Czechoslovakia without the need for a visa, seem to have found Karlovy Vary too expensive and went to other spa towns. In any event, the Soviet invasion of 1968 that ended the Prague Spring damaged visitor numbers further, not to mention destroying the credibility of much of the Eurocommunist movement, who mostly parted company with Moscow in short order.

As for the Imperial Spa, built in 1895 and known as Spa I since 1922, it had been renovated in the late 1940s so it could operate all-year round and declared a cultural monument. However, increasing maintenance costs meant it stopped operating as a spa in the late 1980s, becoming a casino, falling further into disrepair.

Things, however, were about to improve. The Velvet Revolution of 1989 saw the largelyFilm/TheMummy1999 peaceful end of the Communist government (a lot of people were beaten up by security forces, but no-one died, although a hoax story of a death played a key part) and Czechoslovakia's return to democracy. It became two democracies in short order; it became clear that the Czechs and Slovaks had different ideas of the direction of travel for their country, so the Velvet Divorce followed in 1993, creating Czechia and Slovakia. Both countries would maintain good relationships with each other and join the EU together in the 2004; Czechia retains the koruna, having not yet joined the eurozone.

In 1990, Karlovy Vary got city status as the tourists came back. The Grandhotel Pupp got its name back - a deal being reached with the family in 1992 for use of the trademark. The film festival returned to being an annual event, only being skipped in 2020 for obvious reasons, although a shorter festival happened in November. In 2024, the Crystal Globe was won by A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things, a British documentary on an abstract artist called Wilhelmina Barns-Graham.

The Imperial Spa was declared a national monument in 2010 and a renovation began in 2019, allowing the place to fully reopen in 2023.

I think that's a good place to end it. I am now thinking of going there myself...

[lgcbk]

⸻ HOME.

He never understood the fascination with pears.

They were expensive. Bland. But they were his father's favorite, and for once that's something that mattered.

Something had come over him this year. Something that made him hop out of bed, shower, and put on clothes that not only passed the tried and true sniff test - but were freshly washed. Pressed ( Yes, everyone is shocked that he not only owns an iron but knows how to use one properly ). He even put on that tie his mother got him for his birthday one year. Sure, it was one of his father's old hand-me-downs. But it was good quality. Some brand he couldn't pronounce. Everyone at the company wears them, he was told. That counted for something.

Maybe she thought if he wore it long enough he'd finally get a job that required one. A uniform of a real profession. One that actually paid well. One they could brag about to all their friends at after work gatherings, company parties, award ceremonies... Unfortunately that was and never would be the case. But hey, if he was going to continue to be such a burden ( financial or otherwise ), the least he could do was make sure he didn't visit empty handed. So, pears.

His third attempt at entering the door's passcode has his thumb puncturing a hole through the plastic protecting the case of fruit, cursing under his breath as he fishes his phone out of the back pocket of his slacks. He imagined his father was still spending most of the holiday holed up in his home office, while his mother ignored the grumbling in the hall from the couch, glass of wine in hand.

He tries her cell first, brows furrowing when she doesn't answer on the second ring ( one ring to cover her shock at the sight of his contact name, the second to ponder whether she was willing to answer or not ). His tries his father's personal phone next, his relief outweighing the confusion at the sound of his mother's voice. 'Your father's on a conference call, what is it?'

"You didn't answer."

'My phone is charging.'

"Right... I'm outside."

'Outside?'

"Yeah. Code's not working. You changed it again?"

His mother's quiet swear mimics his own and he's certain she's pinching the bridge of her nose. 'Your grandfather. He made two visits last month. That's your father's doing.'

"He knows he's just going to guess it again, right? What's the point... Oh, did you give him my gift? The jersey? His birthday was last w - "

'That's what that was for? It's probably in your room with the rest of the boxes. We haven't had time to sort out everything just yet... But, can you come another time? We're not home right now.'

No, shi - "I know. I was just - I thought that - ...I can come back later. When will you be - ?"

'We're at the airport, Byeongkwan.'

"Airport?" he repeats, quirking a brow as he turns to lean against the doorframe. "I didn't know you went on a trip... Well, I have three days off, I can just come back tomorrow if you need a day to unp -"

'No. We just got to the airport. We're leaving in an hour. For the expansion? Don't you remember? We're going to be in Prague for two weeks.'

"What? Prague? Like... Like Europe?! Why - But it's Ch - " They don't care. He knows they don't care. He shouldn't have cared either.

'...We didn't think you'd be coming home.'

"I didn't either."

A placid silence settles between them. His mother doesn't know what else to say, but she never does. And Byeongkwan doesn't want to start a fight. He doesn't want to hear how he's so inconsiderate for forgetting such an important milestone for his father - again. How he should've called weeks ago to congratulate him on the promotion that got him his fancy trip in the first place. 'Ah, he's coming back now. I'll ask for the code and y -'

"Enjoy your trip."

He was sitting on the ground now, watching his phone slide across the hall to rest against against a neighbor's door. He could hear the family inside. If he remembered correctly there were four that resided there. Mom, dad, older brother, younger brother. The eldest wanted to be a rapper like him. Used to think he was cool. He wonders how they were spending the holiday. He wonders if their father liked pears, too.

He tears into the package, destroys the decorative wrapping, and takes a bite of one. Expensive. Bland. And a little brown on one side.

He never understood his father's fascination with pears.

He always fucking hated them.

[redwineconversation]

Welcome, Ghosts (Slavia Prague - Olympique Lyonnais Postgame Thoughts)

"No, we haven't forgotten. We think of it as motivation."

That's what Danielle van de Donk said in the postgame interview when asked if the loss against Chelsea has been pushed aside.

I called it at the time. I said it would keep them up at night, bring back the insomnia they both hate so much and yet crave at the time. They're better like this, angry and bitter and desperate to satisfy their bloodlust. They need something to get angry about because that allows them to reveal their true nature.

They're better for it, really, when they're pissed off. They see more clearly. Their passing is crisper, faster. The goals are more clinical. The defense is cleaner. In a weird way that maybe monsters only truly understand, the only way this team can be truly happy if when they have a blow torch in their hands and the world is starting to shrink back in fear. Monsters recognize monsters, after all.

You can argue that Slavia Prague doesn't have the same pedigree as Lyon and therefore the score is misleading. Sure, I will give you that. I'm not sure any alleged fan of WoSo would be able to cite a player from Slavia Prague without googling it first. But, you only beat the team that's in front of you. You have to play the team, not the club, or else you have to admit the consequences. Wendie Renard said as much in the pregame press conference.

And it's not like Slavia Prague is a bad team. They're honestly not. I think a lot of the pearl clutching is unwarranted because it was based on the false equivalency of "if I have not heard of this team or league then it must be bad." Slavia Prague had won all of their league games coming into this game. Slavia Prague had a considerable number of Czech international players on their team. Slavia Prague had also a history of playing in the Champions League.

if you want to talk about Lyon's "easy" group, then talk about what made it happen. Talk about Arsenal treating the qualifying game like a preseason game against a farmer's league team and how they got their ass handed to them. Talk about Wolfsburg not knowing better when they really should have. If those two teams aren't in the group stages, it's because they rolled up and thought a team WoSo had to google - and even then did so incorrectly - and thought that team would blink. They were sloppy, they were careless, and that's why Lyon is booking flights to Norway and Austria instead of England and Germany.

But this isn't about hubris.

This is about a vexed, vengeful benefactor having given in to their blood lust and not particularly caring anymore about being reformed.

This is Lyon, really. A monster in search of satisfying their bloodlust simply because they were wrong a year ago. This is Lyon without the restraints caused by crippling injuries. This is who they are underneath all the pretenses: a team of vexed players who are annoyed people are no longer bowing in front of this ruthless killing machine.

I'm not sure when, exactly, the game was won. 3-0, probably. 4-0 for sure. But Lyon scored more because they could, because this is who they are, really: vexed, vengeful, wronged, they wanted the world to know payments are finally due. Debts must be paid, and Lyon doesn't particularly care who they have to ruthlessly dismantle for that to happen. Bow down or feel the consequences. For Lyon, it's that simple.

It wasn't a perfect performance - Hegerberg was sloppy at best, the kindest thing I can say about Becho is that she completed passes - and I think that's important to really emphasize. Not all 11 players played a perfect game the way they did against Barcelona in May 2022. But we saw the old Lyon, really, the one who made people uncomfortable. A lot of the players were "good" simply because they were playing the way Lyon is when dangerous: happy, carefree, and with a score to settle.

It's early in the season. it's so, so early, and so much can change. November 14, 2023 does not tell us anything about how things will look in May 2024. But what it does tell us is how things could go. We know what Lyon is capable of now, of what their intentions are.

May 2024 is so far away. There are so many games to be played between now and then, so, so many things can - and probably will - go wrong. But we have something in the meantime: a vexed, vengeful monster coming in from the rain, with their dark eyes, looking like themselves again.

I'm not ashamed to admit it: I missed my ruthless killing machine. Welcome back. I love the color red on you, let's see what we can do with that.

[vbartilucci]

5,000-year-old ‘transgender’ skeleton discovered

The male skeleton was found in a suburb of Prague and is buried in a manner previously only seen for female burials.

The body is believed to date from between 2900 and 2500BC and is from the Corded Ware culture of the Copper Age.

Men’s bodies from that age and culture are usually found buried with their heads towards the west and with weapons.

But this skeleton was found with its head towards the east and was surrounded by domestic jugs – as women’s bodies from the time are usually found.

At a press conference in Prague yesterday, archaeologists theorised that the person may have been transgender or ‘third sex’.

As a complete aside, look at the magnificent Easter egg PinkNews buried in their page code when you highlight multiple paragraphs...

IT HIGHLIGHTS IN PRODE FLAG COLORS.

[head-post]

Child trafficking in Czech Republic difficult to solve, victims don’t trust police

Prague used to have a reputation as the “Bangkok of Europe”, where foreigners came in search of illicit entertainment with children. The situation has already changed, but child trafficking remains a real threat, Czech media reported.

Jaroslav Hrabal, an expert on crimes against children, said that about a dozen cases are reported each year, despite this, the problem remains low profile due to victims’ mistrust of the police and society at large. The Interior Ministry recently launched an information campaign to draw attention to the problem.

The Ministry, together with the police and non-profit organisations, announced the launch of the website www.obchodsdetmi.cz to coincide with the European Anti-Trafficking Day (18 October). At a press conference, Interior Ministry spokesman Michal Barborzyk said the study revealed a significant hidden danger of child trafficking in Europe, including in the Czech Republic.

Sexual exploitation and hidden crimes

In recent years, the Czech Republic has recorded about ten cases of child trafficking per year, with 15 cases in 2023. Most of them are related to sexual exploitation, although most often they are individual cases not linked to organised criminal groups. The most such incidents are recorded in the Usteck region, where the victims are underage girls from poor families or young people who have run away from orphanages.

However, Barborzyk emphasised that any family, regardless of social or economic status, can face the threat of exploitation. The difficulty is that many victims refuse to co-operate with the police because they do not trust law enforcement or are afraid of publicity.

One of the main difficulties in combating child trafficking is the latency of the offences. Many victims are either afraid or unwilling to report. Sometimes the perpetrators are loved ones, which makes the situation even more painful. Hrabal notes that in some cases, children volunteer to be exploited for easy money and also involve their friends. This puts them in the dual position of being both victims and accomplices.

Ukrainian refugees and new challenges

According to Markéta Hronkova, director of La Strada, a non-profit organisation dealing with human trafficking, the Czech Republic’s child protection system is not prepared for modern challenges, including the influx of Ukrainian refugees. Many of them are victims of labour exploitation, working without pay or in inhumane conditions. On a smaller scale, there are cases of children forced to beg or commit petty theft.

The objective of the information campaign is to raise public awareness and draw attention to this hidden problem, as well as to establish a dialogue between victims and authorities.

Earlier, the media reported on Ukrainian refugees’ problems in Europe. French authorities started evicting Ukrainian refugees from housing provided to them two years ago for free in October. Last week, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner proposed revising the legal status for refugees from Ukraine in an attempt to save money.

The National Social Service of Ukraine reported in August that 430 children were taken away from Ukrainian families in European countries.

The mass media earlier wrote about the involvement of Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in the trafficking of Ukrainian children. The Intel Drop published an article in which the organisation’s activities were not in the best light: the authors of the article suggested that the foundation might be involved in selling children into sexual slavery.

Read more HERE

[mamed24]

Microplastics - the silent killer of the planet and hope for salvation from ALLATRA

The world is choking on plastic. It is everywhere: in the air, water, soil, even in our bodies. Microplastics, the invisible enemy, are reaching into the farthest corners of the planet, from the tops of mountains to the depths of the ocean.

The ocean, our climate regulator, has become a “thermal blanket,” unable to dissipate excess heat into space.  Microplastics, with their high heat capacity, trap heat in the water, exacerbating global warming and the devastating effects of climate change.  Hurricanes are getting stronger, weather events are becoming unpredictable, and the planet is on the brink of disaster.

But there is a solution!  ALLATRA volunteers presented a documentary about atmospheric water technology to the public on May 11, 2024 at the international conference “ALLATRA CLIMATE CRISIS EVENT” at the Lucerne Palace in Prague. This technology has the potential to solve the world's global water crisis, clean up microplastics in the oceans and significantly improve the planet's ecology.

In addition to solving water shortages, the atmospheric water technology provided by ALLATRA volunteers in the documentary can be used to clean microplastics from the air, a key step towards restoring climate balance.  The technology of drawing water from the atmosphere and its mass adoption will not only provide everyone with unlimited clean drinking water, but will also partially stabilize and slow the growth of cataclysms, allowing scientists to buy time to stop cataclysms and preserve the Earth for generations to come.

The film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HG7kTGBIfo presents a clear plan for this advanced technology to be studied in detail and implemented by experts. This worldwide project is one of the main puzzles of saving the world.

ALLATRA volunteers don't just talk about problems, they offer concrete solutions that can change the world.  All this gives hope that the planet can be saved from the catastrophe caused by microplastics and climate change.

More information:

The press release of the event “ALLATRA CLIMATIC CRISIS” was published on the American Media Platform.

A large number of participants of the Creative Society Project also attended the event and acted as speakers.

You can watch the movie Water from the Air on the ALLATRA International Internet Television channel.

Water From Air: The Path to Saving Humanity | Popular Science Film - YouTube

Water from Air: The Path to Saving Humanity | Popular Science Film (allatra.tv)

Creative Society (rumble.com)

https://allatra.tv/en

If you liked the article, please applaud, like, repost and comment.

#microplastics #climate #ALLATRA #technology #water #purification #environment #future #planet #hope

[allaten24]

ALLATRA SUMMIT: We've set a precedent that has a very big opportunity

The ALLATRA CLIMATE CRISIS EVENT Summit was held in PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC. The international conference was held on May 11, 2024, at the Prague Lucerna Palace, a national cultural monument of the Czech Republic. The summit attracted guests from 35 countries in the Americas, the European Union, Asia and Africa. Participants included representatives of various expert groups, academia and the media.

As the esteemed Dr. Egon Cholakian, a U.S. national security expert and federal lobbyist who attended the event as part of his visit to Europe, said at the Summit, “Friends, you are in the heart of a national security issue. It's climate change." 

Independent climate change expert Taliy Shkurupiy (USA) at the “ ALLATRA CLIMATE CRISIS EVENT” SAMMIT said: “we don't even have 10 years and this is unfortunately our reality”.

Dr. John Ahn (USA), an expert in the development of new technologies in energy, chemical processes and natural sciences said at the ALLATRA CLIMATE CRISIS EVENT Summit: “The X factor is the additional heat caused by the rise of

magma is a cyclical process triggered by external cosmic forcing every 12,000 years, and our planet is already in that cycle this year, 2024." 

Independent climate change expert Talia Shkurupii (USA) bluntly stated that: “we understand exactly why this is happening and we understand that there is an anthropogenic factor behind it pollution of the ocean with microplastics this is causing the ocean to heat up much faster we need to bring scientists together and create a unified science center and really start working on solving this problem” 

U.S. intelligence expert at the ALLATRA Summit in Prague, Czech Republic Dr. Egon Cholakian said, “because climate is our #1 enemy, forget about tomorrow, the enemy is here today.”

It is very inspiring to hear the message that ends the official trailer of the ALLATRA CLIMATE CRISIS EVENT: 

We want to live.

                                                           Do you? 

      We have set a precedent that has great possibilities. 

                                    The future of the Earth depends on us. 

                              Look. Speak up, act! 

                                       ALLATRA CLIMATE SUMMIT 

The press release of the event “ALLATRA CLIMATIC CRISIS” was published on the American media platform https://www.einpresswire.com/.

A large number of participants of the Creative Society project, which is a partner project of ALLATRA, were also present and spoke at the event. Creative Society has largely taken ALLATRA's long-standing climate analytics and developed it. The projects work together to solve the climate problem.

ALLATRA Climate Crisis Summit. Official Trailer

Subscribe to the partner channel 

#Summit   #ClimateAction #ClimateEmergency #Sustainability #GlobalCrisis #FutureGeneration #ALLATRA 

[easylingoesdotcom]

https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3870094-blinken-confirms-permission-for-ukraine-to-use-american-weapons-in-russia.html U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has officially confirmed that President Joe Biden has given Ukraine permission to strike military targets inside Russia with American weapons. He said this at a press conference in Prague on Friday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. “Over the past few weeks, Ukraine came to us and asked for … 英语：布林肯确认允许乌克兰在俄罗斯境内使用美国武器 Read More »

[mariacallous]

V4 REALITY: TUSK AND FIALA SHOUTED AT ORBÁN WHILE FICO SAT IN SILENCE

This is exactly how the Visegrád Group prime ministers’ meeting in Prague on February 27 was described to me by two government-connected Czech sources with knowledge of the discussion: “It was very wild,” one of them said. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala previously had made it clear that no meeting would be possible unless Hungary approved Sweden’s NATO membership – which eventually happened, but only the day before the Prague meeting. After a long period without PM-level meetings and Visegrád cooperation openly deteriorating, the prime ministers wanted to clear the air and have an unfiltered discussion – hence they didn’t let any staffers join them, according to my sources. It was just the four leaders in the room, and their discussion went on for almost an hour longer than was scheduled. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Fiala questioned Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Russia policy, asking why he is trying to block and hinder EU support for Ukraine. According to my sources, the debate was so heated that they were actually shouting at each other. The most revealing part of the scene was, however, that Slovak prime minister Robert Fico, who himself pedals the same anti-Ukrainian narratives and claims to play second fiddle to Orbán, simply sat there in silence instead of trying to help him out. (As I described in a previous newsletter, Fico’s attitude is pro-Russian in the streets and pro-Western in the meet(ing)s.) In the end, the joint press conference had to be delayed and the leaders of the Visegrád Group countries all came out looking visibly tense.

WHY KEEP VISEGRÁD ALIVE? TO PRESSURE THE HUNGARIANS AND SLOVAKS

Just after the PMs’ meeting, speakers from the various Visegrád Group parliaments also met in Prague. The event’s host, Czech Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Markéta Pekarová Adamová, also invited President of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk, turning the meeting into a V4+Ukraine format – making it even more uncomfortable for her Slovak and Hungarian counterparts to hold their anti-Ukrainian line during the meeting. “The Czech thinking is that the V4 formats still make sense and are good to pressure and confront Slovakia and Hungary,” a Czech source familiar with the meeting told me. “The numerical superiority also helps. Poland and the Czech Republic have a two-chamber parliament, while Hungary and Slovakia only have a one-chamber parliament, so it’s four against two, and this time, together with Ukraine, it was five against two,” the source added. While this meeting was much calmer than the one in which prime ministers screamed at each other, there was still a clash over support for Ukraine. According to my source, Pekarová Adamová made a witty offer to Hungarian Deputy Speaker Csaba Hende and Slovak Speaker Peter Pellegrini. She said that if their countries don’t want to provide direct funding for Ukraine to buy weapons, they could simply just give that money to the Czech Republic — which would in turn buy the weapons for them. “Pellegrini of course was more moderate than Fico, he just repeated the usual ‘we want peace’ narrative and that it makes no sense to give military support to Ukraine. Otherwise, he behaved nicely,” the source said.

[dbunicorn]

I love travelling. Sometimes forced proximity with fucking morons is a little too much. Body odor, nail chewers, scum with daughters, socially inept assholes, rude, self absorbed obnoxious asses.really make me wonder if we should require licenses to breed.

Some men are soooo vile. It's like they are culturally a 100 years behind the curve. Like a socially retarded clusterfuck from Vienna to Prague. No one thinks you're here for the culture.

Most likely to use a child/woman as a human shield. Some men have such a stench. It's the worst energy.

'be competent' is not in the DNA. You are absolutely a burden. There are so many of you entitled pigs.