World

  • Pastimes are not always in good company

    There are statisticians that are concerned about the size of world populations and what they each spend their time doing. This isn’t a matter of so-called “Doomscrolling” (which is an offensive term) or social media (offensive to some, I guess) but a matter of the human mind and Internet connectivity.

    In one American state it was found crime increased exponentially by 300% as broadband connections were installed at an increasing rate. In this case it happened to be harassment that was the biggest result of people’s endeavours online. There were even muted local talks about banning online message boards.

    A graphic
    A graphic illustrating people on an island and themes of taking time and spending time (Credit: xAI Grok/Original prompt).

    The existence of small places is often a concern of travel agents and holidaymakers, but the worry is that relatively sizeable people groups without much economic activity to engage them are ‘hard wired’ with each other to engage in potentially deconstructive activities, with costly manifest effects.

    The network needed to stop the sizeable onslaught of groups making inroads on our lives and culture is expensive. It’s been suggested that the UK can establish one as a ‘fix’ in our present state of affairs, but this requires support for data centres and energy usage. However, the relief for our nations could outmatch any short term, high outlay.

  • Iran weaponises a moment to critique America

    The Supreme Leader of Iran has taken an opportunity to seek peace to renew his nations resistance to the American sphere of influence in the Middle East. It’s now clear that public statements from Khamenei are moments for reflection on their antipathy toward the West rather than any peace efforts.

    An excerpt of a statement
    An excerpt of a statement by Iran’s Supreme Leader according to a release on an official X account (Credit: @MKhamenei_ir/X).

    The concern now is that Iran will back any movement against American citizens by terrorism or any other means on their own soil. This cannot be ignored at this stage. Any 9/11 style attack on its financial system or its public infrastructure could destabilise the world’s only superpower, leading to more difficulties for all of us.

  • Int. bodies pursue simple aims

    The UN and the EU both loom large on our respective horizons as international bodies. They epitomise a single goal which suggests the best intention to act on a backdrop of ongoing problems that are apparent in human societies.

    A graphic
    A graphic to illustrate the purposes of the UN and the EU respectively (Credit: xAI Grok/Original prompt).

    However, while these pursue such noble theories they encounter detractors at every level. It’s been found their work is sometimes not compatible with the existence or motives of others. This can create conflict but it usually entails a separateness of parts.

    The joining moment of one member can lead to assumptions about the trajectory of the overall project, and doubts are raised for those that dissent. This is natural conjecture but doesn’t reflect the reality as it unfolds for some partners.

  • Military authorities form a basis of the modern era

    The UN, the EU, and even the UK have a strategic advantage in the world. It’s the benefit of being a military authority, a structure that is no one but involves more than the ‘someone’ of mistakes of yesteryear.

    The UK is not included in the UN’s list of reasons why, but the EU involves us in its reasoning. The UN is not to the scope or size of a target for the UK, but the EU is. The EU has a will of its own that the UN will not understand, but the world is known by the UN completely.

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    A graphic showing possible similarities and differences between the UN, EU, and the UK (Image/Credit: OpenAI ChatGPT).

    These are major lines in international politics that indicate the usefulness of binding ourselves together in some way to keep advantage off the agenda of known aggressors. While the enemy may or may not be a country, many help such unwieldy forces to have control over us.

    The investment of time in institutions has proved itself for benefactors over a long period. The World Wars cannot be ignored as precursors to a depth of will to catch hold of a promise of a better future. Many have tried and failed to break the world, while now we try to keep it whole.

    *A change was made to include a graphic.

  • Russia’s mania is to set its sights on us

    We’re not an obvious enemy to the Russian elite, and so their antipathy toward us is derived out of their extensive study of themselves and the differences they’ve got with other people. They also like to believe we haven’t influenced a single thing about modern Russia, and that historically, they have a strong line of successive thought. They also feel satisfied that attempts to do so before have only led to the Russification of the individual and assimilation of the person into their way of life.

    Alexander Dugin is a case in point for the argument that philosophers of that heritage have little more to say once they’ve got a grip of the Russian way of seeing things, and also saying it in a characteristic way. Dugin, for example, laments the history of the West as if it’s layered sediment, showing only the passage of time and the violence caked within. In a recent post to Substack, he thinks along these lines as he says religion cracked under the pressure of a form of secularism that made it give way.

    “The Christianity in the West is just a phantom pain. It was obliterated long long ago with the Modernity based on the materialist science, atheism, individualism, democracy and capitalism. The Modernity has transformed the West into non-Christian anti- Christian civilisation.

    [-] The U.S. is in the hand of cruel madman. EU is the junta of deranged pervert globalists. Pro-Western leaders are clowns, crazy and pathetic maniacs. The collective portrait of the actual West is really total disaster. Nothing attractive. Repulsive. And the future promises worse.”

    – Alexander Dugin/Substack

    His opinion matches the position of many in his own country’s academic elite who hold their state of affairs to be an assortment of riches and ours as constantly lost to time itself. We need their perspective, and could even benefit from their sense of nostalgia, if only we could breathe the same air as they. The buildup of the same thing into something even more is of course a confusion of the present reality, but Dugin and his graduates are satisfied they don’t need to go anywhere, and are settled in thinking in this way.

  • America expects a new world order to snap into place

    The hooha over Iran’s leader falling, only to be replaced by a new one, is jaded in the international scene by an insistence that free countries get behind America as soon as the order is given.

    It’s obvious in halls of power across Europe that Ali Khamenei had to be confronted at some point, liked only perhaps in his own country, and yet hated to increasing degrees elsewhere.

    The despotic way of thinking that had come to define his rule, and intrusive way of being alongside a political elite not prone to being assertive, didn’t win friends but alienated people.

    This is the argument for his demise, and against his continuation as a problem in everyone’s eyes.

    But America has a mentality that says we must rally behind its every move, seeking a new world order at every turn, and that it’s only a matter of time before every domino falls.

    There’s less enthusiasm for this than is believed in the White House, where internals are ignored at the altar of ultimate victory. European leaders see dark skies ahead, but not just for the reason America has in mind, and with worries that are different in kind to theirs.

  • China is taking the bull by the horns

    China has a fast growing economy and its ambitions are enlarging to encompass other goals that its leaders have in mind. Such aims are local to the initiative of its ruling state party, the Chinese Communist Party, and seeks to fulfil – or satisfy – its goals only. This alone puts other world leaders on edge, first because it’s a big plan, and second, it promises to prosper China even further.

    A spokesperson for Hong Kong business and other Chinese enterprise speaking on a new development in the regions prospects (Source: CGTN/YouTube).

    The driving force of these efforts is the evolution of a political dogma that it won’t detract from, and so this is its formidable impression that others pick up on. The reality of business there is different to here, I’m told, and it’s not just about the cultural aspects. It’s the detail of how everything is done and how it must be incorporated to fit the wishes of the people at the top.

  • Westminster Week: Foreign affairs

    Tuesday

    The Foreign Secretary says UK citizens in the Middle East are at threat from Iran aggression. Her concern is based in her duties, and she says she speaks to contacts in the region in her job.

    In the absence of the Ayatollah, Priti Patel MP (Witham/Conservatives) says the Iran Revolutionary Guard (IRG) is still in need of a banning order in the UK. It’s Salman Rushdie all over again.

    Wednesday

    “The protection of UK nationals is our number one priority”, so says the Prime Minister, but we can’t help but think there’s more to play for in the Middle East than periods of instability for numbers of people scattered here and there.

  • Khamenei ruled by fear, making his progress by threats

    Iran isn’t freer until it’s free, and the absence of Ali Khamenei is not a guarantor of better times for those who feared and fled his charismatic, autocratic rule.

    His successor is not going to be far behind his way of doing things.

    Albeit international intervention may help, it’s not progress in Iranian terms because it says nothing new.

    The communication of truths or values has to be Persian, show respect for Islam, and be conducive to the public good.

    This cannot be said to be in the minds of Tehran’s ruling elite in the slightest.

    Their focus is as decided as a Conclave, producing certainties that Iranians have to live by. Their power is absolute, encroaching daily where it can get more ground.

    The results are seen in hardship, quarrelling, and low rates of growth in the economy. The setbacks are too much for many citizens.

    The fear spread by such rule has now long been a feeling deeply embedded in the life and soul of the nation.

    It will take further effort to clear a path for real Iranian freedom.

  • The tale of two cities is a compromising one

    The sudden emergence of Dubai onto the world scene is a story of our time in many ways. It’s a caution about the shrewd investment of Middle East decision-makers. It’s a warning about the enrichment process of other parts of the world. It’s a parable about the humility that’s needed to be a great example in the future.

    The twin, of course, is New York City and yet this one feels different. The promise – or expectation – is spread out across more than just the United Arab Emirates. The whole Muslim world is enraptured by this cityscape that is building itself out of foundations of hope and light.

    The cruel advantage much of New York City business is known for is not yet reflected in the open doors of the skyscraper megalith. In time to come this may develop but the rich culture starting to grow in its limits is a sign of more transparency and less guardedness in commerce. Trump epitomises this lack of ethic.

    The narrative is compromising for us because it teaches us the opposite of what we hear. We aren’t supposed to know that business goes well elsewhere. The truths are told to us in Western terms and concepts only. So, the word about Dubai is not comforting for the naysayers. They say it doesn’t ring true.

  • Pope Francis had a whipping influence on us

    The late Pope Francis had a whipping influence on us, providing a thematic set of ‘fatherly’ advice points that had no remit but to take us to task on many matters. He was a stern but serious figure who talked about all things. He gave us a direction to take in our thinking.

    So the question is what Pope Leo will say to us, the same people as before. Even as the wheels of the Catholic Church turned, we are still those too that are reached out to – Catholic or not – with messages of hope and redemption by him.

    It’s unlikely he will make any meaningful progress because most of the issues are already considered. It’s also true that his ‘staff’ need help modernising their approach, particularly in regard to begging off people in one-stop shots.

    Their worldwide approach is also flawed, because it turns over all crime every year, or so it’s said. This freakish ‘happening’ is now way too threatening to allow anymore. It falls far short of any sort of clerical conduct. We’re shocked.

  • Nuclear strike is an answer to a complex problem

    A nuclear strike is an answer to a complex problem and it’s an investment the UK had to undertake to safeguard itself. This is the modern step a friendly yet pragmatic Union of four nations takes to safeguard itself in a multipolar world.

    A graphic
    A graphic to illustrate the broad steps taken to assess a need for a nuclear strike on behalf of the UK.

    Yet the process is much more complex than the disagreements over its existence. The technicals involved mean it’s the most advanced system in the world. It doesn’t need to be complemented by any other type of technology. It stands alone as a highly intelligent piece of kit.

  • The world awaits funeral of Pope Francis

    After the death Pope Francis, preparations are being made for his funeral. It’s due on Saturday, and will mark the passing of a figure who sought to guide Catholics through contemporary troubles, and controversies.

    As the 266th Pope, he served as the head of the Roman Catholic Church. His leadership focused on issues affecting all Catholics. He made inroads in Europe, and further afield, helping to bring people to understand each other.