Arquivo para a ‘Economia’ Categoria
International Day of Friendship
30
Jul
The date of International Friendship Day was established by the
UN to remember solidarity between peoples, respect for diversity and I make a special repost of content from this blog in this regard:
The philosopher Plato defined friendship as “the reciprocal predisposition that makes
two beings equally jealous of each other’s happiness”, Augustine of Hippo affirmed that “being a friend merges us in the friendship of being; friends are one soul” and Aristotle seems to merge the two thoughts: “friendship is a soul with two bodies”.
It was Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics dedicated two books to the study of philia and friendship, who defined friendship in three types: for interest, that for pleasure, for interest and true friendship, the first is easy to identify because it is the pursuit of mutual pleasure, the second because they are useful to each other, and the third, it is possible between good men because they desire good for its own sake and do not place pleasure or interest above friendship.
In chapter IXI the Peripatetic philosopher states:
“Perhaps we can say that there is nothing strange about breaking a friendship based on interest or pleasure when our friends no longer possess the attributes of being useful and pleasant; in fact we were friends with those attributes, and when they disappear it is reasonable not to continue in love. ” (Aristotle, IX, 3, 1165b) .
In the chapter “The partner and the neighbor” of the book “History and Truth” by Paul Ricoeur he will talk about the difference between these relationships, he talks about charity: “Charity doesn’t need to be where it appears; it is also hidden in the humble and abstract post office, the social security; it is often the hidden part of the social”, Paul Ricoeur, Le socius et le Prochain (1954).
We are reminded by the philosopher that just as institutions can only have corporate relationships, they can also have interpersonal relationships, of affection and solidarity and that make them less cold and less bureaucratic, where one sees not a client or a service more, but a neighbor in which one may be interested.
It is not by chance that it is a chapter of History and Truth, because the truth is only established between true and close friends, and if they are partners, it will only be to be closer.
The Twinkl website referenced this post in function of this date, thanks for the reminder.
Imbalance and false treasures
28
Jul
It is food and public goods (water, energy and sanitation) that
are the real basic inputs of the population, but it is what you see little in advertisements, they show riches that are accessible to few and only remember the real ones at election time.
Talking about hunger has already been the slogan of many elections, all over the world, but the conditions that are sustainable for this are little or almost never understood, and they depend on a greater balance of world markets and guarantees of imports and exports of basic inputs, including for health.
Economic crises, basically, is an imbalance between the production and distribution of essential goods and consumption, and they arise in isolated sectors of the economy, it is not necessary that there is a shortage of various goods, it is a cascading imbalance and capital and stock exchanges are more reflections than origin of these crises, which include wars and revolutions.
Also natural factors can influence (droughts, floods, epidemics or some major event like an earthquake or an atomic crisis that is now possible).
Thus, the real treasures must be those that lead humanity to greater balance and sustainability, including care for nature, as the production of food, energy and even less essential consumer goods depend on it.
The real treasures like this, even if we only think of the earthly, forgetting about the spiritual ones that give us comfort and true joy, are those that provide a greater civilizing understanding, tolerance between races and cultures, and those that include the spiritual plane.
The growing culture of individualism, hatred (of different types), the accumulation of goods as a symbol of happiness, consumption even of the human body and mind lead to the opposite path of those who want to build real treasures.
Illusions pass, the moth consumes, time rusts or rots, but what remains is essential and a true spiritual asceticism depends on it, a good that glimpses future generations, and for those who believe, eternity.
So the current crisis is at its base a crisis of thought, of ethical and solidary values, of mutual respect and of a clarity about what it means to build true
Our daily bread
27
Jul
I read last year that China told the people to stock up on food,
it seemed that it was due to the Pandemic, but at the end of the year that the Pandemic was already showing signs of retreat, the news remained, this time in greater prominence appearing on visible channels, such as CNN.
When the war in Ukraine started, it seemed something more evident, and the impact on the economy is great, because something called market commoditization occurs, that is, the main reference becomes various commodities, such as fertilizers, for example, that Russia is a major producer, in addition to food as stronger references than currencies.
To understand the war from the point of view of the market, we have already posted that the worst origin is xenophobia, which means the hatred fomented between peoples, let’s look at the world’s largest food producers, China was by far the world’s largest agricultural producer in 2020 , India is the second largest producer in terms of population, its production in 2020 was estimated at US$ 403.5 billion, followed by the United States.
Brazil and Russia follow closely behind what has ensured the significant increase and diversification of field production in recent decades, we have already posted (the previous post) the importance of Ukraine and the strangulation of these markets by war is a growing concern, which explains why For example, Russia’s interest in Black Sea ports and NATO now in the already admitted entry of Finland and Sweden into the bloc.
Drone spraying, the use of remote sensing and machines with sophisticated digital controls such as GPS and various sensors, increase the so-called digital agriculture, but this will not prevent countries with low production and dependent on exports from suffering.
It is already inevitable that poor countries dependent on food exports suffer, we have moved from the culture of solidarity to help them, to that of survival due to war, they are the invisible scourges of war, the poor peoples and populations of the planet.
War and famine
26
Jul
War is not just a dispute over markets and measuring “ideals”,
it is above all an atrocity on a scale, if murder is reprehensible why wouldn’t it be a war? during the Serbia/Bosnia war I asked a Serbian activist why she wanted to destroy Bosnia, she told me that they were historical factors that would be difficult to explain, but she said that her country was a “victim” of bombings that had no justification.
Such is hatred, intolerance and the absence of dialogue, often concealed with docile words to win public opinion, but every war has as its principle some atrocity, some unjustifiable hatred and some cultural intolerance (it can be of many types), not there is no other way to go back other than repentance (on both sides of course) and acknowledging that they chose the worst way, of course, and then sitting down at the table.
One of the consequences, already inevitable, even if there is an agreement for Ukraine’s grain exports, will be the lack of grains on the world market, as shown in the chart above, the country at war is responsible for 42% of sunflower oil in global exports. , 16% of corn, 10% of barley and 9% of wheat (2019 data, see graph) as Russia exports fertilizer and gas to Europe.
There was an agreement mediated by Turkey, but due to the war it is a fact that part of the production was lost and the price of food has already risen worldwide, the current crop will be exported, but little or nothing can be said about future crops, good part of the population left Ukraine, including in rural areas.
It is difficult for a process of regression, apparently throughout the world the confrontation and cultural and social hatred has spread, even among those who should proclaim peace.
Last week we explained the importance of friendship and empathy between men for a true spirituality, which can help civilization in this difficult process.
There is only one way, to change the climate of empathy, peace and solidarity among people, so that politicians and leaders who grow up around hatred may lose ground.
Covid in decline and WHO shifts focus
25
Jul
With the number of deaths above 200 in Brazil, Covid is still a
concern, since the number of cases has dropped below 50 thousand ‘which shows a downward trend, but care protocols and care with protocols are still necessary. .
The World Health Organization (WHO) in a document released this Friday (22/07) announced that a new global strategy to increase vaccine coverage against Covid-19, especially among the most vulnerable populations with comorbidities and advanced age, where aims to reach 100% vaccinated.
The strategy is correct because as the virus circulates, new variants may appear, and as it is very difficult to reach 100% of the population or to lockdown, it is an effective strategy.
Monkey smallpox represents a new concern, the number of cases is growing worldwide, and in Brazil there are already more than 600 cases, now with internal transmission, but the number of cases is increasing worldwide.
Transmission can occur either through close contact with injuries or through bodily fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials such as personal clothes and bedding, and according to health agencies, , between human beings in physical contact between close people who are symptomatic.
Precautions therefore must be to avoid contact with contaminated materials and close people who show symptoms.
Covid on the rise and missing protocols
27
Jun
Although the rhetoric is about the use of masks, distancing
and sanitizing alcohol gel, the ideal would be a serious policy of testing, in practice, the number of cases increases and there is no control.
The moving average of cases in Brazil is already the highest since March 11 when it recorded 46,895, now it stands at 46,137 with a daily total of 69,231, and with the number of deaths at 347, data from the 23rd because weekend data usually be incomplete, and we have also posted that the likely number is likely to be higher due to tests done in pharmacies and asymptomatic.
The number of deaths, with a variation of 8% in relation to 14 days ago, indicates a trend of stability, in total this indicates that despite the number of cases increasing the lethality is decreasing in percentage, so there is no increase in the lethality of the disease. current active strain.
The outlook is for milder weather until mid-July when a cold wave returns, it may indicate a less infectious period, if the trend continues at the end of July there may be a new high in the current wave, waiting for the new strains are no longer lethal.
According to the newsletter of the Fiocruz Genomic Network (Brazil), the BA.2 variant of the omicron is the dominant one with 63.3% of the samples between June 3 and 16 in Brazil, while the XQ variable (XAG*) appeared in 79 samples, which indicates already a mutation in progress.
The variant XQ was renamed XAG according to the revisions of the Pangolin lineage classification system, in the world there are about 100 lineages of the Omicron BA type.
According to the researchers, cases of reinfection by Sars CoV-2 occur frequently, due to the circulation of variants of concern (VOCs) and so care and protocols must be maintained, not just in rhetoric or on paper only.
Between the clearing and the dark
07
Jun
There must be effective forces fighting for peace, unfortunately a good
part of the western media is polarized and is incapable of making a sensible reflection on the horrors and folly of war, not because of ignorance of its effects, the two wars have already shown, but because of of childish and fanatical behavior on both sides.
The threat of closing embassies in Russia, the missiles already fired in North Korea, the war that is increasingly bloody in Ukraine, with heavier and more lethal weapons, is heightened by the media that goes Between the clearing and the dark
About embassies, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a joke (in bad taste in my view) of dedicating the song “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together”, by Taylor Swift, to Putin, meaning that they will never be completely separated. .
It is clear that Russia has turned to Eastern Europe and dreams of an enlarged Russian federation, while China has never stopped dreaming of Taiwan’s recovery, and North Korea can be another piece in this war that advances with “care” , but it seems to have a dark purpose.
The clearing, in the context in which it was developed by Heidegger, means an opening in the middle of the forest, in the middle of the darkness, where being must emerge, and what is appropriate for modernity is also appropriate for a moment of a world war seen in a horizon, because it is opposed to beings, economic, social and even political materialities, thus appears Being, life and its logic, its “lebenswelt”, as Husserl would say.
There is a shadow, or a darkness that runs through the minds of humanity, war does not seem to be what it is: a serious civilizational danger, the end of arguments and dialogues, the denial of the Other as a Being, of its culture and its options and convictions, and this is darkness.
The biblical reading says: if the salt becomes tasteless, with what will we salt it? It will be of no use to anything else, but to be thrown away and trampled underfoot by men (Mt 5:13), there must be light and wisdom.
Peace is always possible and desirable if we have tolerance and understanding with the Other.
Its possible a third World War
31
May
The limits for the 3rd. World War there is true.
For more than a month, data on deaths have not dropped and are again above 100 deaths per day in the moving average, while the moving average of known cases has already risen significantly in Brazil (see graph), although worldwide there is already a drop sensitive.
In 2011 Russia installed Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, former Russian exclave Konigsberg before the 2nd. War and then Stalingrad, this was part of their response to the American anti-missile shield. It is believed without concrete data that both sides have already strengthened each other.
At the other end of a possible war is China, which carries out exercises in the sea of Taiwan and in the last hours of yesterday it carried out air exercises as a show of force in response to the provocations of the Biden government, Taiwan reported 30 aircraft in the Air Defense Zone.
Japan, a probable American ally, has disputes with Russia over the Kuril Islands, taken in the second world war, and Japan, having lost the war, signed an agreement against its will.
Outside this conflict zone are Moldova, which has a region fighting for independence and an ally of the Russians, Transnisdria, while Sweden and Finland have already applied to join NATO, and there is a third piece of the war chess piece that is Turkey, which has an agreement with the Russians and does not want these countries to join NATO.
Yesterday the Netherlands stopped receiving Russian gas.
The war in Ukraine has the Severodonesk region as its bloodiest battlefront, an important road connecting Karkhiv is at stake and Zelensky was in the region, it is strategic to isolate Ukrainian troops, to the south there are battles near Odessa, the port of Ukraine after Mariupol was taken.
A 3rd. War would be a horror for the entire planet and it is questionable whether there will be winners.
Covid in global fall and new disease
23
May
The WHO announced a worldwide drop of 21% in world infections,
in Brazil it remains at a slight increase and is already worrying, but the biggest health concern is the emergence of monkeypox.
In the case of Covid 19 in Brazil, hygienic care and disease protocols are still needed.
The endemic started in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2016, there were also cases in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Central African Republic and Nigeria, which suffered the biggest recent outbreak, data indicate that a recent increase in incidence was the interruption of vaccination against the disease. smallpox in 1980, and now cases have appeared in Europe, with local infections and the first cases in the US.
A 26-year-old Brazilian who passed through Portugal and Spain, countries that already have several cases of infections, was diagnosed in Germany, is isolated in a clinic and has mild symptoms.
Clinical differentiation between monkeypox and smallpox and chickenpox (a hepervirus and not a pox virus) is difficult as medical reports, PCR (polymerase chain reaction) examination or electron microscopy are necessary to detect the infection, there is no safe treatment , however, the disease is not lethal, its rapid expansion in Europe is already a global health concern.
The treatment indicated is that of simian smallpox, supportive, data from cases in Africa indicate that the smallpox vaccine is effective in 85% of cases as the disease is linked to the smallpox virus.
The image posted above is courtesy of the Public Health Image Library of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (PHIL), American Prevention Center Image Library.
The Mapuche, ontology and peace
18
May
One of the most resilient native peoples of the colonization of the
Americas is the Mapuche people, there are more than a million people who study in the south of Chile and Argentina, and find themselves once again betrayed by governments that promise freedom to live as a nation and be respected.
But the truest interpretation, which refers to a kind of original ontology, is Mapúmche, which means all beings that inhabit the cosmos: living beings, trees, stones, water, wind, etc. it is likely that the arrival of the Spaniards reduced the word to Mapuche, which simply means peoples of the land.
I read with sadness that the new Boric government, which promised in a campaign to suspend restrictive measures in the region that receives the colonized name of “La Araucanía” (name given by the Spanish colonizers) has returned to be militarized because of claims to indigenous lands.
The Minister of the Interior, Izkia Siches, said when sending soldiers to the region: “We decided to make use of all the tools to provide security” to the region and the long saga of the Mapuche continues.
The Mapuche have always known that language unifies them, Western ontology says that language is the abode of being, and they rejected the name Araucanos, which resembles the Araucaria and transforms them into aboriginal peoples, also the exotic idea that Mapuche would be derived from the Greek, of a historian Kilapan Lonko, who wrote “El origen greco de los Araucanos”, a falsification of history.
Many Mapuche words entered the Chilean language, choclo (corn), huacho (illegitimate child), laucha (small mouse), quiltro (dog), ruca (house), etc. and a popular interpretation of mapuche is mapu (land), che (people in the sense of people), thus several places and cities in chile have the prefix hue: Carahue, Colhue, Pencahue and others.
The extract from the documentary “Los Araucanos”, entitled “Mapuches: idioma o mirror da alma” from 1978, which mistakenly calls them Araucanian peoples, shows the importance of the language that the Mapuche have always had, which refers to the ontology of the native peoples.
The historian and professor at the University of Chile, the Mapuche Rodrigo Huenchún, also explains that culture has been increasingly appropriated as a political manifestation since the Pinochet dictatorship. Elisa Loncon and many others.
The recognition of the culture of peoples, if its original roots are at the root of true peace, this is the drama of modern man, of forgetting being, his experiences and his roots.
