Arquivo para a ‘Jornais on-line’ Categoria
COP20 and geopolitics
18
Nov
The topic will not be touched upon directly, as
Arab countries such as Egypt and Turkey are taking part in the conference and Russia will be present through Foreign Minister Serguei Lavrov.
Brazil is hosting the conference, which is expected to last until Monday. The G20 or Group of 20 was formed with an economic purpose after the successive financial crises of the 1990s. In 1999, finance ministers and heads of central banks from the 19 largest economies in the world, plus the African Union and the European Union, aimed to create a strong economic group that would coordinate global actions in the economy.
These countries account for 90% of the world’s GDP and 80% of world trade (including intra-EU trade) and two thirds of the world’s population. We would expect something of great economic interest, but issues such as gender options and geopolitics (indirectly the topic will be touched on) should be avoided and, as in previous editions, the climate should be the big topic, but there is an expectation that the topic of taxing large fortunes will be taken forward.
The basic text is already being drafted behind the scenes and the final text is expected to be presented in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The meeting is important for peace, even if it is not the subject of the meeting, but the talks between the leaders and ministers of these countries will improve relations.
Meanwhile, the war in Eastern Europe is taking on dramatic contours, the Ukrainian capital Kiev has been constantly attacked by drones and the United States has given Kiev permission to use long-range missiles that could hit targets inside Russia.
In the Middle East, Israel is expected to reach an agreement with Lebanon, but the bombings continue and Iran is not taking part in the negotiations, so Hezbollah remains at war.
It is hoped that in addition to the traditional issues of gas emissions and climate problems, COP20 will launch some kind of nod towards peace, given that Russia, China and the United States will be present at the conference.
In a new geopolitical scenario, the pax romana
11
Nov
During the election campaign Donald Trump said
he would find a solution to end the war “in one day”, his recent actions and speeches point to a Pax Romana (in the image Emperor Julius Caesar on campaign).
The Roman peace was considered to be when a nation submitted to the Roman Empire, and the conversations of the new president-elect (not yet sworn in) Donald Trump with Putin and Zelensky, as well as his speech on the Middle East, point in this direction.
According to the American newspaper the Washington Post on Sunday, Trump has already spoken to Putin and Zelensky. He told the Russian president that we must avoid escalating the war and Zelensky said that he would continue to support Ukraine, but without clearly establishing what the limits and budgets would be.
With Israel, the message to the anti-Semites was tougher, telling them to desist from taking action against Israel.
Curiously, in the American elections, the Republican had a slight lead with 21% of the Islamic vote against 20% for the Democrat, but the majority was for the Green Party, with Jill Stein getting 53% of the vote, a segment she won in the elections for the House of Representatives.
Trump’s victory was celebrated by Israelis; there the pax romana will be clearer, submission to Israel’s interests and acceptance of territorial limits.
His speech on the region was what he told Netanyahu to “get it over with” although he added “the killing has to stop”.
The problem with the pax romana is that it doesn’t eliminate disputes and grudges, which remain dormant and can explode again at any moment, in short, it’s what Trump called “peace through strength”
True peace means new horizons beyond conflicts and peoples who can live in peace through reasonable agreements.
Development, power and civilization
08
Nov
Politics dominated by the arrogance of power, by 
little service to social causes and by contempt and disrespect for the citizenship of ordinary citizens is public life gone awry.
The polarization into two large political blocs has not happened recently. Edgar Morin, in his book Terra-Pátria, already stated: “The cold war began in 1947. The planet is polarized into two blocs, waging an unrelenting ideological war everywhere. Despite the balance of atomic terror, the world is not stabilized” (Morin, 2003, p. 30).
What kind of crisis is this? In other books Morin talks about the crisis of thought, in this one about a crisis of development: “Isn’t our civilization, the model of development, itself sick of development?” (Morin, 2003, p. 83).
The crisis of civilization that we are experiencing has side effects: “Individuals only think about today, they consume the present, they allow themselves to be fascinated by a thousand futilities, they chatter without ever understanding each other in the tower of Babel of trinkets. Unable to sit still, they throw themselves in every direction” (Morin, 2003, p. 84).
Another effect is on young people: “When adolescence rebels against society, when it ‘goes astray’ and dives into hard drugs, it is believed that it is only a youthful malady; it is not realized that adolescence is the weak link in civilization, that the problems, evils, diffuse and atomized aspirations elsewhere are concentrated in it”. (Morin, 2003, p. 85).
What happens is that we enter a “blind race” as Morin calls it: “The race of the triad that has taken charge of the human adventure, science/technology/industry, is uncontrolled. Growth is uncontrolled, its progress leads to the abyss”. (Morin, 2003, p. 92).
We have certainly produced important fruits of civilization: “Oh, certainly! Shelley, Novalis, Hulderlin, Pushkin, Rimbaud, Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Mussorgski, Berg are the historical fruits of a civilizational development; but their work transcends this development, it expresses our being-in-the-world, it speaks to us of the unspeakable, it takes us to the edge of ecstasy, where the irremediable influence of time and space is attenuated” (Morin, 2003, p.107).
However, the owners of power, wrapped up in their megapolitical daydreams, empires and struggles that do not contemplate human and civilizational greatness, incapable in their arrogance of giving up privileges and other peoples and nations as allies and friends, incapable of solving social and climatic problems.
The Gospel says of these, who are also those of Pharisaical religiosity: “Jesus said in his teaching to a large crowd: ”Beware of the teachers of the Law! They like to wear flashy clothes, to be greeted in public squares; they like the first seats in the synagogues and the best places at banquets. They devour widows’ houses, pretending to say long prayers. For this they will receive the worst condemnation” (Mk 12:38-40).
Morin, E.; Kern, Anne-Brigitte (2003). Terra-Pátria, transl. por Paulo Azevedo Neves da Silva. Brazil, Porto Alegre: Sulina.
A new meta-development
05
Nov
We see living as an intense life of action, pleasure
and disregard for the true joy of living, that joy and peace that only caring hearts can feel.
Edgar Morin wrote about meta-development:
“Development is a goal, but it must cease to be a short-sighted goal or an end-goal. The goal of development is itself subject to other goals. Which ones? To live truly. To live better.
Truly and better, what does that mean?
To live with understanding, solidarity and compassion. To live without being exploited, insulted, despised” (Morin, 2003, p. 106).
This must be extended to all peoples, religions and cultures on the planet; there will be no true civilizing process, justice and freedom without these values, dear conquests of humanity.
Not only Edgar Morin dreamed of a planetary citizenship, all true dreamers and humanists have dreamed of it, although some limit themselves to looking at the failures, the full life and freedom that does not ignore the rights of others is the only one capable of leading to a new moment.
Perhaps wars and all the evils they involve: economic, political and even religious struggles (a true religion would never contemplate the slightest violence against life). Above all, we must resist and hope that a new future can come, perhaps with the current suffering, I would say a “violent passion” in planetary life with threats and wars.
To what kind of regression, a true barbarism, we are heading, I have already perceived Morin’s genius and sagacity, of the double barbarism: “It is true that at all times, in all places, humanity has been faced with the need to resist diffuse cruelty made up of malice, contempt, indifference. The two present barbarisms are formidable developments of cruelty: hateful cruelty comes from the first barbarism and is expressed in murder, torture, individual and collective punctures; anonymous cruelty comes from techno-bureaucratic barbarism” (Morin, 2003, p. 100).
Morin noticed the backlash after the spring experienced in 1989-1990, when the walls came down, and now they are rising again.
MORIN, E. and Kern, Anne-Brigitte. (2003) Terra-Pátria, transl. by Paulo Azevedo Neves da Silva. Brazil, Porto Alegre: Sulina.
Provocations, threats and hopes
04
Nov
Wars continue to threaten world peace, and the
great powers are crucially involved in making this happen. There are no peaceful or humanitarian speeches, the forces involved are casting a great shadow over all of humanity: a global war.
The former Russian president and current vice-president of the Russian Security Council, Dmitri Medvedev, in an interview with the RT news agency declared: “The United States is wrong to think that Russia will never cross a certain line when it comes to using nuclear weapons” and indeed Russia has carried out military exercises in this direction, but in other speeches the former Russian president always recognizes that it would be an unprecedented disaster.
Another pole of tension is a direct confrontation between Iran and Israel, aggravated by recent attacks and retaliation between the two nations. Iranian President Ali Khamenei declared: “The enemies, both the US and the Zionist regime [Israel], must know that they will certainly receive a devastating response for what they are doing against Iran and the resistance front,” referring to groups allied to Iran, including Hamas and Hezbollah.
China is also carrying out military exercises around the island of Taiwan, on Sunday (04/11) 35 drones crossed the dividing line between the two countries in the Taiwan Strait, which only maintained the readiness of its defense service, since no attacks were carried out.
There is always hope for peace and that leaders understand the number of victims, injustices and scourges that wars bring, peace is a condition of civilization for all.
If the night of humanity comes
31
Oct
What to do if the crisis of civilization reaches
its human limits and continues to humanize itself? In previous posts, we discussed Edgar Morin’s awareness of “our earthly purposes” in chapter 4 of his book Earth and Homeland
It is here that the author also addresses the apparent paradox: conversation/revolution, it is about understanding change without abandoning the main humanitarian principles: “Awareness of our terrestrial roots and our planetary destiny is a necessary condition for realizing humanity and civilizing the Earth” (Morin, 2003, p. 99) because the adjective “revolutionary” has become reactionary and heavily tainted with barbarism” (idem).
The author goes on to say: “Another problem arises here: is there a power of ideas over reality, which would presuppose a reality and a power of ideas? As we have already shown, ideas and myths acquire reality, impose themselves on spirits and can even impose themselves on historical reality, violating it, diverting it” (Morin, 2003, p. 126) and this is very relevant in the current context.
This is complemented by Morin when he points out that “conserving/revolutionizing: it is the paradox of progressing/resisting”, where resisting is “being on the defensive on all fronts against the returns and manifestations of the great barbarism, written before the new millennium, this is very current in the face of the possibility of war.
Morin wrote at that time, which today is the fulfillment of a prophecy: “The spring of the people of 1989-1990 suffered a freeze. All its seeds of freedom are on the verge of destruction. The great barbarism makes a great return” (Morin, 2003, p.100).
Resisting now then means not abandoning humanitarian values, also nowadays Morin spoke about “resistance of the spirit” which is preserving within ourselves the most cherished values of life, humanism and belief in truly “divine” values.
Not believing that we were made for war, for barbarism and have a cruel destiny, although the world outlook is bleak, we must resist with the armor of peace.
Morin, Edgar & Kern, Anne-Brigitte (2003). Terra-Pátria. Transl. Paulo Azevedo Neves da Silva. Brazil, Porto Alegre: Sulina.
The War scalated
28
Oct
At the weekend, Israel retaliated against the
attacks of the 1st. October when Iran launched around 200 missiles against Israel, following the death of the leader of the extremist group Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, the targets apparently were all military bases and Iran mourned the death of 4 soldiers.
The targets are also unclear, but there are reports from the Syrian cities of Homs, Damascus (capital) and Daraa, in Iran the cities of Karaj (outskirts of Tehran), the cities of Mashhad, Isfahã and Shiraz (graphic), to Last night (27/10) few retaliations from Iran took place.
However, with the direct involvement of Iran and Israel, the climate in the region is explosive and has already escalated.
Also in Russia, North Korean soldiers were sent to reinforce the war in Ukraine, in addition to the training that will be received, many, according to Ukrainian sources, will also be sent to the invaded region of Kursh, where Ukraine maintains dominance, this involvement It also affected South Korea, with which it has the biggest disputes.
Involvement was also projected at the Brics meeting held in Kazan, the formation of an economic bloc is one of the ways to face the various forms of blockades made to countries that are at war or under military dictatorships, not surprisingly, they are involved in wars.
There is still hope for peace, always for those who do not want authoritarian and warlike solutions, even though the problems involved are serious, but wars do not solve them and in most cases they worsen possible sustainable solutions.
We pointed out in the last post, rereading Edgar Morin, we highlight his chapter Conservar/Revolucionar from his book Terra-Pátria, where he emphasizes that we cannot move to a new future horizon by abandoning the humanistic achievements already achieved, human rights, democratic freedoms and cultural-religious tolerance of all ethnicities.
We always hope for a turnaround, even in this serious situation, there is a need for resistance of the spirit, that is, where fundamental human values are assured.
Real danger, decisive week for peace
23
Sep
The death of Ibrahim Akil, one of the heads
of Hezbollah’s military operations, led the organization to declare “indefinite war” against Israel.
This Sunday they exchanged heavy fire, with Israeli warplanes carrying out the most intense bombardment in almost a year of conflict in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah for its part firing rockets towards northern Israel.
The peace talks are thus at a standstill, although US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin exchanged six phone calls in the week with his Israeli counterpart, showing serious concern about the escalation of the conflict and calling for a diplomatic solution.
In Ukraine, the peace talks are also polarized in this respect: Brazil and China are trying to talk to Putin, while European countries and the United States are trying to reach a dialogue that is more favorable to Ukraine’s claims for peace.
What’s most frightening are the nuclear threats, which Russia always brings up and now Ukraine is saying that the Russians are also planning attacks on nuclear power plants, the effects of which would be terrifying, just think of Chernobyl, of course in this case it was an accident, but the effects should never be repeated by these two countries that came to that moment.
On April 26, 1986, reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, then a Soviet republic linked to Moscow, suffered a catastrophic meltdown that caused the government to evacuate 30 km around the plant, the area of which is uninhabitable to this day. C, 4 times higher than volcanic lava.
Sources indicate that between 2 and 50 people died in the explosion, dozens of others contracted serious illnesses caused by the radiation, some of whom died later. Between 50 and 185 million curies (unit of radiation activity) of radionuclides (radioactive forms of chemical elements) escaped into the atmosphere – several times more radioactivity than that created by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan (pictured is a monument to the workers who fought the Chernobyl fire).
Modern reactors incorporate more safety devices to prevent a disaster like Chernobyl, but in the event of a war “accident” control can be difficult.
The fact that there are countries committed, albeit polarized, is an encouragement and also those who see the civilizational crisis that they would unleash can serve to allow minds inflamed by hatred to cool their anger.
The crisis of thought and war
09
Sep
The scenario of the world’s involvement in wars
is a difficult one. It is necessary to understand what lies behind it, as it is a daily confrontation between minds, souls and economic interests.
They reflect the crisis of contemporary thought, which is not only philosophical, religious or political, but also a loss of the foundations of what is human, nature and science itself.
Sloterdijk’s vision, expressed in his spherology in volume I Bubbles, shows that both the onto and anthropological phenomena are more essential than the relationship between subject and object, as they precede the spatial experience of Being-in (even if it’s not exactly what Heideger called In-Sein), which is the main criticism of contemporary idealism.
In the field of religion (and this can be extended to thought), the essayist Byung-Chul Han reflects that the “pathos of action blocks access to religion. Action is not part of the religious experience.” (Vita Contemplativa by Byung Chul Han, p. 154), so religion is also in a daily “war” that takes military warfare to the extreme.
The hatred that has reached Iran and its allied groups and Israel is linked to this idea, and also fundamentalism, which is different from orthodoxy, leads to the extremes of war.
While orthodoxy proclaims love and attachment to others, action leads to war and the destruction of what is different, nothing is tolerated that is not similar to the “model” of the ideal or the ideology that derived from it, dictatorships and oppressors proliferate across the planet.
The preparation of Iran and Israel for a total war without intermediaries, and of NATO with Russia, are getting closer and closer. Of course, common sense is always possible and knowing that everyone will lose, but the logic of war is that someone will always lose more, and that constitutes victory.
Russia’s approach to Kharkiv and Ukraine’s entry into Russian territory show that the war is one of conquest and thus reduces the possibility of a peace agreement.
Hope is always possible, and it is the resilience of the spirit and the desire for peace.
Wars and their crimes intensify
02
Sep
Both in Eastern Europe and the Middle East,
violence against civilians increases and the war increasingly takes on global proportions with the presence of US and European forces.
Ukraine’s advance on Russia is met with multiple bombers of civilian regions by Russia, while Ukraine advances into Russian territory and tries to consolidate itself within this territory, suffering setbacks in the east where Russian forces approach Kharkiv.
On the border of Lebanon and the West Bank, Israel and Hezbollah exchange fire with rockets, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was convicted by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, Hamas on the other hand killed 6 hostages, four men and two women who were at the music festival, the scene of terrorism carried out by Hamas in Israeli territory.
The climate is one of total war, Israel has declared itself “at war”, there is an evacuation of civilians in Gaza, and several airlines have canceled flights to Israel.
The situation is quite worrying because it is increasingly a path of no return, a total war is increasingly possible, the Russian foreign minister spoke openly about the matter, last Tuesday (27/08) he said that “the The West is playing with fire.”
The minister and spokesperson directly threatened the USA by stating: “Americans unequivocally associate conversations about the Third World War as something that – if, God forbid, it happens – will exclusively affect Europe”, so he assumes that the possibility exists.
Certainly the warning is clear, and the situation of Ukrainian troops in an area of 1,200 km2 within Russia is not only a nuisance, but shows, at least occasionally, a military fragility of which Russia has always been proud, the country has never abandoned education warfare, which is even taught in state schools.
The world’s concern is the tension in the Middle East, unfortunately there is no prospect of disarmament and both Netanyahu’s conviction and the death of hostages by Hamas are fuel on the fire that fuels hatred and war. September, which begins, brings global concerns.
On the Eastern European side, it is possible to sew some truce and a path to peace, if Europe and NATO want, of course, and Russia admits the negotiation, with the recent defeats and the concern for its territory this can happen, but the involvement of several countries is very worrying, a clear sign of respect for Russian sovereignty is needed.
Peace must be desired and practiced by everyone, it is necessary to disarm spirits, the global climate is tense.
