By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 1 Apr 22
DON’T MISTAKE THE WEST’S SOCIOLOGICAL FAILURES FOR GEOPOLITICAL WEAKNESS NATO and the West has appeared weaker than they really are, geopolitically and economically speaking: with the failures in Iraq, Afghanistan (couldn’t even beat the Taliban, despite magnitudes greater military and economic might), unsuccessful interventions into Syria, a losing grip on influence over Africa, an internally quarreling EU, and internal culture wars leading up to the storming of Capitol Hill last year. However, these failures are largely sociological failures, i.e. failures to understand and manage social and cultural forces, not signs of lacking economic and military prowess per se. Lack of
DON’T MISTAKE THE WEST’S SOCIOLOGICAL FAILURES FOR GEOPOLITICAL WEAKNESS NATO and the West has appeared weaker than they really are, geopolitically and economically speaking: with the failures in Iraq, Afghanistan (couldn’t even beat the Taliban, despite magnitudes greater military and economic might), unsuccessful interventions into Syria, a losing grip on influence over Africa, an internally quarreling EU, and internal culture
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 1 Apr 22
AVOID A NUCLEAR WAR — BY HELPING RUSSIA TO SAVE FACE! In the end, it is true that: – Russia has a ten times stronger military than Ukraine (at least on paper). – The Russian government (and the apparatus it relies upon and shares interests with) will be very desperate to not back down. – Other countries are unlikely to directly intervene. – Putin is threatening us with the world’s largest nuclear arsenal. Thus, a complete military victory by Ukraine is, after all, unlikely. Even with crowdsourced support around the world, even with a morale boost of the Ukrainians unparalleled
AVOID A NUCLEAR WAR — BY HELPING RUSSIA TO SAVE FACE! In the end, it is true that: – Russia has a ten times stronger military than Ukraine (at least on paper). – The Russian government (and the apparatus it relies upon and shares interests with) will be very desperate to not back down. – Other countries are unlikely to
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 1 Apr 22
RUSSIA IS TO BLAME — BUT UNDERSTANDING IT IS CRUCIAL Western media, and international media at large, do a fairly poor job at bringing nuance and understanding to the Russian side of this cruel equation. For instance, we are continuously informed about Ukrainian civilian losses, as well as Russian losses of military personnel, but the media is vague, silent, or unrealistic about Ukrainian military losses. We should have no illusions about the impartiality of reporting. It stands to reason — and viscerally feel — that Russia is an unlawful aggressor in this situation. But to seek to understand Russia (and,
RUSSIA IS TO BLAME — BUT UNDERSTANDING IT IS CRUCIAL Western media, and international media at large, do a fairly poor job at bringing nuance and understanding to the Russian side of this cruel equation. For instance, we are continuously informed about Ukrainian civilian losses, as well as Russian losses of military personnel, but the media is vague, silent, or
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 1 Apr 22
“Across the world, Multiculturalism has been failing over the recent decades: conflicts, racism, discrimination, antagonism, distrust, ghetto despair, the rise of rightwing populism, riots, crime, and even ISIS as an emergent transnational vortex of discontent and violent regression. These realities are grasped differently across the political spectrum, damning or defending Multiculturalism. But none of the established positions seem to embrace a proper update of the Multiculturalist stance: Transculturalism.” —Hanzi Freinacht https://medium.com/@hanzifreinacht/the-failure-of-multiculturalism-and-its-resolution-transculturalism-ea2332b73d96The Failure of Multiculturalism and Its Resolution: Transculturalismmedium.comAcross the world, Multiculturalism has been failing over the recent decades. A new approach is needed: Transculturalism.
“Across the world, Multiculturalism has been failing over the recent decades: conflicts, racism, discrimination, antagonism, distrust, ghetto despair, the rise of rightwing populism, riots, crime, and even ISIS as an emergent transnational vortex of discontent and violent regression. These realities are grasped differently across the political spectrum, damning or defending Multiculturalism. But none of the established positions seem to embrace
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 1 Apr 22
PUTIN IS ACTING MORE “RATIONALLY” THAN IT APPEARS (BUT HE IS JUST ABOUT TO LOSE IT) Much ink has been spilled to gauge the sanity or insanity of the autocratic Russian President. If you listen to some of the more astute analyses out there, it becomes clear that the Russian leadership are in a long-term decline and may feel that their hand is forced in the matter: – If Ukraine joins NATO and the EU, with more than 40 million people switching sides, Russia will no longer be a geopolitical powerhouse. If Russia could add the former Soviet republics, Russia
PUTIN IS ACTING MORE “RATIONALLY” THAN IT APPEARS (BUT HE IS JUST ABOUT TO LOSE IT) Much ink has been spilled to gauge the sanity or insanity of the autocratic Russian President. If you listen to some of the more astute analyses out there, it becomes clear that the Russian leadership are in a long-term decline and may feel that
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 1 Apr 22
“Despite the best efforts over the last century, the educational systems are almost unanimously criticized by all observers as being too dry, too mechanical, too bland, too focused on quantitative results and measures (more on this last point later). They all say that children are playful and curious, but that schooling and education, at least partly, kill that spark. Univocally, commentators ask for a more humanized, sensitive, and person-centric form of education—but from thereon, unsurprisingly, the ideas and analyses begin to differ. The question thus presents itself: “If almost all commentators, educational science scholars, teachers, school principals, philosophers and psychologists
“Despite the best efforts over the last century, the educational systems are almost unanimously criticized by all observers as being too dry, too mechanical, too bland, too focused on quantitative results and measures (more on this last point later). They all say that children are playful and curious, but that schooling and education, at least partly, kill that spark. Univocally,
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 1 Apr 22
“As things stand, the educational systems around the world do not have fully developed mechanisms for continuously updating how education is done in the face of technological disruptions. And, indeed, this is the crux of the matter: The second pathway from the old paradigm of education to the new paradigm involves an active, deliberate, and coordinated effort to make the educational systems not only adapt to the advent of existing technologies, but making them adaptable (and self-adapting) to future disruptions. One of our interviewees, serial entrepreneur and author Tomas Björkman, refers to the acronym VUCA when describing the development of
“As things stand, the educational systems around the world do not have fully developed mechanisms for continuously updating how education is done in the face of technological disruptions. And, indeed, this is the crux of the matter: The second pathway from the old paradigm of education to the new paradigm involves an active, deliberate, and coordinated effort to make the
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 1 Apr 22
From Hanzi Freinacht’s latest article on Medium: “Cultural evolution simultaneously drives forth two interrelated processes of transformation: – More civilized, universal, and non-violent values. – Innocence lost, a more penetrating and revealing gaze and imagination, including a more disenchanting and critical viewpoint. Simply put, as society “advances”, people and their values become less barbaric, more universal and abstract, but also more XXX-rated, more pornographic in every (sexual an non-sexual) sense of the word. As such, even if society escapes the ecological dead-ends of modernity, we are headed both towards a cute and idyllic future of softer and more inclusive values
From Hanzi Freinacht’s latest article on Medium: “Cultural evolution simultaneously drives forth two interrelated processes of transformation: – More civilized, universal, and non-violent values. – Innocence lost, a more penetrating and revealing gaze and imagination, including a more disenchanting and critical viewpoint. Simply put, as society “advances”, people and their values become less barbaric, more universal and abstract, but also
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 1 Apr 22
RUSSIA MUST BE BEATEN BACK — SO CROWDSOURCE SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE WITHOUT COMPROMISE! Although balanced views of the situation are crucial, and frenzied tunnel-visioned warmongering against Russia may be lethal for all of us, there is very little reason to not take a strong stand for Ukraine in this conflict. The Ukrainian President Zelenskyy asks of the peoples of Europe (and elsewhere) to push our governments in the direction of military, logistical, economic, and humanitarian support, while encouraging more direct citizen action as well. In some strategic countries, like Sweden and Finland, pushing for swift NATO membership may be in
RUSSIA MUST BE BEATEN BACK — SO CROWDSOURCE SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE WITHOUT COMPROMISE! Although balanced views of the situation are crucial, and frenzied tunnel-visioned warmongering against Russia may be lethal for all of us, there is very little reason to not take a strong stand for Ukraine in this conflict. The Ukrainian President Zelenskyy asks of the peoples of Europe