"It begins with basic liberal principles—the sanctity of the individual, the priority of freedom, distrust of public authority, tolerance—and advances no further. It has no taste for reality, no curiosity about how we got here or where we are going."

http://anthropoliteia.net/2014/06/06/rio-de-janeiros-bope-and-police-pacification-fear-and-intimidation-in-complexo-da-mare/

"...developing democracies, are bad at selling themselves. On the surface, they appear weak, riven with conflict and self-criticism. They air their corruption scandals in public. They allow public protests. By contrast, autocracies appear smooth and united—until, suddenly, they aren't."

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/05/egypt_could_learn_from_india_dictatorships_could_learn_from_the_south_s.html

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/05/05/how_putin_is_reinventing_warfare

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NglCVNmxZXE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyaP7gWONzk

BBC: top 11 on NSA & Co

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/soviet-psychiatry-returns/487761.html

http://mondediplo.com/blogs/mapping-europe-s-war-on-immigration

Tas tāds mans personīgais iespaids, ar ko vēlos padalīties. Šobrīd, iespējams, izteiktāk nekā iepriekš, pateicoties ieilgušām, plaši atspoguļotām un neviennozīmīgām pārrunām, izkristalizējas aina, kā politiskus lēmumus par karadarbību, vai mieru, vai izlīgumu, vai jebko citu, pieņem indivīdi, kuriem demokrātiskas saistības ir statusa rekvizīts. Procesuālā demokrātija ar tās institucionālo lēmumu pieņemšanu un vēlētāju pārstāvniecību ir varas pozīciju instruments, kas lietojumā ģenerē neizbēgamas pretrunas. Un varas pozīcijas ieņem indivīdi. Sabiedriskās aptaujas ASV, Lielbritānijā, Vācijā u.c. liecina par iedzīvotāju balsojuma pārsvaru pret uzbrukumiem Sīrijai. Bet par spīti tam, bruņojušies ar "starptautiskās atbildības" un "sarkanās līnijas" retoriku, šo valstu demokrātiskie līderi, konkrētas personas, runā, kā tas ir ierasts, "valstu" valodā un veidolā, kas tiem piešķir leģitimitāti un vienlaicīgi ļauj pārkāpt viņu pārstāvēto sabiedrību nostājas un, šajā gadījumā, atsaukties uz transcendentāliem humānisma un vēsturiskiem globālās demokrātijas principiem.
ASV valsts sekretārs Dž. Kerijs: "It is clear that if we don't take action, the message to Hezbollah, Iran, Assad will be that nobody cares that you have broken this 100-year-old standard. We have repeated and I repeat every time I stand up and talk about it - there is no military solution. What we are seeking is to enforce the standard with respect to the use of chemical weapons. I do not know why those who say all options are on the table do not understand the fact that civilised countries 65 years ago... rejected in the charter of the United Nations [the] resort to force as an illegal practice."

"[Scott Atran] firmly positions himself within a neo-Darwinian framework, but equally firmly distances himself from the militant atheists associated with that intellectual tendency. Religion bonds groups together and this, he says, provides crucial adaptive advantage in the long history of human evolution. The first part of this claim will be familiar to anyone with nodding acquaintance of Durkheim’s Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. The second part would be more striking if we could think of examples of human societies without either religion, or religion-like structures of ritual and value, and having identified a suitable example then found ways to trace its evolutionarily ordained decline and fall. In the absence of such examples the appeal to natural selection begins to look somewhat tautological. “Islamic terrorism” is not the product of a tightly-knit, hierarchically structured organization with a master-plan for world domination. Rather we are confronted with local clusters of enthusiasts, usually in tightly bound networks of kinship and friendship."

Talking to the Enemy

Landscapes of Emergency is a brief glance over the undeclared state of emergency that casts its shadow over the functions and the phenomena of public space in Athens today, at this time of crisis. Relying upon the readings of two lawyers, it attempts a passage through the dark landscapes that the new dogma of public security leaves in its wake. And it chooses to view the crisis as a way of managing urban everydayness, as a way of managing it militarily.

Burka Avenger - Don't mess with the lady in black!

"Consevatism is not necessarily found where it is expected: it is undeniable that a certain conservatism of form and language is at the base of all commercial productions adopted with great enthusiasm by generations who want to be anything but conservative. It is a paradox of our times that played or sung protest transmits itself by means of an eminently subornable vocabulary, which does not fail to make itself known: commercial success evacuates protest" - Pierre Boulez

Kad Rolling Stones šomēnes sniedza koncertu Haidparkā, man sanāca iet garām. Bija karstas vasaras dienas vakars, lielisks laiks pastaigai. Ap pasākuma vietu pulcejās cilvēki, tur bija visi tie tehniskie autobusi un elektrības ģeneratori, apsardze, kārtībnieki, tirgotāji utt., mūzikas skaņas plūda no skatuves tālumā un atbalsojās starp kokiem un māju sienām. Bet, lai kā gribēdams, es nevarēju neievērot milzu sienu, kas iegrožoja pasākuma vietu. Tā bija pietiekami augsta, lai arī pičupaunā nevarētu redzēt pāri. Daudzi cilvēki bija izklājuši piknika segas, vai sasēdušies tāpat zālājā sienas šajā, tas ir, āra pusē. Es tai sienai, varbūt, nepievērstu tādu uzmanību, ja tā Rolling Stones Haidparka koncerta gadījumā nebūtu jauninājums. 1969. gadā, kad grupa jau bija slavas zenītā, viņi sniedza koncertu Haidparkā bez maksas un to apmeklēja ap 250 000 cienītāju. 44 gadus vēlāk, Rolling Stones veic "vēsturisku"  un "sensacionālu" atgriešanos uz skatuves Haidparkā un koncertu apmeklēja 65 000 skatītāji. Daudz kas ir mainījies, protams, kopš 69' gada, vieta, vide, fani, arī paši Stouni. Tāpēc tā siena, kas saskaņā ar notikuma vietu bija nokrāsota sūnu zaļa, atdalīja ne tikai samaksāt nespējīgos no spējīgajiem, bet arī vecos rokerus uz skatuves no reiz jaunajiem.

"The moral profit of the qualification 'humanitarian' is such that it may be used extensively and sometimes cynically to justify any sort of action, including paradoxically the use of the armed force. Who could be against the noble goal of saving lives? As political scientist and former UN consultant Thomas Weiss affirms, "humanity and the sanctity of life is the only genuine first order principle of intervention. The protection of the right to life, broadly interpreted, belongs to the category of obligations who's respect is in the interest of all states. Others, including the sacred trio of neutrality, impartiality and consent, as well as legalistic interpretations of the desirability about UN approval are second order principles." Following this line it is easy to see how the international order can be shaken by interruption of humanitarian reason as a supreme argument. The representation of the world that logically derives from this affirmation relies on the tripartite division between those who take lives, those whose lives are endangered and those who save lives. The military, the victims and the humanitarians."

Didier Fassin - Critique of Humanitarian Reason

South Africa under apartheid in the 1970s - BBC

Es te, laikam, esmu attapies, ko pa acu galam biju manījis dažos cibas draugu ierakstos, ka rakstnieki un Kultūras alianse, un kultūras ministre cīnās.
"Ministres uzvedība un sacītais lika šaubīties par viņas izpratni par nozari un tās nozīmi latviešu valodas, literatūras un nacionālās identitātes saglabāšanā, kompetenci un atbilstību amatam", paziņojumā viedokli pauž rakstnieki. Citi rakstnieki un kultūras darbinieki tomēr uzskata, ka fēleris noticis komunikācijā  un pārrunu prasmē.
Neesmu iedziļinājies, bet, kas pievērš manu uzmanību, ir izteikums rakstnieku paziņojumā medijiem "...par nozari un tās nozīmi latviešu valodas, literatūras un nacionālās identitātes saglabāšanā". Latviešu valoda, literatūra, tas ir labi. Un atkal nacionālā identitāte. Tā ir kā latviešu dimanta oliņa, kas jāsargā, jāspodrina un kaut kā speciāli jālolo, ar mērķtiecīgām programmām un plāniem. Un, ja tas tiks pareizi darīts, tad izšķilsies kaut kas patiesi latvisks. Tagadnē tai pastāv apdraudējums, tāpēc to vajag saglabāt. Tā ir kā projekcija nākotnē, identitātes šķietamība ap kuru tiek organizēts birokrātisks un funkcionāls aparāts. Atsauce uz nacionālo identitāti ir pievienotā vertība jebkādam projektam un aktivitātei; uz nacionālo identitāti nevis kā abstrakciju, bet gan kā konkrētu objektu, jeb veidni.

"The prolonged, two-year reconciliation conference held in Kenya and the resulting interim administration, implemented under the dominant tutelage of Ethiopia, are generally considered to have failed to live up to the expectations of the Somali people. The state structure was built on the foundation of a clan power segregation system known as 4.5 (four-point-five). This means the separation of the Somali people into four clans that are equal and, as such, pure Somali, against an amalgamation of various clans and communities that are unequal to the first group and, hence, considered “impure” or less Somali. The lumping together of all the latter communities is regarded as equivalent only to a half of the share of a clan."

- Mohamed A. Eno and Omar A. Eno, Intellectualism amid Ethnocentrism: Mukhtar and the 4.5 Factor