FailForward @FailForward@qoto.org

@jwildeboer …

@jwildeboer …

@jwildeboer I realized now that maybe those embedded response did not reach you. My apologies. I am going to forward them too.

Come on! That is again a bit too gloomy outlook. I always saw Germany as a tanker. It moves slowly, but once it changes direction (which takes a lot of energy!), it’s hard to stop.

It took a war for Germany to recognise that something needs to change with its military, now it did (I only hope it will be able to stop one day before that historically frightening overcompensation kicks in).

It took a while for Germany to even start the Energiewende and then it went on. Is it as fast as we wish? No. Is it done already? No. I have some hopes there.

And I see many such small things Germany gets right. Maybe not on the first attempt, but eventually.

In my view, Germany has one big power: it’s hesitant, but once it commits to something, for better, or worse, it follows through.

So we’ll fix it now. Why to shed tears over stuff we already screwed up?

We are at a point of history where every single decision will have negative consequences. That on the one hand feel constraining. I rather see that as we recognise and accept that pain of the magnitude X is inevitable (and maybe that was impossible before), it suddenly opens new avenues for solutions. But again we need to kill the holy cow of Wohlstand first.

The thing is, I personally think, that cow is already dead, most people just don’t realise it yet. It died with Russian boots entering Ukrainian soil and the first sanctions we imposed. We are now in a period of coming to terms with it. Methinks.

Well, yes. Half of EU is now with the back against the wall about the gas. At the same time, though, we see credbible points of view (to me - I am no energy expert and don’t want to be, I try to trust those who are) which claim, we can survive the cutt-off. Will it hurt? Sure, like hell. Will it be quick? Unfortunately not, it will take us a couple of years. Will we manage? I am convinced we can make it and so seem to be others. The only obstacle we need to overcome is the holy cow of Wohlstand.

If a nation ever stops to think about what has happened to it, and what has been done with its consent, it will find thousands of ways to justify it.

How Silent Assent Made Bucha Possible

https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/04/06/how-silent-assent-made-bucha-possible-pub-86822

But in the end, I decided that for me, it was not a question of what good it would do, but of my personal responsibility.

– Larisa Bogoraz, 1968

Pink Floyd got together and together with Andriy Khlyvnyuk released this in support of Ukrainian resistance just minutes ago. Powerful images. Powerful music. Powerful message.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saEpkcVi1d4

I don’t speak Hungarian, so I have zero exposure to their media reporting. What bugs me the last couple of years is why there’s such an affinity between current political elites (and by extension the majority of people who vote for them) to Russia. Given what happened in 1956 one would expect an effect similar to Poland, Czechia or Slovakia (to a lesser extent) with a relatively significant opposition to Russian military escapades. Not so much in Hungary. Why?

Did Hungarians forget about all that period between 1956-1989? (would be somewhat odd, because they are still very much obsessed with Trianon, which is a 100+ years old wound - perhaps a selective memory kicks in, or something)

Any solid foreign policy analysis of that?

Calexico: Harness the Wind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isk6Piyfom4

Do you dream of flying
At the speed of light?

– Calexico

Avi Kaplan: Aberdeen

Avi Kaplan of Pentatonix fame with his solo project(s).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWYt_jFcaEc