Evolution of the 21st century nation

Substack problems

Last article

One of my subscribers informed me that she did not receive an email notification for my last article, Evolution of the 21st Century Nation, in which I give some background as to why Poland is very likely NOT going to send troops into the Ukraine— and why nation-states are not as they were when you went to high school

It seems that Substack had a few problems so….

Here’s the link for the article in case you missed it and you are interested.

Next article

Next article coming up is about war in Africa, much in the news these days— and much misunderstood accordingly.

Early in life I have noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper, but in Spain, for the first time, I saw newspaper reports which did not bear any relation to the facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie.

I saw great battles reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been killed. I saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as cowards and traitors, and others who had never seen a shot fired hailed as the heroes of imaginary victories; and I saw newspapers in London retailing these lies and eager intellectuals building emotional superstructures over events that had never happened. I saw, in fact, history being written not in terms of what happened but of what ought to have happened according to various ‘party lines’ .

George Orwell (1970). “A Collection of Essays”, p.197, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Some people look nostalgically to the past, assuming that once-upon-a-time you could trust the news. Sorry, that past never was. Not that there were never journalists who were truthtellers. There were. And there are. And they usually paid the price— as Assange is today.

Julian

Back at the Zoo

When I started working at the zoo, my first assignment was the zoo hospital, which mostly got young animals that were found locally and included racoons, otters, foxes, bear cubs, fawns, and the like. They had to be cleaned up and fed by hand. Here’s an example. A (red) fox puppy. When I was there, we had four of these little ones.

I am not actually a big fan of zoos. Sanctuaries and rescue centers are quite another things. Tokyo has no wildlife, other than me and feral cats. But I do what I can.

You can buy me a coffee here if you want to rescue a feral foreigner.