#India China Stand Off

[rudrjobdesk]

Manish Tewari Slammed S Jaishankar On China Issue Also Mentioned Former Defense Minister Krishna Menon

Manish Tewari Slammed S Jaishankar On China Issue Also Mentioned Former Defense Minister Krishna Menon

Manish Tewari On S Jaishankar: अरुणाचल प्रदेश के तवांग सेक्टर (Tawang Sector) में एलएसी पर भारतीय सैनिकों की 9 दिसंबर को चीनी सैनिकों के साथ झड़प हुई. इस झड़प में दोनों तरफ के कुछ सैनिक घायल हुए. झड़प के बाद चीन के मुद्दे पर विपक्ष ने केंद्र सरकार को निशाने पर लिया. बीते दो दिनों से संसद में भी इस पर हंगामा चल रहा है. वहीं अब कांग्रेस नेता मनीष तिवारी ने चीन के मुद्दे पर विदेश मंत्री एस जयशंकर को…

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#India China Clash #India China Face Off #India China Stand Off #Manish Tewari News #Manish Tewari S Jaishankar #Manish Tewari Tawang Clash #Manish Tewari Twitter #Tawang Clash #तवांग में हिंसक झड़प #भारत चीन फेस ऑफ #भारत चीन विवाद #भारत चीन संघर्ष #मनीष तिवारी एस जयशंकर #मनीष तिवारी ट्विटर #मनीष तिवारी तवांग झड़प #मनीष तिवारी न्यूज

[mias-playground]

Almost 500 years ago, a tall African man arrived in Japan. He would go on to become the first foreign-born man to achieve the status of a samurai warrior.

Kidnapped as a child, Yasuke had ended up a servant and bodyguard to the head of the Jesuits in Asia, with whom he traversed India and China learning multiple languages as he went.

His arrival in Kyoto, however, literally caused a riot. Most Japanese people had never seen an African man before, and many of them saw him as the embodiment of the black-skinned Buddha.

Among those who were drawn to his presence was Lord Nobunaga, head of the most powerful clan in Japan. When Yasuke was presented to Oda Nobunaga, the Japanese daimyō thought that his skin must have been coloured with black ink. Nobunaga had him strip from the waist up and made him scrub his skin.

"His height was 6 shaku 2 sun (roughly 6' 2")... he was black, and his skin was like charcoal," a fellow samurai, Matsudaira Ietada, described him in his diary in 1579.

The average height of a Japanese man in 1900 was 5' 2" so Yasuke would have towered over most Japanese people in the 16th Century, when people were generally shorter due to worse nutrition.

Yasuke was not just different in height and appearance. He was also very muscular and well built. His strength can be compared to those of 10 men put together. He was indeed a born warrior, a hulk, and a samurai in waiting. One other feature that made Yasuke stand out was his level of intelligence. His mastery of the Japanese language in such a short time was a marvel to many. He was able to learn the culture and tradition of the people.

When Nobunaga realized that the African's skin was indeed black, he took an interest in him. Yasuke already spoke some Japanese and the two men got on well, according to academic Thomas Lockley, who has written a book on Yasuke. Nobunaga grew fond of Yasuke and treated him like family - the African was among a very select group of people allowed to dine with him.

Yasuke was taken in by the warlord to become his weapon bearer. To be a weapon bearer to the most powerful warlord in the whole of Japan was a great privilege and honor. The weapon bearer must also be one who can be trusted with secrets, especially those relating to affairs outside the state. Yasuke’s hard work and diligence paid off, and within a few months, he was rewarded with a home in Azuchi Castle, which was located in the north-eastern province of Kyoto. Yasuke also received a stipend and was gifted with a Katana sword. History has it that the Katana sword is regarded as the symbol of a samurai warrior.

When Nobunaga bestowed the rank of samurai on Yasuke the idea of a non-Japanese samurai was something unheard of. As the first foreign-born samurai, Yasuke fought important battles alongside Oda Nobunaga.

Yasuke at Wikipedia

#mias playground #black history #samurai #yasuke #black tumblr

[sixteenseveredhands]

Stone Turtle of Karakorum, Mongolia, c. 1235-1260 CE: this statue is one of the only surviving features of Karakorum, which was once the capital city of the Mongol Empire

The statue is decorated with a ceremonial scarf known as a khadag (or khata), which is part of a Buddhist custom that is also found in Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan. The scarves are often left atop shrines and sacred artifacts as a way to express respect and/or reverence. In Mongolia, this tradition also contains elements of Tengrism/shamanism.

The city of Karakorum was originally established by Genghis Khan in 1220 CE, when it was used as a base for the Mongol invasion of China. It then became the capital of the Mongol Empire in 1235 CE, and quickly developed into a thriving center for trade/cultural exchange between the Eastern and Western worlds.

The city attracted merchants of many different nationalities and faiths, and Medieval sources note that the city displayed an unusual degree of diversity and religious tolerance. It contained 12 different temples devoted to pagan and/or shamanistic traditions, two mosques, one church, and at least one Buddhist temple.

As this article explains:

The city might have been compact, but it was cosmopolitan, with residents including Mongols, Steppe tribes, Han Chinese, Persians, Armenians, and captives from Europe who included a master goldsmith from Paris named William Buchier, a woman from Metz, one Paquette, and an Englishman known only as Basil. There were, too, scribes and translators from diverse Asian nations to work in the bureaucracy, and official representatives from various foreign courts such as the Sultanates of Rum and India.

This diversity was reflected in the various religions practised there and, in time, the construction of many fine stone buildings by followers of Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity.

The prosperous days of Karakorum were very short-lived, however. The Mongol capital was moved to Xanadu in 1263, and then to Khanbaliq (modern-day Beijing) in 1267, under the leadership of Kublai Khan; Karakorum lost most of its power, authority, and leadership in the process. Without the resources and support that it had previously received from the leaders of the Mongol Empire, the city was left in a very vulnerable position. The residents of Karakorum began leaving the site in large numbers, until the city had eventually become almost entirely abandoned.

There were a few scattered attempts to revive the city in the years that followed, but any hope of restoring Karakorum to its former glory was then finally shattered in 1380, when the entire city was razed to the ground by Ming Dynasty troops.

The Erdene Zuu Monastery was later built near the site where Karakorum once stood, and pieces of the ruins were taken to be used as building materials during the construction of the monastery. The Erdene Zuu Monastery is also believed to be the oldest surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia.

There is very little left of the ruined city today, and this statue is one of the few remaining features that can still be seen at the site. It originally formed the base of an inscribed stele, but the pillar section was somehow lost/destroyed, leaving nothing but the base (which may be a depiction of the mythological dragon-turtle, Bixi, from Chinese mythology).

This statue and the site in general always kinda remind me of the Ozymandias poem (the version by Horace Smith, not the one by Percy Bysshe Shelley):

In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,

stands a gigantic leg

which far off throws the only shadow

that the desert knows.

"I am great OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone,

"the King of Kings; this mighty city shows

the wonders of my hand."

The city's gone —

naught but the leg remaining

to disclose the site

of this forgotten Babylon.

We wonder —

and some Hunter may express wonder like ours,

when thro' the wilderness where London stood,

holding the wolf in chace,

he meets some fragment huge

and stops to guess

what powerful but unrecorded race

once dwelt in that annihilated place

Sources & More Info:

University of Washington: Karakorum, Capital of the Mongol Empire

Encyclopedia Britannica: Entry for Karakorum

World History: Karakorum

#archaeology #history #anthropology #artifact #ancient history #mongol empire #mongolia #karakorum #middle ages #ancient ruins #art #turtle #bixi #ozymandias #poetry #mythology #genghis khan

[cursedvibes]

Tengen for the character thing (+sukuna or uraume too if you feel like it)

I already answered Sukuna and Uraume, so I'm choosing grumpy grandma :D

favourite thing about them

I love how she falls in such a morally grey area. Dark grey even if you ask me. She's not a villain (yet) and most of the main characters look up to her in some way, don't dare to question the status quo she set up ages ago, but the more we find out about her, the more sketchy everything about her becomes. She uses human lives and bodies to prolong her life and keep it in a state she's comfortable in. In contrast to Kenjaku or Sukuna, she doesn't have to worry about a natural death, so this really isn't necessary for her and yet she uses these people to avoid change. You could say she would threaten civilization or the Japanese population otherwise if she doesn't merge, but we have seen that she can hold on for quite some time with barrier techniques. And if she's such a threat, then wouldn't it be more ethical to take yourself completely out of the equation? Lock yourself up or kill yourself instead of sacrificing others to keep you as you are? That doesn't even touch on all the sorcerers that die almost daily due to the system that she set up and upholds. Add onto that her protecting Kenjaku by keeping their existence secret and likely even ensuring their survival after each six eyes battle. And now we have the new layer of her connection with Sukuna, where she clearly has some sort of fascination with his body and has meddled with it before, not unlike Kenjaku. Love how she's not just some old conservative, but there are layers to her and what she's doing or her inaction.

least favourite thing about them

Need more of her backstory and interactions with Kenjaku and Sukuna. Also, she's just so wonderfully frustrating in her stubbornness. If she has a position, she'll really dig her roots in like the tree that she is and won't budge (although other times she's so whimsical in that "come what may" attitude she shows before Kenjaku breaks her barrier and where she decides that she might as well go along with Kenjaku's plan and evolve because it's inevitable...could've realized that 1000 years ago). Could've avoided so many deaths if it wasn't for that. Not really a "least favourite" because I love her for that, just something that makes me want to shake her a bit.

favourite line

"You asked me what I'm doing. All I need to do is distract you." (distraction=standing around...Kenjaku is so easy when it comes to her)

"It wasn't that I was confident. Just like how the seasons are naturally changing, I thought that it was inevitable for something like this to happen."

"That child's objective is to force the evolution of all human beings throughout Japan."

brOTP

Yuki. Love their forced cohabitation where both clearly want to be as far away from each other as possible, but also can't resist talking. Would've liked to see what their everyday life looked like when they weren't discussing plans to stop Kenjaku.

OTP

TenKen. I absolutely love their relationship. How they contrast each other, how they push each other to further extremes both intentionally and unintentionally and there's just so much to speculate about their past and what they might've been like before they broke off. There are so many little hints at what their relationship used to be like and how they really feel about each other, it makes me insane.

nOTP

Tengen/Sukuna. Just...no. Don't see that at all.

random headcanon

I'm not sure if she was born outside Japan, but I imagine during the 200 years before she came into the public eye and created her cults, she was travelling around China, Korea and India to learn more about jujutsu and especially barrier techniques and that's how she gained such proficiency in it.

unpopular opinion

evolved Tengen > human appearance. I just think that even her "thumb" form is so much more interesting than what she looks like fresh after a merger. I really would like to see her gradual ageing process and how she turns from just an old lady into a more cursed form. Also I'd liked to see her in her old form in general aka before she started the first merger or just before she was planning to merge with Riko or any other Star Plasma Vessel.

song i associate with them

Deebu - River of Memories I often listen to this and other Deebu songs while writing TenKen fics. It has a nice mix of chill, dreamy, but also rooted in the past that fits very well with Tengen I think.

Agnes Obel - Broken Sleep There are a bunch of Obel songs that fit Tengen in my opinion, but this one is the most on-point with the lyrics and music. Fits her isolation and her wasting away in her tree.

favourite picture of them

suit!Tengen <3

I like the way her real body looks now too. Kind of a mix of the more masculine image she projects and how she used to look in that one sketch we saw. So she's thinner, her eyelashes longer, but the rest is the same. Although her biceps still looks relatively muscular all things considered, so I think she must've put on more muscle since we saw her in that volume sketch (around Edo era I'm assuming based on the clothes and this probably being shortly after a merger). There she seemed almost fragile, but not so much here, despite being more withered.

And of course cursed womb!Tengen. She looks so cute. Like a little gummy bear.

#asks #jujutsu kaisen #tengen

[quillpokebiology]

Ooc: Places that I think should be pokemon regions

I want these so bad omg.

Texas, USA

As much as a dislike Texas, a region based on it would be nice. It could also bring a lot of neat pokemon. Imagine the wild areas too!

South Africa

Or just an African region in general. I don't have a reason for this other than the cool pokemon that could come with it, and I have pokemon OCs that are from a pokemon version of South Africa. It probably won't happen because Japan has a lot of xenophobia and racism, but I can hope (They added a Hawaiin region and I know that's US territory, but all 3/4 Kahunas were Hawaiin and dark skinned, so it could be closer than we think)

Egypt

5th grade me made an Egyptian pokemon region called Asaro. I never worked on it much, but I remember making a ghost type eeveelution that was a mummy (it was a regional variant of the OG ghost type I made). If they were to ever make an African pokemon region, Egypt would be the best one.

Italy

I literally have no reason for this other than I think the towns could look nice.

Australia

I think the next pokemon region is going to be Asutralian because each gen gives us a hint to the next (Example: Pokemon swsh showed art of a cherry and a grape in the hotel, which is pokemon sv). For Pokemon Scarlet, we got an image of a mountain that resembles a mountain in Asutralia.

I think an Asutralian region would be super cool. I actually had an Australian region in 5th grade called Sonin, and I want the Australian region to be real so bad to bring 5th grade me peace.

Midwest, USA

Reason? I live in the Midwest, and I want a region where I can stand in and be like "Omfg, I live here." Specifically, I live in Nebraska, but the entire midwest is the exact fucking same, so it doesn't tmatter if they choose one state or combine all of it. I even have some cool fakemon ideas! Example: a cardinal fakemon that looks like a thief, a maid raccoon because they're actually pretty clean, and the early grass types you find that turn into hot plant ladies could be corn. My friend actually made one when we were younger, and I made a map of it during quarantine. I remember making a cool town that was underground and held a ground-type gym leader.

China

I don't have any reasoning for this. I just think it'd be neat. OH WAIT! I just remembered an old fakemon I made named Fumo! It was a starter for a Chinese based region I don't remember the name of, and it was a red panda. I remember liking it a lot, and I might redraw it some day!

India

India is a really big place, and it'd probably be the biggest region. Honestly, they might just have to choose a section of India. But India has a lot of culture, and also has 1 billion people, so a lot of fans would be able to relate to it.

Mexico

There's actually an artist @voidarkana who is working in a Mexican region on their insta. I'm actually surprised we haven't gotten one, or at least hinted at one sooner (I can because Japan is xenophobic as hell). Buy there could be cool things with a Mexican region. And could you imagine the mythical and regional variants??? Imagine an Alebreje pokemon, or a Dia de los Muertos Houndoom!

Brazil

I made one in 5th grade (I made a lot of shit in 5th grade). I don't remember what it was called. I think it was Bravo or something? Idk. I want this because RAINFOREST WILD AREA. Imagine climbing on these massive vines with the newer graphics, and being able to go on the canopy! Or imagine a town in a rainforest and it'd be a cool treetop city! It'd be like Fortree city, but so much better!

Germany

Germany has a lot of culture, which I think would be fun to explore in pokemon. Plus, they could make SO many pokenon off of the Grimm's fairytales.

California, USA

California is gross, expensive, and polluted irl, but it could be super nice in a pokemon game.

Canada

I made a Canadian region named Calle in 5th grade, and I liked it a lot. It's where I had a Buneary regional variant that was ice type and had these cute little slippers. And one of the starters was an ice type hare, and I thought it was super cute.

Greece

A YouTuber had an idea for one, and I liked it a lot. I don't remember who made it, but they had the idea of the gym leaders being based off the gods, and the champion being based on a Greek Hero. That'd be so cool!

#ignore how if they did all of these it would be in the span of 42 years #rotomblr #pokemon irl #pokeblogging #pokeblog #irl pokemon #pokemon #pokeblr #rotumblr #pkmn irl #pokemon roleplay #irl pkm #ooc post

[rottenfox]

Genshin Theory from a noob: Language

Alright, well I'm in the middle of a 24 hour sleep reset so sorry if this makes no sense, but I've just got into Genshin and have recently caught up with the archon quests. One thing that I really enjoyed have been how each nation built their culture and government around the ideals of their nation. I'm sure those who are interested in this already know this but I'm still going to type it out for my sleep addled mind.

Mondstadt: Freedom- loose theocracy/police state w/ nomadic-like cells; based off the old Gemadic + Latin middle ages?

Liyue: Contracts- rigid capitalist structure w/ formal religious roots; based off China (though what dynasty, I don't know)

Inazuma: Eternity- rigid clan power w/ smaller clans controlling their own islands mush closer; Based off shogunat Japan

Sumaru: Wisdom- academic body w/ nomadic? Natives? Based off India and the middle east (mostly Egypt)

Fontaine: Justice- Judicial system w/ an oligarcical prison system?? (Idk how you would describe the fortress) Based off France.

Shneznia: ???- possibly also a theocracy w/ the God herself ruling; based of Russia.

I would put the Pyro nation but like I said, I'm new to Genshin and too tired to research properly. MOVING ON

We know these nations were built by the Archons to nurse their ideals but something that is only brought up a few times is the language barrier -or the lack of it. We know there are other languages, since is brought of a few times when something it written in "common" but it's surprising that EVERYONE can speak it. Despite the name, common as a language type, wouldn't make much sence. Which that got me thinking about how the languages would form and mix together.

Remember that language is never linear and alway mixes with the other languages around it. And for one language to be considered "Common" in the vast world known as Teyvat. So before we can ask what is Common, we have to analyze the other languages and see how they formed.

THE GOD LANGUAGE

And before we even start with the nation's, we have to start.... with their gods! Now, the gods of Teyvat grew their followers and mirrored their cultures to enhance their faith and spread their power. This also means that before the birth of Common there had to have been another universal language only the gods and immortal spirits spoke to communicate with each other. Personally, I like to think that it sounded like old Latin since the Lesser Key of Solomon was written in that language.

We can substantiate this with the fact that Morax had to make Mora instead of their being a currency that his people already used. The creation of currency is a sign of outward growth since it means foreigners can now enter the economy with only the minted coin and not, say, a herd of goats or bails of wheat.

As to what that language sounded like would entirely depend on how gods/ spirits are formed. I imagine it would be innate to them upon birth or manifestation since both seem to naturally come from the earth. Hell, each God might sound completely different but because their language is built off universal concepts and the elements, they just naturally understand eachother.

This would also mean that their people would most likely have a language that their respective god created, if Liyue and Sumaru/the desert dwellers have mean anything. As to what and how they formed I do have an... unfounded theory. I still have not finished all the story quests so forgive me if I get things wrong. I will also be using each nation's cultural stand-in as their language; ie German for Mondstadt, Manderin for Liyue, ect.

MONDSTADT

Starting with Mondstadt we have the King Decarabian, the small wind spirit Barbatos, and the minor gods/ elemental dragon of Mondstadt with would become the four winds. Since we don't know how long King Decarabian ruled and there is no mention of him having rivals, we can assume the majority of the humans in the area were his to rule. Especially since he didn't even regard the wolf god as a threat during the Archon war and the fact that the people made Venti as their god without him having to kill other gods to keep it. We can assume the rest of Four Winds didn't have humans to look after either during that time, being uninterested in them.

This would mean German is one of two of the most purest... base language. The indefinite isolation the Tyrant put them through meant that they most likely never spoke to foreigners before the rebellion, but with the freedom Barbatos gave them, they were quick to leave and explore past their nation. This would explain why the Adventure's Guild Headquarters is in Mondstadt instead of each nation having their own.

As for what it sounds like I think it would still have the harshness of German thanks to the origins with the God of Storms but has also gained a softer, rounder note with Barbatos's ascension. They also have a penchant for borrowing words from other languages as the people spread out through Teyvat. Tying that with their friendliness with foreigners and you quickly find yourself with the beginning of a mutt language, something we will bring up later. For now let's move on too...

LIYUE

Liyue is by far the most complicated when it comes to their language history, since it seems like the majority of old gods vyed for power and land there as well as the dozens of Adepti that roamed the land. It's to assume that it was more of a conglomerate of villages that spoke their own version of Common rather than each god exclusively influencing their followers language. Think how the Nordic languages interact with each other, that was basically how Liyue's former languages.

Soon, with Morax coming into power, that common language became Manderin and was probably about as complex as well. I imagine dialects are still very big their though, along with unique naming conventions based on region. I think that their would be a good amount of Teyvat's version of Latin in it because of the fact that gods and adepti were so close to humans.

Manderin would probably be one of the strongest languages in Teyvat, passing German and just behind Sumaru's language. Though there is an argument for it having the strongest influence with it's proximity to Teyvat's economy. As to what it sounds like, I think it would vary by region but would gave the bounciness of Manderin but with the rolling undercurrent of Latin- if that makes sense. It would also have quite a few loan words from Sumaru in particular and would be one of the wordiest language thanks to needing to state the parameters of a contract extensively. And while there is an honorific system, it's more modern and our next nation...

INAZUMA

I will start this section by saying, I really didn't read/ pay attention much to Inazuma. So this may all be wrong.

Inazuma being a collection of islands so far from the mainland gives it a lot of uniqueness compared to the other languages and cultures. Logically...it should be the most unique of the other nations... unfortunately, this is still a gacha game and so there has to be a Japantm. So I'm probably going to say that the original Baal separated the islands from the main land... or that the God of Vortex pushed them even farther away from Liyue.

Either way, I imagine they would actually have Two "languages": the common Japanese borm form the natural progression of being separated from Liyue we see mirrored in real life, and a more ancient language used exclusively in religious work and meetings with gods and spirits.

Compared to Liyue, Inazuma is even more devout to their gods, building so many shrines and interacting with spirits even more than those in Liyue thanks to the smaller amout of space. So while they had a similar situation as Liyue, the humans were at higher beings mercy even more. I imagine that the humans at that time kept an even stricter honorific language. With the politest version using so much Latin syntaxes a form of respect.

With the raise of Baal and Eternity taking power, I imagine that polite speech coming to a halt while the rest of the language evolved until they became two separate languages. If you thought Liyue's combination was weird then think of Japanese and Latin mixed together. It would probably be the most complex language with the honorific system being to strong there in particular.

SUMARU

Sumaru interested me the most, since it is thee nation of Wisdom, and I love the fact the modern Sumaru is based heavily on India! That being said, language-wise... I'm a bit at a loss. Because they have the Desert-dwellers (which I will now be calling Arabics because I hate that usage), they had a full blown language before the Dendro Archon. But it's very obvious that there was a major shift after King Desheret death.

It could be because of the Akademiya's push to worship Buer that they completely morphed the language, creating something of a class language where only the learned and elite can speak. It would be interesting, especially since I don't think such a thing has happened in the real world. It would help that the Arabics stayed in the desert, keeping not only their language, but their features as well while the academics became pale and evolved their language to reflect that of Buer. (Which you could say because they stayed inside all day studying but idk. Still wish they made them dark.)

Egyptian Arabic would probably be the oldest mortal language still spoken in Teyvat and may have moved far from any Latin tie before Buer came to power. I can also see modern Arabics wanting to separate their language from the academics because of rising tensions, as it to say "They are not us."

The academics on the other hand would probably be just as wordy as Liyue since they research. Though I think the Akademiya's disdain for lesser languages might lead to them never officially borrowing words. This, of course would lead to a casual speech that would use loan words and a formal speech that is used in papers and events would be 100% Hindi. Hindi would also be a major language since it would be the language of science/ alchemy with also being the only place of formal education in Teyvat. This Hindi probably has major roots in Latin in an effort to be like their god. But they aren't the most Latin. That would be...

FONTAINE

So Fontaine is fun because it is the only nation we know so far that IS a Latin based language irl and we can make several connections with the God Language being Latin with this.

So with the Nation of Justice being so tied with the idea of truth as well, it's pretty ironic that it was built on a falsity, with Fontainians being Oceanids. Specifically, they were the familiars of the Hydro Archon...

I hope you know where I'm going with this.

When the Oceanidss became human, the Latin they spoke had to be reformed, after all the "True Latin" can only spoken and understood between gods and spirits, so their now mortal use of Latin had to be tweaked. And slowly but surely, it became the Latin language we see their today: French!

It would be the youngest of the languages with soooooo many borrowed words; most of them from Liyue and Sumaru so it's more of a mutt than how our France likes to portray it's language.

There isn't much else to say (that won't insult the Franks) so let's skip the Nation of War and move on to what little we know about...

SNEZHNAYA... AND KHAENRI'AH

So, like I said, I'm new to the game and have not played through all of the story quests. So this is pure speculation though I did read just a bit wiki in my state to know about Khaenri'ah and the Abyss's tie to Latin. You would think that means my theory of Latin being the language of the divine but not really. In fact if "True Latin" was the language spoken by the gods and spirits, it would make sense that it would be the language of Alchemy, astrology and magic. And with Khaenri'ah being so old it would definitely have Latin-like text.... which brings me to my theory...

Khaenri'ah is Italian. HEAR ME OUT!

I always found it strange that the fatui harbingers had Italian titles despite their nation being Russian. But then I learned the the Fatui was started by a Khaenrian who have everyone their titles. And with Italian being so close to Latin it would make sense why so much of their text still reads Latin. Especially if they saw Latin as the script of the world. If anything Khaenrian's insistence on using Latin script could be seen as an insult to the gods, as if saything they were equals. The Abyss also speaks Latin most likely since it's another ancient force in Teyvat though I imagine it... gives off a feeling of dread for all who listens... unless they're already insane.

As for Snezhnaya. I still want to wait before giving a full analysis.

COMMON

alright I've spent 4 hours on this and I'm crashing so it's gonna be short. The basis of Teyvat's common language is mostly going to be German since Mondstadt were most likely the first to travel and interact with the other nations. It would then be mixed with Manderin as Liyue's financial power grew and their language formalized. Hindi probably had a bit of influence as well but since Sumaru is very elitist only a few borrowed words slipped in. I can see the same happening with the rise of technology in Fontaine though it will probably be on a much smaller scale.

I'm not editing this. Feel free to add your opinions and theories in the comments. I'm gonna suffer for 5 more hours now.

#genshin impact #genshin theory #languages #I really fucking love world building with language differences okay. #If I had more time and I though people would enjoy it #I would make my own Traveler OC story focusing on the different cultures and languages #it would be a harem because I'm feral for a lot of these men but it would be fun!

[peonycats]

CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO ME INDOCHU

i deadass havent heard of it before but it seems neat and ya seem like the expert on it so i was wondering like what is their vibes and stuffs

SDHGHSGHSAJ I HAVE NEVER POSTED IT BUT OKAY I CAN TRY TO EXPLAIN? (thanks to my indonesian friend for helping out again weee)

Sukarno, the leader of the Indonesian independence movement and the first president of an independent Indonesia, cultivated a close relationship with Mao's China as part of an anti-imperialism alliance and the wider NAM movement, as well as his own "Guided Democracy" philosophy. However, after Suharto ousted Sukarno from power, he cut ties with the PRC and banned Chinese literature, culture, and characters; he went so far to ban Chinese Indonesians, particularly those on Java, from using their Chinese names.

Mao even went so far to fund Sukarno's attempt at creating an alternative to the Olympics, GANEFO (Games of New Emerging Forces), even though it was only ever hosted twice lol

There's a significant Chinese diaspora population in Indonesia and despite facing cultural suppression from the Suharto era government and anti-Chinese sentiment from Native Indonesians, have markedly impacted Indonesian culture and history as a whole.

The current Indonesian president is Pro-China and maintains close ties between Indonesia and the PRC.

So (according to people way more enthusiastic about Indochu than I am) Indochu is appealing because of how grey both of these countries are as well as their relationships- they have a long, mixed (and sometimes very sensitive) history with each other with a lot of potential. Realistically, today they probably wouldn't consider each other notably close partners, as it's more because they just happen to have certain interests line up, such as standing against western economic domination and security guarantees. But hey, I see the chemistry 🤔

This is of course, assuming you actually meant to ask about indonesia x China and not India x China, which in that case gosh... SORRY FOR WASTING EVERYONE'S TIME....

(But I'm currently writing a oneshot collection which heavily features India x China and shows off a lot of what I enjoy most about their dynamic, so give it a read! I also have multiple India x China fics up there so those are an option as well)

#hetalia #ask #anonymous #hws china #hws indonesia #indochu #historical hetalia #sorry if i get smth wrong this is only a brief overview

[eriong]

i absolutely LOVED listening to this when it aired live!! if you missed it, you can check out the entire show here.

This mix showcases the music from a small tribe living in the foothills of the Himalayas. Their genesis begins from a great boulder called Sinlung, possibly in the present Tailing or Silung of Yunan Province of today’s China. Starting off as a semi nomadic group of hunter/cultivators moving through Myanmar, and various pockets of the northeast India and a majority of the settlers in Tuithaphai, Manipur- The Hmar tribe is a group whose entire history has been a constant state of diaspora. Their music is heavily dictated by the lack of a script- passing down their stories through oral sounds. Almost every circumstance within the community has a story in songs to back it up. The mix starts off with the hunters call- a special song given to each Hunter, a victory hymn (Sikpui Hla) and some snippets of the melodious intonations of our spoken language. Throughout the mix- we see the contrasts between pre and post colonial Hmar Tribe, and how the eventual conversion into Christianity brings change in their sounds with nods to hymnody, protest folk, gospel, rockabilly, new wave, and 90's pop. Songs from the Hmar/Mizo heartlands that people from almost every generation can recall, despite its diminished stature in context of mainland India the musical prowess stands ingenously tall. Presently with the civil war that has been brewing in Manipur since May 2023 which almost all media outlets have refused to cover or amplify. I hope this mix serves as a vessel to remind us of a more peaceful time for the tribals before the threat of uprootment and forced displacement from the one place we thought we could call our home. Mixed by: Ruhail Qaisar @iakksakkath Mastered by: Julien Racine @racine.corporation

#music from the northeast #hmar #lalhrietzuol #nts radio

[freudianslumber]

TIGER MAN Master List

It took longer, but here is the master list and completed work for my second Elvis fanfiction.  Comparing with “Today, Tomorrow and Forever”, this story is more plot heavy and involves more original characters, some of them are foreign and with their own back stories.  Since the storyline is set in a historical background, writing also took more care and research, e.g., multiple times I had to look up if something actually existed back in the early 1940’s.  In addition, all the Elvis songs mentioned needed to be from way back then.  Considering these challenges, I’m overall pleased with the final product. Specifically, I think I’ve made some headway in terms of depicting the psychological evolution and emotional conflicts of my characters.

If anyone is reading this, enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Note: Once again, both original version in English and Chinese translation of this work are available on AO3.

Summary: The year was 1941, bandmates and secret lovers Scotty Moore and Elvis Presley got caught red handed by Scotty’s fiancée, and this led to the young men being thrusted headlong into the China-Burma-India theater of World War II as members of the first American Volunteer Group (The Flying Tigers).

Chapter 1:  Caught in the Heat

Chapter 2:   Flying Tigers

Chapter 3:   Lost and Found

Chapter 4:   Battle of Salween Gorge

Chapter 5:   Guest and Hosts

Chapter 6:   Fleeing from Danger

Chapter 7:   The Stand-off

Chapter 8:   Chamber of Darkness

Chapter 9:   Peace in the Valley

Chapter 10:   Garden of Roses

Chapter 11:   Life and Death

Chapter 12:   The Long Way Home  

#Elvis Presley #Scotty Moore #Elvis fan fic #m/m #sub!elvis #Flying Tigers #World War II au

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Konstantin Kisin - The Speech The World NEEDS To Hear

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once said that the strength or weakness of a society depends more on the level of its spiritual life, than on its level of industrialization. If a nation's spiritual energies have been exhausted, he said, it will not be saved from collapse by the most perfect government structure, or by any industrial development. A tree with a rotten core cannot stand.

When he was allowed to leave the USSR Solzhenitsyn went to the US, where he was given a hero's welcome. But he quickly realized that American society was far from perfect. He started lecturing Americans about the problems he saw. Americans don't like that. Like Solzhenitsyn, I come from the Soviet Union, but I have no intention of repeating his mistake. That's why I've come to Britain, where you love being told what's wrong with you by foreigners.

But I do have to be honest. Six months ago, when Jordan and Philippa asked me to come here and speak at ARC about the importance of audacity, adventure and a positive vision for our civilization, I was honored and delighted.

But as I stand here today, after watching crowds openly celebrate mass murder on the streets of our cities, after watching the police spend more time debating Islamic theology on Twitter than enforcing the law, I'm starting to lose faith. I don't know how long our civilization Will survive.

For years now many of us have been warning that the barbarians are at the gates. We were wrong. They're inside. Now look, I'm not going to be all doom and gloom, there are positives as well. I mean, say what you want about Hamas supporters, at least they know what a woman is.

But joking aside, I have to be honest. I've been in a dark place these last few weeks, so I did what I always do when I don't know what to do: I talk to my wife. It's not the only time I talk to her, but you know, get the point. And she said, look, you need to clear your mind, take a few days off, let's go on holiday. And I know, it's a weird thing to say, I don't like going on holiday, cause I love working, and I hate spending money. Protestant work ethic in a Jewish man's body. My wife is exactly the other way around, unfortunately.

But she was right. She's always right. That's her best and most annoying quality. So, we went to Barcelona. Beautiful city. And as we were walking down the main tourist street, La Rambla, many of you will know, when you get to the bottom, you hit the Christopher Columbus Monument. It looks like a giant column with a pillar of Columbus on top pointing towards the New World. And this reminded me of my son, Nikolai. He's 16 months, and this is what he does, he sits on my hip and points in the direction he wants to go. Treats me like a horse, basically. And if I don't act quickly enough, or if I don't comply, he does what all toddlers do: he throws a tantrum and starts screaming. How dare you! You have stolen my dreams with your empty words! And when he does, we read him a story and put him to bed. We don't give him a standing ovation in front of the UN.

Anyway, trigger warning, I am going to talk positively about Christopher Columbus. I know he committed some pretty sizable microaggressions, but he also changed the world. Do you know why he changed the world? Yeah, he tried to reach India and by accident discovered America. But why go west to India? Europeans had been trading with India and China for centuries via the Silk Road. Why risk your life to go out on a limb? There were many reasons of course, but the main one was the decision to try and reach Asia by going west, was not made out of choice. Europe was desperate. Only a few decades prior, in 1453, the Ottomans sacked Constantinople, and they cut Europe off from the Silk Road. The West Was facing a huge challenge and a new threat. No smaller than the one we face today. And like us what they needed was another way.

But when Columbus took his idea to go west to India to the kings and queens of medieval Europe, they laughed at him. They didn't laugh at him because he was some misunderstood genius, he wasn't Galileo. They laughed at him because he was wrong. If you go out in the street and ask a random person why Columbus discovered America, they'll tell you he worked out that the Earth was round. Not true. By the time Columbus set off on his voyage in 1492, people had known the Earth was round for two millennia. There's probably more flat Earthers now than there were in the 15th century. God bless the internet.

The reason Columbus discovered America is not that he'd worked out that the Earth was round. The reason is that he massively underestimated the size of the planet. They were right to laugh at him. He was wrong. But he took that wrongness, he persuaded 90 other men to get into three boats smaller than the size of this stage, and sail into the unknown. And he persuaded Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon to fund his voyage.

The moral of the story is, it doesn't matter how wrong you are as long as you've got rich friends.

That's not the moral of the story. The moral of the story is, the history of our civilization was not made by people who always got everything right. It was made by people who'd made mistakes too. It was made by people who dared to believe that they could solve the problems they faced. The story of the West is a story of audacity.

The big debates of the last decade, the culture war, the polarization, are about one thing and one thing only: the future. There are people like us in this room who believe that our future is to be prosperous, powerful and influential. We are the majority. But there are also some people whose brains have been broken by an excess of education, who believe that our history is evil. That we do not deserve to be great, we do not deserve to be powerful, that we must be punished for the sins of our ancestors. To them, our past is abominable, our present must be spent apologizing, and our future is managed decline.

My message to those people is simple: how dare you. You will not steal my son's dreams with your empty words.

But Jordan is right, we need a positive message too. So here it is: from the dawn of time, human beings have had to work to make the world a better place. We captured the mystery of fire. We invented the wheel. Today we build buildings that would shock and awe almost every human being that has ever lived. We split the atom, we spliced the genome and we connected the world through microcomputers that fit in our pockets, that allow us to do amazing amazing things.

This morning, I destroyed someone on Twitter with facts and logic from the toilet. It's magic! Remember your grandparents? Remember them? If I could go back in time and transport the grandparents of your grandparents into this room, just four generations ago, they would think they'd been abducted by aliens. that's the progress we've made. We haven't made that progress by whining and acting like victims. We've made that progress by unleashing the creativity and talent of people like us here in this room.

But I do think we've forgotten what adventure is. Being adventurous is not ordering extra-spicy chicken at Nando's. Wrong reference for this room. Let me try again. Being adventurous is not ordering extra-spicy chicken from your personal chef.

When Columbus and his men got on those boats and took a journey into the unknown, they sailed to certain death. You know why? It's not because they were braver than you and I, it's because they knew something we forgotten: all death is certain. And so I say to our friends in the world of business, you've made your fortunes by maximizing your returns on your investments. We are in the fight of our lives. there is no greater return on your investment than to protect and preserve our civilization.

And so I invite you to follow in the footsteps of Elon Musk and Paul Marshall and Ben Delo and many of you here who are using your fortunes for the betterment of humanity.

I say to our friends in the media: truth matters! We are in the fight of our lives. There is more to life than clicks and downloads. Let’s move beyond the culture war where all we do is bat away the litany of slanderous allegations about our history. Let’s set the agenda. Let’s remind our fellow citizens why we are where we are. Let’s remind them that we are the most tolerant, open and welcoming societies in the history of the world. We’re not embarrassed about our past, we’re proud of it.

And to my colleagues in new media especially I say this. The legacy media is dying for a reason. They cannot be saved, they cannot be reformed. Let’s stop complaining about them and start building the media empires of the future ourselves. We have everything we need. We’ve even got rich friends now.

I say to our friends in education and academia: I understand that many of you feel like the French Resistance or Soviet partisans, stuck behind enemy lines, undermanned and out gunned. And you’re right, we are in the fight of our lives. So keep fighting for every young mind you can. It will be worth it.

And finally, I say to our friends in politics. Many of you here are conservatives. I’m not, I look terrible in tweed. That’s why I identify as politically non-binary. But I can tell you conservatives something. You will never get young people to want to conserve a society and an economy that is not working for them. We will not overcome Woke nihilism as long as young people are locked out of the housing market, unable to pair up, unable to have kids, unable to plan for the future.

I know it’s difficult, and I know that whoever solves the housing crisis may well pay the price at the ballot box. This is true of many pressing issues too, or at least you think it is. But you did not get into politics to get re-elected. You got into politics to make a difference.

We are in the fight of our lives. And if courage means anything it means doing the right thing and being willing to take the punishment if you have to. Let me say it again: all death is certain. We do not get to choose whether we live or die. We only get to choose whether we live before we die. Thank you very much.

#Konstantin Kisin #western civilization #the war on the west #war on the west #religion is a mental illness

[emmersreads]

Foreign Bodies: Pandemics, Vaccines, and the Health of Nations by Simon Schama 3.5/5 stars

bear with me lads, this is an Extremely special interest book review

Foreign Bodies: Pandemics, Vaccines, and the Health of Nations is a generally good book marred by a few incidents of absolutely deranged framing. I liked a lot about it, but it lacks focus. While it is an in depth look at an interesting subject for a popular audience, it doesn’t always hold up on an academic level. Ultimately, for me it worked better as a companion read to Seth Dickinson’s The Masquerade, which also deals with colonial medicine and hygiene, but in a fictional setting. Foreign Bodies covers a lot but it doesn’t stand up on its own.

The elephant in the room was, for me, that Simon Schama is an art historian, not a historian of science or medicine, and you can tell.

Or, well, I could tell, because I am a historian of science; I have two very expensive degrees about it. That’s why I have so much to say about the minor things that are wrong with this book.

First, the good. Foreign Bodies is a fun and eclectic look at the unfortunately not widely popularized niche of medical history: colonial medicine. I would actually highly recommend it as an anti-colonial read to flesh out one’s understanding of British occupation of India and China. The exploration of the racialized and colonial politics of hygiene and cleanliness — and how the principles of sanitation formed a cornerstone of the ideology of empire — is perhaps this book’s best contribution. As I mentioned above, I read this book directly after The Masquerade series. The series uses a fictional setting to explore the ethics of resistance to colonization. The most complete resistance to colonization includes refusing to adopt colonial practises of sanitation and medicine which do save lives. Is this a necessary sacrifice? Medicine is the poisoned fruit of empire; access to it is used to as both carrot and stick to ensure colonial obedience. The Masquerade is very thoroughly researched and incorporates a dizzying array of historical influences, and Foreign Bodies serves as an exploration of many of them. It contextualizes the fictional constructions in our real history.

I also, personally, loved the verbose literary style. This book is way way more complicated than it needs to be, but I found it fun and funny. My favourite example was the use of ‘conurbation;, rather than ‘city’ or even ‘metropolis’. What the fuck. If you prefer clarity and directness, you might not enjoy wading through this book’s extremely languorous prose, but for me it had a certain academia-camp charm. And I can appreciate the compulsion to explain and clarify that leads to long-windedness like this. I feel #seen.

What I appreciated less were the weird quirks of framing. Foreign Bodies is pretty aggressively anti-colonial. I’ve read a lot of books where the author is reluctant to explicitly ascribe responsibility for the cruel and unusual behaviours of colonial regimes — all of which were ultimately perpetrated by individual human beings — and this is not one of them. But it exclusively uses the 19th century European terms to refer to Asian locations. That was the detail that tipped me off that this was Schama’s first foray into the field. Unless the context is extremely specific to the 19th century geography or regime, I’m used to seeing Myanmar, not Burma. The 19th century names are technically not incorrect, it’s just not the sort of thing I’d expect to see in an academic work.

The other thing I wouldn’t expect to see, and to my mind the far more egregious error, is the continuous framing of inoculation as new and scientific while previous regimes of sanitization were superstitious and religious. Actual historians of science simply do not think like this.

I think it’s absolutely accurate to say that the Europeans, and especially the British, approached protocols of carbolic sanitization with a fanatical zeal, but to suggest that this was the religion of carbolic to the science of inoculation is misguided and ultimately distracts from the book’s more interesting questions. First, let’s quickly dispense with the idea that science and religion are two opposite poles of knowledge, as diametrically opposed as black and white. It’s especially out of place in a book that is otherwise attempting empathy towards non-western traditions of medicine, culture, and belief. Science is just another belief system grounded on very specific verification procedures (as opposed to faith, or criticism of certain texts, etc). The sooner we understand that science is a system of belief rather than a privileged access to The Truth, the better we will be at handling the times that science is wrong.

Because science is wrong all the time. Our understanding of our reality is is constantly changing as we refine pre-existing theories and discover new ones. Carbolic was exactly such a case. Fifty years previous, sanitization was the scientific doctrine bravely fighting the superstition of doctor’s honour and the religion of laudable pus.

I found it especially deranged that Schama frames inoculation as part of the vanguard science of bacteriology in opposition to sterilization. Sterilization is grounded in bacteriology just as much as inoculation, if not more (the evidence for the effectiveness of inoculation was exclusively statistical in this period, not microbial). Disease is caused by germs. To treat the disease, use carbolic to kill the germs. The germ are invisible and everywhere, so carbolic your shrivelled British heart out. This is mixed, of course, with the colonizers’ fundamental lack of respect for the personhood of the colonized, and you get the so-called religion of carbolic. It’s just out-dated science strained through a conservative and slow to adapt colonial bureaucracy.

This framing of inoculation and sanitization as two opposite poles of scientificness obfuscates the fact that inoculation was was just as much a part of western science, the western culture and technologies that were steam-rolling their way over Ayurvedic and Chinese medical systems. Does it make it better than this fruit of empire fulfils its promise? Schama isn’t interested in asking, and treats inoculation as unambiguously good, free from the colonial baggage of the rest of medicine. I get that the exploration of this question would be limited by the extreme paucity of non-European sources, but the execution here was still disappointing.

Ultimately, while Foreign Bodies is informative and interesting, it works best as a companion read because it doesn’t really come together by itself. It addresses the obvious, but fails to move any deeper. I have a distinct memory of being struck by the realization, a third of the way through the book, that I didn’t know what it was actually about. Schama draws a connection between viruses and bacteria as foreign bodies causing disease (this is the detail that separates germ theory from humoural theory), to suspicion of inoculation being grounded in fear of injection with foreign bodies, to key figures in the history of inoculation as foreign bodies both within the Asian countries where they worked and within the Western European empires that employed them. It’s a tantalizing idea, but Schama never explains what this connection is (beyond a literary image) or what it might mean. There is meat on that bone. What is the meaning of native and foreign in medicine? How does it interact with our ideas of sanitariness and cleanliness? How can we use this information to decolonize medicine and hygiene in the future? Foreign Bodies pivots so hard from wrapping up its many historical tangents to bemoaning COVID vaccine denialism that it never has time to address them. (This is putting it charitably; put uncharitably, one might suspect that this sort of thing never occurred to Schama at all).

I think the book is an admirable effort for a non-historian of science. It hits the mark way more than it misses. I just did find myself wishing that it had a little more of an understanding of the history and philosophy of science as a field. We’ve been over this sort of thing, but if that work never gets picked up but outsiders, we’ll keep spinning in circles.

#bookblr #book review #read in 2024 #nonfiction #medical history #book blogging #foreign bodies #simon schama

[beardedmrbean]

China, China, China. Scarcely a day passes without some new scare story about China. The Middle Kingdom was struggling with its image overseas long before Covid, but the pandemic cemented attitudes in the West. Ever since, and with plenty of justification, its every move has been regarded with growing “reds under the bed” paranoia. The feeling is mutual.

The mood has darkened further in the past week. British democracy is under threat from Chinese cyber attacks, the Deputy Prime Minister, Oliver Dowden, told MPs this week in imposing sanctions on a number of Chinese officials. If that’s what standing up to China means these days then the central committee doesn’t have a lot to worry about.

Rather more seriously, the US and Japan are meanwhile planning the biggest upgrade to their security alliance since the mutual defence treaty of 1960.

Not to be outdone by the US ban on exports of hi-tech chips to China, Beijing responded this week by saying it will be phasing out even the low-tech variety on all government computers and servers, replacing foreign chips with its own home-grown ones.

And then of course, there is China’s de facto alliance with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, forming a new axis of authoritarian powers with an overtly anti-Western agenda. The rupture with the West seems virtually complete.

Years of integration into the global economy, in the hope that it might make China more like us, have backfired and are now going powerfully into reverse.

But does the nature of the threat fully justify all the noise which is made about it? In military terms, possibly, even if China plainly poses no direct threat to Europe, and unlike Putin, has no plans to lay claim to any part of it.

It does, however, pose a clear and present danger to Taiwan, where President Xi Jinping would plainly like to crush the life out of this vibrant, free enterprise economy in the same way as he has in Hong Kong. His rhetoric is bellicose and hostile, and we must therefore assume he means what he says.

In economic terms, however, the China threat is receding fast. After decades of stellar growth, China’s medium to long-term economic prospects are at best mediocre and at worst grimly dispiriting.

Now gone almost entirely is the idea of China as an unstoppable economic leviathan that will inevitably eclipse the US and Europe. Already it is obvious that this is not going to be the Chinese century once so widely forecast. Instead, Western commerce is looking increasingly to India as the economic superpower of the future.

Nor is this just because of the immediate causes of China’s economic slowdown – a woefully unbalanced economy which in recent years has relied for its growth substantially on debt-fuelled property development.

For China is indeed, to use the old cliche, getting old before it gets rich. Demographic factors alone are highly likely to floor President Xi’s grandiose ambitions for economic hegemony before they can be realised.

The fundamentals of China’s predicament, in other words, do not support the narrative of democracy under threat from an insurgent totalitarian rival.

There’s been a lot in the papers about demographics over the last week following a new study, published in the Lancet, on declining fertility rates. At some stage in the next 60 years, the global population will peak, and then fast start contracting.

The birth rate is projected to fall below population replacement levels in around three-quarters of countries by 2050, with only a handful of mainly Sub-Saharan nations still producing enough babies to ensure expanding populations by 2100.

In China, however, it has already started, with the population falling in 2022 for the first time since the Great Famine of 1959-61. This wasn’t just a one-off blip: last year deaths continued to significantly outnumber births.

There may be a slight pause in the decline this year. Some couples may have delayed their plans for children in anticipation of the Year of the Dragon, synonymous in Chinese mythology with good fortune.

Any relief will be only temporary. According to projections by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, which correctly forecast the onset of Chinese population decline, it’ll essentially be all downhill from here on in, with the population more than halving between now and the turn of the century.

This is a huge fall, with far-reaching implications for economic development and China’s superpower ambitions. What’s more, there is almost nothing the Chinese leadership can do about it, beyond imprisoning China’s fast-declining cohort of women of child-bearing age and forcing them to breed.

Across much of the developed world and beyond, the birth rate has long since declined below the 2.1 offspring per woman generally thought to be the level required to maintain the population. But thanks to its dictatorial one-child policy introduced in 1980 to curb China’s then almost ruinous birth rate, China has a particularly acute version of it.

China abandoned the one-child policy – limiting urban dwellers to one child per family and most rural inhabitants to two – in favour of a “three-child” policy in 2016, but too late.

Even if women of child-bearing age could be persuaded to have more babies, there are simply not enough of them any longer even to maintain today’s population, let alone increase it.

The one-child policy may have perversely further accentuated this deficiency because of the Chinese preference for male offspring over female, though most studies on this are inconclusive.

In any case, China finds itself classically caught in a “low-fertility trap”, the point of no return, where precipitous population decline becomes inevitable.

The implications are as startling as the statistics themselves. The Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences forecasts that the working-age population will fall to 210 million by 2100, having peaked in 2014, and the ratio of working-age citizens to notionally non-working from 100 to 21 today, to 100 to 137 at the turn of the century.

One thing we know about ageing populations is they like life to be as comfortable and settled as possible. They also don’t like fighting wars, which have historically required a surplus of testosterone-fuelled young men desperate to prove themselves on the battlefield.

The turn of the century is of course still a long way off; there is easily enough time for several wars in between. The nature of warfare has also changed. It no longer requires the bravery of the young.

Even so, totalitarian dictatorships may well struggle with selling the multiple other hardships of war to an elderly population. Putin may seem to disprove this observation, but in doing so he is also demonstrating anew the futility of expansionist warfare. They make a desert, and call it peace.

A couple of other points seem worth making about our propensity to exaggerate the Chinese threat. Anyone would think that China is already a dominant force in the UK economy. It is not; in fact it is still only our fifth-largest trading partner after the US, Germany, the Netherlands and France. Even on imports alone it’s not as big as the US and Germany.

Whether because of the growing diplomatic standoff or other factors, moreover, this position is eroding. The size of trade with China fell last year. The same is true of direct investment by China in the UK economy, which was just 0.3pc of total foreign direct investment in 2021.

We worry about China’s imagined ability to close down our critical infrastructure, but should that really be allowed to influence decisions on whether the Chinese battery company EVE should be building a new gigawatt factory at Coventry Airport, or for that matter whether super-tariffs should be charged on Chinese EVs?

Should they exist at all, these risks can surely be managed. In any case, no nation that hopes to trade with others would deliberately turn the lights off, even if it could. In over-reacting to the Chinese threat, we only shoot ourselves in the foot.

China has lied, copied, stolen and cheated its way up the economic league tables, but ultimately it is a closed economy which increasingly repudiates foreign influence and thereby severely limits its own powers of innovation.

The danger is that now at the peak of its powers, it hubristically lashes out. But in the medium to long term, the demographic die is cast, and it spells a future of waning influence and economic heft.

#nunyas news #my only fear is that they start a war #in order to reduce their population #it's china so not something historically I'd put past them

[willowistic22]

I want yall to consider vet/zoologist crutchie. I’ve always had this idea of him working with animals and the idea suddenly grew and expanded even further when i woke up this morning and decided to turn on nat geo wild. Let me explain.

Crutchie adores animals. The cute, the gross, the peculiar, the dangerous, the docile, you name it. He always had this dream lifestyle where he gets to work closely with animals, whether it’d be in an animal clinic or in a zoo or in conservation/perservation or research in general, and then come home every eveningn to his own place full of his pets.

His first job fresh out of vet school was in fact as a vet. He was hoping for a job in preservation/conservation or at a zoo but seeing that this was his first job, he’ll still take it. And being a vet actually allowed crutchie to handle a variety amount of cases. Most cases are just the regular hose pets or out of states farm, mostly bcs he’s still considered a junior there. But working as a vet was enough to see a lot of cases.

However he still wished to work in preservation. He wants to work with endangered species or rescued animals. And so he went out of his way to look for jobs out of the state in conservation centers. (Idk how that stuff works but you get the gist). Now i firmly stand with the whole crutchie, jack, and race are adopted brothers dynamic. Out of the three of them, crutchie is definitely the brother that would most likely move very far away. But this was out of state. Jack and race were a bit sad that he’s moving away but was supportive of his decision. dw the brothers and the rest of the friends always make time to do life updates through texts or calls.

Imagine their surprise when a couple months in Crutchie’s new job he announced that he was planning on moving to other countries? He’s fairly young when he starts off his conservation career to still be quite active but old enough with experience and knowledge a junior wouldn’t have. He gets recommended by his superiors to work in other conservation centers around the globe. Jack and Race was the most shocked and mostly bcs they’re his brothers. Despite the life updates they give, it’s quite hard to catch Crutchie at the right time to hv a proper catch up conversation. His way of staying connected with all his friends and brothers is by sending random life update texts in their big group chat (basically a big newsies gc) much like what the others have always been doing. Crutchie is too busy to call them himself, and most of the time he is content with not speaking with them for long periods of time. However he always does makes the smallest amount of time to facetime them, especially his brothers. And make time to go back to new york to visit them every once in awhile bearing gifts from where he’s living.

Living like this made him really proud of himsef. Of how far he has come. He was first adopted bcs his biological parents didn’t want a disabled child. Imo in modern era crutchie has a limb reduction on his right leg. It barely formed from just above his knee as a newborn and so his bio parents abandoned him. He was taken in by a couple of foster families first and was only given crutches as they cldn’t afford a prosthetic limb. When Ms Medda adopted him, he was able to get one. He went through a lot of challenges with his prosthetic leg, and even thought he might not be able to get the lifestyle he wanted with it. But when the world turned its back on him, Crutchie gave it a middle finger and fought through. With a job he loves, and experiencing a lifestyle in different countries as he continues with his passion for saving animals. It started from Brazil, then South Africa, then India, then China, then Indonesia, and then Australia. He stayed in Australia the longest though because there were a lot of cool conservation projects he was being recruited on.

All throughout his adventures of being moved around, he acquired two loyal pets he brought along with him. A black labrador with a right front prosthetic leg named Hunter, found limping in the streets of Brazil, and a black blind stray cat named Noir, found in a cat adoption center in China after living there for almost a year (breed unidentifiable other than “black fluffy cat” and Crutchie doesn’t care to find out what her breed is).

He earned his reputation worldwide after being apart of countless of conservation projects in various countries. By around his late thirties early fourties, he moved back to the states. On the outskirts of the state of New York, he settles in a small town near his permanent workplace. A conservation scientists in a wildcat sanctuary where they rescue wild cats (from unethical breeding, bad roadside zoos, disabled by poachers in the wild, the black market, random ppl keeping them as pets, you get tne gist) and let them live freely in their sanctuary till the end of their lives as wild as they want without being put on display, unable to be released to the wild for one reason or another. Crutchie also sometimes comes in to work in a local animal clinic every now and then.

Anyways yeah food for thought on vet/zoologist!crutchie?? Yeah<3

#crurchie morris #crutchie newsies #crutchie #newsies #i love writing random hcs in detail description like this #tw abelism #tw abandonment #tw mentions of animal abuse

[zvaigzdelasas]

Battles of attrition are defined as those in which opposing forces do not confront each other in direct combat with the full strength of their teams but instead aim to wear each other down over a period of time. [U]nilaterally-imposed economic policy sanctions that coerce certain desired patterns of international trade and economic exchange may be cast as attempts to win a battle of attrition.

The latest headlines in the attrition front from Germany, the epicentre of the continent’s unsettled energy geopolitics after the launch of Western sanctions on Russia, seem incredible at first sight. It was only about a month ago when what seemed a dumbfounding report by Deutsche Bank predicted that "wood will be used for heating purposes where possible." The Business Insider headlined its column “Germans could switch to wood this winter to heat their homes as Russia withholds natural gas, Deutsche Bank says”.

Last week, Bloomberg’s Javier Blas tweeted with his “chart of the day” showing Google seearches for firewood ("Brennholz") surging in the past two months as Germans increasingly realize that firewood (yes, firewood!) might stand between them and a freezing winter with electricity rationing “as the country braces for natural gas shortages”. Germany’s citizens — living in the world’s pre-eminent engineering nation with its flagship BMWs and Audis in manufacturing, its world leading petrochemical sector typified by behemoth BASF and much else besides — face the prospects of surviving winter as their forebears did over 2 centuries ago, huddling around a firewood hearth. [...]

A few days after the launch of Russia’s “special military operations” in eastern Ukraine on 24th February, the U.S., U.K. and the European Union along with their closest allies (Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and a few other countries) imposed the most wide-ranging economic blitzkrieg on a sovereign nation since the Second World War. The sanctions launched on Russia were meant to devastate the Russian economy and force President Vladimir Putin to sue for peace on Ukraine’s terms or even engender regime change.

Russia responded with a “roubles for gas” scheme for “non-friendly” countries (i.e. those participating in the sanctions) as a prototype for all of Russia’s major commodity exports to a hostile Western alliance. In the days after the sanctions, Russia’s rouble fell to almost half of its pre-invasion levels, its stock market was shut, and its central bank jacked up interest rates to contain the fallout. Contrary to expectations and President Joe Biden’s boast of collapsing the ‘rouble to rubble’ however, the currency soon recovered sharply. It strengthened to its highest levels in 7 years while the country’s current account surplus surged to record levels by May.

This was due only in part to the Russian central bank's actions limiting currency outflows and raising interest rates. It was primarily an outcome of the surge in the global prices of fossil fuels and industrial commodities which constitute the major commodity exports of the country. According to a Reuters report yesterday, higher oil export volumes, coupled with rising gas prices, will boost Russia's earnings from energy exports to $337.5 billion this year, a 38% rise on 2021, according to an economy ministry document seen by the newswire.

While there was some fall-off in energy exports to the Western countries, China and India rapidly increased their energy imports from Russia at discounted prices. While China is in talks with Russia to buy oil to replenish its strategic reserves according to Bloomberg, India has been refining cheaper Russian crude to then export as petroleum products to Europe and the US. [!]

In an irony that will not be lost to observers of European affairs, Robin Brooks, Chief Economist at the Institute of International Finance, says that the West is “paying a high price” for denying Russian energy to itself, although EU “exemptions” to sanctions are multiplying. Meanwhile, Russia’s financial conditions now are almost as relaxed as before the war.

He also notes that the German current account surplus “is back to levels last seen in the early 2000s, when Germany was the ‘sick man’ of Europe” adding that Germany is “sick again now” having had a growth model that was “heavily predicated on cheap Russian energy”. The Nordstream-1 gas pipeline — Germany’s main gas supply artery — running at 20% level of normal supply and the resulting Eurozone energy price shock — is Putin’s grapple-hold across the throat of Europe threatening “catastrophic industrial shutdowns” and mass layoffs.

Russia’s citizens, while poorer, do not seem to be doing so badly relative to their German neighbours. Retail spending at cafes, bars, and restaurants is doing fine. Well-heeled Muscovites might miss their I-phones and Gucci handbags under sanctions and voluntary exits by publicity-conscious Western corporations. But ordinary citizens are certainly not searching for firewood this winter or worried about being able to have hot baths.

The battle of attrition between the G-7 and Russia continues as the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently went on “a charm offensive in Africa to regain the US popularity which was lost ostensibly during the Trump administration, and to counter the attempts from Russia to get more African countries on their side.” In pointed remarks to the press with Mr. Blinken sitting at her side, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said that she objected to “patronizing bullying” coming from the West: “Because when we believe in freedom – as I’m saying, it’s freedom for everybody – you can’t say because Africa is doing this, you will then be punished by the United States…. One thing I definitely dislike is being told ‘either you choose this or else.’”

Making the same point more diplomatically, India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar said in a June conference when he took questions from an audience: "I am one-fifth of the world's population. I am what today the 5th or 6th largest economy in the world… I feel I am entitled to have my own side. I am entitled to weigh my own interests, and make my own choices. My choices will not be cynical and transactional. They will be a balance of my values and my interests. There is no country in the world which disregards its interests."

In a speech delivered yesterday in Bangkok when attending a India-Thailand Joint Commission meeting, the minister defended India’s crude oil imports from Russia. He referred to the surge in energy prices across the world due to the Russia-Ukraine war and said: “We have been very open and honest about our interest. I have a country with a per capita income of USD 2000, these are not people who can afford higher energy prices. It’s my moral duty to ensure the best deal.”

In a blistering article last week headlined “Washington has only itself to blame for growing de-dollarization trend”, China’s Global Times stated: “The thought the US may move to grab anybody's assets who refuses to obey Washington's dictates is truly unnerving, which is now inducing more countries to diversify their reserve assets away from US dollars.” Russia, China and India have been engaged in efforts to facilitate trade via the use of their national currencies and a potential BRICS basket as the basis of commodity trade among those outside the Western alliance.

Potential future members of the BRICS bloc such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Indonesia, Nigeria and Thailand have made clear — either overtly or by their neutrality in trade and diplomatic relations with Russia and the West – that they will not “pick sides” as India’s Dr. Jaishanker put it. There is little reason to believe that the EU or the US can browbeat developing countries to join in the anti-Russia sanctions.

Financial and trade sanctions on Russia by Western protagonists has led to an economic battle of attrition the results of which remain uncertain and far-reaching. It looks increasingly likely that Russia will achieve at least its immediate goals in the military battlefield in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine, albeit at great cost of men and materiel. Yet the costs of the Western economic sanctions on Russia which have boomeranged are far more consequential to people’s lives and livelihoods around the world.

The Western alliance, led by the US under the Biden administration, offers no prospects for a negotiated solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict as called for by Henry Kissinger at the Davos conference in May. Indeed, the mainstream media and Western political leaders have continued escalating the narrative of a Russian military defeat with a seeming endless supply of funds and arms by the Biden administration to Ukraine.

Pensioners and poorer sections of society across Western Europe and the UK, unable to afford skyrocketing heating and electricity bills, will be the most affected proximate victims. But even worse injuries to people’s lives and livelihoods will be among the vast populations of the developing countries that live in poverty or on the edges of it. The surge in the price of food, fertilizer and fuel as a result of the sanctions will punish the far-flung innocent poor the most.

Yeowch, when even Forbes is turning on your political class & waving this big of a white flag, you know youve lost (18 Aug 22)

[mariacallous]

The March 22 terrorist attack targeting concertgoers in Moscow, which was later claimed by the Islamic State, was an eerily familiar shock for Russians. In 2002, approximately a year after 9/11, Islamist terrorists claiming allegiance to a separatist movement in Chechnya besieged the crowded Dubrovka Theater in Moscow. More than 130 people were killed in the operation to clear the theater.

Last month’s attack, which killed at least 144 people, opened multiple geopolitical fissures. The Kremlin, having caught—and tortured—at least a few of the suspected perpetrators, claimed that the terrorists were looking to head toward Ukraine, where Russia is embroiled in its own endless war. Online, the story took a life of its own as conspiracy theories overwhelmed facts.

As attention shifted eastward toward the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISK), the group’s branch based in Afghanistan, contrarian views, mostly in Russian media but amplified on social media platforms, of this being a false-flag operation designed by the West simultaneously took off.

In between such distractions, the victor was the Islamic State. The group’s spokesperson, known by his nom de guerre Abu Hudhayfah al-Ansari, released a 41-minute audio message a few days after the Moscow attack. Curiously, the message, titled “By God, this religion [Islam] will prevail,” mentioned Russia only in passing. It however congratulated Islamic State ecosystems and wilayas (Arabic for provinces), or offshoots, on a successful 10 years of the caliphate.

The message takes the listener on a world tour of sorts, highlighting the group’s presence across regions from Africa to Southeast Asia, challenging the notion that it is a spent force. Ansari also congratulated the group’s fighters for their campaigns against the Chinese, Russians, Sikhs, and Hindus. It also chastised the very idea of democracy—a long-standing ideological position for most jihadi groups.

Only a few hours prior to this, ISK had released a separate 18-minute propaganda video in Pashto targeting the Afghan Taliban’s outreach with India. This is particularly noteworthy after India facilitated the evacuation of Sikhs and Hindus from the country, specifically after ISK claimed an attack against a Sikh temple in Kabul in 2022. Islamic State propaganda has also long stoked communal divisions in India to instigate Muslims against the state.

The video took the format of a first-person narrative, discussing how the Taliban regime was working with the Indian state, which ISK views as an anti-Muslim institution. This was not the first time either the Islamic State or ISK had targeted India in its propaganda, but interestingly, the latter’s primary aim here was the Taliban’s behavior and not necessarily India, its democracy, or its perceived Hindu-nationalist political bent by itself.

The chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan and subsequent return to power of the Taliban in 2021 was a watershed moment. But the negotiated exit was not a difficult decision for the U.S. government, which was clear in its vision on what it wanted out of leaving, as Washington looked to pivot toward new areas of strategic competition in Asia.

The challenge fell to powers within the region, which were left to deal with an extremist movement in control of a critical neighboring state. For more than 20 years, Afghanistan’s neighbors, including China and Russia, benefited from the expansive U.S. and NATO military umbrella. This allowed them to pursue their own strategic interests such as developing influence within Afghanistan’s ethnic divisions and the power brokers representing these groups without any significant military commitment. On Aug. 30, 2021, then-Maj. Gen. Christopher T. Donahue was the last U.S. soldier to leave the country. Afghanistan was now an Asian problem.

But Russia, China, and Iran—the three primary adversaries of the United States, and by association Western geopolitical constructs—were in fact happy. After two decades, there were no massive U.S. military deployments on Iran’s eastern border at a time when its relations with Washington were at their worst. Tehran’s own history with Afghanistan, and specifically the Taliban, is confrontational.

Throughout the 1990s, the Iranians supported anti-Taliban groups, particularly rebel leaders such as Ahmad Shah Massoud and the Northern Alliance. Tehran was not alone, as others, including India, Russia, and Tajikistan among others, supported these groups against the Taliban and its sponsors in Pakistan.

Fast forward to 2021, and Iran decided to go the opposite way. It opened diplomatic and economic channels with the new regime in Kabul and looked to build support in exchange for a healthy level of anti-Western patronage and relative calm on the borders.

Iran’s two other closest allies in Moscow and Beijing followed suit. Iran, Russia, and China have all, in a way, recognized the Taliban as the quasi-official rulers of Afghanistan. Beijing has gone a step beyond, with Chinese President Xi Jinping officially accepting the accreditation of the new Taliban-appointed ambassador to his country.

Russia, still a little wary due to its history of fighting against and losing to the U.S.-backed mujahideen between 1979 and 1989 and more vocal in its criticism, accepted Taliban diplomats in Moscow in 2022 and is now even considering removing the Taliban from its list of banned terrorist organizations.

The stance these three states have adopted is a calculated risk; they see Taliban rule as a more palatable crisis to deal with than an expansive U.S. military presence at a time when great-power competition is once again taking hold of contemporary international relations.

Other countries, such as many of those in Central Asia, have also grudgingly taken the path of engagement with Kabul so as to try to avoid a return of regional conflict and proliferation of extremist ideologies by using the Taliban itself as a buffer as they try to keep one foot in and the other out the proverbial door.

Pakistan, long the Taliban’s patron, is already caught in a lover’s feud with its own protégés in Afghanistan as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan continues a militant campaign against Islamabad. Meanwhile, India has begun to balance between naked strategic interest and the long-term costs of the political normalization of such entities.

A trend of political victories for militant groups such as the Taliban is expanding. In the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the latter has in many respects come out on top by gaining more legitimacy than it ever expected despite the bloodiness of its attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas has managed to move its own narrative away from being a proscribed terrorist group to being viewed as a revolutionary movement for the liberation of Palestine. Its political leadership, based out of Qatar, even condemned the terrorist attack in Russia.

The spectacle of an Islamist terrorist group publicly condemning another Islamist terrorist group underscores the absurdity of this situation. Hamas leaders, such as Ismail Haniyeh, have visited Iran and Russia to drum up support. Beijing, while asking for a secession of hostilities, has yet to denounce Hamas by name for its actions. At some level, all these states are happy to engage with such militant groups if it aids in the weakening of U.S. power and hegemony.

A significant level of global cooperation against terrorism, which was achieved in the aftermath of 9/11 and during the so-called global war on terrorism, is fast eroding. For example, up until 2015, Moscow had allowed NATO military supply flights meant for Afghanistan to use its airspace. Multilateral forums such as the United Nations are now repeatedly questioned over their purpose and worth.

For groups such as the Islamic State, this is a boon. Even though most of these competing powers see the group as a security threat that requires military solutions, a lack of uniformity creates a tremendous vacuum in which such entities can thrive. And while most of Afghanistan’s neighbors today are forced to view the Taliban as the “good Taliban,” considering its fundamental aversion to the Islamic State and its ideology (due to tension between Deobandis and Salafi jihadis), these new realities will make cohesive and effective global cooperation against terrorism far less likely.

This raises a critical question: Who is going to lead the global counterterrorism push? Militarily, the kind of capacity the United States deploys against terrorist groups remains unchallenged. From the killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019 to the new Islamic State caliphs being degraded to faceless, often nameless personas, the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve in Syria has been effective—and it continues to this day. But the expansion of Islamic State wilayas and their own individual clout, as highlighted by Ansari, challenges these successes.

In Africa, Russia is empowering local warlords and dilettantes to take on the Islamic State while it simultaneously cements its own presence, particularly as Western powers such as the United States and France struggle to hold on to their military footing. Propping up regimes in places such as Mali and Burkina Faso by offering political stability and pushing them to fight groups such as the Islamic State is a model both Russia and China seem to gravitate toward.

As the Moscow attack revealed, an era of increased rivalry between major powers that tolerate terrorist groups that target their adversaries could ultimately spawn a resurgence of Islamist terrorism. This new geopolitical landscape, by default, will give terrorist groups more chances of political compromise through negotiations than ever before.

The popular yet often frowned-on adage of “one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter” seems to be a winning formula for those who were widely seen as critical threats yesterday but now are aspiring to be the stakeholders of tomorrow.

[turtlethebean]

JoMarina Week Day 3: Tea

Also available on AO3: A Much Needed Talk - Turtle_The_Bean - Criminal Case (Video Game) [Archive of Our Own]

Marina sat in her office with the two cups of sweet, amber Darjeeling tea that she had prepared for this session. Breathing in the smell helped to calm her nerves for this meeting. She had posed this as a friendly get-together between two colleagues who may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but her goal was to learn more about Jonah, more specifically, his weaknesses.

She needed to know more about the people who tried to kill her all those years ago. The people who gave her a scar, hospitalised her for almost two days because of where the bullet hit, and forced her to wear scarves just to cover it up. The scar still ached to this day, a constant reminder of what happened back then.

She couldn’t understand why they would attempt to assassinate a college student. Sure, she did expose them, but not a lot of people are willing to take college students seriously, especially when they talk about something like politics. Then again, money makes the world go around, and some people will do anything to protect themselves from losing it.

However, she acknowledged that she still needed to get along with Jonah. The two were coworkers now, two people working towards the same goal. They should be able to get along, even with their differences. The Bureau, after all, was known for some unlikely friendships amongst their ranks, and Marina knew pretty much all of them.

“Hey.” A familiar voice came from her doorway. She looked up to see Jonah standing slightly nervously in front of her.

“Ah, good morning,” Marina changed her demeanour into something more relaxed, “Come on in. Take a seat.”

Jonah finally got out of the doorway, closing the door behind him. He walked over to Marina’s desk and sat down across from her. He took the mug that she had laid out on the table for him and took a sip from it. He seemed to enjoy the first sip and began to drink it excitedly.

“It seems you’re enjoying your tea.” Marina smiled, happy to see him so excited over something.

“Oh yeah, it may be expensive, but I gotta say, Darjeeling is probably one of my favourite teas.” Jonah grinned back.

“I’m glad we can agree on that. I made sure to pick some up while we were in India. It is the origin country, after all. I knew I was bound to get some good quality.”

As she spoke to him, Jonah couldn’t help but notice Marina scribbling something down on a piece of paper. He began to get curious as to what it was, hoping that it wasn’t something bad about him.

“Hey, whatcha writing about?” He asked anxiously, not knowing how she would respond.

“Hm? Oh, I just take note of what everyone’s favourite teas are. It helps make people feel more comfortable when they’re in my office.”

“Well, in that case, you may want to write down rooibos as my actual favourite.”

“Noted. I have to say, though, nobody else in the Bureau has claimed that as their favourite tea as of yet.”

“Heh, I mostly like it because it reminds me a lot of where I grew up. I guess you could say it’s a taste of home.”

“That reminds me, where did you grow up?”

“Soweto, in South Africa. Well, that’s where I was for a good chunk of my life. We did move around a lot. Military dad? Y’know?”

“I understand. My mother used to travel around Russia and occasionally to other countries like China or America for her career. I always knew Saint Petersburg was my home, but sometimes it didn’t really feel like it with all the travelling.”

“I get ya. Funny how we both ended up in the Bureau then, huh?”

“Yes, but I do believe there may be a bit of a pattern with people who are used to travelling joining the Bureau, typically those whose jobs or parents’ jobs relied on it. For example, I know you’re close with Carmen, and being an investigative journalist means that she did travel a lot for her job.”

“True. Hell, that’s how I met Carmen. I had a couple of contracts in Yemen when she was there. We ended up talking about the war and it turns out I had some valuable information for her. I’m glad we stayed friends after she started working here. It’s great to have friends you can trust in places like this.”

Now Marina was getting to the parts she wanted to ask him about. The parts of his life that many would’ve buried, but he seemed fairly comfortable in talking about them.

“I’ve actually been meaning to ask you about your life as a hitman,” She leaned closer to him, “Do you know the type of person that you would usually take contracts from?”

“Honestly, at the time, I was kinda desperate for work. I used to take whatever was given to me. I started looking more into the people who were hiring me after the incident in Saint Petersburg, though. Knowing some politician hired me to kill you, especially since you were just a college student, the guilt’s been eating away at me for years.”

Marina couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for Jonah after that last statement. She was, at the very least, glad to hear that her story had changed the way he took contracts, helping him be a bit more responsible about the people he took contracts from. She always enjoyed changing people’s lives for the better.

That’s why she became a psychologist, after all. To stop people from living the same mental torment without any help.

She remembered that drowning feeling. Like the weight of everything going on in her life was dragging her down deeper into the sea of her own mind. Any time she got a bit of reprieve, another wave would come crashing down on her, dragging her back into the ocean of her own mind.

She hated that feeling and didn’t want anyone else to feel like that.

“Hey, are you…feeling okay?” Jonah asked, tilting his head to the side.

Marina had almost forgotten where she was when she snapped out of her memories.

“I’m fine. Sorry, you can go now.” She explained, closing her book like she always did when her sessions were over.

“Nah, I like talking to you.” He smiled at her sweetly, making any of the ice that was in her heart from her thoughts melt.

“Alright then,” She reopened her book, “What do you want to talk about?”

#criminal case #criminal case save the world #criminal case season 3 #marina romanova #jonah karam #jomarina week 2024