#the genocide has been happening for nearly a century but it has been six months since October and the deliberate collapse of Gaza's

[memorycare]

half a year of unrelenting genocide in Gaza, please don’t stop caring. they are so tired, they cannot be the only ones participating in their own liberation. we have to keep caring

#the genocide has been happening for nearly a century but it has been six months since October and the deliberate collapse of Gaza's #infrastructure at the hands of isr@el #♥︎

[andrewwolfe]

So a lot of new followers turn up because I mentioned the Case Of The Royal Appendix. 

This also got me accused of being an immortal (subtype vampire), but that’s by-the-by. 

The reason it came to my mind in the context of Big Boat Got Stuck is the sheer volume of litigation it engendered, and the extent to which the law of contract - in the common-law jurisdictions, at least, the civil law tradition Makes Other Arrangements - changed in the wake of it. Something similar might come out of the Ever Given Thing.

So,  reckoned I’d yarn on about it a bit, just because. Sit thi down, call ‘t cat a bastard, get thisel’ a brew o’ tay, and I’ll tell thi ‘t tale.

When you’re a law student, learning the Law of Contract, two things you’ve got to learn are Frustration (“I can’t carry out my side of the deal because it has become impossible to do so”) and Mistake (“We made this deal based on an assumption that turns out not to be true”) and the first cases you read on those two subjects are the Coronation Cases. They’re actually referred to as that in actual legal textbooks and academic lawyers’ journal articles: there was a whole slew of them (they have their own wikipedia page!) and a lot of them got all the way to the very top of the court system. In those days it was the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, since the senior-most judges were appointed to the legislature because separation of powers was a lot of frenchified nonsense. The point being, a case decided at the top of the court system is binding on all of the lower courts and the courts that come after, and is persuasive-but-not-binding in all of the courts that came out of the common-law tradition. 

(This is why the US law of Negligence comes from the scots law case of Donohue v. Stephenson: it got appealed to the highest court in the UK, which at the time was the highest court in the British Empire, and wasn’t just persuasive but eloquently persuasive. The US has the M’Naghten Rule on the insanity defence in criminal proceedings for the same reason.)

Thing is, back in 1902, Edward VII was due to be coronated (don’t tell me that’s not a word, I decline to hear representations in the matter) on 26th June. He’d been king - or, rather, Parasite-in-Chief as Chris Eccleston so aptly puts it - since his dear ol’ mum Queen Victoria had died, but the big ceremony hadn’t been held yet because these things, they take time to organise. And this one was going to be an absolute fuck-off-great-big chodder of a ceremony, for two reasons:

First, because Edward VII - having been doing the public facing bits of the monarchy for years - had much more extravagant tastes in public ceremonial than his mother. Than pretty much everyone, come right to it, even by the standards of late 19th/early 20th century royals he was a bit Extra. 

(Much of the ‘time honoured traditional’ state ceremony that the UK has dates back to this guy: he was king for less than ten years but basically rewrote the protocols for everything.)

Second, because all the empire-building that had gone on under his mother had, well, built an empire, and this was therefore the first coronation of an actual Emperor of the biggest Empire the world had ever seen. It ought, ran the thinking, to be something of a spectacle. 

(Or so they thought of it. My own forebears, in one of the colonies of said Empire, were a bit saltier about it what with the genocide and all. And the suppression of their language and religion. And …  I could, and at small provocation will, go on. Family tradition, what with my great-grandmother being a terrorist.)

And such a spectacle it was planned as! The world’s biggest navy passing in review, parades of troops from basically everywhere, public entertainments, street parties for the kiddies, and an actual coronation with all of the pageantry turned up to twelve.

So, of course, everyone with goods or services they could possibly sell on the back of this Mighty Imperial Extravaganza did so. They weren’t shy about the prices they charged, neither: rooms overlooking the procession route were going for as much as £141 just for the day (which we know from one of the cases, that being the sum sued over. The Bank of England’s inflation calculator says that in today’s money that’s over seventeen grand.)

All was going swimmingly until the Royal Appendix got all manky - accounts of the surgery include the draining of a pint of pus out of the thing - and almost certainly aggravated by him trying, at first, to tough it out. The surgery was a success - performed by a pioneer in the field with something of a record of his patients not dying - and His Majesty was sat up in bed the next day, feeling a lot better.

And smoking a cigar, because standards of surgical aftercare was a lot more robust in those days, on the assumption that if the surgery hadn’t killed you nothing else was likely to either.

Trouble was, this happened on 24th June 1902. The coronation had to be postponed. By six weeks: apparently that surgeon did really good work: the one time I had abdominal surgery I was able to milk it for nearly three months.

The resulting litigation saw pretty much everyone sue everyone else. I mean, if you’d paid the equivalent of seventeen grand to use a room for a single day, you would, wouldn’t you?

You may have heard it said that hard cases make bad law. In fact, hard cases make up a lot of the law. Easy cases get settled before a judge ever hears them and middlin’ cases get nice clear decisions that nobody needs to appeal. It’s the hard cases that have to go to appeal that get to the senior, experienced, highly-learned judges who come up with the sorts of judgments that are still being quoted years later as laying down principles of good law. Over ninety years, when I was studying these cases as an undergraduate.

#legal history #cw royalty #cw monarchy #cw surgery

[blodreina-noumou]

question for the fandom at large: is Clarke Griffin different since Josephine Lightbourne was hardbooted out of her head, and if so, why? does Josephine linger on in some fashion in her brain?

I submit these two theories for your consideration, and they’re going under a cut, because this is long:

1) Yes. So how, and why? In the tricky magic science that makes up the Flame/mind drives, we have seen previous examples where personalities of past AI/hedas lingers on in the minds of the person with the implanted chip. Raven’s storyline in s4 was all about how lingering parts of Becca/ALIE were pushing her to do things she otherwise would not have done, and destroying her brain in the process. Madi is being directly influenced by Sheidheda, and has received direct memories/communication from previous hedas, including Lexa and Becca. My evidence that the same thing now might be happening to Clarke is as follows:

A) Clarke spent several words this episode praising and complimenting Josephine. We all know Josephine thought of herself as the most awesome person to ever exist. Clarke thought a bit less of her, before she was revived by Bellamy’s miraculous CPR.

B) Clarke seemed to know things only Josephine would have known. She supplied explanations about Sanctum that Gabriel knew, but none of the Earthlings had connected yet. Clarke now has some of Josephine’s memories, by virtue of having entered her mindspace.

C) Josephine was a bad bitch and she went down with a hell of a fight, but I would be far from surprised if she found some way to cling on, maybe even using the method Clarke!Josephine convinces Russell she used - slipping some tiny part of herself into Clarke’s own neural mesh.

D) Clarke is uncannily good at imitating Josephine, to the point that Russell was immediately convinced and not even remotely suspicious. He’s known his daughter for centuries, in different bodies, at different stages of her life. Bellamy, meanwhile, has known Clarke for six years, but really it’s been more like six months actually in proximity with each other, and he almost immediately picked up on the fact that Josephine!Clarke was not who she was pretending to be.

E) We know from our time in Clarke’s mindspace that she does regret hurting Madi last season. This is the biggest stretch, I’ll admit, because we also know that Clarke is smart, and knows that both of their lives are in incredible danger if Russell suspects that Josephine is gone for good. But would she really be willing to hurt and lie to Madi again, after it went so poorly last time?

This theory suggests that a ghostly version of Josie is still kickin’, deep in Clarke’s mind, that she herself is perhaps unaware of. But I’m not totally convinced myself that that’s the case. Here’s why:

2) No. Clarke Griffin was changed by her time sharing a body/brain with Josephine, but only in the way we’re all changed by our interactions with other people.

A & B) Clarke genuinely grew to have some respect/admiration for Josephine. She knew she was smart, a survivor, and she sympathized with some of the terrible things Josephine had done and been through. She learned things while she was sharing a brain with Josephine, because Josie knew a lot of different things, and Clarke knew the use in that.

C) There isn’t any evidence of this, outside of it being a reasonable lie that Russell seems to believe possible.

D) Clarke knows Josephine very well now, and can imitate her better because she knows so many other lives are on the line if she fails. Josephine was selfish, and frankly, a bit lazy. She drank in observation blinds when she should have been studying, she gave up on combing through Clarke’s things to learn about her and revealed herself to Murphy instead, and she was willing to genocide Nulls in her society just so she wouldn’t have to wait as long between bodies. She was easily bored, and not as patient or hardworking as Clarke. She also has less to lose, because she seemed to love her family and Gabriel a little differently than Clarke loves Madi, Bellamy, her mother, or even the rest of Spacekru. It’s the difference that allows Clarke to stay steadfast in her performance, even when it means she has to hurt and lie to Madi.

E) The double-edged nature of this argument is that Clarke has absolutely hurt and lied to Madi before, a handful of times, in the name of protecting her. Whether you feel it’s valid or not (I personally don’t,) she’s already crossed that line, so of course she’ll do it again when her daughter is strapped down and being harvested for her bone marrow, just like nearly all of her people were in Mt. Weather. This was also the scene where Clarke slipped up the most, in her act as Josephine - genuine panic, fear, and regret broke through several times, and it was clearly the hardest for her to maintain her ploy in front of Madi.

Those are my theories, and honestly, I’m torn. What do you guys think? Any other thoughts or theories?

#stephspeaks #clarke griffin #josephine lightbourne #the 100 spoilers #s6 #6x11 #a salty part of me thinks it was just EJM slippin' a little bit towards the beginning but I really don't think that's it #it was SO clear when she was Clarke!Josephine!Clarke again #versus just Clarke #she really upped her game this season and she's done very well imo

[atlanticcanada]

Russia faces global outrage over bodies in Ukraine's streets

Warning: This story contains disturbing details. 

Moscow faced a new wave of revulsion and accusations of war crimes Monday after the Russian pullout from the outskirts of Kyiv revealed streets strewn with corpses of what appeared to be civilians, some seemingly killed deliberately at close range.

The images of battered bodies out in the open or in hastily dug graves also led to calls for tougher sanctions against the Kremlin, namely a cutoff of fuel imports from Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy left the capital, Kyiv, for his first reported trip since the war began nearly six weeks ago to see for himself what he called the "genocide" and "war crimes" in the town of Bucha, the site of some of the horrors.

"Dead people have been found in barrels, basements, strangled, tortured," said Zelenskyy, who again called on Russia to move quickly to negotiate an agreement to end to the war.

European leaders the United Nations human rights chief condemned the bloodshed, some of them also branding it genocide, and U.S. President Joe Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin should face a war-crimes trial.

"This guy is brutal, and what's happening in Bucha is outrageous," said Biden, who also promised to add to the economic sanctions on Moscow.

Read more: Here's how war crimes prosecutions work

Paul Workman: A train ride to Kyiv amid war

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the scenes outside Kyiv as a "stage-managed anti-Russian provocation." The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected allegations of atrocities as fakery on Ukraine's part.

Lavrov said the mayor of Bucha made no mention of atrocities a day after Russian troops left last week, but two days later scores of bodies were photographed scattered in the streets.

Ukrainian officials said the bodies of 410 civilians were found in towns around Kyiv that were recaptured from Russian forces in recent days.

In Bucha, northwest of the capital, Associated Press journalists saw 21 bodies, including a group of nine in civilian clothes who appeared to have been shot at close range. At least two had their hands tied behind their backs. A bag of groceries were spilled by one of the dead.

The full extent of the bloodshed in the Kyiv area has yet to emerge, but by all accounts the horrors in the shattered southern port city of Mariupol are likely to be even worse.

"This is a war of murders, a lot of blood. A lot of civilians are dying," said Natalia Svitlova, a refugee from Dnipro in eastern Ukraine who fled to Poland. "I don't understand why this is possible in the 21st century and why no one can stop it."

Moscow continued to press its offensive in eastern Ukraine, where little news has made it to the outside world since the war began Feb. 24. Russia, in pulling back from the capital, has said its main focus is gaining control the Donbas, the largely Russian-speaking industrial region in the country's east that includes Mariupol.

European allies, though united in outrage over the aftermath outside Kyiv, appeared split on how to respond.

Poland, which is on Ukraine's border and has taken in large numbers of refugees, angrily singled out France and Germany for not taking tougher action and urged Europe to quickly wean itself off Russian energy. But Germany said it would stick with a more gradual approach of phasing out coal and oil imports over the next several months.

Western and Ukrainian leaders have accused Russia of war crimes before, and the International Criminal Court's prosecutor has opened an investigation. But the latest reports ratcheted up the condemnation.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said "the Russian authorities are responsible for these atrocities, committed while they had effective control of the area."

French President Emmanuel Macron said there is "clear evidence of war crimes" in Bucha that demand new measures. "I'm in favor of a new round of sanctions and in particular on coal and gasoline. We need to act," he said on France-Inter radio.

But Poland's prime minister, who described Russia under Putin as a "totalitarian-fascist state," called for actions "that will finally break Putin's war machine."

"President Macron, how many times have you negotiated with Putin? What have you achieved? ... Would you negotiate with Hitler, with Stalin, with Pol Pot?" Mateusz Morawiecki asked.

The U.S. and its allies have sought to punish Russia for the invasion by imposing sweeping economic sanctions. But they may be reluctant to impose measures that cause further harm to a global economy still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

Europe is in a particular bind, since it gets 40% of its gas and 25% of its oil from Russia.

Putin's Feb. 24 invasion has left thousands of people dead and forced more than 4 million Ukrainians to flee their country.

Putin has said the attack is aimed at eliminating a security threat and has demanded that Ukraine drop its bid to join NATO. Ukraine insists it never posed any threat but has offered to officially declare itself neutral.

While Western officials initially said they believed Putin's goal was to take Kyiv and install a Kremlin-friendly government, Russian forces faced stiff resistance outside the capital and on other fronts, and have now retreated from some areas.

Britain's Defense Ministry said Russia continues to flood soldiers and mercenaries from the Wagner military group into the Donbas. It said Russian troops are still trying to take Mariupol, which has seen weeks of heavy fighting and some of the worst suffering of the war.

(Map by CTV News' Jasna Baric)

------

Qena reported from Motyzhyn, Ukraine. Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine, and Associated Press journalists around the world contributed

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[newstfionline]

Saturday, July 17, 2021

Vaccinated Americans to be able to enter Canada (AP) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday Canada could start allowing fully vaccinated Americans into Canada as of mid-August for non-essential travel and should be in a position to welcome fully vaccinated travelers from all countries by early September.

Child Tax Credit (The 19th) Earlier this year, Congress expanded the Child Tax Credit, giving families $3,000 for kids aged six to 17 and $3,600 for kids under six. Furthermore, it’s no longer just an annual lump sum around tax time: the money will now hit bank accounts in monthly increments of $250 to $300 per kid per month. The payments began yesterday and will go to 88 percent of American families with children, and the backers hope that the payments could cut the child poverty rate from 13.6 to 7.5 percent, a 45 percent reduction. There’s at least one catch—the deposits are actually prepayments based on estimated 2021 taxes, meaning families may face smaller returns or unexpected tax bills next April.

Largest wildfire in Oregon expands further (AP) Firefighters scrambled on Friday to control a raging inferno in southeastern Oregon that’s spreading miles a day in windy conditions, one of numerous conflagrations across the U.S. West that are straining resources. Authorities ordered a new round of evacuations Thursday amid worries the Bootleg Fire, which has already destroyed 21 homes, could merge with another blaze that also grew explosively amid dry and blustery conditions. The Bootleg Fire, the largest wildfire currently burning in the U.S., has now torched an area larger than New York City and has stymied firefighters for nearly a week with erratic winds and extremely dangerous fire behavior.

With virus cases rising, mask mandate back on in Los Angeles (AP) Los Angeles County will again require masks be worn indoors in the nation’s largest county, even by those vaccinated against the coronavirus, while the University of California system also said Thursday that students, faculty and staff must be inoculated against the disease to return to campuses. The announcements come amid a sharp increase in virus cases, many of them the highly transmissible delta variant that has proliferated since California fully reopened its economy on June 15 and did away with capacity limits and social distancing. The vast majority of new cases are among unvaccinated people. Other counties, including Sacramento and Yolo, are strongly urging people to wear masks indoors but not requiring it.

Haiti’s assassination mystery (Foreign Policy) In the search for those behind the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse last week, authorities have arrested at least 18 retired members of Colombia’s armed forces—some of whom previously received U.S. military training—and five Haitians, including a former rebel leader, the owner of a security company, and a pastor. While the details of the plot are still under investigation, the alleged use of former Colombian soldiers as mercenaries was unsurprising to observers. Elite Colombian troops, trained over the country’s half-century of conflict, can retire as early as their 40s and are frequently hired as private military contractors in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Biden: US will protect Haiti embassy, won’t send troops (AP) President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. will bolster security at its embassy in Haiti following last week’s assassination of that country’s president, but sending American troops to stabilize the country was “not on the agenda.” Haiti’s interim government last week asked the U.S. and the United Nations to deploy troops to protect key infrastructure following President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination. Biden signaled he was not open to the request, which comes as he is drawing down U.S. forces in Afghanistan this summer. “We’re only sending American Marines to our embassy,” Biden said. “The idea of sending American forces to Haiti is not on the agenda,” he added.

U.S.-Cuba policy (Foreign Policy) U.S. President Joe Biden said he would not allow U.S.-based Cubans to send remittances home as part of White House plans to assist the Cuban people following Sunday’s protests. Biden said he was prepared to give COVID-19 vaccines to the island, but only under the condition that an international organization administered them. During a speech on Wednesday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel again lambasted the “cruel” and “genocidal” U.S. blockade of Cuba while promising a “critical analysis” of the problems facing the country. Since the weekend protests, Cuba has lifted restrictions on the amount of food and medicine travelers are allowed bring in to the country, fulfilling one of the demands of the protesters.

Death toll from European floods passes 115 as receding waters reveal scope of devastation (Washington Post) As deadly floodwaters began to recede Friday across Germany and Belgium, the full extent of the destruction was slowly revealed: muddy washouts where homes used to stand, cars and debris tangled together, and officials still adding to a death toll that surpassed 115 and was expected to climb higher. “Whole places are scarred by the disaster,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at a news conference after the worst flooding in decades to hit the region. “Many people have lost what they have built all their lives.” The storm—a major low-pressure system that stretched from Germany to France—brought a deluge Thursday that quickly swelled rivers, collapsed bridges and roads, and left many people scrambling to rooftops or onto fallen trees. Luxembourg and Switzerland were also hit by torrential rain, and warnings were issued in more than a dozen regions of France. Earlier this week, Britain was struck by flash floods that submerged parts of London in deep waters and turned residential roads into flowing rivers.

Xinjiang Products Banned In U.S. (Reuters) The Senate passed bipartisan legislation Wednesday banning the import of all products from China’s Xinjiang region. It is Washington’s latest effort to punish Beijing for what U.S. officials say is an ongoing genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim groups. Under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the burden of proving goods manufactured in Xinjiang are not made with forced labor—and therefore not banned under the 1930 Tariff Act—would be shifted to importers. This legislation would go beyond steps already taken to secure U.S. supply chains in the face of allegations of rights abuses in China, including existing bans on Xinjiang tomatoes, cotton, and some solar products. The Biden administration, which has been increasing sanctions, issued an advisory on Tuesday warning businesses they could be in violation of U.S. law if operations are linked even indirectly to surveillance networks in Xinjiang.

COVID spreading in Asia and Africa (Worldcrunch) As Indonesia becomes Asia’s new COVID epicenter, nearby countries are planning new restrictions with Singapore’s announcement it will limit social gatherings, a move that South Korea is also considering. Across Africa, cases have “surged by 43 percent in the space of a week.” There is concern that the Delta variant could mutate into more dangerous variants as it sweeps through largely unvaccinated regions.

Athletes go it alone in Tokyo as families watch from afar (AP) Michael Phelps reached for his mother’s hand through a chainlink fence near the pool. The 19-year-old swimmer had just won his first Olympic medal—gold, of course—at the 2004 Athens Games, and he wanted to share it with the woman who raised him on her own. That kind of moment between loved ones won’t be happening at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics. No spectators—local or foreign—will be allowed at the vast majority of venues, where athletes will hang medals around their own necks to protect against spreading the coronavirus. No handshakes or hugs on the podium, either. “I like to feed off of the crowd,” defending all-around champion gymnast Simone Biles said, “so I’m a little bit worried about how I’ll do under those circumstances.”

Hospital fire deepens Iraq’s COVID crisis (AP) No beds, medicines running low and hospital wards prone to fire—Iraq’s doctors say they are losing the battle against the coronavirus. And they say that was true even before a devastating blaze killed scores of people in a COVID-19 isolation unit this week. Infections in Iraq have surged to record highs in a third wave spurred by the more aggressive delta variant, and long-neglected hospitals suffering the effects of decades of war are overwhelmed with severely ill patients. Doctors are going online to plea for donations of medicine and bottled oxygen, and relatives are taking to social media to find hospital beds for their stricken loved ones. “Every morning, it’s the same chaos repeated, wards overwhelmed with patients,” said Sarmed Ahmed, a doctor at Baghdad’s Al-Kindi Hospital.

Riots in Lebanon as West calls for quick Cabinet formation (AP) Tension intensified in Lebanon on Friday, with riots leaving more than two dozen people injured in the northern city of Tripoli, including five soldiers who were attacked with a hand grenade. France, the European Union and the United States in the meantime called on Lebanese politicians to urgently form a Cabinet. The announcements came at a moment of great uncertainty for Lebanon after Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri stepped down on Thursday over disagreements with the president on the shape of the Cabinet. Hundreds of his supporters rioted in the streets, blocked major roads and hurled stones. In Beirut, protesters briefly closed several main roads Friday, prompting a swift intervention by the troops to clear them. In the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest and most impoverished, residents angry over rising prices, electricity cuts that last for most of the day and severe shortages in diesel and medicine, rioted in the streets and attacked Lebanese troops.

Bamboozled Birds (Hakai Magazine) Lots of bird populations are at risk due to habitat destruction, deforestation and wildfires in historical nesting areas. Given that they’re not really known to crash zoning board meetings, birds don’t know that the areas they want to live in are doomed to timber harvesting, so researchers would like to find ways to get birds to nest in places where it’s safe. New studies have found ways to trick the birds into doing this, with one recent experiment in Oregon convincing marbled murrelets to nest away from threatened forests by piping in artificial recordings of marbled murrelets into the desired areas. Over 60 species of seabirds have been lured to different breeding grounds in this way before, and now they know it works with the murrelets: they played back recordings in 14 locations not slated for logging but otherwise unoccupied in 2016. Within a year, those locations had four times as much nesting activity compared to un-bamboozled tracts of forest.

#headlines #news

[everydaynuggets-blog]

A Good General and Maintenance of Morale

And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:

And THEY SPAKE UNTO ALL THE COMPANY OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, SAYING, THE LAND, WHICH WE PASSED THROUGH TO SEARCH IT, IS AN EXCEEDING GOOD LAND.

IF THE LORD DELIGHT IN US, THEN HE WILL BRING US INTO THIS LAND, AND GIVE IT US; A LAND WHICH FLOWETH WITH MILK AND HONEY.

Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.

But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.

Numbers 14:6-10

Wars are won or lost by weakening the morale of the enemy.  That is why maintaining the morale of the group is key to winning the battle.  Joshua and Caleb are famous for their speech in which they sought to stabilize the congregation and encourage them to enter the Promised Land.  Without enthusiasm and zeal you cannot do much for God.  People must be happy to work for God.  One day a brother remarked to me, “You make working for God exciting.  Everyone is happy to be around and to be doing something.”  Without this positive feeling, negative thoughts quickly take over the hearts and minds of the team.  

Maintenance of morale is the maintenance of cheerfulness, confidence and zeal especially in the face of battle.  Morale is a positive state of mind derived from inspired leadership.  

The morale of human beings reduces as time passes and events unfold.  That is why the morale of younger people is usually higher than the morale of older people.  

To maintain morale is to maintain zeal, enthusiasm, interest and confidence in something.  It is easy to lose the morale as you take up the fight to follow the Lord in the ministry.  

There are three main seasons of your life where you must maintain the zeal.  

You must maintain zeal and enthusiasm whilst in school.

You must maintain your zeal as you go on in life.  You need to be zealous during all the different boring phases of this life.  

You must be able to maintain zeal in times of crises.  Crises have the greatest ability to reduce your zeal and confidence.  Without good morale, you are likely to lose your war.  

Indeed, many battles are directed at reducing the morale and enthusiasm of the troops.  Many events are orchestrated by evil spirits with the intention of discouraging you from serving the Lord.  

People leave the ministry because of discouragement more than any other single cause.  

A good general knows how to raise the morale in the army.  You must get the army to think less about themselves and more about what they are involved with.  Motivate the troops and maintain their morale by making them think less about themselves and more about their hated enemy.  You can raise the morale in the army of God’s people by making them think less about themselves and more about the lost.  You can raise the morale of the troops by talking to them.  

Many leaders are famous for their speeches that raised the morale of their people.  Leaders like Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan and Barrack Obama are famous for their motivational speeches.  Leaders who do not speak to their troops fail to raise the morale of their troops.  You must rise up and speak to your people.  You must encourage them and tell them that it will be well.  The morale of the people who are following you is very important.  Your failure to raise their morale is your failure to lead.  

Julius Caesar and the “Maintenance of Morale”

Julius Caesar was a famous general who won many battles on behalf of Rome.  His most famous wars were fought in Gaul (France) and Britain.  The Roman army was originally a part-time army.  Many of the soldiers were farmers who would return to their original jobs after fighting in the Roman wars.  Indeed, the armies of Rome had been run as a “lay army” before the time of Julius Caesar.  

Julius Caesar changed all that by creating a professional organization with long terms of service far from home.  

One of the things that Julius Caesar did was to boost the morale of his troops by promising the soldiers some land on which they could farm when they returned home.  The soldiers were encouraged to fight in the Roman wars, knowing that when they returned home they would have land to farm on.  This idea, to pay soldiers with land was a clever idea that greatly boosted the morale of Julius Caesar’s soldiers.  The high morale of Julius Caesar’s troops contributed greatly to his success as a general.  

Napoleon Bonaparte and the “Maintenance of Morale”

Napoleon Bonaparte, who lived in the eighteenth century, was another young but famous general.  Napoleon is remembered for numerous campaigns and wars that he championed in Europe.  

Napoleon was famous for boosting the morale of his troops through motivational speeches.  In 1796, when he was only twenty-seven years old, he demonstrated his military genius in a war against Italy.  Speeches were all that were needed to galvanize Napoleon’s men into action.  No wonder he was such a famous general because his loyal troops would go anywhere with him, ready to die for France.  I want you to read Napoleon’s speech as he motivated his armies to give their lives for the cause of France.    

On the 27th of March 1796, Napoleon spoke to his men and said:

“Soldiers, you are naked, ill fed! The Government owes you much; it can give you nothing. Your patience, the courage you display in the midst of these rocks, are admirable; but they procure you no glory, no fame is reflected upon you. I seek to lead you into the most fertile plains in the world. Rich provinces, great cities will be in your power. There you will find honor, glory, and riches. Soldiers of Italy, would you be lacking in courage or constancy?”

A month later, on 26 April 1796, Napoleon charged his troops again calling on them:  

“In a fortnight you have won six victories, taken twenty-one standards, fifty-five pieces, plains in the world. Rich provinces, great of artillery, several strong positions, and conquered the richest part of Piedmont [a region in northern Italy]; you have captured 15,000 prisoners and killed or wounded more than 10,000 men. …

You have won battles without cannon, crossed rivers without bridges, made forced marches without shoes, camped without brandy and often without bread. Soldiers of liberty, only republican phalanxes [infantry troops] could have endured what you have endured. Soldiers, you have our thanks! The grateful Patrie [nation] will owe its prosperity to you. . . .The two armies which but recently attacked you with audacity are fleeing before you in terror; the wicked men who laughed at your misery and rejoiced at the thought of the triumphs of your enemies are confounded and trembling.  But, soldiers, as yet you have done nothing compared with what remains to be done. . . . undoubtedly the greatest obstacles have been overcome; but you still have battles to fight, cities to capture, rivers to cross. Is there one among you whose courage is abating? No. . . .  

All of you are consumed with a desire to extend the glory of the French people; all of you long to humiliate those arrogant kings who dare to contemplate placing us in fetters; all of you desire to dictate a glorious peace, one which will indemnify the patrie for the immense sacrifices it has made; all of you wish to be able to say with pride as you return to your villages, ‘I was with the victorious army of Italy!’”

“Maintenance of the Morale” in Rwanda

In Rwanda, there was a genocide in which 800,000 people were killed in a hundred days.  The Hutus, a tribe in Rwanda, were able to carry out the mass killing of their neighbours and friends within three months.  How did they do this?  Were there any foreign troops there?  Were there any interventionary forces stationed in the land that could have prevented this from happening?  The answer is, “Yes.”  There were United Nations forces, Belgian forces and French forces present in the country.  So why did they not do anything to prevent the genocide?  The answer is simple:  they refused to fight and simply abandoned Rwanda to its fate.  So why did they leave?  Their morale was severely weakened, leading to a mass evacuation of all foreign forces.  

The story of this incredible genocide begins when the Germans colonized Rwanda in 1894.  They felt the Tutsi had more European characteristics, such as lighter skin and a taller build so they put the Tutsis in roles of responsibility.  Germany lost their colonies following the First World War and Belgium took over the control of Rwanda.  

In 1933, the Belgians solidified the separation of the “Tutsi” and “Hutu” groups by instituting the use of an identity card for each person that labelled them Tutsi, Hutu, or Twa.  (Twa is a very small group of hunter-gatherers who also live in Rwanda).  Although the Tutsi constituted only about ten percent of Rwanda’s population and the Hutu nearly 90 percent, the Belgians gave the Tutsi all the leadership positions.  Land and power were in the hands of the minority Tutsi, whilst the Hutus were more of field workers.  The Hutus were not happy with this.  

From 1973 to 1993, President Habyarimana, a Hutu, run a government, which excluded all Tutsis from participating.  However, in 1993 President Habyarimana signed the Arusha Accords that allowed Tutsis to participate in the government.  This greatly upset Hutu extremists.  

On April 6th, 1994, President Habyarimana of Rwanda was returning from a summit in Tanzania when a surface-to-air missile shot his plane out of the sky over Kigali.  All on board were killed in the crash.

Within 24 hours of the crash, some Hutu leaders took over the government and blamed the Tutsis for the air crash and begun the slaughter in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali.  

These Hutu leaders killed both the Tutsis and moderate Hutus. They then proceeded to kill the lady Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and her husband, as well as the ten Belgian soldiers assigned to protect them.  

This dramatic episode in which ten Belgian soldiers were murdered drove Belgium into a state of depression and discouragement, causing Belgium to withdraw its troops from Rwanda.  The Hutus, knowing that the Europeans would not want to have casualties among their ranks carried out this attack and thereby weakened the morale of all foreign nationals who were in the country.  

The deaths of these Belgian troops caused the zeal and enthusiasm of all foreign nationals to plummet.  They had no stomach to get involved in another African ethnic conflict.  At that time, the memory of the Somalia war, with its American casualties was fresh in everyone’s mind.  

Indeed, all the foreign soldiers and embassies were evacuated from Rwanda, leaving the Hutus in absolute control.  Without any checks or interventions, the Hutus carried out a systematic campaign to kill all the Tutsis they could find.  They killed and killed until they could find no more Tutsis to kill.  

Their strategy had worked.  Break the morale of the foreigners by killing ten of their precious soldiers and make them leave the country.  It worked like magic.  

This is what the devil may be doing in your life.  Events occur to break your interest and enthusiasm in the call of God and the ministry of Jesus Christ.  Before long you are resigning and leaving your place in ministry.  When there is an attack on your morale, you must rise up and fight.  Do not allow yourself to be driven away from your place of ministry.  

This is what happened to Elijah.  Elijah was discouraged by the threat of Jezebel.  He complained that he was the only one who believed in Jehovah.  His discouragement and depression drove him to the end of his ministry.  In this time of discouragement, he made mistakes, which led to the appointment of his successor.  

“Maintenance of Morale” in the Vietnam War

Many of us do not understand why America was fighting a war in Vietnam.  The Vietnam War came about because communists in the north of that country were determined to fight and take over the whole country for the cause of communism.  This drew in the Americans who were determined to prevent Vietnam from becoming a communist country.  The Americans pulled in so many forces to fight with the communists in Vietnam.  As the war progressed, the Vietnamese decided to launch a special attack on the Americans.    

The North Vietnamese launched this massive surprise attack during the festival of the Vietnamese New Year, called “Tet”.  This attack was therefore called the Tet Offensive.  Thirty-six major cities and towns in South Vietnam were attacked at the same time.  The morning after the first attack, around 80,000 Communist soldiers spread all over South Vietnam.  More than 100 towns and cities were attacked.  Most attacks were targeted at government buildings and military bases.  

The city of Hue, for instance, was held for nearly a month by the North Vietnamese. During this time, several thousand civilians, who had cooperated with the U.S. and South Vietnam, were executed by the North Vietnamese.  This was known as the Hue Massacre. On February 26, when the U.S. and South Vietnam forces retook the city, 2,800 dead bodies were found and another 3,000 residents were missing.  

On March 3, 1968 the North Vietnamese completely retreated out of Hue. They had lost about 2,400 to 8,000 troops while the South Vietnamese and U.S. had 668 dead and 3,707 wounded.  As the conflicts occurred all over the country, many other towns and villages suffered badly. 627,000 Vietnamese were displaced.  

The Tet offensive took the Americans by surprise but they were able to fight back and eventually regained control of Vietnam.  The news of the Tet Offensive and other battles began to be shown on American Television.  Even though the Americans were firmly in control of the war and were superior to the communist forces, the morale of the American people was greatly affected by the pictures seen on television.  Pictures of the dead Americans devastated the American populace so much that there was no more will to continue fighting what most Americans felt was a useless war.  The American public began to call for the soldiers to be brought back home.  

Even though the U.S.A did not lose any major battles, the American people could not stand the increasing loss of American lives.  America was eventually forced by public pressure to start retreating out of Vietnam whilst South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam.  

Public support for America’s war in Vietnam plummeted from 50% in 1967 to as low as 26% right after the Tet offensive in January 1968 whilst anti war protests increased all over.  A large percentage of Americans came to believe that they had made a mistake by sending troops to Vietnam.  Although the Americans were not militarily defeated, their morale was completely weakened.  In the end, the communist North Vietnamese prevailed over the American army simply by weakening their morale.  

“Maintenance of Morale” in the First World War

The First World War was a complicated war fought between many different nations including Germany, Russia, France, Hungary, Britain and Austria.  All these nations became involved because there were treaties and pacts between them.  Because of these treaties, attacking one nation would mean getting into conflict with several other nations.  One nation after another was pulled into this senseless conflict until virtually the whole world was involved.

But the First World War did not go as planned.  New technology, especially the invention of new machine guns, were a surprise feature which caused the soldiers on both sides to dig trenches, take cover and hold their ground.  Since the war was being fought across the length and breadth of Europe, the trenches eventually extended for over four hundred miles from the North Sea to Switzerland.  

The young men of that day went out to battle with delusions of victory and glory.  Instead of the glory they sought, the two sides were stuck in their trenches in an amazing stalemate.  Can you believe that the soldiers lived in these protective trenches for four years?  The two opposing sides faced each other across no man’s land.  During this prolonged period, the morale of the troops steadily declined.  Many men died on their first day in the trench.  

Rats, in their millions, infested the trenches.  There were two main types of rats in the trenches:  the black rat and the brown rat.  Both were despised but the brown one was specially feared because they would disfigure dead bodies by eating their eyes and their liver.  These rats could grow to the size of a cat.  Lice were a never-ending problem, causing men to itch unceasingly.  The lice caused Trench Fever that took some twelve weeks to recover from.  Thousands of frogs were also found in the bases of the trenches.  Trench Foot was a terrible fungal infection common to the soldiers.  

Because most people had expected that this war would be over quickly, there had been an outburst of patriotic enthusiasm on the part of the soldiers headed to the war.  Many young men had eagerly signed up to achieve the glory and honour associated with fighting for one’s country.

However, when the trench warfare was in place, a sense of despair developed among the soldiers.  Given the overwhelming conditions, hundreds of thousands of men fell victim to various emotional manifestations like panic, anxiety and insomnia, catatonia as well as physical symptoms like tremors, impaired vision, hearing and paralysis.  Governments tried to prevent the news coming from the trenches.  The messages from the soldiers contained messages of discouragement and depression.  Indeed, the harsh realities in the trenches had a devastating effect on the morale of the soldiers on both sides.  

An estimated 8.5million died in the First World War.  Many of the survivors would never be the same again.  The First World War was called the “War to End All Wars”.  Little did they know that in a few years time, the Second World War, which would cause the deaths of fifty million people, would be started by a man who himself fought in these very trenches.  

by Dag Heward-Mills

[flossinginthesunshine]

Cambodia: From Pain to Pride

The year is 1975. There has been a civil war raging in the countryside of Cambodia for five years between the weak monarchy in power and the communist regime known as the Khmer Rouge. The monarchy was made up of mostly educated and wealthy Cambodians working in the government/military, while the Khmer Rogue base was predominantly farmers and rural villagers. On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge overthrew the monarchy and took control of the capitol, Phnom Penh.

Over the next four years, two million people were killed under the Marxist leader Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. In a dramatic effort to force Cambodia back to the Middle Ages and create an agrarian utopia, one-fourth of the population was tortured, starved and murdered. Intellectuals were the target. Cities were emptied. Currency was abolished. 

We spent a day at the S-21 jail in Phnom Penh, learning about the horrors of just one of hundreds of torture camps in Cambodia during this time. 

Communication to the outside world was completely cut off. One Swedish photographer and his team were invited into the country, and Pol Pot put on a grand show for them… making it seem as though everything in Cambodia was picture perfect. The team returned to Europe and reported to the rest of the world that there was nothing to worry about in Cambodia, and that Pol Pot was a beloved leader taking care of his country.

Meanwhile, 17,000 prisoners were being tortured and killed in the heart of Phnom Penh. Only twelve people who entered S21 survived. 

The Khmer Rouge were eventually overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1979, but the horror would live on in the lives of Cambodians for generations to come and the effects of the war are easily visible today. When you spend time in Cambodia, you’ll quickly notice that you don’t see many old people; it’s rare to see someone over the age of 60 out and about. The U.N. continued to recognize the Khmer Rouge as the governing body of Cambodia until 1991, even though they were no longer living in Cambodia and were hiding in exile in the hills of Northern Thailand. Pol Pot wasn’t brought to trial until 1997, and only then was he sentenced to house arrest where he died a year later.

If any of this intrigues you, I recommend reading First They Killed My Father -- one of the only first person accounts of the genocide, told from the perspective of 5-year-old Loung Ung. She was separated from her parents and six siblings and sent to a child soldier camp, miraculously survived the war, and eventually made her way to America where she began telling her story to anyone who would listen. 

In my research on Cambodia, I came across this quote from Joseph Mussomeli, a former US Ambassador to Cambodia: 

“Be careful because Cambodia is the most dangerous country you will ever visit. You will fall in love with it and eventually it will break your heart.” 

I couldn’t describe the feeling any better. In many ways, our time in Cambodia was like other the SE Asian countries we’ve visited -- markets, temples, beaches, and bungalows -- but what made us feel more connected to this special place was the people. Despite the tragedies they’ve endured in quite recent history, they have the friendliest attitudes and most positive outlook on life. While it continues to be one of the poorest nations in the world, the people have fully embraced tourism as their fastest growing industry and exude hope and optimism with every interaction. 

And with that, I’ll leave you with these photos + captions of our four glorious yet heart wrenching weeks in Cambodia:  

Angkor Wat: The Largest Religious Monument in the World

First up was Siem Reap, a charming city home to Angkor Wat - the largest religious monument in the world. We spent two days exploring the Angkor Archaeological Park, which spans over 400 acres of Cambodian jungle. 

Originally built as a Hindu temple in the 12th century, Angkor Wat was converted into a Buddhist temple in the 14th century, and served as the capital of the Khmer Empire through the 15th century. At it’s peak, the complex was home to 1 million people (!!) making it the largest city in the world until the Industrial Revolution. Today, it’s protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, welcoming several million visitors per year.

Watching the sunrise with 1,000+ fellow travelers. 

Garrett and Sarafina (who we met in Laos) traveled with us throughout Cambodia, making our time in this lovely country that much sweeter. 

According to inscriptions, the construction of Angkor Wat involved 300,000 workers + 6,000 elephants, and took over 30 years to complete to it’s current state. However, it was never fully completed and no one knows exactly why... 

The faces of Angkor Wat, otherwise known as The Banyon. Two-hundred and sixteen faces make up the only Mahayana Buddhist shrine in the Angkor Wat complex. The faces are said to belong to the Bodhisattva of compassion, who has mastered the soft smile. 

The Khmer architecture was shaped to express the Hindu vision of the relationship between nature and humanity... creating a strikingly beautiful dichotomy between crumbling stone and thriving forest.

10 Days in Otres Beach 

Next on our list was Otres Beach. We arrived in the port city of Sihanoukville via a 12-hour overnight bus from Siem Reap and walked straight to the beach to find a home. We snagged a private bungalow at Sea Garden Guest House for 10 USD per night. What sold us was the large vegan menu, real coffee and the fact that they delivered your food straight to your beach chair. The employees at Sea Garden were all fellow travelers, working a few hours a day in exchange for free food and lodging.

W quickly learned that Otres Beach moves at it’s own pace and attracts and a very unique type of long-term traveller. We heard this line time and time again: “I planned to stay for 3 days, but now it’s been 3 weeks.” Soon enough, we were saying the same thing; we planned to stay 3-4 days and finally left after 10.

Our days were nearly identical to our week in Goa, India... morning runs, afternoons spent reading and tossing the Frisbee, sunset yoga and reiki and evenings playing trivia next door. The guesthouse next door had a small library that rented books for $0.25/day and boasted a huge collection of Beat authors (Kerouas, Ginsberg, Kesey). If we didn’t have a 30-day visa, I think you’d find JJ still reading at the beach six months later. 

Otres Beach is around 3 miles long, with a large stretch of sand splitting the guesthouses and spanning 1.5 miles of emptiness. Ten years ago, this stretch was full of bungalows just like ours, but they have since been torn down by the Cambodian government to make room for new Chinese development.

The properties on Otres (including our beloved Sea Garden) have already received their eviction notices, and will have to vacate their land sometime in the next three years. Maybe that’s why people stay Otres so long... because they know this hippy paradise of cheap vegan food and unobstructed sunsets is coming to an end very soon. 

One night, we decided to venture out from the safety of our beach and check out a sunrise party in the jungle called Kerfuffle. This jungle rave happens every Wednesday night, and doesn’t kick off until 2am. In an effort to get nearly a full night’s sleep, we went to bed at our normal time (9pm) and set our alarms for 2am, hopped in a tuk-tuk and got to the rave around 2:30am. We boogied until sunrise, making it back to our beach for a nap around 7am. 

The set-up was reminiscent of a music festival... with a DJ stage, Ferris wheel, tree-house behind the dance floor and lights twinkling in the trees. At one point it started pouring down rain and we all huddled underneath one of the carnival rides until the DJ started playing again. 

We’re unable to capture the highlight of Otres Beach in photographs, because it involves seeing the ocean glow. The coast of Cambodia is known for it’s bio-luminescent plankton that glow a bright green color when disturbed. All you have to do is swim out into the ocean in the middle of the night (one of my worst nightmares) and make a lot of movement. After a few minutes of splashing around in the dark, JJ said “look down.” And there it was... thousands of glowing green stars moving with our bodies underwater. It was magical and we spent hours mesmerized by how cool our planet is. 

After swimming with the plankton, it was finally time to leave Otres. Our minivan to Kampot picked us up right on time and then made one additional stop to snag another round of passengers. We pulled up to a nearby hotel and the driver got out of the car to help the guests with their bags. However, he forgot one minor detail of putting on the parking brake... and the van started rolling forward, heading straight for the hotel pool. JJ and I stared at each other in horror while the driver nonchalantly made his way back to the van, put it in park and laughed uncontrollably. He then went back to get the bags and the van started rolling forward AGAIN. This time we jumped out of the van, landing safely on the ground and refused to get back in until the driver promised not to leave his seat. 

Oh SE Asia... always keeping us on our toes. 

Kampot + Kep

We spent the next week exploring the waterfront towns of Kampot and Kep... living in tree houses, eating very mediocre crab and tasting the “world famous” and incredibly over-hyped Kampot pepper (ever heard of it? neither had we).

 . Cambodia in the clouds. 

Funky bathroom art: say hello in your language :) 

What may appear to be a peaceful sunset scene is in reality a fleet of Vietnamese fishing boats that have encroached upon Cambodian waters using illegal fishing practices (electrified nets) to steal the catch of the day. The police department and fishing authorities have very little control, which has led to a vigilante war between the two fishing communities and caused nearly irreversible ecological destruction.

Once a charming coastal town frequented by French vacationers, Kep is now trying to regain it’s status on the backpacker trail as the place to go for fresh crab. Twenty-five stalls line the beach with signs proclaiming their fish superior to all the others. While the flavors were quite underwhelming, watching these two play with their food more than made up for it. 

Rabbit Island: More Hammocks Than People

As if our time in Cambodia hadn’t been relaxing enough, we retreated to a tiny island off the coast of Kep for a few days. What we found was more hammocks than people, the best curry of our entire trip, and lots of Vitamin D.

Forever chasing cairns.

Phnom Penh: Our Favorite Big City in SE Asia

This city blew us away with it’s sense of community, vegetarian food, and booming infrastructure. At one rooftop bar, we counted 40 cranes on the horizon. The smells, sights, sounds, markets, and nonstop dodging of motorbikes reminded us of India, and we quickly took a liking to it. 

Cambodia (especially Phnom Penh) is known for it’s knock-off name brand shopping game. You can get anything from iPhones to Levis to designer bags… and we dedicated an entire day to exploring these markets. JJ hit the jackpot at this little air conditioned store where these five Cambodian women dedicated two hours to finding him the perfect pair of paints. He walked out with three new pairs, all perfectly tailored to his body, for a whopping $32.

In the heart of the market, just when you think you may pass out from heat exhaustion... you’ll find Mr. Al Bounnarith, who makes the self-proclaimed (and rightfully so) “best iced coffee in Phnom Penh.” He started this venture right after the Khmer Rouge in 1980 when coffee was a foreign concept to Cambodians, used all of his profits to care for his sick mother, and now spends his days entertaining travelers and leaving us feeling refreshed and WIRED. 

Finding good, cheap, vegetarian food in SE Asia is difficult... so we were thrilled to find a spot with $0.50 pumpkin juice, $1 fried mushrooms, and $2 veggie noodles. Naturally, we ate here four times in three days. 

If I could capture the essence of modern-day Cambodia in one place, it would be at the Olympic Stadium. Ironically, Phnom Penh has never hosted an Olympics... but nevertheless, our hotel was just a few blocks from here, and we read online it was a good place to run. Little did we know it was also home to the number one place to work out in the city. We went running there twice, once in the morning and once at night... each time marveling at the sense of community radiating from this place. There were street-side market vendors selling fruit and fried noodles at every turn, sand volleyball games, paralympics events, tennis matches, Taekwondo tournaments, zumba classes, and hundreds of people just hanging out. We were the only westerners there both times, and we loved it. 

Photo courtesy of Google. 

Towards the end of our time in Cambodia, we met a fellow traveler who shared our love for the country and had spent way more time there than our 30-day visa would allow. As we said goodbye to him, he left us with this: “The best places in Cambodia have yet to be discovered.” 

So my advice to you is... go to Cambodia! Embrace it’s history. Let your heart break. Support the local economy. Exchange smiles with every person you cross. Discover those undiscovered places. 

We can’t wait to go back one-day soon.

Cheers,

Camryn 

[itsfinancethings]

When Layla F. Saad thinks back to seeing images from the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, her skin prickles. “I think about the pure hatred that was in those men’s eyes, and see the connection that the hate is directed specifically at people who look like me,” she says. Saad, who was working as a life coach before she became an antiracist educator, was compelled to write a blog post in response to Charlottesville, addressing white women working in her industry and calling out their failure to combat white supremacy. From that blog post came her viral 28-day challenge on Instagram, #meandwhitesupremacy, where she encouraged followers to answer simple yet direct questions about their complicity in white supremacy, and a digital anti-racism workbook, which was downloaded 100,000 times in six months in 2018.

Saad’s book Me and White Supremacy, published in January 2020, encourages readers to carry on the challenge and write a daily journal in responses to prompts like “What have you learned about your white privilege that makes you feel uncomfortable?” and “In what ways have you been apathetic when it comes to racism?” It’s one of a selection of antiracism works that have gained significant attention as the Black Lives Matter movement surged in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd.

Saad says that her intersecting identities and experiences as an East African, Arab, British, Black Muslim woman, who was born and raised in the U.K. and now lives in Qatar, have given her a unique perspective “to look at the different ways that white supremacy shows up, in ways we’re not even thinking about.” TIME spoke with Saad about the response to her work in the current context, her advice for Black communities, and what doing anti-racist work really looks like beyond performative allyship.

TIME: Me and White Supremacy was originally an Instagram challenge that you created, where you encouraged people to think through and reflect on their racist thoughts and behaviors. How would you define white supremacy and what do you think some of the misperceptions are about it?

Saad: I think people hear that word and the image conjured in their minds is the men marching in Charlottesville. And they’re like, “I’m not like that, I’m definitely not bad.” But white supremacy is about this idea, this belief, this ideology that people who are white or who look white are superior to people of other races, and therefore they deserve to be dominant over people of other races. And that dominance shows up in various different ways. It showed up centuries ago with genocide and enslavement and colonization. But it still shows up today, in interpersonal relationships, in what we see as the norm in the media, or the norm in companies, or the norm in schools. And so dominance doesn’t have to just be enslavement.

Did you write the book with an intended audience in mind?

I believe anti-racism work is work that all people who have white privilege have the responsibility to do. I really wrote it for the people who self-identify or consciously think of themselves as people who either want to show up in allyship or believe that they are allies. I wrote it with the full understanding that even those well-intended, well-meaning people are going to be really upset by some of the things that I write about, but at least they have the willingness and the desire to look within themselves.

There’s such a huge difference between someone who reads the book, and someone who does the book. Reading the book really is about taking in information, but really still staying at a surface level and still remaining separate from white supremacy. The act of journaling alongside it really requires you to look only at yourself and to take self responsibility for the ways that you have had racist thoughts, have racist beliefs, done racist things, even when you weren’t meaning to.

Following the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and Tony McDade among several other Black men and women in the U.S., your book is one of several anti-racist books that people have sought out. How do you feel about that response to your work in light of the current context?

On the one hand, I’m so glad that so many people are finally turning to these resources and these works. And at the same time, I feel a sense of ambivalence. There are so many books on anti-racism, not just the ones that are currently on the bestsellers lists, but books that span back decades. This has been an ongoing conversation for so long.

I recently saw a white woman who posted about how when the Black Lives Matter protests begun, she bought my book and put out a note saying she was going to run a book circle with Me and White Supremacy. She initially had 55 people sign up—two weeks later, everyone’s disappeared, and there’s only five people left who are still showing up consistently.

So that rush and then apathy returning is why I have mixed feelings about it. It’s easy to buy a book, and it’s easy to say Black Lives Matter, and it’s easy to say, “I’m going to try to do the work.” It’s an entirely different thing to do it. And to do it when the hype is over, the news cycle has moved on, and you’re not getting rewarded for being so brave for saying Black Lives Matter. Now you’re just having to do the nitty gritty work — that’s where the real work is.

Courtesy of RF|BINDER

After events and protests in the U.S., there were several protests around the world, addressing racial injustice and white supremacy in individual countries. Do you think the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 is different to anything that has preceded it?

In my lifetime, we haven’t seen anything like what we saw these past few months, across the United States and also across the world. I don’t ever want to underplay that. People are feeling encouraged and more confident in not staying quiet anymore, and I think that is amazing.

Of course, we’re in this hyper connected world online now. I think that’s why the Black Lives Matter protests this year took off in the way that they hadn’t before globally because people are seeing things happening in other countries, and seeing how it shows up in their own countries. White supremacy is one of those forces that has shaped the world itself in ways that are just very powerful and very, very harmful. And so it’s never not present.

Many Black people in particular, as well as Indigenous people and people of color, have spoken about the exhaustion of being confronted with white fragility or white guilt in recent weeks. Do you have any advice for these communities?

During the protests that followed in the first two weeks after George Floyd’s murder, I think half a million people started following my Instagram account. That was very overwhelming for me. We had masses of white people coming into our space with a conscious desire to want to learn, but also with unexamined anti-Blackness and not having the skills and understanding of how to go into our spaces without disrespecting us.

Having white privilege still means that you can actually switch off and being Black means you cannot. The advice that I would give to Black people especially, and indigenous and people of color, is that your self care really does have to come first. While this moment of this movement that we’re in is really unprecedented, this work has been going on for decades, centuries, and it will continue to do so. So you can’t burn yourself out right now just because more people are interested in hearing from us. It’s also not your responsibility to teach white people about whiteness, and about white supremacy.

For Black people especially, one of the ways that we practice anti-racism is learning how to center ourselves, our joy, our self care, our mental wellbeing, our physical health. One of the things that’s so traumatizing from this is recognizing that Black lives only seem to matter when Black people are being killed in the most violent and horrific ways, and that we can only get attention when we are pimping our pain. When we say Black Lives Matter, it’s the life of Black people that matters.

Your book talks about the commitment and the discipline of doing this anti-racist work. How would you define that and what are some of the ways that people can do that beyond reading books like your own?

The metaphor I use is that every morning you wake up and you hit the reset button on “how can I show up in anti-racist allyship today?” That includes things like learning and educating yourself, but also seeing in what ways white supremacy is showing up as you’re moving through the day, in what ways you are complicit in maintaining it, and therefore in what ways can you disrupt it. It’s about really taking mindful responsibility for your everyday lived life, and not seeing anti-racism as something that you do when you have a bit of extra time on the side.

We are now nearly two months on from when the initial protests started. How do you feel about the future of the Black Lives Matter movement, and where do you see it going?

My hope is that now as Black Lives Matter becomes more mainstream that white and non-Black people really take on the mantle as well and alleviate the burden from Black people, from us having to shout into the void, that Black lives matter. I think that’s a very long way off, because I don’t know any time when white people were in interaction with Black people that Black lives did matter. So the world that we’re building towards, and we’ve never seen it before. We don’t know what it looks like, we have no blueprint for it. We really have to use our imaginations and our creativity to work towards it. But we have to work towards it together.

Your next project is a children’s version of Me and White Supremacy. How can we equip children to talk about race and white supremacy?

I initially thought this would be an interpretation or translation of the adult version for younger readers, but I’ve realized this book has to be for all kids of all races and not just for white kids, which then changes everything. It’s a huge responsibility. Young kids are like sponges—they absorb everything, so this work has to really be done with care. Some of my intentions and aims are to equip them with context, history, language and critical thinking skills to really understand how white supremacy operates. It’s about giving kids a shared language to be able to grow into adults who can talk about race and dismantling white supremacy together.

As a Black kid, I had to learn about race from age seven. So I’ve been aware of race and racism my whole life. Many white adults are just learning it today. So we’re not on the same level at all. And I hope that through this book, kids of all races can have different conversations and create a different world.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

#IFTTT #Blogger

[esprit-de-corps-magazine]

Damage Control: China pulls out all the stops in an effort to denounce international claims of human rights abuse

By Scott Taylor

In early June, a group of 22 countries including Canada, Japan, the U.K., France, and Australia, signed a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council calling upon China “to end the mass arbitrary detentions and related violations against Muslims in the Xinjiang region.”

Although they are not the signatories on that letter, the U.S. administration has also voiced critical concern over China’s religious crackdown. At a July 16 conference in Washington, D.C. regarding global religious freedom, the U.S. Vice President Mike Pence claimed “In Xinjiang, the Communist Party has imprisoned more than a million Chinese Muslims, including Uighurs, in internment camps where they endure round-the-clock brainwashing.” Taking things up a notch, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged, “China is home to one of the worst human rights crises of our time… It is truly the stain of the century. 

In response to these charges, the Chinese government has steadfastly maintained that the facilities in question are in fact vocational schools aimed at poverty alleviation and as a means to curtail the spread of Islamic extremism. To bolster their case with the U.N., China managed to solicit the support of 31 nations – including Russia, North Korea and Venezuela - to write their own letter to the Human Rights Council, expressing their collective support for China’s anti-terror measures and the policy toward ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.

In a further attempt to prove their claims, the Chinese government organized a seven-day international media tour of Xinjiang, which included a total of 27 journalists from 24 countries. Media outlets represented included ABC News, the Irish Times, Australian Financial Review and the Corriere Della Serra of Italy. I was the sole Canadian representative. 

The tour began in the city of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, China’s largest and westernmost autonomous region. This area is home to approximately 11 million Uighurs – an ethnic Turkic minority, but also includes ethnic Kazakhs, Kirghiz and Tajiks as well as a steadily growing number of Han Chinese.

The first exhibit we were shown was a graphic display of the violent insurgency, which first erupted in this region in 2009. Photos and videos depicted in gory detail all of the terrorist attacks, which have killed a total of 197 people to date. Victims shown included small infants, women, and even the corpses of murdered policemen. In the centre of the hall was a vast collection of captured weaponry and home made bombs. 

The subsequent Chinese crackdown has been largely successful and it was noted that the last terror attack occurred more than 30 months ago. This was the start point for our education as the Islamic extremism threat is the lynchpin for China implementing its policy of re-educating the Muslim minorities.

The Chinese wanted to make the point that the terrorists had in fact hit them hard, and thus they are justified in taking strong measures to reduce future threats.

However, during our subsequent seven days travelling throughout Xinjiang one did not get the sense that this was a region still living with the fear of imminent violence. There were an abundance of security cameras around public spaces and airport style body searches were conducted at entrances to crowded centres, but police did not wear body armour and there were no sandbagged bunkers in evidence. This was definitely not Kandahar, Afghanistan, or Baghdad, Iraq. 

The second stop on our tour was a boarding school and a Mosque, where a new generation of Imams are being taught Islamic studies. With the world accusing China of committing cultural and religious genocide of the Uighurs, we were shown that the Beijing regime is actually funding schools to produce newly minted Muslim clergy.

To counter international claims that Uighur culture is being suppressed, we were shown a brand new $100 million Arts Centre, which is home to a professional orchestra and dance troupe. To further drive home this point we were treated to a full fledged Uighur cultural spectacle at the Xinjiang Grand Theatre in the city of Changji.

This celebration of the history of China’s Silk Road featured a cast of hundreds, live camels, horses running on treadmills, water cascading over the stage, the world’s largest video screen, and women in traditional garb dancing on Segways. It was essentially Las Vegas on steroids.

Of course, the key sites we were to see were the controversial vocational training centres, which are alleged to be re-education detention camps by the Western media. Our group visited two of these facilities – one at Shule County on the outskirts of Kashgar, and one in the city of Atushi. The first housed approximately 1,000 Uighur students, and the second held around 200. In both schools the student age ranged between 20-40 years old with a fairly even male-female ratio.

They were housed ten persons to a room, with bunk beds and a single squat toilet per dorm room. There were no guard towers or barbed wire and we were told that there were only eight security guards on the premises. This is less than one would find at the average hotel in western China.

It was noticed that the doors to the dorm rooms only locked from the outside. We were witness to a meal serving which featured generous portions, and no one in the two schools appeared malnourished. We were shown classrooms where students were chanting out their lessons in Mandarin, and others were studying Chinese laws. There were also study areas for vocational training such as computer skills, sewing, automotive, cooking and basic electrical.

Through the official translators, and under the steady gaze of our Chinese government minders, we were able to speak directly with several of the Uighur students. They had a very interesting story, and I deliberately use the singular as they all had almost the exact same story.

Every one of them claimed to be their of their own free will. Every one of them had a tale of how they had become radicalized by Islamic extremism. Every one of them claimed they were willing to commit violence against non-believers when they had been discovered either by the authorities or in some cases a friend or spouse. The story was that they then saw the light and enrolled in the vocational training program.

One slight young man, 25 year-old Qurbanjan, claimed he had actually procured bomb making equipment prior to his village police suggesting he enter the school and forget about waging Jihad.

In total we interviewed three young women who all claimed to have been radicalized by Islam, all claimed their husbands were unaware of their thoughts, and all three had left toddlers at home in order to attend the boarding schools. Gulmire Azair is 29 years old and a graduate of the vocational school program. She presently has a factory job as a seamstress in Kashgar. Her story mirrored the others in that she had found herself wanting to “kill pagans” after visiting some Islamic websites. 

This is of course the narrative that the Chinese government wants to communicate to the world. These educations centres are, according to the official line, part of an anti-terrorism effort. The problem was that it was all too staged. The students would invariably rise at their desk, stand at attention and deliver their statement while staring straight above your head. It was very reminiscent of prisoners of war reciting their name, rank, and serial number to their captors.

Throughout our entire tour, the Chinese authorities overlooked no detail as they attempted to present to us a picture perfect glimpse of ethnic minority utopia in Xinjiang. When we visited a newly constructed relocation site for Kirghiz herdsmen for instance, everyone had a brand new white and black traditional Kirghiz hat. Those elderly residents, who just happened to be playing a game of cards in the common area, had a pristine deck of cards. When we entered family condos to witness the living conditions, there would be a feast awaiting us on the coffee table. When visiting a second similar site, hundreds of kilometres away, we were treated to the exact feast – as if there was an actual playbook detailing what the local party officials were to provide to our tour.

I am under no illusions as to the fact that the Chinese government showed us exactly what they wanted to show us. The schools we toured were prepared well in advance of our visit, and in both cases they treated us to Uighur cultural displays of folk dancing complete with elaborate costumes. In other words, how could the Chinese be suppressing Uighur culture when here they are teaching them dance numbers celebrating their unique heritage? The fact is that our media tour did not see all the camps, and in fact we could not get a straight answer from any official as to how many people are presently enrolled in this project.

If the Chinese government wants to seriously refute these serious allegations that they are perpetrating the ‘stain of the century’ upon Muslims of Xinjiang, they are going to have to provide unfettered and unlimited access to international observers.

Captions for photos above Left to Right:

Photo One: There are nearly 1000 students enrolled in the Shule vocational school. 

Two: Twenty five year old Gulmire Azair, mother of one and a self pro-claimed former Islamic extremist. She had desires to kill Pagans before her friends convinced her to enrol in the vocational school program. She now works as a seamstress in a factory near Kashgar.

Three: Basic automotive skills are taught at the Atushi vocational school

Four: One of the vocations taught at the Atushi school is esthetician.

Five: The vocational school at Atushi has no guard towers, simply a high wall surrounding the complex. The yard includes volleyball courts and table tennis facilities.

Six: Cooking classes are a popular course at the vocational school. Students can learn either western style or Chinese style cuisine.

Seven & Eight: Lunch is served at the Atushi vocational school. Serving were generous and students did not appear malnourished.

Nine & Ten: In an effort to illustrate the extent of the islamic insurgency in Xinjiang, we were shown a large cache of captured weapons. These included crossbows and swords and a collection of antiquated rifles.

Eleven: This relocated Kirghiz herdsman all had bright new traditional white hats for our visit.

Twelve: Uighur students in Urumqi study the Koran as well as Mandarin language and China’s legal system, on their path to becoming Imams

Thirteen: The Chinese central government has built a mosque and boarding school to train a new generation of Muslim Imams.

Fourteen: Traditional dance routines are taught to the Uighur students, complete with elaborate costumes and a fog machine.

[wionews]

South Africa blighted by racially charged farm murders

"They beat him with a pole... and you could hear the bones breaking," said Debbie Turner, recounting her husband's murder in a slow, defiant voice.

She refuses to talk about him in the past tense and sleeps with a photo of him close by.

"I miss him so terribly -- it's just so hard," she said, sitting in front of the frail-care unit that has been her home since the attack at their farm.

Robert "Oki" Turner, 66, was beaten to death before her eyes six months ago on their isolated stretch of mountain land in South Africa's northeastern Limpopo province.

He was one of the latest victims of a long campaign of violence against the country's farmers who are largely white.

The rural crime epidemic has inflamed political and racial tensions nearly a quarter-of-a-century after the fall of apartheid.

Farm murders are just one issue that reveals how South Africa is struggling with violence, an economic slowdown and divisions along race lines.

The Turners moved to the verdant region, half-way between Kruger national park and Zimbabwe, some 30 years ago.

On their property, which spans dozens of acres, they grew gum trees which they sold to craftsmen or for firewood.

"Until about four or five years ago, we were very open. We didn't have a key for our house -- we would go away and nothing would have happened," she said.

But then the extreme violence that had long afflicted major cities engulfed rural areas like theirs.

Break-ins, hostage takings and killings became common -- with attackers often making off with just a few hundred rand (less than $20), a mobile phone or a hunting rifle.

The Turners were targeted after nightfall on June 14 when two armed men stormed their farm. Debbie was alone after her husband stepped out to fix a water tap.

- Savagely beaten -

"They said 'we want money'. I said I haven't got money," recounted Debbie.

"They dragged me all over the house and put me under the shower and turned it on and left me for 15 minutes.

"Then they decided to try to rape me. I said 'please don't rape me, I've got HIV'."

Sometime later, Oki was found slumped motionless covered in blood after being savagely beaten by the attackers searching for the key to the couple's safe.

He died in hospital a few hours later.

Dozens of white farmers are murdered in similar circumstances in South Africa every year.

In the absence of detailed statistics, the scope and scale of the crimes has become a battleground.

AfriForum, a pressure group that advocates on behalf of the country's nine-percent-strong white population, is one of the forces seeking to shape the debate around farm murders.

"Farmers are living in remote areas, they are far from police stations," said the group's vice president, Ernst Roets. 

"There are political factors that play a role here. We are concerned about hate speech, political leaders who... would say for example 'the white farmers should be blamed for everything'."

He is particularly damning of Julius Malema, the firebrand leader of South Africa's radical left, who has called on his followers to "retake the land" from whites.

In 2012 President Jacob Zuma sang a struggle-era song containing the words "shoot the farmer, shoot the Boer".

Agriculture, like much of South Africa's economy, remains in the hands of the white descendants of colonial-era settlers.

White farmers control 73 percent of arable land in the country compared with 85 percent when apartheid ended in 1994, according to a recent study.

Calls for "radical economic transformation" to benefit the black majority have gained traction as unemployment has soared.

They are frequently coupled with accusations that the white minority control a disproportionate share of the nation's wealth.

- 'We built this country' -

That narrative has alarmed many white rural communities.

"We're being hunted," said Pauli, a 43-year-old farmer who declined to give her surname.

More militant white farmers describe the violence they face as "genocide" and use the casually racist rhetoric of the apartheid era.

"They (black people) truly think that we have stolen the country from them," Limpopo-based farmer Gerhardus Harmse told AFP. 

"We built this country, show me anything, any place that the blacks built -- there isn't any. They cannot build, they destroy."

The radical fringe has become increasingly vocal. 

Last month, some supporters flew the flag of the old white-minority government during a protest against farm murders.

The demonstration called on the government to guarantee farmers special protection -- something that police minister Fikile Mbalula categorically refused.

"All deaths of all South Africans must be met with disgust," wrote Mbalula in a Twitter post. "My problem is that farm murders are racialised and politicised."

While black farmers have so far been largely reluctant to march with their white colleagues, they face many of the same risks.

"We don't feel protected by the government," said Vuyo Mahlati, president of the African Farmers Association of South Africa.

"We need to deal with everyone trying to utilise farming as a centre of a right-wing political discourse. That we are not going to allow."

- 'I will go back' -

Feeling abandoned by the government, many white farmers have taken steps to protect themselves.

Some patrol their land under moonlight, pistols tucked into their belts, to deter would-be attackers. 

Others undergo commando training in anticipation of the worst.

Among them is Marli Swanepoel, 37, who owns a farm in Limpopo.

"You have to be prepared. You have to protect yourself," said the mother-of-three.

Hans Bergmann was recently assaulted on his farm, but takes a different approach.

Some weeks ago, armed men broke in to rob his safe, tied him up and shot him in the foot.

"In South Africa everybody thinks farmers have a lot of money," he said.

Bergmann, who is in his sixties, declines to carry a gun or abandon his land.

"I just accept it... where do I go from here if I leave the farm?" he said.

Debbie Turner is scathing of the police who have yet to catch her husband's killers -- or even take a statement from her.

"It shows that what happened that night doesn't mean anything to these people," she said.

"I'm angry against those people who killed my husband. Sometimes I wish they could hang them."

But she will not be leaving any time soon, vowing: "One day I will go back to the mountain."

]]>

[atlanticcanada]

Bodies in Ukraine streets lead to more outrage with Russia

Warning: This story contains disturbing details. 

Moscow faced a new wave of revulsion and accusations of war crimes Monday after the Russian pullout from the outskirts of Kyiv revealed streets strewn with corpses of what appeared to be civilians, some seemingly killed deliberately at close range.

The images of battered bodies out in the open or in hastily dug graves also led to calls for tougher sanctions against the Kremlin, namely a cutoff of fuel imports from Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy left the capital, Kyiv, for his first reported trip since the war began nearly six weeks ago to see for himself what he called the "genocide" and "war crimes" in the town of Bucha, the site of some of the horrors.

"Dead people have been found in barrels, basements, strangled, tortured," said Zelenskyy, who again called on Russia to move quickly to negotiate an agreement to end to the war.

European leaders the United Nations human rights chief condemned the bloodshed, some of them also branding it genocide, and U.S. President Joe Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin should face a war-crimes trial.

"This guy is brutal, and what's happening in Bucha is outrageous," said Biden, who also promised to add to the economic sanctions on Moscow.

Read more: Here's how war crimes prosecutions work

Paul Workman: A train ride to Kyiv amid war

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the scenes outside Kyiv as a "stage-managed anti-Russian provocation." The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected allegations of atrocities as fakery on Ukraine's part.

Lavrov said the mayor of Bucha made no mention of atrocities a day after Russian troops left last week, but two days later scores of bodies were photographed scattered in the streets.

Ukrainian officials said the bodies of 410 civilians were found in towns around Kyiv that were recaptured from Russian forces in recent days.

In Bucha, northwest of the capital, Associated Press journalists saw 21 bodies, including a group of nine in civilian clothes who appeared to have been shot at close range. At least two had their hands tied behind their backs. A bag of groceries were spilled by one of the dead.

The full extent of the bloodshed in the Kyiv area has yet to emerge, but by all accounts the horrors in the shattered southern port city of Mariupol are likely to be even worse.

"This is a war of murders, a lot of blood. A lot of civilians are dying," said Natalia Svitlova, a refugee from Dnipro in eastern Ukraine who fled to Poland. "I don't understand why this is possible in the 21st century and why no one can stop it."

Moscow continued to press its offensive in eastern Ukraine, where little news has made it to the outside world since the war began Feb. 24. Russia, in pulling back from the capital, has said its main focus is gaining control the Donbas, the largely Russian-speaking industrial region in the country's east that includes Mariupol.

European allies, though united in outrage over the aftermath outside Kyiv, appeared split on how to respond.

Poland, which is on Ukraine's border and has taken in large numbers of refugees, angrily singled out France and Germany for not taking tougher action and urged Europe to quickly wean itself off Russian energy. But Germany said it would stick with a more gradual approach of phasing out coal and oil imports over the next several months.

Western and Ukrainian leaders have accused Russia of war crimes before, and the International Criminal Court's prosecutor has opened an investigation. But the latest reports ratcheted up the condemnation.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said "the Russian authorities are responsible for these atrocities, committed while they had effective control of the area."

French President Emmanuel Macron said there is "clear evidence of war crimes" in Bucha that demand new measures. "I'm in favor of a new round of sanctions and in particular on coal and gasoline. We need to act," he said on France-Inter radio.

But Poland's prime minister, who described Russia under Putin as a "totalitarian-fascist state," called for actions "that will finally break Putin's war machine."

"President Macron, how many times have you negotiated with Putin? What have you achieved? ... Would you negotiate with Hitler, with Stalin, with Pol Pot?" Mateusz Morawiecki asked.

The U.S. and its allies have sought to punish Russia for the invasion by imposing sweeping economic sanctions. But they may be reluctant to impose measures that cause further harm to a global economy still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

Europe is in a particular bind, since it gets 40% of its gas and 25% of its oil from Russia.

Putin's Feb. 24 invasion has left thousands of people dead and forced more than 4 million Ukrainians to flee their country.

Putin has said the attack is aimed at eliminating a security threat and has demanded that Ukraine drop its bid to join NATO. Ukraine insists it never posed any threat but has offered to officially declare itself neutral.

While Western officials initially said they believed Putin's goal was to take Kyiv and install a Kremlin-friendly government, Russian forces faced stiff resistance outside the capital and on other fronts, and have now retreated from some areas.

Britain's Defense Ministry said Russia continues to flood soldiers and mercenaries from the Wagner military group into the Donbas. It said Russian troops are still trying to take Mariupol, which has seen weeks of heavy fighting and some of the worst suffering of the war.

(Map by CTV News' Jasna Baric)

------

Qena reported from Motyzhyn, Ukraine. Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine, and Associated Press journalists around the world contributed

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