day forty-two (13. 335)

Continued assaults on Beirut threatening the fragile ceasefire, Trump has reportedly urged Netanyahu to be more “low key” in his attacks on Lebanon as the delegation headed by JD Vance for the US and Iranian leaders are scheduled to meet in Islamabad for peace talks. The White House warns government employees from using insider knowledge to leverage bets on the outcome of negotiations and direction of the war on prediction markets. Israel will hold direct talks with the Lebanese government aimed at disarming Hezbollah and limiting collateral casualties. Underscoring Tehran’s continued control of the strait, tankers are being selectively let through and still only a trickle of the ships parked on either side of the gulf. Kuwaiti territory is still being targeted although Iran denies to be behind retaliatory attacks and the Emirates has reported clear skies.

synchronoptica

one year ago: The Great Gatsby (with synchronopticæ), market reaction dulls Trump tariffs plus assorted links worth the revisit

twelve years ago: NATO and Ukraine plus English orthography 

thirteen years ago: the Night of the the Long Knives 

fourteen years ago: a planned Star Trek casino 

fifteen years ago: a catalogue of Star Trek characters 

day thirty-seven (13. 322)

Slovakia joins Hungary demanding that the EU lift sanctions on Russian fuel as Tehran dismisses Trump’s deadline as more empty bluster and buffing. After a two day extraction mission, the US rescues the surviving crew member from a downed jet deep within Iranian territory. Trump issues an abuse and sacrilegious laden missive, promising again to unleash holy hell, first reserved for power plants, then civilian infrastructure on day two, “Praise be to Allah“ if Iran fails to open up the Strait of Hormuz, which the US insists it does not want or need. Israeli-American airstrikes hit petrochemical facilities in Iran, as counterattacks continue to bring refinery operations offline in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. Israeli bombardment in Beirut’s suburbs depopulate the south as residents flee the fighting.

day thirty-three (13. 313)

Projecting a timeline of two to three weeks for ending the war—or at least US operations, Trump dictates that the responsibility of keeping the Strait of Hormuz open is left to the countries that rely on it and not for America to police. After the conflict is concluded, the US secretary of state says that the relationship with NATO will need to be reevaluated after partner states after their reluctance to join in prosecuting this illegal war, notably Spain refusing access to Rota and Lages Field and latest Italy not allowing refuelling of US aircraft on Sigonella. Trump says either those nations come and take the oil—or buy American as more troops enter the theatre, promising withdrawal with or without a deal. The United Arab Emirates may do exactly that, with reports it is planning to open the strait by force. Drone assaults continue in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and a western journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad. Beirut remains under fire.  Israeli airstrikes target more Iranian nuclear facilities and a munitions depot in Isfahan and wide scale bombardment of Tehran as the country marks 12. Farvardin, Islamic Republic Day, proclaimed in 1979 after the revolution.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the US bicentennial train tour (with synchronopticæ), a marathon filibuster plus assorted links to revisit

twelve years ago: Springtime in Wiesbaden 

thirteen years ago: a walk around Leipzig, a Russian Orthodox church, news digest plus prospecting for frozen methane

fourteen years ago: modifying crops to keep up with climate change, Easter decorations plus new utopias

fifteen years ago: censoring the Simpsons 

day twenty-seven (13. 296)

As Israel expands its buffer zone with the southern border of Lebanon with a literal scorched earth campaign, spreading white phosphorus on the land to make it fallow and uninhabitable, Hezbollah is refusing ceasefire negotiations with the aggressor as IDF bombing runs continue over Iran and that country, following international condemnation saying that the area of Beirut cannot become another occupied territory, another Gaza. Mixed signals came out of both Tehran and Washington over potential peace talks, Iranians insisting that Trump is delusional and holding court with himself and that they will never surrender to the US excessive demands and never accept defeat, Trump pushing for a status quo ante bellum that was nearly achieved before fighting commenced (the goals seem to have shifted to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which was open before the war) and Iran signalling its readiness to carpet bomb its own land should US troops set foot and seize Bahraini and Emirati territory in response. Not entertaining the draft peace plan, Iran further demands any truce must include stopping hostilities in Lebanon and an Israeli withdrawal and reparations. Aside from the rising death toll approaching nine thousand individuals, the global economic fallout has nearly reached a tipping point with the worldwide petrodollar market dictating costs even for countries saturated in oil and natural gas, importers enacting energy-saving measures, supply chains and infrastructure points disrupted and not quickly or cheaply restored and clouding prospects for industry and manufacturing as resources dwindle—even the AI boom and bubble that is buoying up the broader stock market is in peril, relying not only on investment for mushrooming data centres, those facilities themselves very energy- and water-intensive.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the unique pop culture of Greenland (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links to revisit 

 

twelve years ago: a Spanish monarch for Scotland 

 

fourteen years ago: an Easter bouquet 

 

fifteen years ago: Earth Hour 

 

sixteen years ago: the US affordable care act 

day sixteen (13. 267)

Rebuffing calls from allied Gulf states under attack for their hosting of American assets (materiel and business interests declared legitimate targets and intimating that some strikes are being carried out covertly by US and Israeli aggressors) for ceasefire negotiations, Trump rejects talks outright saying that Iran is demanding too much and expresses surprise that the conflict spread, insisting again he has decimated the oil export hub of Kharg Island and may destroy more facilities for target practise. US federal communications commission chair has accused media outlets of putting out fake news and hoaxes regarding the special operation and threatens to take away their broadcasting licenses unless they correct course. Separately, the Pentagon announces a major overhaul for the journalistically independent military newspaper Stars and Stripes, labelling it a “woke distraction.”People are being arrested for posting images of war damage in the Emirates and elsewhere. Formula One grand prix scheduled for Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in April have been cancelled as the Iraqi national team prepares to travel to Mexico for play-offs for the upcoming World Cup, FIFA ignoring overtures to call off the North American venue. The Iranian national women’s soccer team withdraw their applications for asylum in Australia and plan to return home. The supplies of anti-ballistic missile interceptors continue to dwindle. Ukraine says Russia is replenishing drones. Switzerland denies request by the US for fly-over rights. Over eight hundred civilians have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli bombardment.

synchronopticon

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ), the four pillars of consumer rights plus veto through inaction

twelve years ago: everyday objects rendered useless 

fourteen years ago: impressions from Prague plus UAVs in warfare

fifteen years ago: buried news and hidden connections 

 

day eight (13. 240)

Oil refineries in Basra operated by US defence contractor Halliburton have been struck. As the Gulf states of the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia suffer fresh attacks and bombardments continue in Lebanon and Iran, independent reporting speculates that supplies of both ballistics and countermeasures are beginning to dwindle, with the US claiming that firepower on Tehran was to surge dramatically in the coming days and Trump saying there would be no further negotiations and would only accept unconditional surrender, the world still guessing about his endgame. An Iranian frigate was sunk outside of the theatre of war, returning from training manoeuvres off the coast of Sri Lanka by American naval forces, the first such expansion since WWII. Russian intelligence is supplying Iran with telemetry on US targets in the region.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Silla Smile (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links to revisit

thirteen years ago: historical monetary unions 

fourteen years ago: human-robot collaborations 

fifteen years ago: cooking by substitiution 

that often happens in war (13. 224)

Hours after the assassination was proclaimed both by Trump and Netanyahu after destroying the Tehran compound of Khamenei, officials and domestic news sources denying the claim saying he was elsewhere or outside of the country, Iranian state news announced that the Supreme Leader had in fact been killed along with four members of his family and several other key leaders, including former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and others in the Ayatollah’s line of succession, a handpicked group in case of his death, and decreed forty days of mourning via a VHF radio broadcast as most of the country has had no internet connectivity since the height of the protests and in conjunction with crippling cyberattacks to aimed at digital infrastructure and handicapping Iran’s own skilled hackers. Assaults by belligerents on both sides have continued unabated with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian surrogate groups like the Houthis hindering Red Sea shipments and Kurdish separatists attempting to storm the US Iraqi Green Zone. Despite having to deflect a barrage of missiles for hosting US bases, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar stand to gain by ridding the region of an antagonist, an prospect too fraught and potentially costly to undertake themselves, but having found a far cheaper alternative with bribing Trump and his family, the used luxury jetliner and two-billion dollar consulting to fee to son-in-law Jared Kushner, this discount regime change undertaken by America and Israel is likely to result in disaster and certainly not lead to democratic reforms, perhaps reinstating the Shah and an royal autocracy that the other Gulf states find social acceptable for not calling out their hypocrisy and corruption with hyper-clericalism. The death toll continues to rise, with the bombing of a girls’ school in Minab adjacent to a barracks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and three US service members were killed in the line of duty. As Joe Biden once said if Israel didn’t exist then the US “would have to invent one.”

8x8 (12. 594)

; ): the correct use of the semicolon—see also  

if you try to humanise the place, you will lose your mind: a journalist reflects on her unconscionable trip to Dubai  

dream logic: the surreal illustrations of Garrett Davis  

bubble house: space age, Mid-Century Modern brownstone off Central Park on the market for the first time in half a century—see also  

the sounds of summer: the soundtrack of nostalgic memories of the season by prolific composer Joe Hisaishi (久石 譲) reimagined as a short visual film  

jumbotron: Coldplay concert kiss-cam incident (and memes) underscore the practice’s awkward history  

kiss of death: US vice president flew to Montana for a secret meeting with News Corp head Rupert Murdoch, aged 94, to discuss reporting of Trump—maybe he dies soon like when Vance had an audience with the Pope—or fawning MAGA fan Truss with the Queen  

the only free cheese is in a mousetrap: the Ukrainian equivalent of the English idiom there is no such thing as a free lunch

sip (10. 167)

Via tmn, our attention is again directed towards bespoke, luxury fallout shelters, bunkers, panic rooms flogged (also a punishment for criminal offences for the not so well-appointed) to the rich and powerful—only this time, the glamorous, underground residences, replete with fake skies over courtyards with swimming pools, private theatres, wine cellars, conference centres and showcase galleries and garages, or anything else the client can imagine, are being pushed on the influx of multi-millionaires resettling in the United Arab Emirates. What do you thinK? The firm offering such fantastical and secure retreats is a Swiss company called Oppidum—the Latin term for a fortified city. I thought only pharaoh in his pyramid could only be so entombed.

o’zapft is!

Proposed by an events planner who helped organise German Weihnachtsmärkte and former Münchener restauranteur surely also hit hard by the pandemic and whom now resides in Dubai, the announcement that the emirate plans to host a version of Oktoberfest has drawn ire and confusion from the annual party’s venue city. Mirroring its namesake to an extent with beer tents, food concessions and carnival rides, the proposal calls for it being a pavilion of the World Expo and to last for six months rather than the customary two weeks in September. Last year’s festivities were cancelled due to corona, and though uncertainly it seems as if the coming autumn celebrations may also have to be postponed.

parting shot

Launched on 23 July, China’s mission to Mars, Tianwen-1, beamed back this postcard of a crescent Earth and its satellite from a distance of a little over a million kilometres as it accelerates towards the Red Planet.
The image joins a growing gallery of iconic photographs that help bring perspective and humility. The alignment of the two worlds mean that this is among the fastest and most efficient times for Martian travel and Tianwen-1—the first probe of a series of planned excursions and is named (天問) for the eponymous ancient work of epic prose that begins asking how the universe was created, thus Heavenly Questions—was joined during this auspicious launch window by and orbiter from the United Arab Emirates and NASA rover named Perseverance. All three will arrive in February 2021, touching down at Utopia Planitia.

off the shelf

As part of an advertising campaign that encourages people to make their own living spaces just as iconic and reflective of their signature style, IKEA in the United Arab Emirates is running a “Real Life” series showcasing famous living rooms recreated using only store furniture and accessories. Much more to explore at the links above.

calving

According to Slashdot, Dubai is exploring the possibility of towing an Antarctic iceberg to the rapidly expanding desert megacity to supply its populace with fresh water. What do you think about that?
I don’t know what the environmental consequences are to nibbling at the margins of the last apolitical refuges of the Earth but it doesn’t strike as a particularly good, far-sighted idea. An engineering firm is in the process of selecting an appropriate candidate—somewhere in the vicinity of a hundred million tonnes—and is working out the logistics, though it’s unclear about the finer points of storage or sale to the government.

pishtaq, iwan

A Hong Kong based design team has constructed a coiling passageway of arches in Sharjah—one of the capital cities of the United Arab Emirates, that portrays the architectural development of the Islamic arch. Like the more familiar Doric, Ionic and Corinthian progression of the Greek column, the Islamic gateway went from the unadorned to the more elaborate over the ages: round, ogee, tented, parabolic, multifoil. Take a video tour with BLDGBlog at the link up top.

trademark, earmark

Though there is no law proscribing that an American president cannot be engaged in private commercial activity—though most are more discrete about it, having their income tied up in plantations, speakers’ fees, book deals or in other monetary instruments, no other candidate has founded his pre-political career on image and personality so as to seem inexorably inseparable from the brand as our mogul Silvio Berlusconi.
Notwithstanding the inherent conflict of interest that presents itself when pledging to restrict Muslim immigration despite lending his name to business towers in Istanbul and Dubai, there are a whole array of products, like premium vodka, subscription steak deliveries, cologne, a winery, a diploma-mill in addition to the casinos and beauty-pageants that the candidate might have to divest himself of. With the campaign slogan, “America—you can be my ex-wife,” I wonder who the lucky recipient of this alimony might be. I suspect Berlusconi or a coalition government formed by one of Stevie Nick’s shawls and the scalp of Trump’s own balding pate might make for a more beneficent rule.

pompeii or hornblower and hotspur

Whilst rambling through Devon and Hampshire, we stopped at the ancient city of Portsmouth, the oldest continually used docklands in the world awash with the trawling dragnets of historical connections. The harbour town is far too well regaled with references to pursue every footnote and link (though the local historical societies must have very fulfilling hobbies), but just to trace the city to its semi-legendary foundation by a Norman nobleman called Jean de Gisors whom famously harrowed Henry II into kingship and was allegedly the founder of the Priory of Sion I think gives one an idea. And merrily, we roll along.
One lawless exclave established on a tip of Southsea, called Spice Island, just outside of the city gates and thus beyond the crown’s jurisdiction was a regular Island of the Donkey Boys from Pinocchio for its bustling and brisk business attentive to visiting sailors, but rather gentrified and respectable since the invention of the steam-engine began to depreciate the importance of the trade routes that clung so near the continent.  The strategic significance of Portsmouth (nicknamed Pompeii) and attraction, however, has not waned. The naval presence has receded into its present boundaries but the defensive walls and garrison chapel with the statue of Lord Nelson are very much still the typifying landmarks, but a relatively recent addition in the Spinnaker Tower (named after the distinctive steering sail and which is probably the closest we’ll get to the Burj Dubai—at least for the present) adds an impressive element to the skyline, being the highest viewing platform outside of London.
Afterwards, we stopped to wonder at the massive, medieval Arundel Castle, seat to the oldest surviving earldom, and line of Anne of Arundel, Baroness Baltimore, wife to the first governor of Maryland and the province of present day Newfoundland called Avalon, named after the old lands in Somersetshire where Glastonbury lay—as the perfect transition to our next little tour.

five-by-five

píratar: Iceland’s dominant Pirate Party may extend shelter and citizenship to the Fugitive

kinematografii: a collection of vintage Czechoslovakian film posters

3 quarks for muster mark: some of the invented words of author James Joyce

birds’ eye: an eagle presents Dubai as he descends to his trainer below

be mine: camera embedded in a ring box captures marriage proposals from a face-forward perspective

dibba, dubai, abu dhabi

Tensions mounting over the flow of traffic through that potential choke-point of the Strait of Hormuz come from a wide array of trajectories, with a lot of significance and history not only in tow but also projecting, deferring antagonism into some imagined and virtual future. The arts, cultures, diplomacies, histories and scholarship of the people of Persia, as it is for a lot of other peoples of the region, have been saddled with a great unplumbed and sad ignorance on the part of many outsiders and reckon their story only begins with twilight colonialism and the framework of shoves and tugs of foreign policy.

Though quick to forget and disinclined to learn, Iran’s choices in self-determination come in spite of international manipulation, and rather than because of whatever outsiders attribute to the attested doctrine of deterrence of the country. There is a sophisticated technical and scientific community in Iran, and were such a group gathered elsewhere, I think, no accusations of violence would muddle the research. Furthermore, although much different in character and circumstance, with an eye to the past, I would not be surprised if out of the massing armada or lands just out of range there did not come a dubious and distorted casus belli, like the Gulf of Tonkin Incident that lead Vietnam Conflict and the irrevocable license against Communist aggression. What is going against the traffic is the projections and predictions--the congestion of the present standoff careering head on with abstract and hypothetical contingencies and future threats of embargoes (and consequent shortages) that (both) won't come into effect for months.  These conflicts coming from different and undefined vectors are what creates tension and obstacles to understanding.

pax romana

Depending on who one asks, and there is still a lot of latitude for pessimism, Germany and the rest of the EU have successfully staved off the worst of the financial cataclysm and are on their way to recovery. This is in stark contrast to the situation in the US, and it is in part at least owing to the extant social-safety-net, which keeps people from being evicted and turned out on the streets and did not need to debate some slap-dash welfare program, financial regulations that curtail the excessive accumulation of power for companies and temper share-holder decision, keeping executive salaries from escaping to unreal levels, a more patient and sounder fiscal policy.

The EU has its share of imperfections and there are still incidents of voracious greed and abject poverty, but the biggest and most stable difference between the two and economic prosperity is that the EU has a manufacturing base and produces tangible things. Measured just by its spun-up services industry, the USA is about like nouveau riche Dubai. Even little Liechtenstein, in addition to banking, has a healthy business in making dentures and artificial teeth. Stock market fluctuations are driven for the most part by knee-jerk computer programming that buys or sells by fiat once a certain threshold is met, and the stock markets as well as the varied basket of other economic health indicators do not really tell much of a story, if businesses cannot be coaxed into hiring or unfreezing excess funding they are holding on tightly to as insurance against deflation.

Only generation of revenue, both personal and commercial, marks real change and backs up currency's value. Like the oil barons of the Mid-East, Russian oligarchs and American robber-barons are dismissive of the EU as antiquated, but as H pointed out, Europe may not be as flashy or dynamic but has been doing what it has been doing for centuries and without oil, bubbles and busts.

I'm a Sozial!

There are quite a few campaign posters up for the next round of elections.  Many, like this one, promote the candidate as trustworthy, progressive and of course "Sozial."  In the context, I understand what they are trying to convey but it makes me think of that meme (and perhaps it was only me who thought it was such a bandwagon, per se, like saying "Rabbit, Rabbit" and doing a somersault out of bed on the first day of the month) that Michael Buckley made very funny, teasing some reality show star, I'm sure.  I am sure the committee to elect Burgermeister Meisterburger does not endorse this message.  In unrelated news, Germany has vowed that Greece will not see one euro from them until they bring their own house in order.  Germany suggested that the Greeks sell some of their uninhabited islands to raise cash.  This sounds less than optimal in practice.  After all, who is the buying spirit lately?  Dubai is not prepared to snatch up this real estate, and we would end up with Scylla and Charibdis and the Sirens named for sad old corporate maligners.