utilising the us military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal (13. 064)

Yesterday’s summit hosted in Paris attended by a dozen EU nations—“the coalition of the willing”—during which Macron, Starmer and Merz pledged to station troops as peacekeepers in a post-armistice Ukraine, with such security protocols endorsed by the Trump administration was a significant accomplishment even though the meeting itself was rather a split-screen of trust and distrust. Russian opposition to a permanent NATO defence force makes the deployment seem unlikely to materialise and pointedly leaders, after having issued a rather vague and tepid strongly worded statement in support of Denmark and Greenland’s right to self-determination and freedom from outside interference, were questioned by the press what value the commitments carried when Washington, a threat from within, is scheming to forcibly annex the sovereign territory of another NATO partner. The overtures have turned into unveiled threats (particularly unnerving after the abduction of Venezuelan president Maduro—Afghanistan has vast untapped mineral wealth which the US was occupying but abandoned under a deal set up under Trump and few would mourn the kidnapping of the Taliban now) despite the fact the US already has a space base on the world’s largest island and has access to Greenlandic resources already with Trump arguing untruly that the Arctic sea lanes are congested with Russian and Chinese ships and that America needs a firmer foothold and greater, exclusive dominance for hemispheric security.

synchronoptica

one year ago: moderating social media (with synchronopticæ), president-elect tries to rename Gulf of Mexico plus England’s Home of Mystery

twelve years ago: skeuomorphism plus phrenological projections

thirteen years ago: an Art Nouveau candelabra 

fourteen years ago: plant updates, a typeface identifier plus a trip to the spa

fifteen years ago: global economic woes 

sixteen years ago: a look back at the Millennial Bug 

 

operation nifty package (13. 056)

With clear parallels to current events in Venezuela with the kidnapping and extraction of Nicolás Maduro for trial in the United States, codenamed Absolute Resolve and carried out by the same elite unit, Delta Force, the removal and rendition of Panamanian military dictator Manuel Noriega—which took place on this day in 1990 and far from the only other US intervention in the region, has some important differences, especially in terms of the timeline and chance for international bodies to process developments. On the pretext of the death of a US marine, shot in Panama City—though planning had been taking place for months in advance—America invaded on 20 December 1989, deploying nearly thirty thousand troops supported by three-hundred aircraft, targeting the weapons and drug smuggling and money laundering facilities of Noriega, a long time source and correspondent of US intelligence agencies but never president of the country, the unelected individual amassing wealth and connections through trafficking facilitated by the national army and propping up politicians favourable to the CIA until they suddenly weren’t. The United Nations, whilst not mourning over the potential ouster of Noriega, convening and condemned the invasion as a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Panama—biased polling conducted at the time by CBS news claimed to overwhelming support for US intervention, surveying only wealthy dissident populations. Unwilling to believe that after the coup he had fallen from American favour and loathe to believe tips on the impending invasion, Noriega eventually went into hiding, evading capture. The capital overrun with US troops, Noriega and four compatriots sought refuge in the Apostolic Nunciature, the embassy of the Holy Sea—granted conditional sanctuary for giving up most of his weapons and pledging not to flee to the countryside and launch guerrilla warfare. Prevented by papal concord from entering the grounds, US forces conducted a campaign of psychological torment to dislodge Noriega, blasting the compound non-stop with rock music, a limited playlist of Public Enemy’ “Fight the Power,” “Panama” from Van Halen, “Danger Zone” and Tom Petty’s “Refugee.” Ten days into the ordeal, Noriega surrendered and was detained as a prisoner of war. For his trial, all evidence from the defendant that had anything to do with payments from the US government or work with intelligence services was deemed inadmissible, Noriega spending the rest of his life behind bars.

a safe, proper and judicious transition (13. 055)

United States attorney general Pam Bondi announced that Nicolás Maduro and his wife will face charges of nacroterrorism, facing the full wrath of the US justice system on US soil. Trump has indicated that American will occupy and ‘run’ (see previously) Venezuela until it can form its own stable government and that US petroleum companies will overhaul the country’s industry so that “stolen oil can be returned.” The invasion was postponed for a few days on account of the weather.  Global reactions to this extrajudicial kidnapping and forced regime change are a chorus of condemnation with multiple calls for an emergency meeting at the UN. The US secretary of state has been in contact with Marxist Venezuelan vice-president Delcy Rodriguez, who apparently—under duress and presently in Russia—agrees to work with American occupiers—to which Trump said, sifting a sliver of facts from a load of rhetoric that includes threats to Mexico, Cuba and other liberal democracies in Latin America—Trump saying, “She’s I guess the president. She had a long conversation with with Marco and said we’ll do what you need. She had no choice.” Of Nobel peace prize laureate and exiled opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, answering questions from the reporters for his press-conference in Florida—flanked by the usual ghouls, Rubio, Miller and Hegseth—Trump said he thinks it would be very difficult for her—“she is a very nice woman but does not have the support,” dumping her like Marjorie Taylor Greene despite her dedicating her Nobel prize to Trump and vocal support of his action.

the technate of north america (13. 054)

Given the recent invasion by the United States on the southern limit of this hypothetical map of a continental federation, a sphere of influence, self-sufficient and only requiring minimum trade with outsiders, aligned with the recently published Trump Corollary, the technocracy movement, founded chiefly by engineer Howard Scott after World War I, flourishing in the minds of many as a genuine alternative political ideology, more popular than fascism or communism, up through the Great Depression and the entry of the US in World War II—though suffering many internecine breakups and dogmatists at odds in the steering committees of the various groups and factions under this umbrella, just like Scott’s own falling out with the unionists and the IWW that first fostered his ideas, has again been garnering attention. Understandably with propagandised charts showing US influence stretching from Greenland to the north, through Panama all the way down to Venezuela, people are worried that Trump may make good on his threats of annexation by force, but Technocracy Incorporated, administered by besuited technocrats with legions of working-class followers, including one chiropractor (a suspect pseudo-science itself) from Regina, Joshua Norman Haldeman, the maternal grandfather of Elon Musk (members were required to adopt numbers in place of names, which may have inspired great-grandson XÆ A-12 as well as other notions of Musk’s), was not premised on utopian technology that would make labour superfluous and end scarcity but rather its opposite, suggesting that progress would never outpace population-growth and that the monetary system needed reform—proposing an energy theory of value to replace the price based systems of economy, privileging exchange and property and believed to perpetuate market inefficiencies. Energy input and output would replace fiat currency as a metric of labour and worth, non-fungible rationed allotments distributed to regulate the flow of energy that could not be bartered outside the system—tied to an individual’s productive credit account—and having an expiration date to discourage hoarding and accumulation of capital, as a form of technological feudalism.

news at eleven (13. 053)

Multiple large explosions registered Saturday just after midnight at the airport of Caracas and a military base within the capital, reportedly destroying the mausoleum housed there of party founder Hugo Chávez, and pre-dawn the White House, via Trump’s social media platform announced a series of airstrikes launched against Venezuela, also claiming that Nicólas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were apprehended and removed from the country—apparently by the counter-terrorism unit Delta Force. In the aftermath of the strikes, the president urged his compatriots to resist the imperialist invasion, which hit civilian areas as well as defence infrastructure. Trump’s message also promised a news conference to be held this morning from Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence, possibly enough time to deliver Maduro to Trump personally.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Foucault’s pendulum (with synchronopticæ), assorted links work revisiting plus US-Cuban relations

twelve years ago: perishable items plus scouring the internet for time-travellers 

thirteen years ago: communication infrastructure 

fourteen years ago: 2012 and the long-count calendar 

fifteen years ago: the US espionage act of 1917 plus US-Norwegian partnership for spy satillites

spioenasiesindikaat (13. 051)

Sentenced on this day in 1942 with cumulative incarcerations lasting three hundred years, the Duquesne Spy Ring was the largest espionage case in US history with thirty-three members of a Nazi Germany network of covert agents convicted after a lengthy investigation by the FBI, with a majority of the indicted pleading guilty on all charges and the remaining tried by an American federal district court in Brooklyn. Under the leadership of Frederick “Fritz” Joubert Duquesne, German-Boer mercenary of British extraction and naturalised US citizen, game-hunter (escorting Theodore Roosevelt on safari), journalist, hippopotamus exporter, and escape artist, members of the group were channelled into key administrative positions for counter-intelligence and sabotage, working as anchor restauranteurs, delivery men, power plant workers, and airline stewards, establishing safe-houses and front-companies—but none installed as politicians—to monitor Allied activities. Their operation was uncovered in part by reluctant double-agent William Sebold (Gottlieb Adolf Wilhelm, an engineer and industrialist emigrating to the US after WWI), coerced first by the Gestapo, recruiting the services of other emigres, and then by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under J Edgar Hoover’s administration. Most were convicted for failing to abide by the Foreign Agents Registration Act and disclose foreign interests—FARA not prohibiting lobbying or any specific activities, it was codified in 1938 primarily to control Nazi propaganda.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the See of St Mark (with synchronopticæ), early eight-bit licensed games plus embroidery journals

thirteen years ago: a numerically unremarkable year plus antique motivational posters

fourteen years ago: future prospects for the Euro currency union plus the history of submarine warfare

sixteen years ago: predictions for 2010 

pdvsa (13. 047)

Founded on this day in 1976 in concert with the nationalisation of the oil industry and the take over of more than thirty foreign operations, including Exxon, Mobil and Gulf, the state owned Petróleos de Venezuela (Sociedad Anónima, a limited public company) manages the largest hydrocarbon reserve in the world and oversees day-to-day of the fifth biggest exporter of petroleum, formalised as a promise of the ongoing social movement of the Bolivarian Revolution begun by Hugo Chávez and continued by his successor Nicolás Maduro as a stand against neo-colonialism, record profits generated during the OPEC embargo by Middle East producers from three years earlier. Although many cite focus on political programmes to the detriment of technical know-how and inefficiencies in extraction and refining—as well as fostering endemic corruption—the accusations do seem rather pedestrian and rather like a projection for those excluded from exploiting this resource and relentless attempts to thwart the enterprise with sanctions and diplomatic isolation. 

synchronoptica 

one year ago: a Parisien pocket interpreter, more future forecasts, Public Domain Day plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: a tribute to celebrity deaths (with synchronopticæ) plus cinema and literature set in 2024

nine years ago: New Year’s salutations, more Public Domain Day, the International Date Line, seed banking, vintage disruptive technology plus the Japanese art of not sleeping

ten years ago: more New Year’s greetings, more links to enjoy plus more on animal cognition

eleven years ago: a past year pop-quiz, the Eurasian Economic Union plus the power of admitting contraction

twelve years ago: pig dogs plus the Order of the Ursulines

thirteen years ago: a 1987 retrospective plus guided by an occult hand

fifteen years ago: champagne and krimskoye 

mmxxv (13. 042)

As this year draws to a close and we look forward to 2026, we take the time agin to reflect on a selection of some of the things and events that took place during the past twelve months. Thanks as always for visiting. We’ve made it through another wild year together.

 january: a vehicle ramming attack kills ten and injures dozens in central New Orleans.  After a five year deal expires without renewal, Russian gas can no longer be piped through Ukraine to the EU as the continent braces for a cold winter.  After a decade as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau announces he will step aside.  An earthquake strikes the holy city of Shigatse in Tibet.  Wind-swept wildfires devastate southern California.  Joe Biden and others eulogise Jimmy Carter for his state funeral.  After the US supreme court rejects a petition to delay sentencing over his hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, Trump becomes a convicted felon, although given an unqualified discharge by the presiding judge and will serve no time.  Sunset Boulevard is unrecognisable after being engulfed by wildfires.  Israel and Hamas appear close to reaching a truce to bring about a permanent ceasefire.  Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth faces a gruelling nomination hearing in congress for role of secretary of defence.  Donald Trump is inaugurated for a second time and unleashes a flurry of executive orders, including a hiring freeze, immediate rescinding of Biden era policies, removal of DEI initiatives within the federal government and contracting partners, declaring that there are two genders only, issuing a blanket pardon to the January Sixth rioters in an attempt to reframe and rewrite history, freezing virtually all foreign aid, closing the borders and vowing to unleash agents to facilitate mass-deportations.  Cabinet nominees are approved by the US senate, including, narrowly—Trump’s pick to head the Department of Defence.  Trump proposes that Gaza be depopulated of Palestinians and urges neighbouring Egypt and Jordan to take in all displaced individuals.  A scrappy open-source AI developed in China on a shoe-string budget knock a trillion dollar hole in the grift-cum-technofedualism markets in the US.  Prolific blog commentator and good soul XOXOXOBruce (see more here and here) has passed away.  A passenger plane collides with a Blackhawk helicopter over Washington, DC, killing all, including members from American and Russian figure skating teams.  Iconic entertainer Marianne Faithfull passes away, aged 78. Mexico, Canada and China hit back against US tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.  The government of El Salvador agrees to allow the US to offshore its most dangerous incarcerated population.  A deadly shooting occurs at a continuing education centre in Örebro.  Trump meets with Netayahu and offers to own the Gaza Strip and redevelop it, expelling the Palestinian population.

february: Novelist Tom Robbins dead, aged 92.  Relenting on implementing tariffs for Mexico and Canada after security promises already underway, Trump shocks the markets by imposing a twenty-five percent duty on all aluminium and steel globally.  Trump orders federal prosecutors to drop corruption charges against disgraced New York City mayor Eric Adams after repeated attempts to curry favour with the president.  The Aga Khan passes away, aged 88. Boycotts to protest inflation and A ramming attacked is perpetrated in München, ploughing into a crowd of union protesters, a day ahead of the Munich Security Conference.  Pope Francis is hospitalised with double pneumonia, his prognosis for recovery guarded.   Veteran actor Gene Hackman found dead, aged 95, at home along with his wife and dog.

march: By executive order, Trump makes English the official language of the United States.  Israel blocks humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, demanding that Hamas abide by changed conditions dictated by the US, leading by mid-month to a resumption in airstrikes on the territory.  Rosenstolz singer AnNa R passes away, aged 55.  A French politician calls for the return of the Statue of Liberty.  After rejecting a previously brokered US peace deal, during a telephone call with Trump, Putin signals he will agree to a thirty-day ceasefire on energy infrastructure.  Boxer and entrepreneur George Foreman passes away, aged 76.  Germany’s marked fiscal pivot to embrace debt and invest in defence stunned fellow EU members.  Trump’s commerce secretary proposes cutting the social security safety net for seniors and the disabled.  Arrest and detention of Erdoğan rival and Istanbul mayor ignites protests in Türkiye.  Wildfires ravage South Korea.  A coalition of the willing convene in Paris in solidarity with Ukraine, fearful of the outcome of a US-brokered deal with Russia.  Thousands dead and many more displaced after an earthquake ravages Myanmar.  Globally, thousands participate in Tesla Takedown protests against Musk.  Far-right French politician Marine Le Pen banned from public office after being found guilty for misappropriating EU funds.

april: Despite millions in campaign donations, Musk and conservatives were unable to flip the state supreme court in Washington.  New Jersey Democrat Corey Booker spoke in the Senate, rebuking the Trump administration for a record twenty-five hours and five minutes, beating Strom Thurmond’s filibuster against integration and equal rights.   Actor Val Kilmer dead at age 65.  Israeli defence forces annex huge swaths of the Gaza Strip.  Foregoing over two billion dollars in federdal funding, Harvard refuses to give in to Trump demands.  Katy Perry and an all-female crew travel briefly to the edge of space.  The world mourns Pope Francis.  The US threatens to walk away from the Ukraine-Russia peace deal it brokered.  As a rebuke to Trumpism, Canada elects another liberal government with Mark Carney as Prime Minister.

may: The US Department of Homeland Security is planning to remove illegal migrants to Libya.  The College of Cardinals elect the first American pope, Leo XIV.  India and Pakistan exchange violent skirmishes over the disputed territories of Kashmir and Jammu.  Austria wins the Eurovision song contest.  A tall ship from the Mexican navy collides with the Brooklyn bridge during manoeuvrers.  Romanian elects a centrist, pro-EU mathematician for president in a surprise turn-out.  Former US president Joe Biden diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.  UK, France and Canada sharply criticise Israel for its continued assault on Gaza and blockade of humanitarian aid, suspending trade talks and recalling diplomatic staff.  Veteran actor George Wendt passed away, aged 76. King Charles delivers a speech of solidarity from the throne in Canada to open parliament.  Trump blasts Putin for escalation of fighting in Ukraine.

june: In planning for eighteen-months, Ukraine carries out surprise drone attack on Russian bombers in five regions.  Trump rescinds nomination of private astronaut to head NASA after apparent falling out with Elon Musk, who recommended the nominee for the job.  Trump federalises the California national guard against the will of the state’s governor to suppress protests against ICE raids.  The Israeli defence forces seise a Gaza-bound cargo ship of humanitarian aid with activist Greta Thunberg onboard.  A London-bound plane crashes shortly after departure from Ahmedabad with a sole survivor. Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys passes away, aged 82.  Israel launches air strikes against Iran’s nuclear processing facilities, killing the commander of the Revolutionary Guard. The US bombs three Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities.  In the last week before recess, the US supreme court delivers Trump several judicial victories. Veteran journalist and moderator Bill Moyers has died.  Israeli attacks on Gaza humanitarian assistance sites markedly intensify.  

july: The US congress narrowly passes Trump’s domestic policy agenda.  Flash flooding in Texas Hill Country claims dozens, including many from a summer camp for girls.  Russian transport minister found dead hours after his dismissal ostensibly for his failure to secure Moscow from Ukrainian drone attacks.  Trump announces twenty-fiver percent tariffs on Japan and South Korea, as the administration pushes for ninety trade deals in ninety days.  Trump disavows MAGA supporters who demand the release of the Epstein files. Israel launches airstrikes on Damascus to defend Druze communities living on the border of the Golan Heights.  UK government resolves to lower voting age to sixteen.  The US senate approves rescission bill to defund public broadcasting in America and eliminate billions in foreign aid.  Iconic rocker Ozzy Osboure has died, aged 76.  The famine in Gaza worsens as hundreds have been killed just queuing for aid.  France resolves to acknowledge Palestinian statehood.  Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan passed away, aged 71.  The EU negotiates a last minute trade and tariff deal with Trump, giving Europe worse than nothing but perhaps preserving global security and stability in Ukraine.  Contrary to assurances that the Qatari gift of Air Force one would not be for the Trump’s personal use post-presidency, the secretary of defence accepted the gift, explicitly calling it not a bribe.  Trump admits his friendship with Epstein came to an end because Epstein was stealing employees from his pleasure spa.  

august: Trump’s redacted name appears in the Epstein files.  Microsoft joins Invidia as the first firms to reach a four trillion dollar market valuation.  Global stocks are shocked by tariff deadline with few deals.  Trump fires government statistician after poor jobs-growth report, revising downward previous months’ estimates.   Sabre-rattling, two nuclear submarines move within striking distance of Russian.  Netanyahu announces plans to take over Gaza City whilst Trump again threatens to federalise Washington, DC. Astronaut and Apollo XIII commander Jim Lovell dies, aged 97.  Putin has a summit with Trump in Alaska, followed by a meeting in Washington, DC between Trump and Zelenskyy with several European leaders also inviting themselves.  Texas and California commence with their redistricting war to gerrymander the mid-terms.  The Florida department of transportation removes the rainbow crosswalk memorial of the Orlando Pulse nightclub massacre.  Rumours of the death of Trump are trending.  The White House announces intent to end mail-ballots and allow only in-person voting.  Israeli attacks aided by the US kill Houthi prime minister in Yemen.  Modi and Xi meet with Putin as counterbalance to western hegemony.

september: A devastating earthquake hits Afghanistan.  Google emerges more or less unscathed from a landmark anti-trust case.  Chaos at the US Centres for Disease control prompts many states to do their own research.  Celebrated fashion designed Giorgio Armani dead, aged 91.  Over a dozen killed in a tragic funicular accident in Lisbon.  The US targets an alleged Venezuelan drug-boat and deploys warships to the Caribbean.  Israeli Defence Forces order the complete evacuation of Gaza City. Right wing influencer and conservative activist Charles Kirk is assassinated during a speaking event at a college campus in Utah.  Actor, activist and director Robert Redford passed away, aged 89. Donald Trump arrives in London for his second state visit.  The GOP are exploiting the death of Charlie Kirk to silence dissent. Portugal, the UK, Canada and Australia recognise Palestinian statehood, ahead of the UN General Assembly—with host nation refusing to issue visas to the country’s delegation to attend (the first time the US has barred entry since 1998 and banning PLO head Yasser Arafat, which prompted the UN to change the venue to Geneva).  Trump gives a rambling and dangerous speech falsely linking acetaminophen, childhood vaccinations with autism.  Erik Adams drops his re-election bid to be mayor of New York City.

october: At an impasse, the US government shuts down.  Renowned primatologist and wildlife advocate Jane Goodall passes away, aged 91. Veteran UK actor Patricia Routledge dies, aged 96.  Hamas and Israel reach a tentative ceasefire days after the second anniversary of the the beginning of the war.  Gazans begin returning home, joy amid sorrow and destruction as the Israeli army pulls back.  Actor Diana Keaton has died, aged 79.  Trump misappropriates funds to make military pay-day during the shutdown.  Hamas begins releasing the remaining Israeli hostages.  Elite universities in the US choose to forego federal funding rather than submit to conditions on research and hiring practises.  The US CIA begin covert operations to overthrow the government of Venezuela.  Every major US media outlet surrendered their Pentagon press credentials rather than sign a pledge to only report on approved releases. Former Trump national security advisor John Bolton indicted for mishandling of classified information.  NPR founding reporter and anchor Susan Stamberg passed away, age 87.  Partial demolition begins on the East Wing of the White House to construct Trump’s ballroom.  The Japanese parliament elects its first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi.  Charles III and Pope Leo XIV pray together in the Sistine Chapel.  Against America’s peace agenda, the Knesset votes to annex the West Bank.  Leftwing candidate Catherine Connolly wins Ireland’s presidency.  Veteran television star June Lockhart passes away, aged 100.  Fawlty Towers actor Prunella Scales dies, aged 93. US government shutdown surpasses Trump’s old record for the longest in history.  Dick Cheney dies, aged 84.  Zohran Mamdani wins mayorship of New York City.

november: Redistricting efforts in Texas ahead of US mid-term elections are ruled to be unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. The US federal government reopens after an unprecedented shut-down as Democrats fold.  A violent civil war continues to rage in Nigeria.  COP 30 begins in Brazil.  Tech businesses and telecoms shed tens of thousands of employees.  In response to a cadre of congressional representatives urging service members not to obey illegal orders, Trump cries sedition and threatens them with execution.  US leaks a twenty-eight point peace plan for Ukraine and Russia. Marjorie Taylor Greene announces she will leave the US congress in January after a public falling out with Trump.  Flames engulf a residential apartment block in Hong Kong.  The pope makes his first trip abroad, visiting Türkiye and Lebanon.  With war in Venezuela imminent, closing the country’s airspace, Trump pardons notorious Honduran ex-president Juan Orlando Hernandez, commuting his sentence in a US federal prison after smuggling weapons and four hundred tonnes of cocaine into the country.  A deadly fire in a Hong Kong housing estate kills scores.

december: Playwright Tom Stoppard passes away, aged 88.  Influential architect Frank Gehry has died, aged 96.  Australia launches a world first social media ban for young people.  The US military seizes a Venezuelan oil tanker, escalating tensions.  Articles of impeachment are forwarded for both secretary of war and RFK, Jr.  Indiana state lawmakers reject Trump’s redistricting plans to gerrymander Democrats out of existence.  A gunman kills a dozen individuals gathering at Australia’s Bondi beach for Hanukkah celebrations.  Actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle Singer-Reiner are found murdered—with the couple’s son arrested as the the prime suspect.  The US justice department releases a heavily redacted version of the Epstein files.  Singer, songwriter Chris Rea, performer behind “Driving Home for Christmas” dies, aged 74.  Brigitte Bardo has died, aged 91.  Trump announces ground strikes in Venezuela.  Xi announces intent to reunite Taiwan in New Year’s Eve address.

⅊ (13. 037)

Exclaves and enclaves being a favourite topic and particular obsession of ours, we really enjoyed this introduction to the blog and travelogue of vice president of the International Border Research Group—an organisation of frontier studies enthusiasts (the title is the cartographical symbol demarcating a property line) through the lens of a house in Trieste (Trst) directly on the Italo-Slovene border boxed in by Italian neighbours (see also where BorderPoints treks the bifurcated addresses of the town of Baarle-Hertog tracing every twist and turn of this other historic curiosity). Such boundaries of course no longer carry the burden of animosity and division but it’s a rather brilliant undertaking to trace all the markers and stroll back in time (there are several of these photographic safaris in the spirit of Diamond Geezer’s excursions) and something we’d quite like doing next time we’re landlocked.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ) plus a visit to Frickenhäusersee 

twelve years ago: Switzerland searches for a new national anthem plus cinnamon safety

thirteen years ago: Swedish words of the year plus the GOP hijacks the US government 

fourteen years ago: blooming baobabs 

fifteen years ago: strobe light internet plus the Feast of the Holy Innocents

sixteen years ago: a sensible safety-to-convenience ratio 

one unidentified sleigh powered by eight reindeer (13. 029)

Although the US Air Force had issued a communiqué on Christmas Eve in 1948 that their emerging early warning radar net to the north had detected the above interloper, the former festive report was a one-off event and it was not until this day 1955 that the North American Aerospace Defence Command launched its annual NORAD Santa Tracker, as our faithful chronicler informs, an annual tradition since spawning many homages, in response to a newspaper advertisement with a misprint. A Sears department store affiliate in Colorado Springs invited children to call Kris Kringle with their wishes but ME 2-6681 directed them actually towards the switchboard of the Continental Air Defence Command Centre, a call reaching a commanding colonel, whom after speaking to the little girl’s mother, assessed the situation and directed operators relay the current location for Santa’s sleigh, and recognising the public relations opportunity pledge to continue to monitor and if necessary defend this “undoubtably friendly” against possible attack from those who do not believe in the spirit of Christmas, a hotline crewed by volunteers to keep the commanders’ red-phone free.

pflp (13. 022)

After taking over sixty hostages, killing an Austrian police officer, a Libyan economist and and Iraqi security guard, six terrorist of the “Arm of the Arab Revolution” under the leadership of Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal (with assistance from West Germany’s Rote Armee Faktion), the energy ministers for eleven of the thirteen members of OPEC (the Organisation Of Petroleum Exporting Countries) present were taken ransom whilst attending a semi-annual meeting at the headquarters in Vienna. Delegates were separated into three groups in the conference room during the siege, with friendlies advanced towards the exit, neutrals cordoned off in the centre and enemy countries placed along the rear wall next to a stack of explosives rigged to detonate if the facility was comprised. Complying with the hostage-takers’ demands, Austrian broadcasters read a communiqué over the television and radio every two hours regarding the Palestinian cause and the group’s manifesto whilst transportation was arranged with an airplane bound for Tripoli with a layover in Algiers, lest captives be executed every fifteen minutes. Algerian foreign minister Abdelaziz Boteflika managed to de-escalate the situation, with all parties walking away unharmed forty-eight hours later, including the Iraqi and Iranian oil ministers, slated for execution before the raid began.

as a student of history, many were written directly by the president himself (13. 012)

Dubbed the walk of fame, the colonnade of the White House communicating between the executive residence and West Wing and passing the paved-over rose garden, designed by Trump in September, inspired by a similar concept he’d seen whilst staying at a hotel, was finished recently with the gallery open to inspection by visitors and journalists with the addition of bronze plaques, reportedly dictated by the US president, reflecting his personal and political assessments of predecessors. Barack Obama is captioned as one of the most divisive political figures in US history with his “unaffordable” care act, accession to the Paris Climate accords, personal responsibility for the spread of the ISIS caliphate and repeats the conspiracy theories that he was spying on Trump’s campaign through the microwave; though credited with the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, George W Bush is criticised for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; Clinton’s includes blaming Republicans to the legislative success of his agenda and mentions Hillary’s lost to Trump; and Reagan’s entry, full of praise, cites that he was a fan of “President Donald J Trump” long before his political career began. The most vitriol is directed to Joe Biden, repeating claims of a stolen election and labelling him as the worst president in history, replete with exclamation marks.

i, pencil (13. 006)

Via Super Punch, we learn that adding such a quotidian thing as the writing implement to his list things to make do with less of as a kind of patriotic austerity during a recent rally, veering again from casting affordability as a hoax and blaming high prices on immigration—“You can give up certain products. You could give up pencils—because under the China policy, every child gets thirty-seven pencils. They only need one or two. They don’t need that many. You always need steel. You don’t need thirty-seven dolls for your daughter. One or two is nice. So, we’re doing things right.” US consumers are foregoing a lot more things at the moment and is unclear how less of one equals more of another, but the example chosen (and not for the first time) may come from a parable used to illustrate global supply chains and trade that one of Trump’s handlers though might be couched in terms he could comprehend on a basic level of Ricardian economics but instead was grossly misconstrued. The 1958 essay by libertarian free market think tank founded, under the long title, “I, Pencil: My Family Tree as Told to Leonard E Read,” written in first person from the perspective of the pencil, summarises the complexity of its creation, listing its parts (wood, lacquer, ferrule, pumice, wax, glue, graphite), those people (sort of like a gratitude chain) that put it together down the janitor of the factory and the lighthouse keeper that ensured that the shipment made it safely to port, conclude that since, in the absence of a master mind directing all these the activities—something no individual would be capable of—there is only the Invisible Hand of capitalism running the show, proclaiming that the “know-hows” should not be impeded terms of self-coordination. Apparently Trump interprets the fable that he is Providence.

hemispheric bellicosity (12. 996)

Via Web Curios, we are directed towards the US National Security Strategy with foreword by Donald Trump that was published in full earlier this week following leaks to international shock not only of its vision—one praised by Moscow as aligned with Putin’s own world-view—that’s little more than an addendum to the Monroe Doctrine, an isolationist policy demanding that Old World colonial powers stay out of the Americas and a posture focused on cultivating the US’s own regional empire, asserting a right to meddle in the politics of Latin America and taking over territories at the same time, like Cuba and the Panama canal, pretty audacious coming from a former colony only independent for a few decades at the time, and parsing the globe into three spheres of influence, a fantasy map of the United States and client possessions spanning from Greenland and Canada, the isthmus and further south with designs on the Falklands, the Indo-Pacific controlled by China and Europe—perhaps under control of Russia, uncontested and with no incursions upon the sovereignty of these domains, but more over repugnant for the unkindess it has for traditional allies and the US abandoning its commitment to uphold values of democracy and freedom, even if in principle only and not always in practise. “The days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over,” the NSS—the document mandated by congress to be periodically updated to provide a common understanding between the executive and legislative branches in terms of strategic priorities and a point of departure for dialogue and something dusted off and updated every other year to satisfy a requirement but never filled with blame and bombast. It identifies only vague and baiting threats like mass-migration, drug-runners, unfettered trade and globalism, echoing JD Vance’s earlier ill-received lecturing during the Munich Security Conference and warning Europe of “cultural erasure” with seemingly American interest in foreign policy to keep neighbours stable to quell refugee-seekers and immigration (questioning if NATO members whose populations are displaced by individuals with non-NATO heritage could be still considered reliable partners) and cites no concrete peril from Russia or China or North Korea and barely acknowledges its recent belligerence of record with bombing Iranian nuclear facilities or sabre-rattling in the Caribbean. Truly a scary read, this paper is only about thirty double-spaced pages in Times New Roman, written by AI (actually by Lt General Flynn—national security adviser kicked out during Trump’s first term) and at a basic reading level, so won’t take too much investment but is sure to haunt for a very, very long time.

synchronoptica 

one year ago: assorted links to enjoy (with synchronopticæ) plus Jimmy who? for president

twelve years ago: a list of winter weather words 

thirteen years ago: class architecture 

fourteen years ago: visa reciprocity plus Clinton urges world leaders not to censor the internet

fifteen years ago: Mesopotamian dreamtime 

grand prix (12. 992)

Joining Spain, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Ireland, Iceland’s national broadcaster, RÚV, has voted to boycott the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest scheduled to be held in Vienna over the decision of the organising committee, the European Broadcasting Union, not to expel Israel for its conduct of the war against Hamas and occupation of Gaza. The announcement coinciding with International Human Rights Day, Iceland cites that “give public debate in the country…it is clear that neither joy nor peace will prevail” regarding participation. Members of the EBU voted in a general assembly last week to adopt stricter rules regarding alleged ballot manipulation favouring Israeli contestants during the last Eurovision but fell short of banning them, with the mounting walk-outs casting a pall over what’s supposed to be a feel-good cultural exchange (though it has never been wholly apolitical) with diminishing acts and those remaining seeming like a whitewashing of recent events.

coup de font (12. 991)

In a cable from earlier in the week, US secretary of state reversed a decision taken during the Biden administration to use the modern, more legible typeface Calibri (also the default setting of the Microsoft Office suite of programmes), directing consular staff to resume using Times New Roman, criticising the move of his predecessor as wastefully woke, specifically taking aim at accessibility, saying that this would restore professionalism and decorum (we think that’s a lot to ask of some pixels–see also) to the foreign service, shaped through the typography of serif fonts. The formatting standard moreover aligns with the president’s One Voice for America’s Foreign Relations directive for communiqués, a magisterial order that does not admit for back-channel dialogue and outreach, notwithstanding appreciable readability for those with vision limitations and those whom might not cleave exclusively to Latin lettering.

synchronoptica 

one year ago: the Pope declares a jubilee year (with synchronopticæ) plus Luigi Mangione apprehended

twelve years ago: meme trading cards 

thirteen years ago: apocryphal holiday traditions plus the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales

fifteen years ago: decking the halls 

they make a desert (12. 979)

An early target of DOGE’s institutional evisceration, the independent, non-profit think tank created by congress during the presidency of Ronald Reagan in 1985 with the mission to prevent conflict by working outside regular diplomatic channels, has been unironically named the Donald J Trump Institute of Peace—a White House spokesperson quoted whereas formerly it “was once a bloated and useless entity that blew,” its modest fifty million dollar per year budget allocated by the legislature for a mandate that includes outreach programmes for deescalation in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mali and Burkina Faso abruptly halted by the Department of Government Efficiency along with USAID in March, “while delivering no peace,” and now to reflect the greatest dealmaker in the history of the nation, “beautifully and aptly named after a president who ended eight wars in less than a year, and will stand as a powerful reminder of what strong leadership can accomplish for global stability. The ceremony concluded with “Congrat-ulations world!” Though the ultimate fate of USIP is still being decided in the courts, placing it under control of the executive branch ruled illegal but on appeal all staff were dismissed and put in receivership of the General Services Administration—the vacated property—with several reversals—before the renaming—again of the building alone with no active operations and progress squandered, reflective of Trump’s ambitions for the Nobel prize, the façade was the backdrop for an armistice between the Congo and Rwanda. On the sidelines of the World Cup match taking place in Washington, a real collision of all these conflicted agendas of his second term for prestige, respect and concord countered with garish xenophobia and scoffing aggression and delegations (international fans and leaders alike) otherwise unwelcome to this shit hole country, Trump is expected to be awarded a newly minted peace prize by FIFA, whom I guess we could thank for taking one for the team.

world aids day (12. 970)

Whilst instructing US officials not to commemorate it, despite the first Trump administration proclaiming the day for remembrance and awareness as had been done since 1988 and since 2007 with a prominent banner hung from the portico of the White House as a symbol of George W Bush’s commitment to combat the disease and the landmark and hugely successful president’s emergency plan for AIDS relief (PEPFAR) that has saved millions of lives, following cuts to crucial HIV prevention programmes carried out under the aegis of USAID, the global public health campaign continues with this year’s theme overcoming disruption and transforming response.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Utah teapot and other graphics benchmarks (with synchronopticæ), more mapping of Dante plus a contentious, contingent election

twelve years ago: on this day in PfRC history, expanding the charitable works of the Church plus pareidolia

thirteen years ago: legal advice plus a brief hagiography of Saint Nicolas

fourteen years ago: Belgium forms a government plus expertise attacked in the US

fifteen years ago: a pay-freeze for US federal employees 

sixteen years ago: immigration and integration in Switzerland 

seventeen years ago: a visit to Leipzig 

esto no es un simulacro (12. 967)

Although commercial flights had been restricted coming in and out of the country for weeks over concerns of insurance liability following the deployment of a fleet of carriers to the Caribbean and intensified rhetoric over regime change, Trump made the additional step of announcing the closure of Venezuelan airspace, hinting that ground operations would begin soon. Whilst a tried and tired tactic of the US president is too cry wolf (as outlined in his Art of the Deal) and accelerate before negotiating, it is becoming more and more apparent that his object is to secure the South American nation’s vast petroleum reserves under conditions more favourable to the US—if not exploit them entirely, as he has attempted to do with property and natural resources in Gaza and Ukraine. Counter to the narrative of drug-trafficking used to justify the extrajudicial murders of alleged smugglers on speedboats in international waters—indefensible actions currently under investigation as breaches of international law and the Geneva Conventions, especially given the secretary of war’s order to eliminate survivors from on of the strikes—and to give grounds for his regime of tariffs long recognised as idle and specious and now void with his suggestion of pardoning the actual, convicted drug-runner, former Honduran president Jose Orlando Hernandez, extradited and serving a long sentence in a federal penitentiary for bringing caches of weapons and four hundred tonnes of cocaine to the US. Clemency is furthermore contingent on election interference. Deportation flights have also been indefinitely suspended. Trump’s targeting of the administration of Nicolás Maduro is based on alleged ties to the drug trafficking gang Cartel de los Soles, which like Antifa seems to be either an unorganised collective or possibly the stay-behind elements of a operation orchestrated by the CIA assembled earlier for other purposes and both declared a terrorist group. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!