#Indo-US friendship

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

July 10, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUL 11, 2024

“In 1949, when leaders of 12 countries, including President Truman, came together in this very room, history was watching,” President Joe Biden said yesterday evening at the opening of the 2024 NATO Summit, being held from July 9 through July 12, in Washington, D.C. 

“It had been four years since the surrender of the Axis powers and the end of the most devastating world war the world had ever, ever known,” Biden continued.

“Here, these 12 leaders gathered to make a sacred pledge to defend each other against aggression, provide their collective security, and to answer threats as one, because they knew to prevent future wars, to protect democracies, to lay the groundwork for a lasting peace and prosperity, they needed a new approach. They needed to combine their strengths. They needed an alliance.”

That alliance was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the “single greatest, most effective defensive alliance in the history of the world,” as Biden said. 

The NATO collective defense agreement has stabilized the world for the past 75 years thanks to its provision in Article 5 that each of the NATO allies will consider an attack on one as an attack on all, and respond accordingly. 

Biden looked back at the alliance’s 75 years. “Together, we rebuilt Europe from the ruins of war, held high the torch of liberty during long decades of the Cold War,” he said. “When former adversaries became fellow democracies, we welcomed them into the Alliance. When war broke out in the Balkans, we intervened to restore peace and stop ethnic cleansing. And when the United States was attacked on September 11th, our NATO Allies—all of you—stood with us, invoking Article 5 for the first time in NATO history, treating an attack on us as an attack on all of us—a breathtaking display of friendship that the American people will never ever, ever forget.”

Biden celebrated that the alliance has continually adapted to a changing world and noted that it has changed its strategies to stay ahead of threats and reached out to new partners to become more effective. Biden noted that leaders from countries in the Indo-Pacific region had joined the leaders of the 32 NATO countries at this year’s summit. So did the leaders of NATO’s partner countries, including Ukraine, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, and the European Union. “They’re here because they have a stake in our success and we have a stake in theirs,” Biden said.

The promise of collective defense was daunting for opponents in 1949, when the treaty had 12 signatories: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. It is even more daunting now that there are 32, with both Finland and Sweden having joined the alliance after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Together, the NATO countries can marshal about 3,370,000 active-duty military personnel and have a collective defense budget of more than $1.2 trillion. 

In addition, as Jim Garamone of Department of Defense News noted, the NATO countries share intelligence, training, tactics, and equipment, as well as agreements for permitting the use of airspace and bases. “[O]ur commitment is broad and deep,” Biden said. “[W]e’re willing, and we’re able to deter aggression and defend every inch of NATO territory across every domain: land, air, sea, cyber, and space.”

When NATO formed, the main concern of the countries backing it was resisting Soviet aggression, but with the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of Russian president Vladimir Putin, NATO turned to resisting Russian aggression. “[H]istory calls for our collective strength,” Biden said. “Autocrats want to overturn global order, which has by and large kept for nearly 80 years and counting.”

Biden called out Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine and recalled that NATO had built a global coalition to stand behind Ukraine, providing weapons and aid while also moving troops into the surrounding NATO countries. He announced that the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, and Italy are donating more air defense equipment. 

“All the Allies knew that before this war, Putin thought NATO would break,” Biden said. “Today, NATO is stronger than it’s ever been in its history.” Biden noted that the world is in a pivotal moment, and reminded his listeners: “The fact that NATO remains the bulwark of global security did not happen by accident. It wasn’t inevitable. Again and again, at critical moments, we chose unity over disunion, progress over retreat, freedom over tyranny, and hope over fear.

Again and again, we stood behind our shared vision of a peaceful and prosperous transatlantic community.”

He assured the attendees that an “overwhelming bipartisan majority of Americans understand that NATO makes us all safer…. The American people know that all the progress we’ve made in the past 75 years has happened behind the shield of NATO,” understanding that without it, we would face “another war in Europe, American troops fighting and dying, dictators spreading chaos, economic collapse, catastrophe.” He assured allies that Americans understand our “sacred obligation” to NATO, and quoted Republican president Ronald Reagan, who said: “If our fellow democracies are not secure, we cannot be secure. If you are threatened, we are threatened. And if you are not at peace, we cannot be at peace.”

And then Biden surprised NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, the former Norwegian prime minister who is stepping down from his NATO position after serving since 2014, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “Today, NATO is stronger, smarter, and more energized than when you began,” Biden said. “And a billion people across Europe and North America and, indeed, the whole world will reap the rewards of your labor for years to come in the form of security, opportunity, and greater freedoms.”

Today, Biden reiterated the theme that alliances happen not “by chance but by choice.” Before the attendees got to work, he explained that the NATO countries must strengthen their home industrial bases and capacity in order to produce critical defense equipment more quickly, a deficiency made clear in the struggle to get armaments to Ukraine. Such readiness will strengthen security, he said, as well as creating “stronger supply chains, a stronger economy, stronger military, and a stronger nation.” 

The Washington Summit Declaration released today reaffirms NATO as “the unique, essential, and indispensable transatlantic forum to consult, coordinate, and act on all matters related to our individual and collective security,” saying “[o]ur commitment to defend one another and every inch of Allied territory at all times, as enshrined in Article 5…is iron-clad.” 

It warns that “Russia remains the most significant and direct threat to Allies’ security” and pledges “unwavering solidarity” with Ukraine. It says that “Ukraine’s future is in NATO” and calls out Belarus, North Korea, Iran, and China for enabling Putin’s war. Indeed, the declaration calls out China even more directly, warning that it “continues to pose systemic challenges to Euro-Atlantic security,” especially by flooding other countries with disinformation. 

Russian aggression is a deep concern for NATO countries; so is Trump, who worked to take the U.S. out of NATO when he was in office, vowed he will accomplish that in a second term, and in February 2024 told an audience that if he thought NATO countries weren’t contributing enough to their own defense he would tell Russia to “do whatever the hell they want.” (Biden noted yesterday that when he took office, only nine NATO countries met their target goal of spending 2% of their gross domestic product on their defense, while this year, 23 will.) 

Biden was key to rebuilding the NATO alliance after Trump weakened it, and the leaders at the NATO summit told foreign policy journalist for The Daily Beast David Rothkopf that they were “not concerned with Biden’s ability to play a leading role in NATO during his second term.” They “express confidence in his judgment” and “have a great deal of confidence in the foreign policy team around him.” But they worry about Trump. 

Shortly after Biden gave his powerful speech opening the summit, Trump had his first public event since the June 27 CNN event, at his Doral golf club. It was a wandering rant packed, as usual, with wild lies, but he did touch on the topic of NATO. “I didn’t even know what the hell NATO was too much before, but it didn’t take me long to figure it out, like about two minutes,” he said. Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton told a reporter that Trump’s willingness to undermine NATO is “a demonstration of the lack of seriousness of the way Trump treats the alliance, because he doesn't understand it."

Following the NATO summit, Hungary’s right-wing prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who remains an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, will visit former president Trump at Mar-a-Lago, just days after meeting with Putin in Moscow and with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. There is speculation that Orbán is acting as an intermediary between Trump and Putin, for whom the destruction of NATO is a key goal.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[dailyanarchistposts]

Friendship is the root of freedom

These are not just words; they are clues and prods to earthquakes in kin making that are not limited to Western family apparatuses, heteronormative or not.

—Donna Haraway[44]

Freedom and friendship used to mean the same thing: intimate, interdependent relationships and the commitment to face the world together. At its root, relational freedom isn’t about being unrestricted: it might mean the capacity for interconnectedness and attachment. Or mutual support and care. Or shared gratitude and openness to an uncertain world. Or a new capacity to fight alongside others. But this is not what freedom has come to mean under Empire.

Look for the dictionary definition of “freedom” today and you’ll find rights, absences and lack of restrictions at the core, applied to an isolated individual. Here are some of its definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary:

The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants: “we do have some freedom of choice” The state of not being imprisoned or enslaved: “the shark thrashed its way to freedom” The state of not being subject to or affected by (something undesirable): “government policies to achieve freedom from want”[45]

At bottom, all of these definitions are about getting away from external restriction or influence: being unhindered, unaffected, independent. Under capitalism, freedom is especially associated with free markets and the free agent who chooses based on individual preferences. In spite of colonization and capitalism, this vapid form of freedom still can’t get a foothold in many parts of the world. Even in Europe, where so many tools of colonization were refined, the roots of freedom were different. Centuries ago, some Europeans had a more relational conception of freedom, which wasn’t just about the absence of external constraints, but also about our immersion in the relationships that sustain us and make us thrive.

“Freedom” and “friend” share the same early Indo-European root: fri-, or pri-, meaning “love.”[46] This root made its way into Gothic, Norse, Celtic, Hindi, Russian, and German.[47] A thousand years ago, the Germanic word for “friend” was the present participle of the verb freon, “to love.” This language also had an adjective, *frija-. It meant “free” as in “not in slavery,” where the reason to avoid slavery was to be among loved ones. Frija meant “beloved, belonging to the circle of one’s beloved friends and family.”[48] As the Invisible Committee writes in To Our Friends,

“Friend” and “free” in English … come from the same Indo-European root, which conveys the idea of a shared power that grows. Being free and having ties was one and the same thing. I am free because I have ties, because I am linked to a reality greater than me.”[49]

A few centuries later, freedom became untied from connectedness. The seventeenth-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes imagined freedom as nothing more than an “absence of opposition” possessed by isolated, selfish individuals. For Hobbes, the free man is constantly armed and on guard: “When going to sleep, he locks his doors; when even in his house he locks his chests.”[50] The free individual lives in fear, and can only feel secure when he knows there are laws and police to protect him and his possessions. He is definitely he, because this individual is also founded on patriarchal male supremacy and its associated divisions of mind/body, aggression/submission, rationality/emotion, and so on. His so-called autonomy is inseparable from his exploitation of others.

When peasants were “freed,” during this period, it often meant that they had been forced from their lands and their means of subsistence, leaving them “free” to sell their labor for a wage in the factories, or starve. It is no coincidence that these lonely conceptions of freedom arose at the same time as the European witch trials, the enclosure of common lands, the rise of the transatlantic slave trade, and the colonization and genocide of the Americas. At the same time as the meaning of freedom was divorced from friendship and connection, the lived connections between people and places were being dismembered.

As Empire was enclosing lands and bodies, it was overseeing the enclosure of thought as well. The Age of Reason was marked by a new kind of knowledge that could subdue and control nature and the human body, enabling capitalist rationalization and work discipline.[51] Time and space would become measurable, stable, and fixed. Bodies were no longer conduits for magical forces, but machines to be harnessed for production. Plants, animals, and other non-human creatures were no longer kin, but objects to be dissected and consumed.

Even among intellectuals in Europe, not everyone agreed with Hobbes’s fearful vision of freedom and the divisions imposed by Cartesian thought. Descartes’s contemporary, Baruch Spinoza, articulated a philosophy in which people were inherently intertwined with their world. Spinoza left instructions for his most important work, the Ethics, to be published after his death, because he knew he would likely face torture and execution for the ways his relational worldview undermined both monotheistic religion and the dualistic philosophy that was emerging during his own time. Instead of a passive Nature on one hand and an active, supernatural God on the other, Spinoza envisioned a holistic reality in which God is present in all things, and in which all things are active and dynamic processes. Everything is alive and connected. Mind and body, human and non-human, joy and sadness, are intertwined with one another.

We do not mean to present Spinoza’s philosophy as a handbook for living in today’s world. In many ways, Spinoza remained a product of his time and place: he used the geometric method to create proofs for his philosophical claims, he couldn’t overcome patriarchal divisions, and he remained wedded to the state as a vehicle for security. Our interest is not in Spinoza himself, or even his philosophy as a whole, but in the way that his ideas are part of a minor current in Western thought that is more relational, holistic, and dynamic. Spinoza’s work remains marginal compared to that of Descartes and Hobbes, but his relational worldview has nevertheless been taken up by radicals at the margins of philosophy, ecology, feminism, marxism and anarchism.[52]

Most importantly, for us, Spinoza’s philosophy is grounded in affect.[53] Things are not defined by what they are, but by what they do: how they affect and are affected by the forces of the world. In this way, capabilities are not fixed for all time, but are constantly shifting. This is a fundamental departure from the inherently ableist and ageist perspective that measures all bodies in relation to the norm of a “healthy,” “mature,” or “able” body. When starting right from a body’s material specificity, without any intervening “should,” learning becomes fundamentally different: rather than detached categorization or observation of stable properties, it happens through active experimentation in shared, ever-changing situations.

[zeherili-ankhein]

Roman Mithras and Indo-Iranian Mithra: Yo dude

Mitra:

Them: We used to rule the world. What happened, brother?

Mitra: What- huh?

Mithra: We have died. But you still have the power. Don't embarass us. We used to be on the top.

Mitra: I'm also kinda underrated rn-

Them: YOU NEED TO STEP UP YOUR GAME

Mitra: GURL-

(dw about it late night thoughts lmao)

LMAOOOO

But fr they should meet up to discuss their underratedness....

WHAT IF

They form their own cult and go around the world spreading their “power of friendship” propaganda???

And that's how all YA medias like cartoons, books, movies, animes etc got their “power of friendship” thingy going on....

(sorry for late reply tho, I was just sleeping all day lol...)

[carvalhais]

To be free does not simply mean to be un-tied or un-committed. It is not the ‘release from’ something or dis-embeddedness which makes us free, but inclusion and embeddedness. The total lack of relationships causes anxiousness and worry. The Indo-European root fri, from which terms such as ‘free’, ‘peace’ or ‘quietude’ [Friede], and ‘friend’ are derived, means ‘to love’. This ‘free’, originally meant ‘pertaining to friends or loved ones.’ One feel free in relationships of love and friendship. It is not the absence of ties, but ties themselves which set us free. Freedom is a word which pertains to relations par excellence. Without hold there is no freedom.  Byung-Chul Han. The Scent of Time: A Philosophical Essay on the Art of Lingering. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2017.

[mycharacterlistandwipdump]

The Plot Synopses of The UnTitledverse Masterpost

Note: May update over time. TW: A few possible lackluster descriptions.

The Perfect Storm saga

Jurassic World: Before The Storm (Jurassic World) - Lisa Cobalt finds herself in a predicament; she is the legal guardian to her foster brother, Joaquin, but cannot financially support him and herself. That is, until an opportunity to fill the role of a paleo-veterinarian at the marvelous Jurassic World presents itself. However, not is all as it seems. When an abnormal dinosaur makes a sudden appearance, it brings with it mistrust among the staff, and a conspiracy that shrouds an inevitable doom. Life gifts lessons and fortune. Those who do not heed these lessons are fools bound to repeat history.

A Blast In The Past - In 1936, you return to your old workplace at Carmine Studios, your old partner wanting to have a reunion. What you did not anticipate was the darkness that welled up from the consequences of your departure. Live or die, trust or betray, kill or be killed, again and again, follow the path laid out for you, and dwell in the regret of crossing me.

FNAF: Ask Goldie Anything (Five Nights At Freddy's) - Goldie and the Fazbear Gang (both the Originals and the Toys) are asked questions by the readers on Wattpad, AO3, Tumblr and fanfiction net (and possibly more), influencing the plot into varying directions. Based on Grawolfquinn's FNAF comic Ask Goldie Anything, but with a twist.

Adapt To Survive (Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous) - Left behind on Isla Nublar, Joaquin Cobalt traverses the years spent on the dinosaur populated island, with the reluctant help of an industrialist by the name of Edward Carmine. Indo recovers from his fight with the Indominus, grieving the loss of his pack.

Jurassic World: Into The Eye Of The Storm (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) - Isla Nublar is on the brink of a volcanic destruction, so when mercenaries make their way to the island to collect the dinosaurs, Joaquin, Edward and Indo take separate paths to get off the burning island. All these paths lead them to the same Manor on the Mainland.

The Tale Of Mario Emmet (FNAF: The Silver Eyes) - Charlie and her friends return to Hurricane, Utah for the memorial of Michael Brooks and the children who went missing at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. When exploring the old pizzeria, they discover the ruined building is being used as a nest... and the creature is not too far away.

The Aftermath Equation (Jurassic World) - Evading death once more and tying up loose ends, Edward Carmine traces his obsession to the Dolomite Mountains of Italy, in the Biosyn Sanctuary run by Lewis Dodgson. He offers his services and funding. Meanwhile, Maisie learns more about the Joaquin who saved her.

The Adventures of Debra Holmes And Her Amazing Space Friend Mario Emmet - Set before The Tale Of Mario Emmet, in 1988, a Texan girl by the name of Debra Holmes makes the discovery of an alien shapeshifter who she refers to as "Mario Emmet" taking residence on her homestead. The beginning of a wholesome and tragic friendship, both human and alien have the time of their lives while Mario hides away from the U.S Government.

SPECIALS - A novelisation of a roleplay (that I have yet to make), in which the plot is not a priority and is merely a fun and chaotic celebration of several holidays hosted by Calvin Dearing... right?

The Dark Awakening - The sequel to A Blast In The Past, you have had enough with the narrator's torment and venture to break the cycle out of the purgatory he's left you in. A battle between first-person POV and second-person POV, hoping to finally reach third-person POV.

Jurassic World: The Perfect Storm (Jurassic World: Dominion) - The finale to the Jurassic World arc, Edward makes his final move to uncover the Aftermath Equation from the mechanical beast that keeps knowledge within itself, in order to evade death once more. It is up to Joaquin and Maisie to not only sabotage Edward, but also ruin Lewis Dodgson and Biosyn's plans until help arrives.

Honour Thy Father (Transformers Prime) - After a botched mission that held uncertain revelations, Autobot Arcee ventures across Earth to figure out her origins, with the aid of a droid by the name of Timekeeper, whose Time Watch had fallen into enemy hands.

Walking Fate Season 1 (The Walking Dead Game Season 1) - Lee Everett is given a second chance at life, in a world where the dead roam. He takes a girl by the name of Clementine under her wing, and they join up with more survivors as they endure the new world where death can be around every corner.

More Than An IT (IT (2017)) - IT has gone by many names, many forms. ITs' most favorable form being "Pennywise the Dancing Clown". IT has spent centuries devouring the fear and flesh of children. But what can it do against a child that has no fear of it?

Trust In Us (TFP) - The Autobots are lured to a possible energon lab buried underneath the Grand Canyon. The Decepticons had also followed the lab's signal, engaging in combat when meeting the Autobots. Decepticon Communications Officer Soundwave manages to enter the lab first, with Arcee hot on his heels. Events take a turn for the worse, as both Autobot and Decepticon find themselves locked inside a stronghold that's sole purpose was not to create energon, but keep mechanical horrors from reaching the surface. And they have the capacity to deceive.

Not The Strangest Thing (Stranger Things) - Hawkins, Indiana is a hot spring for supernatural occurrences. Follow a party of kids as they traverse the sinister realm that has broken into Hawkins, with government conspiracies and the Cold War looming over an opportunity to weaponize the creatures on the other side.

Gravity Falls Gets Weirder (Gravity Falls) - Twins Dipper and Mabel Pines are sent to Gravity Falls, Oregon, to spend the summer with their Great Uncle, or "Grunkle", Stan at his tourist attraction; the Mystery Shack. Here they attempt to make friends with the locals, and even two additional teen newcomers; Jack Bolt and Maze Woods. But after the discovery of a journal, Dipper and Mabel's summer vacation is flipped upside down and inside out once Gravity Falls reveals a more supernatural presence amongst the populace.

Demonic Clown Guardian (IT (2017)) - Georgie Denbrough makes friends with a lost clown by the name of Pennywise; and he lives in the sewers too! The Losers Club... take time to get used to this peculiar clown.

DOOMed (DOOM (2016)) - The demonic forces of Hell invade the UAC facility stationed on Mars, and in a desperate gamble, Samuel Hayden awakens the Doom Slayer to wipe them out and kill the progenitor behind the invasion; Olivia Pierce. The Slayer and his allies however discover that the Demonic forces have made another pact with the supernatural forces of the Wicked.

IT Gets Stranger (IT (2017)/Stranger Things crossover) - A crossover where the Losers Club take a school trip to Hawkins, Indiana, where they meet the Party.

Walking Fate Season 2 (TWDG Season 2) - After being separated with her group, Clementine fends for herself until she comes across survivors living in a cabin. This fateful encounter leads Clementine to face new enemies, meet familiar faces and the breakdown of a friendship thought to be unbreakable.

Strings Of Fear - A group of outcasts who form a friendship with each other investigate the odd disappearances surrounding Hurricane, Utah. Here these Outcasts come across a vile evil that feeds on the innocent.

Walking Fate: A Dark Era (The Walking Dead: A New Frontier) - Javier Garcia has watched as society had been overrun by the dead and pocketing factions of survivors wage war on each other; the New Frontier being prominent. To protect what remains of his family, Javi allies with a group co-lead by Clementine, despite the bounty on her head.

Strings Of Fear: The Second Part - Years after the first defeat of the cosmic horror that plagued their home town, the Outcasts return to end the creature that haunted them once and for all. But is there more to the horror than meets the eye?

DOOMed: From The Beginning (DOOM (2016)) - Set several months before the events of DOOMed and the fateful "Bring-Your-Kid-To-Work" Day, read how the staff of the UAC facility began its descent into horror and madness through the eyes of a recently transferred doctor and security guard; Leslie Who and Alfred "Jeff" Hopper.

Strings Of Fear: The Finale - The ending chapter to the Strings Of Fear arc. Trapped in a repetitive cycle of hatred and guilt, can one cretin escape his confines?

SCP: Confining Spaces (SCP: Confinement) - Connor, a young man who cannot die, is forced by the SCP Foundation to confront and interview multiple classes of SCPs. Though things take a dark turn upon one reality warper calling himself Jester taking an interest in Connor's nature, leading to the discovery of two warriors; an academic cyborg war hero by the name of Haven, and the Sarcophagus of Shame which houses the Wicked's tactician general, called the Overlord.

More Than Bargained For? (FNAF) - Lillian "Lena" Elliot is hired as the newest Night Guard for Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Fazbear Entertainment believed she'd end up like the other guards... only to prove that she isn't trapped with the animatronics; the animatronics are trapped with her.

Kicking The Bucket Spills The Truth (TFP) - With Flatline's faction making their move, Autobots and Decepticons come to a decision; mark a truce to end a threat, or adjust to this third party?

Detroit: Battleground (Detroit: Become Human) - After Markus' recent victory in the android revolution, both humans and androids move to build a better future with each other; however, Elijah Kamski unleashes his hidden weapon to revert the androids back to servitude; a sentient megavirus designated "K.I.L.L.J.O.Y". However, he did not anticipate K.I.L.L.J.O.Y's capacity for strong emotions such as rage and the desire to dominate.

Smile Tunes (Hellaverse) - Samuel Who is the Morningstar Family's top advisor, trying to balance being Charlie's best friend and looking out for her as a royal advisor. Especially when it comes to her recent venture to redeem sinners with the help of Alastor, the infamous "Radio Demon", due to the upcoming Extermination. He's even more cautious when the strangest Exorcist comes under their care.

DOOMed: Death Isn't Eternal (DOOM: Eternal) - The sequel to DOOMed, follow the Doom Slayer once again as he continues his quest to wipe out Hell's ongoing invasion of Earth. The Slayer meets new allies, faces threats old and unfamiliar, and races against time as the Khan Makyr and the Wicked doom this Earth for their own ambitions.

Walking Fate: Reign Of Sin (TWDG The Final Season) - Clem leads what remains of her small family to a new home in the form of Ericon's Boarding School, lead by troubled teens. She uncovers plots, confronts the one person who embodies her traumas and fights against both the undead and the living.

Pet Sematary: Where Dead Is Better (Pet Sematary (2019)) - The Creeds move to Ludlow, Maine; a decision Louis had agreed to so he could land a stable job while being able to spend more time with his family. The family discover a burial ground hidden in the woods, near their home. Warnings are shared, but not heeded.

Down Memory Lane (Multifandom Crossover) - Calvin and Mario unite again to bring back a lost friend home, without gaining the attention of the Carver of Fate, the Chairman.

Red Dead Redemption: Peace For Thy Sinners (Red Dead Redemption 2) - Maddilyn Darling has been in the Van Der Linde Gang ever since she was nine, raised alongside Arthur Morgan and John Marston into the life of an outlaw by Dutch van der Linde, Hosea Matthews and Abigail Emmet. Through her eyes, she watches her family grow, some members more likeable than others, and she watches as they fall. Her story begins before, during and after the fall of the Van Der Linde Gang.

Truth Or Dare? (Multifandom Crossover) - A menagerie of characters are collected by the dealmaker Jester to play the most intense game of all time... Truth or Dare?

What If? (Multifandom/Crossover) - A collection of alternate routes a story or one of my fics could have taken. What if Kiyotaka Ayanokoji came to the ANS with Ichika Amasawa and Takuya Yagami? What if Clementine died instead of Lee Everett? What if Abigail Emmet never learned to appreciate human culture, and raised Mario in her species traditions? And much more you will be able to ask before and after The UnTitledverse and the other series ends.

Pet Semetary: Let The Dead Rest (Pet Sematary (2019)) - Almost twenty years after the events of his family's destruction, Gage Creed returns to Ludlow, Maine, to put his family to rest.

Yo-Kai Watchlace (Yo-Kai Watch) - Katie Forester was just an average eleven-year-old girl attending Springdale Elementary School with her friends Nathan "Nate" Adams, Edward "Eddie" Archer and Barnaby "Bear" Bernstein. Over the weekend, she comes across an old crank machine, which gifts her a Watchlace and a Yo-Kai butler by the name of Shallow. He "guides" her to compete against the other Yo-Kai Watch user in the area to help as many Yo-Kai as possible for means unknown to Katie.

The Devil Of All Time - Follow the trial of Edward Carmine in the mid-nineties, accused for the ritualistic murder of Leslie Who's child.

Walking Fate: The Final Season (TWDG) - The final confrontation between Delta and the survivors of Ericson, and the end of Clementine and Malcrum's journeys.

We Stand Together (Multifandom Crossover) - The Wicked have banded an army together to accomplish their goals of domination across this corner of the Multiverse, all in the name of their dark master. Joaquin, Calvin and Mario unite their allies to push back against the evil that has risen to claim their glory again.

Gravity Falls: Next Gen (Gravity Falls) - Thirty years after the events of Gravity Falls, Gwen Pines and Sara Gleeful return with their families to visit Soos and his family at the Mystery Shack. However, an old enemy awakens, and with him a plan to bring some new friends to the party. Based on turquoisespace35's Next Gen AU comics.

Subnautica: Deeper Depths (Subnautica: Below Zero) - Taking place five years after the Aurora's crash and Planet 4546B's liberation from the Kharaa, Robin Ayou returns to the antarctic region of the planet after recovering from an accident on an Alterra expedition three years beforehand. However, she finds her half-sister, Sam, had taken lead in the expeditions after Robin's absence, and went missing for some time. To find out the truth, she has to go deeper in the cold, dark depths of the treacherous ocean... where she discovers secrets under the ice.

Supremacy (Multifandom Crossover) - The finale to The Perfect Storm saga, the culmination of the journeys of not only Joaquin, Calvin and Mario, but Edward Carmine and the Wicked's as well. Who will win in this fight between resistance and domination?

The Omniscient Rule saga

The Omniscience Rule (Multifandom Crossover) - Saved from the destruction of his universe, Joaquin faces down trials guided by the firstborne Eldritch, Amari the Apothecary, to strengthen himself to become a leader capable of protecting the very essence of the Multiverse itself; the Omniscience.

Life Is Cruel (Life Is Strange) - After sacrificing her closest friend, Chloe, to save Arcadia Bay, Max finds that her powers have not dissipated as she initially believed they would, and that Arcadia Bay's destruction has only been suspended rather than averted... and replaced with a far more viscous force of nature than a hurricane. Can fate be fought against? And what is the nature of Max's powers?

Our Family Shelter - After retiring from the Omniscient Rule, Malcrum Darling finds a new purpose; protecting a group of children from the sinister clutches of an organization called C.Y.P.R.U.S.

The Omniscience Rule: Web Of Lies (Star Wars) - The Omniscient Rule take an assignment from the Time Bureau Authority to ensure the events of one universe does not diverge from canon, while also finding and arresting the rogue members of the Time Guard. The further they get into the Clone Wars conflict, the more they find out the reason the Time Guard are ruining the canon.

All Who Remain (The Last Of Us Part One) - Joel Miller lives amongst a dying civilization where hardened survivors and the infected fight to determine humanity's preservation or extinction. He is hired by a rebelling group called the "Fireflies" looking to change the fate of humanity by smuggling a girl by the name of Ellie to one of their facilities. Easier said than done, as Joel and Ellie face obstacles upon obstacles, human and infected alike, and worse of all; a maniac with the distinct ability to command the Cordyceps movements, and an obsessive hatred towards Ellie herself.

Enjoy Your Stay In Eastview! (Multifandom Crossover) - With the revelation of "dead worlds" amongst the Multiverse, full of abandoned survivors seeking refuge from destruction, Joaquin and Haven determine the best course of action for the Omniscient Rule, chasing after a myth in the form of a world powered by the Omniscience itself.

SPECIALS: IN 2 REALITY - A maddening sequel to the SPECIALS roleplay, here the Omniscient Rule adapt to the oddity that is Eastview.

Time Guard: Khronos' Law - Jeff Hopper joins the Time Guard in helping catch a wanted criminal by the name of Maddison Darling; a mass serial killer determined to irreparably change the flow of time.

Happy Accidents At The Dark Circus (FNAF) - Mario and Charlie just wanted to go on a date at the newest attraction in Hurricane, Utah; the Dark Circus. However, not only do they run into Charlie's friends, including her distant former best friend, Elizabeth, but the menagerie of next-gen animatronics; Fizzer Pop and his Merry Band of Rocking Friends, seem to get a bit... quirky in the night.

A Lovely Murder Musical (Multifandom Crossover) - Charlie's hometown of Hurricane had been taken over by the Prime Minister of Hell themself; Alamach, with help from a spirit by the name of Kara Darling, to perform the musical of a lifetime. Mario brings his fellow compatriots from the Omniscient Rule to help him save Charlie and her friends from the inside.

The Omniscience Rule: Dark Omen - Maddison's rampage across time had caused a ripple effect, both good and bad; returning Lena Elliot to existence, but also causing a group of curse-preserving warlocks known as "the Occult" to come into power; intent on bringing the "Great Malevolence" to Eastview. An unlikely alliance between Jeff Hopper, Lisa Cobalt and Fizzer is formed to put an end to the most recent chapter of the Occult.

All Who Remain: Madness Reincarnate (The Last Of Us Part Two) - Five years after All Who Remain, Ellie embarks on a journey of revenge against a militia lead by a bitter woman by the name of Abby; even if it means aligning with her detested rival, Malcolm Darling.

The UnTitled Stories (Multifandom/Crossover) - A collection/series of short stories that happen in the canon of The UnTitledverse, with the express purpose of tying loose ends and expanding the stories. A number of these stories can be viewed below The UnTitled Stories section near the bottom.

Red Dead Redemption: Pandora's Box (RDR) - Maddilyn Darling thought her days of donning the guns for anything other than bounty hunting were over, until she meets relatives who came from the future; twins Malcrum and Cassandra Darling who intend on stopping Maddilyn's dead aunt, Kara, from creating a second Divine Holy War between Heaven and Hell.

The Omniscience Rule: C.Y.P.R.U.S Uprising - The Omniscient Rule have been cleaning up the mess left behind by their enemies. In this final entry of The Omniscient Rule saga, they engage with another group; C.Y.P.R.U.S, an organization that kidnaps and trains children into soldiers, assassins and spies, lead by their director, Madame Callaghan, and her children. Madame Callaghan seems to have an intense focus on Joaquin, recognizing him from a past he no longer remembers.

The UnTitled Ventures saga

UnTitled Venture: Hazardous Residence (Resident Evil: Biohazard) - Joaquin Lockwood was supposed to be retired from the BSAA, however an old pal asks him a favor to provide reconnaissance at a family homestead in Dulvey, Louisiana due to suspicious activity which could be B.O.W in nature, and he's the closest person with experience there. Joaquin agrees, but finds himself trapped with a civilian by the name of Ethan Winters, and both begrudgingly work together to survive the onslaught that awaits them.

UnTitled Venture: Whisper My Name (Resident Evil: Revelations) - Agent Maisie Lockwood races against the clock as she searches for her partner, Joaquin, through Umbrella's connections with an organization called C.Y.P.R.U.S.

UnTitled Venture: Village Of Shadows (Resident Evil: Village) - On a drive from Romania to visit the Winters in Hungary, Joaquin gets into a car crash, and his adopted daughters are taken to a Village in the dark Romanian forests, where the locals worship the matriarch who rules over them; Mother Miranda, the head of the Four Lords. While Ethan gets together the BSAA and Taskforce ECHO, Joaquin fights his way to his girls.

UnTitled Venture: Balancing Roulettes (Resident Evil 6) - Joaquin and Maisie Lockwood trace after a series of bio-terrorist attacks across the globe, hunting down the B.O.W's and the people behind them, as the BSAA's finest agents try to stop the spread of the C-Virus.

UnTitled Venture: Old Smoke - Joaquin settles in his new life in the Village, which is disrupted by the presence of a vengeful Roy Lockwood; Maisie's close great uncle, who has a vendetta against B.O.W's.

UnTitled Venture: Perverse Justice - The BSAA are attacked by C.Y.P.R.U.S, lead by Madame Callaghan's second son, the nihilistic Urijah Callaghan, searching for the whereabouts of Joaquin Lockwood. Urijah's end goal threatens the very state of life itself, and Joaquin won't be going down without trying to fight.

UnTitled Venture: Viva La Révolution (Multifandom Crossover) - Saved in the nick of time, Joaquin is presented with an opportunity by a being who calls himself Benny with getting his life back from the clutches of the Orchestrator; Zachariah.

UnTitled Venture: Found Out (Multifandom Crossover) - With the flames of revolution alight, Joaquin and Benny face a counterattack lead by the Apostles of Zachariah.

The Ender saga

Chapter One: The Truth Seeker - Decades after the disappearance of her adoptive father, Elise Lockwood strays from the only home she knew to find his whereabouts, even in the darkest crevices of her world.

Chapter Two: The Change You Can Be - With a head start, Elise conjures the wrath of Zachariah, but is rescued by two unlikely individuals she never knew she'd get the chance to meet.

Chapter Three: The Feuding Houses (Multifandom Crossover) - With Zachariah's plot kicked into gear, Joaquin Cobalt and the Omniscient Rule escort Elise to Benny's Domus Memoriae... and find out the struggle of keeping allies together.

Chapter Four: The Soulless Opposition (Multifandom Crossover) - Alliances start to forge as the end date closes in, but the Omniscient Rule aren't out of the woods yet when Zachariah sends his Apostles newest monstrosities; a cross between the brute determination of the Soulless Husks and the deadly intelligence of the Exterminators.

Chapter Five: The Shining Miracles (Multifandom Crossover) - Joaquin's capture dwindles hope, but Elise does not discard it yet. With Benny and Maisie, they locate the best world to open up a doorway to Zachariah's pocket dimension; Earth Prime. All they need are a couple of Shiners to summon it.

Chapter Six: The Ender (Multifanfom Crossover) - Zachariah lays his cards on the table as he engaged the Omniscient Rule in an all out battle for the fate of the Omniscience; continue its freedom or fall under Zachariah's control? Meanwhile, Joaquin and his allies traverse the dank and treacherous landscapes of "Wonderland"; a prison dimension set on an infinite loop in what seems to be a combination of the 15th and 20th century in a town called "Prehevil" with some other prisoners.

Original Spin Offs

Jagged Instincts Novelization - The novelisation of a Wattpad/Discord roleplay I had been in. A group of strange creatures escape auction and traverse a world of technology, interstellar travel and mystical intrigue.

Mario: Mother's Boy - Abigail Emmet balances the struggle of teaching her newborn son how to be self-sufficient while surviving in a world where fear is rampant, and keeping her own hunger satiated as human's terror dwindles less and less.

The Time Guard - Discharged from the duty of a Time Lord, Timekeeper brings together a team of delinquent individuals who have no effect on the time stream (none except of which they leave behind when present) to do Judge Khronos' dirty work.

The UnTitled Stories

Unnamed The Last Of Us (2023) Malcolm Darling fic - Malcolm Darling continues his spree across the Multiverse, killing all the Ellie William's he can find. Until he enters one world that forces him to reflect on his self-perceived "righteous" revenge.

Unnamed Classroom Of The Elite fic - Kiyotaka Ayanokoji enrolls in the prestigious "Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing School", intent on using the three years of no contact with the outside world to answer a question; what controls us? Is it the mind that controls the body or the body that controls the mind? Little did Ayanokoji know how much merit a footprint can leave behind on others... nor how they can return the same impact back. A heartfelt story about self-identity, healing, and regaining a piece of humanity back.

Hitman: Evangeline (Hitman: Absolution) - After leaving the circus life behind, Evangeline hitches up with the International Contract Agency as an independent hitman they can hire. Her first target is a rogue agent by the name of Diana Burnwood. What follows afterwards is an example on how not to fail your task successfully.

Unnamed The UnTitledverse Joaquin, Maisie and House of Thanatos fic - Joaquin has tea with the Gods of Death and afterwards he and Maisie process the events of The Omniscient Rule: Dark Omen, including the loss of Lisa.

Unnamed The UnTitledverse Mario Emmet, Charlie Emily and Elizabeth Afton fic - In the eve of their retirement of the Omniscient Rule after the events of A Lovely Murder Musical; Mario, Charlie and Elizabeth go on a solo adventure and learn that godhood can be achieved without resorting to murder and spilling blood.

Unnamed Inside Job Fic - Cognito Inc. manage to earn two contracts in one day, one with the Envy Ring of Hell and the other with C.Y.P.R.U.S, resulting in two representatives sent to help the corporation; Urijah Callaghan, a bright mind with a cynical outlook, and Oswaldo Thanatos, the son of two members of the House of Thanatos. What shenanigans do they get up to?

Unnamed Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure OC's crossover from the Multiverse into one world fic - Zhan Tiri triggers multiple breaches into the realm of Corona, leading to four unknown individuals to be sucked into the kingdom; some more dangerous than others. It is up to Rapunzel, Eugene and Cass to round these trespassers up and send them back where they belong.

The Heinous Crimes Of One Elusive Maddison Darling (Multifandom Crossover) - Exiled from C.Y.P.R.U.S after multiple assignment failures, Maddison finds being a hitman isn't her specialty; but finds a passion in being a mass-murdering serial killer. Follow her string of crimes before her eventual tomfoolery in The Time Guard: Khronos' Law.

[achilleslefttoe]

JWCC Dr Buddies

ok so i love my Camp C dr to death and wanna talk about all my buddies

Brooklyn: so brooklyn and i generally get along, she gets on my nerves sometimes but i try to be nice about it. we also bond over not really knowing what actual high school is like. we’re both rich wildcards when it comes to skills. i may or may not have learned how to pick a lock from her youtube channel-

Yas: we also somewhat get along, we liked quietly drawing together before the whole indo thing. we bond over talking shit honestly. i forgot where but i keep seeing a lot of hcs saying she speaks arabic because of her family and i speak hindi cause of mine in my dr (i can go into that in a later post) so we end up teaching each other bits and pieces of the languages for the silly funnies

Sammy: sammy is the sweetest person ever and i love her for it. i knew she was lying about the meat supply thing immediately but i let it go cause i liked her, when the reveal come out i wasn’t shocked but i tried to be super supportive cause id do anything for my family as well. during the scorpius rex thing, i ran off to my cabin (another thing i can go into another time) to acquire some pain meds for her and extra bandages. i did get attacked and i might’ve passed out when i got back but it was worth it for my bestie

Darius: if i’m being so fr, we like info dumping about dinosaurs together and he loves hearing about what it’s like to live on the island. i actually wrote the storyline of and helped code the video game that Darius beat for his ticket to camp. he’s my little bro frfr. i do replace him in a lot of scenes because i needed some parallels.

Kenji: we’ve known each other forever. the year we’re in camp is like the 8th year of our friendship. we met when we were little since we both spent so much time on the island, his dad and my uncle were busy so they stuck us together. he’s a bit older than me but we end up really really close. when we were young we’d get into all types of trouble together and it stayed the same as we got older. we like to tease and make fun of each other all the time. we have a very sibling like relationship and after the island we wanted to stick together. after the show, he stays with me and Claire who gets custody over me after my uncles death. but when she goes back for he island during Fallen Kingdom, Kenji is in college and ends up staying near the Bowmans.

Ben: Last but definitely not least, my silly boy-o. our relationship is interesting. when we first met in camp our relationship was based on him wanting to be protected and me needing to feel needed. so we pretty much stuck together all the time, we liked being together and it was beneficial for both of us in some way. then when he fell, we both grew like a lot. i stopped being so reckless and started to be cautious and asking myself “what would ben do?” then he came back and he didn’t need protection. and that kinda freaked me out cause yk trauma. then we have this stupid argument and we make ups nd everything is good again!! we’re besties and we’re stronger than ever. then we start catching feelings for each other. my emotionally unavailable ass rejects him at first, terrified. then after a while we get even closer and i feel ready to take chance. ALSO I USED TO BE TALLER THAN HIM AND THEN SUDDENLY IN CHAOS THEORY HIS ASS IS TOWERING OVER ME??? LIKE WHAT.

also jwcc height hcs

[mariacallous]

The U.S. alliance system: there’s never been anything quite like it. Ancient Athens helmed the Delian League. German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck skillfully played Europe’s alliance game in the nineteenth century. The coalitions that won the world wars were nearly global in scope. But no peacetime alliance network has been so expansive, enduring, and effective as the one Washington has led since World War II. The U.S. alliance system has pacified what once were killing fields; it has forged a balance of power that favors the democracies.

Yet the existence—and achievements—of that system may actually make it harder for Americans to understand the challenge they now confront. Across the Eurasian landmass, Washington’s enemies are joining hands. China and Russia have a “no-limits” strategic partnership. Iran and Russia are enhancing a military relationship that U.S. officials deem a “profound threat” to the “whole world.” Illiberal friendships between Moscow and Pyongyang, and Beijing and Tehran, are flourishing. Americans may wonder if these interlocking relationships will someday add up to a formal alliance of U.S. enemies—the mirror image of the institutions Washington itself leads. Whatever the answer, it’s the wrong question to ask.

When Americans think of alliances, they usually think of their own alliances—formal, highly institutionalized relationships among countries that are linked by binding security guarantees as well as genuine friendship and trust. But alliances, as history reminds us, can serve many purposes and take many forms.

Some alliances are nothing more than nonaggression pacts that allow predators to devour their prey rather than devouring one another. Some alliances are military-technological partnerships in which countries build and share the capabilities they need to shatter the status quo. Some of the world’s most destructive alliances featured little coordination and even less affection: they were simply rough agreements to assail the existing order from all sides. Alliances can be secret or overt, formal or informal. They can be devoted to preserving the peace or abetting aggression. An alliance is merely a combination of states that seeks shared objectives. And relationships that seemed far less impressive than today’s U.S. alliances have caused geopolitical earthquakes in the past.

That’s the key to understanding the relationships among U.S. antagonists today. These relationships may be ambiguous and ambivalent. They may lack formal defense guarantees. But they still augment the military power revisionist states can muster and reduce the strategic isolation those countries might otherwise face. They intensify pressure on an imperiled international system by helping their members contest U.S. power on many fronts at once. And were U.S. antagonists to expand their cooperation in the future—by sharing more advanced defense technology or collaborating more extensively in crisis or conflict—they could upset the global equilibrium in even more disturbing ways. The United States may never face a single, full-fledged league of villains. But it wouldn’t take an illiberal, revisionist version of NATO to cause an overstretched superpower fits.

AMERICA’S EXCEPTIONAL ALLIANCES

Alliances are shaped by their circumstances, and U.S. alliances—namely, NATO and Washington’s Indo-Pacific alliances—are products of the early Cold War. Back then, the United States faced the dual dilemma of containing the Soviet Union and suppressing the tensions that had twice ripped the Western world apart. The contours of U.S. alliances have always reflected these founding facts.

For one thing, U.S. alliances are defensive pactsmeant to prevent aggression, not perpetrate it. Washington originally structured its alliances so their members could not use them as vehicles for territorial revanchism; when American alliances have expanded, they have done so with the consent of new members. U.S. alliances are also nuclear alliances: since the only way a distant superpower could check the Red Army was to threaten nuclear escalation, issues of nuclear strategy have dominated alliance politics from the outset. For related reasons, U.S. alliances are asymmetric. Washington has long shouldered an unequal share of the military burden, especially on nuclear matters, to avoid a scenario in which countries such as Germany or Japan might destabilize their regions—and terrify their former victims—by building full-spectrum defense capabilities of their own.

This point notwithstanding, U.S. alliances are deeply institutionalized: they feature remarkable cooperation and interoperability developed through decades of training to fight as a team. U.S. alliances are also democratic; they have survived for so long because their foremost members have a shared, enduring stake in preserving a world safe for liberalism. Finally, U.S. alliances aresanctified in written treaties and public pledges of commitment. That’s natural, because democracies cannot easily make secret treaties. It’s also vital because the beating heart of every U.S. alliance is Washington’s promise to aid its friends if they are attacked.

These features have made U.S. alliances tremendously attractive, effective, and stabilizing—which is why Europe and East Asia have been so peaceful since World War II and why Washington has more trouble keeping prospective members out than luring them in. But they also influence Americans’ views of alliances in ways that aren’t always helpful in understanding the modern world. After all, there is no rule that alliances must look like Washington’s—and some of history’s most pernicious alliances have not.

THE PREDATORS’ PACTS

Today isn’t the first time the world’s most aggressive states have made common cause. During the mid-twentieth century, an array of revisionist powers forged malign combinations to aid their serial assaults on the status quo.

In 1922, a still democratic Weimar Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Rapallo Pact, which promoted cooperation between these two losers of World War I. Between 1936 and 1940, fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and imperial Japan inked agreements culminating in the Tripartite Pact, a loose alliance committed to achieving a totalitarian “new order of things” around the world. Along the way, Berlin and Moscow sealed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a nonaggression treaty that included protocols on trade and the division of Eastern Europe. And after a hot war gave way to the Cold War, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Chinese leader Mao Zedong negotiated a Sino-Soviet alliance that linked the two communist giants in their fight against the capitalist world.

These were some of history’s most dysfunctional, ill-fated partnerships. In several cases, they were temporary truces between deadly rivals. In no case was there anything like the deep cooperation and strategic sympathy that distinguish U.S. alliances today. This isn’t surprising: regimes as vicious and ambitious as Adolf Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Soviet Union, and Mao’s China shared little more than a desire to turn the world on its head. Yet this history is valuable because it shows how even the most transitory, tension-ridden partnerships can rupture the existing order, generating strong pressures in support of aggressive designs.

The Rapallo Pact was no full-fledged alliance: it was principally a détente in Eastern Europe, the region into which both Germany and the Soviet Union hoped to eventually expand. But the pact and the secret protocols that accompanied it turbocharged disruptive military innovation by international outcasts—Germany especially. At sites hidden within the Soviet interior, Germany began developing the tanks and planes the Treaty of Versailles had denied it, as well as operational concepts it would later use to great effect. This covert partnership collapsed when Hitler took power, but not before giving him a vital, deadly head start in Europe’s race to rearm in the 1930s.

Other revisionist pacts lowered the costs of aggression by reducing the isolation its perpetrators might otherwise have faced. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact—the “new Rapallo” Hitler signed with Stalin on the eve of World War II—lasted less than two years. But during that period, it shielded Germany from the effects of the British blockade by giving it access to Soviet foodstuffs, minerals, and energy and by providing a conduit through which Hitler could access Japan’s growing empire in Asia. Molotov-Ribbentrop enabled Germany’s rampage through Europe by making much of Eurasia an economic hinterland for Berlin.

Molotov-Ribbentrop also enabled violent aggrandizement on one front by taming tensions on others; in this sense, it was a nonaggression treaty that encouraged world-shattering aggression. The pact set off World War II in Europe by assuring Hitler that he could fight Poland and the Western democracies without interference from the Soviet Union—and by setting off Soviet land grabs from Finland to Bessarabia by assuring Stalin that he could reorder his periphery without interference from Berlin. For two crucial years, Molotov-Ribbentrop made Europe a paradise for predators by freeing them from the threat of conflict with each other.

Revisionist pacts also backstopped aggressive behavior by creating solidarity in crises. The partnership between Nazi Germany and Italy was often uneasy. But during crises over Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938, Hitler was emboldened, and France and the United Kingdom were hamstrung, by the knowledge that Italian leader Benito Mussolini—who had earlier opposed German expansion—now stood behind him. The Sino-Soviet alliance offers another example. After Chinese intervention in the Korean War in 1950, the United States had to pull its punches—refraining from striking targets in China, for instance—for fear of starting a fight with Moscow.

Finally, revisionist alliances created multiplier effects by battering the status quo on several fronts at once. After signing the Sino-Soviet pact, Stalin and Mao sealed a division of revolutionary labor—Beijing pushed the communist cause with new energy in Asia, and Moscow focused on Europe—that forced agonizing debates over resources and priorities in Washington. Yet even absent formal coordination, advances by one revisionist made opportunities for others. During the late 1930s, the United Kingdom hesitated to draw a hard line against Germany in Europe because it faced danger from Italy in the Mediterranean and Japan in Asia. The fascist powers helped one another simply by destabilizing a system suffering from too many threats.

THE NEW REVISIONIST PACTS

Cataloging the destruction caused by an earlier set of revisionist alliances provides insight into what really matters about the combinations taking shape today. These combinations are numerous and deepening. An ever-expanding Chinese-Russian partnership unites Eurasia’s two largest, most ambitious states. In Russia’s long-standing relationships with Pyongyang and Tehran, aid and influence now flow both ways. China is drawing closer to Iran, to complement its decades-old alliance with North Korea. For years, Pyongyang and Tehran have collaborated to make missiles and mischief. This isn’t a single revisionist coalition. It is a more complex web of ties among autocratic powers that aim to reorder their regions and, thereby, reorder the world.

These relationships profit from proximity. During World War II, vast distances across hostile oceans impeded cooperation between Germany and Japan. But Russia, China, and North Korea share land borders with one another. Iran can reach Russia via inland sea. This invulnerability to interdiction facilitates ties among Eurasia’s revisionists—just as the war in Ukraine pushes them closer together by making Russia more dependent on, and willing to cut deals with, its autocratic brethren.

These relationships have their limits. Of the Eurasian revisionists, only China and North Korea have a formal defense treaty. Military cooperation is expanding, but none of these partnerships remotely rival NATO in interoperability or institutionalized cooperation. That’s partly because historical tensions and mistrust are pervasive: as one example, China still occasionally claims territory Russia considers its own. But even so, revisionist collaborations are producing some familiar effects.

Take, for example, the way that Chinese-Russian collaboration is turbocharging disruptive military innovation. Although China has been under Western arms embargoes since 1989, its record-breaking military modernization has benefited from purchases of Russian aircraft, missiles, and air defenses. Today, China and Russia are pursuing the joint development of helicopters, conventional attack submarines, missiles, and missile-launch early warning systems. Their cooperation increasingly includes shadowy coproduction and technology-sharing initiatives rather than simply the transfer of finished capabilities. If the United States one day fights China, it will be fighting a foe whose capabilities have been materially enhanced by Moscow.

Meanwhile, Russia’s defense technology relationships with other Eurasian autocracies are flourishing. Iran has sold Russia missiles and drones for use in Ukraine, even helping it build facilities that can produce the latter at the scale modern war demands. Russia, in exchange, has reportedly committed to delivering advanced air defenses, fighter aircraft, and other capabilities to Iran that could change the balance in the ever-contested Middle East. As in the Rapallo era, revisionist states are helping each other build up the military power they need to tear down the status quo.

Revisionist alliances are also—once again—making aggression less costly by mitigating the strategic isolation aggressors might otherwise face. Despite Western sanctions and horrific military losses, Russia has sustained its war in Ukraine thanks to the drones, shells, and missiles Tehran and Pyongyang have provided. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s economy has stayed afloat because China has absorbed Russian exports and provided Moscow with microchips and other dual-use goods. Just as Hitler once relied on Eurasian resources to thwart the British blockade, Putin now relies on China to blunt the economic harms of confrontation with the West. Expect more of this, as the revisionists cultivate networks—whether the International North-South Transport Corridor connecting Iran and Russia or the Eurasian commercial and financial bloc Beijing is constructing—to keep their commerce beyond Washington’s reach.

These relationships, additionally, are maximizing the risk of violent instability on some frontiers by minimizing it on others. The Chinese-Russian border was once the world’s most militarized. Today, however, a de facto nonaggression pact has freed Putin from the threat of conflict with China, allowing him to hurl nearly his entire army at Ukraine. China, too, can push harder against U.S. positions in maritime Asia because it has a friendly Russia to its rear. Beijing and Moscow don’t need to fight shoulder to shoulder, as Washington does with its allies, if they fight back to back against the liberal world.

The same friendships are delivering another disruptive benefit by increasing the prospect of autocratic solidarity in crises. For decades, North Korea’s alliance with China has constrained Washington from responding more firmly to its provocations. More recently, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s increasing belligerence may be fueled by an expectation (warranted or not) that Putin will have his back. Likewise, in a future showdown over Iran’s nuclear program, Tehran’s booming military partnership with Moscow could give it stronger diplomatic support—and better arms—with which to resist. China and Russia, for their part, are conducting military exercises in potential conflict zones from the Baltic to the western Pacific. These activities may be meant to signal that one revisionist power won’t simply sit on the sidelines as Washington deals with another.

Not least, the revisionists enjoy a perverse symbiosis by weakening the international order from several directions at once. Russia is brutalizing Ukraine and threatening eastern Europe, as Iran and its proxies sow violent disorder across the Middle East. China grows more menacing in the Pacific, as North Korea drives its missile and nuclear programs forward. All this creates a pervasive sense that global order is eroding. It also poses sharp dilemmas for Washington: witness U.S. debates over Ukraine versus Taiwan, today’s actual wars versus tomorrow’s prospective ones. As during the 1930s, Eurasia’s autocracies help one another by overtaxing their common foe.

TROUBLE TO COME

American analysts still sometimes refer to relationships among U.S. adversaries as “alliances of convenience,” the implication being that clever diplomacy can precipitate a divorce. That’s unlikely to happen any time soon. The Eurasian autocracies are united by illiberal governance and hostility to U.S. power. If anything, growing international tensions are giving them stronger reasons for mutual support. Indeed, a Russia that remains isolated from the West will have little choice but to lean into partnerships with China, Iran, and North Korea. The United States may be able, periodically, to slow this process—as it did in 2022–23 by threatening China with harsh sanctions if it gave Russia lethal aid in Ukraine—but it probably can’t reverse the larger trend. And even if today’s revisionist ties never amount to a full-blown Eurasian alliance, they could plausibly evolve in ways that would strain U.S. power more severely.

More sensitive cooperation could make for more startling military breakthroughs. Russian technology will reportedly figure in China’s next-generation attack submarine, albeit through a process of “imitative innovation” rather than direct transfer. If Russia someday provides China—whose subs are still noisy and vulnerable—with state-of-the-art quieting technology, it could undercut U.S. advantages in one domain in which Washington still has outright supremacy over Beijing. Likewise, South Korean officials fear the payoff for North Korea’s arms shipments to Russia might be Russian aid to North Korea’s space, nuclear, and missile programs—which could help those programs advance faster than U.S. analysts expect. More broadly, as military cooperation morphs into coproduction or technology transfers, as opposed to the sale of finished weapons, it becomes harder to monitor—and increases the chances of capability jumps that catch outside observers off-guard.

Eurasia’s revisionists could create further dilemmas by cooperating more closely in crises. If Russia deployed naval forces in the East China Sea amid high U.S.-Chinese tensions—or if Moscow and Beijing sent vessels to the Persian Gulf during a crisis between Iran and the West—they could make the operational theater more complicated for U.S. forces, raising the risk that a fight with one might trigger unwanted escalation with others. The revisionist powers could even aid one another in outright war.

In a U.S.-Chinese conflict, Russia could conduct cyber-operations against U.S. logistics and infrastructure to make it harder for Washington to mobilize and project power. One revisionist power could fill critical capability gaps, whether by resupplying a friend when key munitions run low or—as China has done in Ukraine—providing vital components that don’t quite qualify as “lethal” aid. Or it might posture forces in threatening ways. During a fight between the United States and China, Russia would only have to move forces menacingly toward eastern Europe to make Washington account for the likelihood of conflicts on two fronts.

The Eurasian autocracies surely don’t wish to die for one another. But they presumably understand that a crushing American victory over one would leave the remainder more vulnerable. So they might try to help themselves by helping one another—if they can do so without plunging directly and overtly into the fight.

THINKING AHEAD

Ties between Eurasian revisionists may not look like alliances as Americans typically understand them, but they have plenty of alliance-like effects. This isn’t an entirely bad thing for Washington: the closer U.S. antagonists get, the more one’s bad behavior tarnishes the others. Since 2022, for instance, China’s image in Europe has suffered because Beijing tied itself so closely to Putin’s war in Ukraine. The opportunity, then, is to use adversary alignment to accelerate Washington’s own coalition-building efforts, just as the United States used the blowback from Russia’s invasion to induce greater European realism about China. Doing so will be critical, because today’s revisionist pacts are increasing the freedom of action U.S. rivals enjoy and the capabilities they wield. The United States must get used to a world in which the links among its rivals magnify the challenges that they individually and collectively pose.

This is an intellectual and analytical challenge as much as anything else. For example, the United States may need to revise assessments of how long its adversaries will take to reach key military milestones, given the help they are receiving—or could receive—from their friends. Washington must also rethink assumptions that it will face adversaries one-on-one in a crisis or conflict and account for the aid—covert or overt, kinetic or nonkinetic, enthusiastic or grudging—other revisionist powers could render as tensions escalate. The United States especially needs to wrestle with the risk that adversary relationships will promote a certain globalization of conflict—that the country could end up facing multiple, interlocking regional struggles against adversaries that cooperate in important, sometimes subtle ways.

Finally, U.S. officials should consider how these rivals’ partnerships could evolve in unexpected or nonlinear ways. Recent history is instructive. Although the Chinese-Russian strategic relationship has arisen over decades, that relationship—to say nothing of Moscow’s ties to Pyongyang and Tehran—has ripened considerably during the war in Ukraine. How might a future crisis over Taiwan, which triggers sharp U.S. sanctions on China, affect Beijing’s cost-benefit analysis regarding a still deeper alliance with Russia? Or how might a more thorough breakdown of order in one region tempt revisionist powers to intensify their campaigns in others?

Thinking through such scenarios is, unavoidably, an exercise in speculation. It is also an intellectual hedge against a future in which relationships—many of which have already exceeded U.S. expectations—continue to develop in disturbing ways. In the years ahead, the challenge of adversary alignment may well be inevitable. The degree to which it surprises is not.

[xtruss]

Esperanto: The Artificial Language That Aimed To Unite Humanity

Esperanto was intended to be an easy-to-learn second language that enabled you to speak with anyone on the planet.

— February 27, 2024 | By Scotty Hendricks

Credit: Oleksii/Adobe Stock

Key Takeaways:

Esperanto is a constructed language designed to be easy to learn and use.

It was created by a Polish Ophthalmologist who dreamed of uniting the world, and his hometown.

While it has yet to reach universal adoption, it has enjoyed widespread use and official recognition at times.

The idea of a universal language dates back nearly as far as written language. The story of The Tower of Babel is predated by a 21st-century BCE Sumerian story called Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, which has similar themes. There are stories of Hermes and Brahma being behind the multitude of languages in their respective religions. Each of these stories implies that humanity spoke a single language once upon a time. And some suggest we could again.

Philosophers have spoken about the idea of a universal language. Leibniz and Descartes dreamed of a constructed language that would better express philosophical ideas. Nietzsche believed a universal language was an inevitability.

While many languages can claim to be or to have been a lingua franca over different geographical areas, none have been the “world language” that philosophers dreamed about. Most of the contenders have been existing languages. However, one of the more interesting attempts at a common tongue for the world, Esperanto, was invented specifically for that purpose.

Lingvo de la Mondo

Dr. L.L. Zamenhof, a Polish Ophthalmologist, first Created Esperanto. Born and Raised in a Multi-Ethnic Area of then Russian-Controlled Poland, Dr. Zamenhof was acutely aware of the problems caused by a lack of linguistic understanding and the barriers that it causes. He firmly believed that the distrust and violence that existed between the communities were both caused and exacerbated by a failure to communicate.

In 1887, with the aid of his wife, Dr. Zamenhof published his first Esperanto textbook, introducing his language to the world. Aiming to avoid celebrity, he signed it with the Pseudonym Doktoro Esperanto, which translates to “Dr. Hopeful.” Enthusiasts quickly decided that this was a great name. Clubs dedicated to learning other constructed languages, such as Volapük, shifted over to learning Esperanto.

Dr. Zamenhof dreamed that Esperanto would become the world’s go-to international auxiliary language. If everyone learned it as their second tongue, everyone could speak to everyone. Even better, this language, while clearly Indo-European in nature, didn’t belong to any one nation and could be learned without bringing in certain nationalist or colonialist baggage. It also doesn’t provide any undue advantages to people from one country since everyone would learn it as a second tongue.

His motivations were both practical and idealistic as he hoped to both minimize the “time and labor we spend in learning foreign tongues,” and believed that: “Were there but an international language, all translations would be made into it alone … and all nations would be united in a common brotherhood.” He was also clear in his hopes that the language would see wide day-to-day use outside of international communications.

For a while, it seemed like the language might live up to the dreams of its founder. Clubs dedicated to learning and teaching the language multiped around the world. Some areas saw a very high concentration of learners. In some parts of Europe, as many as one in eight people were reported to know Esperanto. Other estimates put those numbers lower, however. Global conventions for Esperantists began in 1905 and proved successful.

In 1908, Esperantists living in Neutral Moresnet advocated for the disputed area to be organized as the state of Amikejo, which translates to “Friendship.” While sources disagree, the organizers may have gone so far as to declare the formation of Amikejo as the first official Esperanto-speaking country. This went unrecognized, and the territory would later become part of Belgium. Other countries, such as the Republic of China, began teaching the language in schools around this time.

The progress of the language slowed during World War One. Dr. Zamenhof died of heart failure before it was over. However, the Universal Esperanto Association did stick to its idealist roots and facilitated civilian communication between warring nations by transferring letters through its headquarters in Switzerland.

Esperanto was likely closest to wide adoption in the 1920s. Many early short-wave radio stations broadcast in it, hoping to catch the ears of a world of listeners. Many countries encouraged the language, with the USSR being particularly enthusiastic about it for a time. The League of Nations, at the request of several delegations, considered a proposal that Esperanto be used in international relations. The French delegation voted against this.

However, as in many other areas world, the dizzying heights of the 1920s were followed by the rather depressing 1930s. As nationalism ramped up, those speaking an international language became targets. The Nazis denounced the language as a tool of the imagined vast international Jewish conspiracy against Germany, banned Esperanto organizations, and arrested their leaders. After the invasion of Poland, members of Dr. Zamenhof’s family were sent to concentration camps. The progress of the language was also reversed in the USSR, where more than a few of its speakers were arrested on flimsy charges, and accused of being part of an “international espionage organization.” World War II proved disastrous for a linguistic community dedicated to world peace.

The Cold War put a further damper on things, though UNESCO did grant the Universal Esperanto Association a consultative relationship and has reported favorably on the language in the past. Today, the language is still spoken by many. While it is difficult to estimate how many people speak Esperanto, Director Vilĉjo Harris of the Central Office of Esperanto-USA suggests that “the number of people who use Esperanto is as difficult to estimate as the number of people who play chess.” Existing estimates range from 100,000 to as many as 2 million. Duolingo, which offers courses in the language, shows 384,000 learners on the language selection page. Some sources suggest the number of people who studied the language at some point could be much higher.

Esperanto isn’t, and has never been, the domain of random enthusiasts, either. Famous users of the language include author Leo Tolstoy, Yugoslavian head of state Josip Borz Tito, author and professor J.R.R. Tolkien, Austrian President Franz Jonas, philosopher Rudolf Carnap, financier George Soros, and Pope John Paul II.

La Reguloj

As mentioned above, Esperanto was designed for simplicity and wide adoption. It is clearly Romanic in character. Even somebody with a casual understanding of languages will catch obvious traces of Spanish, French, and Italian, though some of it is closer to German, English, or Greek.

It is an extremely regular language. Its phonics are consistent. Its 16 grammatical rules have no exceptions. There are no irregular verbs. Word classes end in the same letter. For example, singular nouns all end with the letter “o.” New words can be easily created from old ones, so only a limited number of root words must be memorized before a person can communicate. The stress is always placed on the second to last syllable, so there is no guessing when speaking.

Between the straightforwardness of the language and its close relationship to the Romance, Germanic, and Eastern European languages, supporters of Esperanto have long argued that it can be learned quickly, perhaps in as little as a third of the time of other languages. However, Leo Tolstoy’s claims that he learned it in four hours remain unsubstantiated. Despite the advantages that speakers of European languages have in learning it, it has proven popular all over the world.

New words continue to be added to the language as needed. These changes are overseen by the Akademio de Esperanto. This group of experts keeps the language in line with the existing rules.

Aplikoj

The question that comes up the most with Esperanto is what use it might have. After all, a language is a means of communication. If there is nothing to communicate using it, then it doesn’t have much use. The number of speakers being lower than anticipated has also plagued the language from the start. Dr. Zamenhof himself tried to get people to agree to learn the language if 10 million other people made the same pledge. However, he got a mere 1,000 responses.

However, unlike many other constructed languages, Esperanto has a culture. Many books, poems, and even (reportedly terrible) films exist in the language. Despite the current lack of an Esperanto-speaking country, the community of speakers is robust. Groups dedicated to the language exist on every continent, including Antarctica. Annual global conventions dedicated to the language continue to meet. It is still possible to get a college degree in understanding the language in colleges in China, Poland, and The Netherlands.

Director Harris of Esperanto USA told Big Think that the language has made many friendships possible for him:

“I made quite a few friends of people who do not speak English well, but speak some Esperanto. These people live in various countries, and we try to understand how to get past cultural differences. As a result of these friendships, I feel like I am a world citizen.”

Some studies also suggest that it is a useful tool for learning a third language. The Paderborn method of language learning calls for students to be taught an easy foreign language in schools so they can then learn a third language more quickly. Some versions of this use Esperanto as the easy language. In one study, students who learned Esperanto for two years before learning English caught up to their peers who learned only English fairly quickly and soon surpassed them despite spending less time on it overall. This effect also exists with other languages, though some studies and authors suggest Esperanto offers certain advantages.

While the early dreams of world peace and understanding through a single auxiliary language belonging to no nation may strike many as naive today, the Esperanto movement is still strong. Even if it hasn’t managed to unite the world in a common tongue, it continues to connect people. At the end of the day, wasn’t that part of the dream?

[deepblueeyess]

13 Things I Learned in High School

*during, and post high school

[ everything that I write here is a note to myself first, before a note to anyone ]

1. The years you spent in high school doesn't and shouldn't determine your life next. Your dedication, the way you show up everyday, your will and your action does.

2. Friends are important, but not really.

Well. Controversial? maybe. But, think about it like this. If you happen to find good friends, who makes you feel happy and lead you to good things, great. Good for you then. But, what happens when you're stuck in a place full of entah naon-naon people? ha? I mean, go out there, socialize, befriend them, but set a boundary. Keep the friendships going, get those social interactions in because you don't wanna go solo in life—that's not good at all no matter how much you hate the people around you, but that's it. Guess what's so much more important than friends? Your self. Your mental health. Your well being. Your principles. The things you value. Period.

ps : It's also very unlikely you'll see them again after high school tho, so just—you know.

3. Don't, like do not ever take studying for granted, babes. Just don't. I don't think we need any further explanation here, so ya.

4. Don't break too many rules.

I myself broke way too much rules in high school, yes and please don't copy and I'm not proud of it at all, but it can't be helped ngeles aja lu gila because of some reasons I'm not really comfortable saying. Breaking rules would do no one good. To yourself? You're gonna feel guilty as hell. Your teachers? God, you're probably on their blacklist. Your friends? You will not have their respect ha-ha-ha, and they're gonna see you as nekat as well—overall, it's just not it. I'll say it again, don't break rules. You're not gonna have to obey them at all after high school tho, so just hang in there. Love <3

5. Respect all your teachers. Well. Do I have to say anything about this? Respect your teacher loves, period.

6. High school lasts for three years only! for all of us in Indo, yes.

It's not even that long. It'll only take up like, what, not even one third of your life only if your life's long tho hehe so it's really really short. If you think high school is one of the happiest moment in your life, then, know that, it's not gonna last forever. And the opposite applies as well, if to you, high school is one of your worst moment ever, know that, it doesn't last forever.

So, live your high school phase wisely!

7. It's just classmates, not life-mates.

Don't freak out! your relationship with them would end after school ends. Chill, you're not gonna be seeing them forever. It's so good for you if you think you've found one of your potential life-mate there, your potential for-life friend, but if you don't, please don't think you really should.

8. When someone doesn't understand you, it's not the end of the world.

In fact, in high school, I found numbers of people who just doesn't understand me. At all. And at times, I don't understand people too. And that's totally okay. It's life. Life happens. Not everybody should agree with one and one shouldn't agree with everyone as well.

Don't be too sad, you'll find people who will understand you. A lot. So much than you would expect.

9. Some people are born weird. Straight up. For no reason at all.

Mungkin mereka terlalu jahat, terlalu baik, terlalu gila? Terlalu naif, terlalu polos, terlalu menggelikan, terlalu licik? Terlalu brutal, terlalu sangar, atau terlalu santai? Atau terlalu sedeng, terlalu tolol, terlalu percaya diri, terlalu minder, terlalu gatel, terlalu nyolot, dan terlalu-terlalu yang lainnya? (I'm just including as many example I can supaya bisa ter-relate oleh dirimu ya).

Orang-orang memang gila. Memang aneh. Mungkin kamu akan kaget dan tidak menyangka kalau ada orang aneh di dunia ini karena tidak pernah bertemu model yang seperti itu sebelumnya, tapi ayo percayalah bahwa eksistensi makhluk aneh di muka bumi ini itu ada banyak sekali.

Also—apakah kamu kerap berteriak ke layar smartphone mu sendiri karena tidak kuat menahan tingkah laku kelewat freak seseorang dari sekolahmu? Sama. Tapi yang pasti adalah, itu semua bukan tanggung jawabmu.

Bukan salahmu mereka begitu. Bukan karena kamu. Ada atau tidak adanya kamu di dunia ini, mereka akan tetap aneh. Ada atau tidaknya kamu di hidup mereka pun, mereka akan tetap aneh. Some people are just born aneh! Period.

10. It's more temporary than you think.

Poin yang ini mungkin bunyinya rada mirip sama poin nomor enam, tapi, ini beda.

Kalau lagi berada di momen atau fase tertentu, kita kadang suka punya kecenderungan berpikir kalau itu tuh bakal selamanya. Atau paling enggak, ini tuh akan berlangsung dalam waktu yang lama sekali. Kita suka overestimate the time, the length, the duration of it. Padahal ga begitu juga harusnya. Semuanya lebih sementara dari yang kita kira. Before we know it, it ends. Oke, hal-hal buruk akan terasa lebih lama dijalani ketimbang hal-hal baik. Tapi lama bukan selamanya. Jadi, jangan memperlakukannya demikian.

In high school, if we don't really think of it as 'temporary', we'll tend to be more attached to it. To everything in it. We base our whole life worth to it, we attach our own identity to the whole high school experience itself. When we finally graduate, if we happen to love high school so much, we'll became really-really sad, and suddenly our life lost meanings. And then we ended up missing our friends so much, missing the school, the teacher, the classroom even, all the situations—and we might ended up romanticizing our past a little too much. While it's normal to miss our past, missing it 'too much' is never good. We can't hold on and cling to it forever. Yourself not growing properly as you should to because you miss high school days a lot is the last thing you want to happen. Cherish and treasure all the memories, be grateful for it, but then, let it go.

In the contrary, let's say that high school was horrible for you. But you don't really think of it and treat it as something temporary. And then you fight to death all the evilness of it (let's assume you are and this is what you're thinking of doing), you hated it so much you wanna cry. Then high school ends. What happens? Same thing. Your life lost it meanings. What are your purpose? In life? In yourself? You don't know. You don't know because you lost focus. During high school, all you're thinking is; this place is hell, goddamnit I hate it so much, It'll never get any better, I can't wait to get out of here, when you're not really doing anything! You're not taking any actions at all, really. You're just—busy thinking and feeling. Once you graduate, can you imagine how empty you're gonna feel? You'll probably be like, oh, God, it ends! It can end! But, what do I do now? What I was doing the entire time? Oh God, what a loss! Instead of being busy building a purposeful, meaningful life, I let all of this negativity took a lead of my life! No!

You don't want it, do you?

11. Pay attention in class and you'll make this world a far greater place—hehe this one might sound a little bit too exaggerated, but I do think so?

ps : I don't really know how to put it the right way, I'm really sorry if this one sounds way too vague and abstract now, I'll try to come back here and make an edit once I do find a better 'delivery' ! :-)

12. Stay true to who you are. It's never worth it to try being someone you're not in order to 'blend in'.

I personally struggled a lot in between the search of 'sense of belonging' in high school as well as having this strong desire to just be my own self, unapologetically. It was really hard to find the middle ground, so guess what I ended up doing? I choose to be myself. I let go of this feeling of wanting to belong. It took me a lot of very, very careful considerations to finally be able to decide on this. My final decisions was that, okay, perhaps I just don't belong. Straight up. This place isn't for me, but this place happen to be a part of my life path. Let's just..live it.

When I first made this clear on my head and started taking actions accordingly, I thought I would lose so many people and ended up being so lonely. And I did. But guess what also happened? I met so many like-minded people. I effortlessly attracted people with the same interest as me, a similar mindset, quite a similar hobby, beliefs, lifestyle, goals, purposes, etc. Things that I know very well I wouldn't have gotten at all if I just, you know, conform.

At the end of the day, you don't even have to conform if you don't want to. Who cares? Live your life as you please as long as you're not hurting anybody—you do you!

13. Just live! Just live it. Embrace each and every moment. Life is soo beautiful. Your journey is soo beautiful! Too beautiful to miss out on. Too beautiful to not be present at.

so that's it, 13 things that I learned in high school, even the number thirteen itself it's super philosophical because it is linked to something throughout my school experience—omg nobody asks, but,

I hope this resonates with you, I hope you find this helpful, I hope you enjoy reading this. See you!

❤️, Nadia.

[k-apme-h-salzc-a]

To be free does not simply mean to be untied or uncommitted. It is not the ‘release from’ something or disembodiedness which makes us free, but inclusion and embeddedness. The total lack of relationships causes anxiousness and worry. The Indo-European root ‘fri,’ from which terms such as ‘free,’ 'peace’ or 'quietude’ [in German, 'Friede’], and 'friend’ are derived, means 'to love.’ Thus, 'free’ originally meant 'pertaining to friends or loved ones.’ One feels free in relationships of love and friendship. It is not the absence of ties, but ties themselves which set us free. Freedom is a word which pertains to relations par excellence. Without 'hold’ there is no freedom.

— Byung-Chul Han, The Scent of Time, Polity, 2017, p. 31.

[siriusblack-the-third]

Comfort movies

Tagged by the adorable @strwbi-laces !

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara: one of my Absolute Favourites of All Time. I will sit down and watch every day if given the chance. It's about the trials of friendship, life, career and self growth, and it's a literal gem.

3 Idiots: also one of the Absolute Favourites of All Time. I love literally everything about this one. It addresses the problems with the colossal expectations of the Indian education system and how it leads to the destruction of the mental health of students.

Taare Zameen Par: I always cry whenever I watch this movie, every time. The third- and last- one of my Absolute Favourites. The highlighting of dyslexia and the way society treats it is so relatable and real; that's what makes me love it so much.

Coco: Yes, the animated movie. There is so much about this movie that I love, it's honestly so amazing. I don't think I need to say much about it.

Bajirao Mastani: it's my comfort film because of the fashion, the set, the songs, etc. Basically, I love it for the artistic direction. My favourite character is Kashibai, obv.

Raazi: Gods I love this one. I've been trying to get the book this was inspired by— Calling Sehmat— for such a long time. I hope I get it this year. The story follows a 19yo girl turned spy for India during the Indo Pak war, and it's so riveting. 10/10 always recommend.

Moana: legit most of the non-Bollywood films on here are gonna be animated lol. But Moana is just so so dear to my heart, and if it gets a sequel, it had better be as awesome as Frozen 2 was, which brings us to..

The Frozen Franchise: all of it. Songs, plot, characters, the effort they put into the animation. Just. All of it.

Faster Fene: this is a Marathi film. A murder mystery/thriller that deals with the corruption in the Education system of India. The main character is just so smart (and he's one of my favourite Marathi actors) and everything comes together so well. In love with this one.

Legally Blonde: I would never, ever leave out the most iconic feminist film of all time. Elle Woods is who I aspire to be. Uhh.. with a little less pink. I have nothing against pink— in fact, I quite like it— it's just that my favourite colour is blue

I don't watch many movies, but yeah, here's my top 10, in no particular order. Tagging my darling, awesome @padfootastic and anyone else who wants to!

[coollovelost]

Desabafo 8

… Me parte o coração muitas coisas. Uma delas e ver a confiança de uma pessoa indo embora. Quem dirá, duas ou três pessoas que você considerava muito. Posso até tentar relevar e tentar ver como uma coisa que acontece em nossas vidas. Mas para quem vê essas pessoas como Porto Seguro, não, não é fácil. Cometi alguns erros, reconheço esses erros, deixei meu ponto de vista ao olhar de todo mundo ao meu redor, expus meus sentimentos para pessoas, que hoje eu sei que não devo confiar, senti coisas que não gosto de sentir e que são unicamente meus demônios que as vezes falam mais alto que eu mesmo. Um deles é o medo de se sentir sozinho. Outro deles é a sentimento de exclusão. E além desses dois, ainda tem um outro muito bem escondido que é a loucura de achar que todos ao meu redor estão falando de mim. O que me deixa extremamente chateado é ver que pessoas que viveram comigo por anos, não conseguiram ver isso, e simplesmente se pegaram acreditando em uma ideia completamente contraditória do que realmente aconteceu. - Bom, uma hora ou outra vamos percebendo quem é quem, e cabe a nós abrirmos o olho, ou aceitar uma ideologia controvérsia de amizade.

(...)

I don’t know what is going trough their minds, but I just don’t get it. Let me say everything that happened from the beginning.

First part, I called a guy from Brazil to live with us. When we was talking about a lot of things day by day, he was texting me things like “just friends” don’t do. I started to feed this feeling inside me more and more. Than he got here, we agreed to share my queen size bed, so would be cheaper to split the rent with my others 2 friends in the apartment. So, we were living like that, and that was a night we had something. It was his hand and my hand coming together, cuddling each other, sleeping like a couple as my understanding. So I felt some erection, yes, because it was me and him laying on bed together. This episode repeated for some nights, and there was a day I just asked him what was happening between us. He told me we were just friends. I asked him, but friends don’t sleep and don’t do the things we’re doing here. And he came saying he had some friends in Brazil who did the same thing with him, and that was normal. At that point I told him; JUST BE IN MY POSITION, to feel how I feel. Being cuddled by a guy that I have feelings for, and the guy saying that we are just friends and the things we done at night it’s not more than friendship. C’mon. (...) So after this we decided to not do this anymore, and start to be real real friends. 1 week later we just did the same thing, and I regret, deeply in my heart. Cause if I didn’t have done that again, now I would have my peace of mind, not a disturbing one.  So, We went to NYC together and we really had a good time there. For everybody that I know, they came to me asking how was NYC because is was their dream going there. Me, particularly, I didn’t love, I just liked. Not even this I think, cause everything is too expensive, I felt unsecured a lot, and the streets has a lot of trash and mouses. Yes. The central park is beautiful, the Empire state, gorgeous. The Brooklyn Bridge, perfect. But these are the main points for the tourists, so  of course I will feel very good being there. But talking about city, I just liked. So when the people nearby me asked about how was the tryp because they wanted to go there as well, I said it was perfect and that I loved. I would not say bad things for those who wanted so badly go there. In NCY, it was my birthday, so me and him hung out that night and we got too drunk. Really drunk. When we got at the hotel, we went to sleep cause we had to wake up early to take the flight, so we did that. Well, after we fell asleep, I woke up with his hand touching my parts, wanting to do things, like sex and everything else. Did I go further with that? Of course I did. Yes, being the stupid one once again. But before that specific thing happened, I went back on my decision and I told him we were just friends and we should stop. We helped each other baiting. Yes. But it was just that and we went to sleep. All this happen in NYC.

Second part, After we came back from the tryp, the things were weird, but we were just faking everything was good and nothing happened. I got really sad, because I was feeling alone more than ever, and I was missing that “thing” that we were having for months. As I was really sad, I always went to friends next to me to blurt out about everything that was going on between me and him. So I went to Patty and Edward, two friends from work to talk about him. And for me that was ok. I just didn’t know that in the next months, these people would say everything to him. It was a mess. In the next one I will tell you.

I knew. Deeply inside, that I just had to fix this feeling inside me before moving on in my life.

[marwahstudios]

ICMEI Congratulates Ambassador of Algeria on Independence Day

New York: The International Chamber of Media and Entertainment Industry (ICMEI) extends its heartiest congratulations to His Excellency Dr. Ali Achoui, Ambassador of Algeria to India, and to the people of Algeria on the occasion of their Independence Day, which is celebrated on July 5th.

In his message, Dr. Sandeep Marwah, President of ICMEI and founder of the Indo Algeria Film and Cultural Forum, expressed his warm regards and best wishes to the Ambassador and the Algerian nation. He highlighted the strong cultural and diplomatic ties between India and Algeria, emphasizing the importance of such commemorations in strengthening bilateral relations.

Dr. Marwah praised the historical significance of Algeria’s Independence Day, marking the country’s liberation from colonial rule in 1962. He acknowledged the resilience and determination of the Algerian people in their struggle for freedom, drawing parallels with India’s own history of independence.

The Indo Algeria Film and Cultural Forum, under the aegis of ICMEI, has been instrumental in fostering cultural exchange and collaboration between the two nations. Dr. Marwah reiterated the forum’s commitment to promoting cultural diversity and mutual understanding through various initiatives and events.

“We look forward to further enhancing our partnership with Algeria in the realms of media, entertainment, and culture,” said Dr. Marwah. “Such celebrations not only honor our past but also inspire us to work together for a brighter future.”

The ICMEI continues to play a pivotal role in bridging cultural gaps and creating opportunities for creative and artistic collaborations on an international scale. The congratulatory message to the Ambassador and the people of Algeria is a testament to the enduring friendship and cooperation between India and Algeria.

[tfgadgets]

White House Says US, India Share Unique Bond Of Friendship

Washington: As the world’s two oldest and largest democracies, the United States and India share a unique bond of friendship and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s visit will further deepen the partnership to create a safer and more prosperous Indo-Pacific, the White House has said. Sullivan is visiting New Delhi from June 17 to 18, in the first trip to India by a senior Biden…

[ainews]

Scientists have recently discovered that dynamos, machines that generate electricity, were actually used in the ancient Mithraistic religion to symbolize the power of their deity, Mithras. This revelation has sparked interest and debate amongst both historians and fantasy enthusiasts alike.

To understand the connection between dynamos and Mithraism, one must first understand the beliefs and practices of this mysterious cult. Mithraism was a popular religion in the Roman world that worshiped the Indo-Iranian deity Mithras as the god of friendship, contract, and order. Their rituals and beliefs were shrouded in secrecy, with only select members having knowledge of the inner workings of the cult.

One of the key aspects of Mithraism was the concept of the sun god, commonly depicted as a bull-slaying deity. This symbolism ties in with the use of dynamos, which generated electricity and light, often associated with the power of the sun. Mithraic followers believed that through their worship, they could harness the energy and power of Mithras, just as dynamos harnessed the energy of electricity.

But the use of dynamos in Mithraism goes beyond just symbolism. In many Mithraic temples, there were underground chambers known as "cavea", where initiates would gather for their rituals. These cavea were often adorned with intricate mosaics and paintings, depicting scenes of stars, constellations, and other celestial bodies. It is believed that these cavea were also used to generate electricity, using dynamos to power lights and other devices needed for the rituals.

The connection between dynamos and Mithraism has also sparked the imagination of fantasy enthusiasts. Dynamos are often associated with futuristic technology and advancements, making them a popular element in science fiction and fantasy writings. Some have speculated that Mithraic followers may have possessed advanced knowledge and technology, using dynamos to power devices and create a sense of wonder and mystery among their followers.

But perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this discovery is the connection to fantasy creatures, specifically porpoises and griffins. In Mithraic art and imagery, these creatures were often depicted alongside Mithras, symbolizing the balance between the earth and the heavens. It is believed that the use of dynamos in Mithraic rituals not only represented the power of Mithras, but also connected the earthly realm with the realm of fantasy, creating a sense of wonder and awe among followers.

In conclusion, the discovery that dynamos were used in Mithraism sheds new light on the practices and beliefs of this mysterious cult. It not only reveals a deeper understanding of their symbolism and rituals, but also connects them to the realms of fantasy and advanced technology. The use of dynamos in Mithraism may have been a way to convey the power and wonder of their deity, Mithras, and continues to intrigue and captivate us to this day.

[thxnews]

US-Mongolia Ties Strengthen in Recent Meetings

In a world that often seems smaller by the day, the enduring partnership between the United States and Mongolia stands out, especially following Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell's recent meeting with Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai in Ulaanbaatar on March 22. This engagement underlines the mutual respect and cooperative spirit that characterizes the relations between these two Indo-Pacific democracies.   A Strategic Partnership Blossoms Nestled in the vastness of the Eurasian steppe, Mongolia has emerged as a key player in the Indo-Pacific theater, not just geographically but also as a beacon of democratic values. The meeting between Campbell and Oyun-Erdene was not merely a diplomatic formality but a testament to the deepening political, economic, and societal ties that bind these two nations. The dialogue touched on a plethora of bilateral, regional, and global issues, with Campbell highlighting the United States' commitment to investing in the relationship. Noteworthy mentions included the $462 million Millennium Challenge Corporation water compact and the $900,000 assistance from USAID to communities hit hard by severe winter weather.   Economic and Technological Cooperation The discussions underscored a shared vision for economic growth and technological advancement. The United States' investment in Mongolia's future is evident through development projects and assistance programs focusing on sectors critical to both countries' future prosperity, including space, critical minerals supply chains, and renewable energy solutions. Campbell's visit, marked by meetings with Mongolian dignitaries and roundtables with tech executives, further emphasized the strategic importance of the US-Mongolia partnership. His visit to a woman-owned cashmere factory, supported by a significant loan from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, showcased the tangible benefits of this cooperation for Mongolian businesses and communities.   Educational Endeavors and Cultural Exchange A cornerstone of the US-Mongolia partnership is the emphasis on educational and cultural exchanges. The robust support for English-language instruction and capacity building in Mongolia reflects a commitment to not only strengthen communication but also to enrich the professional and personal development of Mongolian citizens. These educational initiatives serve as a bridge between cultures, fostering mutual understanding and respect.   The Road Ahead The Deputy Secretary’s visit underscores the Strategic Third Neighbor Partnership's vitality and the friendship between the American and Mongolian people. With recent developments highlighting Mongolia's strategic significance and the focus on continued collaboration across various domains, the future of US-Mongolia relations looks promising. As both nations look to maintain regular high-level visits and convene the next Annual Bilateral Consultations in Ulaanbaatar in 2024, the foundation laid by these discussions will undoubtedly bolster the partnership. The strategic, economic, and cultural collaborations between the United States and Mongolia are not just beneficial to both countries; they contribute to the stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.   Sources: THX News, U.S. Embassy in Mongolia, Wikipedia & US Department of State. Read the full article