Every afternoon

Tags

history, Potsdam, Prussia, reconstruction, steuben, USA

Almost every afternoon we have visitors around 2pm for coffee and some baked goods for conversations, Will enjoys it and it is nice to see people on this regular basis, we could not do the Xmas season parties, so this is the next best thing, it’s good for his morale.

Well another warmish early Spring like day in the middle of what should be Winter. The lack of snow is starting to look very strange and foreboding, climate change can certainly be dangerous if you think of the future. A month from now PEI is hosting the Canada Winter Games, I believe that we will have snow by then, I hope but this does not look good at all.

Continuing to look at various architectural sites in Germany on reconstruction of cities the way they were prior to 1939 and the destruction of the war. By the way, Russia did the same thing in St-Petersburg and so has Austria, Poland and Hungary. I remember visiting sites where nothing remained and in Warsaw they resurrected the old town including the Royal Palace and many parks and other palaces and churches.

All of these countries had communist government under the boot of the Soviet Union and all had an ideology of erasing the past as inappropriate for the new man and the communist age. Often coming up with very ugly dehumanizing architecture of concrete and cement done very cheaply.

One city which has seen its centre resurrected is Potsdam, the secret royal capital of Prussia, where the kings lived and governed, Berlin was more for pomp, ceremony and administration. Frederick II the Great did not like Berlin or Berliners much and this is why he lived mostly in Potsdam.

I visited Potsdam several times between 1998 and 2011, each time the city changed. At first it was to see the progressive baroque reconstruction of the palaces and private mansions many of which were in a distinctive Palladian style. Most of the important work was done in the Royal Park where the palace of Sans Souci and the New Palace are located including all the many pavilions, chinoiserie so in fashion in the 18th century. Later it was to see the transformation around the old market place which is still under construction.

One building which was taken down 3 years ago was the faculty of the University of Potsdam housing the economic department. Very ugly building and derelict, the last time I was in the building it was empty and about to close, only a small tourism office was left. The building was demolished and now the buildings of the 18th century who existed on that spot until 1939 are being rebuilt to match architecturally the City Palace across the street, the St-Nicholas Lutheran Church, the old city hall with Atlas on the roof, and the Barberini Palace museum. The plan is eventually to recreate as much of old Potsdam and pushing the old communist building out.

The building being rebuilt have the old facade of the 18th century but the insides is modern to meet requirements of today.

Here is a glimpse of the centre of Potsdam, with the dome of St-Nicholas, the City Palace in pink now use as the parliament of the province of Brandenburg, to the left of the church the roof of the old City hall with the golden statue of Atlas on the roof and next on the left of the City Palace is the rebuilt Barberini Palace now an art museum. Under construction is the quarter which is a series of buildings waiting for their baroque facade to be added on this year.

A view from the steps of the old City Hall

When I first came to Potsdam, none of what you see in this photo existed, it was still a field of ruins leftover from the war in 1945. A very sad looking perspective. The obelisk was damage and the colonnade of the church still needed repair. Prince Charles was involved at the beginning with the reconstruction effort through his interest in architecture.

Finally here is a picture of the faculty building of the Univ of Potsdam which was demolished to make way for the reconstruction going on now. This picture was taken at the time when the City Palace was being rebuilt.

Also in the future the statue of Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben a Prussian army officer who served as inspector general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He taught the Continental Army the essentials of military drill and discipline, helping to guide it to victory. His statue will be moved to the square named after him next to the city palace.

US Marines and Me

Tags

Cheese, diplomatic, Marine Corps, parmesan, Poland, USA, Warsaw

Years ago we were invited to the USA Embassy in Warsaw for the US Marines Ball. This is a big affair and is organized by the US Marine Corps stationed at USA Embassies each year. Each USA Embassy has a number of Marines present to ensure security inside the building. In Poland the diplomatic corps would be invited to this ball and dinner and it was lavish in terms of the food and the evening itself, I wore black tie but all the Military Attachés wore ceremonial dress.

I forget where this event was held, probably at the Marriott Hotel. The food was spectacular and truly 5 stars. At the reception before the dinner young marines, I think they were 18 served guests and they were very formal and polite in a rather sharp Marine way. There was this huge wheel of Parmesan Cheese, the wheel had a diameter of 4 feet and was 17 inches thick. It had been imported for the evening from Italy. There was quite a lot of canapés served before dinner and you had to pace yourself simply to be able to get through the meal. Everything was paired wine and food. We could take a good piece of parmesan which had been roughly cut to have with your glass of wine. It was very good and since I do enjoy eating good Parmesan that way.

The evening is hosted each year by the Marine Corps on the date of their creation as a military unit. So there are lots of speeches etc about the USA and the glory of the Corps. One element which I cannot forget and appeared very strange to me, all marines had to have a girlfriend as an escort. No such thing as a single marine and she had to be American. We were in Poland so it is not customary for Marines to bring girlfriends on assignments. It transpired when speaking with their commanding officer that the girlfriends were brought over from the USA for this evening. It was very artificial and strange, it was obvious that these young ladies were there for the purpose of presenting a heterosexual image of the Corps. Now I was told that the US taxpayer does not cover the expense of this Dinner/Ball but the Marines do. It was a fun evening if a bit stiff but then a lot of diplomatic functions are.

Another day

Tags

Belle River PEI, Canada, January 06, lunch, Ottawa, Parliament, Summer, USA

I have been watching on You Tube the testimony of various people involved in the January 06 attack on the Capitol. This is like a terrible car crash with dead bodies and blood, you are attracted to it and you cannot get away. Absolutely awful and very worrying in the context of what is happening around the world at the moment. As one well known commentator put it the other night, “we cannot allow Russia to win this war, the consequence for the world would be too awful.” I agree with him, Russia wins, we all loose and in a major way, not just militarily but economically and we see it already with inflation, oil prices, etc. Russia will not stop at Ukraine, the long term plan is to reconquer other former satellites of the Soviet Union. China will be embolden to attack Taiwan and make chaos in Asia, it would also be a victory for North Korea. This is not a joke, we are in very deep trouble and then Climate Change and Covid which is endemic now. I remain despite it all an optimist, I truly believe that things will sort themselves out.

Today we travelled 40 minutes out of town to Belle River, its a settlement on the coast where the Belle Rivière as it was known before 1755 was called. A friend of ours has an old farm house, so we visited him and we brought lunch with us. Given the 25 C sunny weather today it was a Summer lunch of cold chicken and Will’s own Cesar salad which is the authentic version. Our friend’s house is full of wonderful books, music and architectural drawings of ancient classical temple in Rome, a very comfortable house. It was nice to get away from the noise of Charlottetown. We are a week away from Summer vacation time and 2 weeks from our National Day, the traffic in the city is getting worse and the number of tourists rises every day, not fun.

The drive out is quiet, few cars if any on the Hwy 1 once you pass the town of Stratford.

So yesterday I came upon this photo of the Centre Block of Parliament in Ottawa. The 3 Parliamentary buildings on the Hill are under renovations until at least 2027 maybe later and the cost is currently around $ 3 billion CDN dollars. Nothing has been done in terms of maintenance since 1917 when the Centre Block was built, the last time I was in the building about 4 years ago before it was closed down, the electrical system was failing and only part of the building had working lights. Both the House of Commons and the Senate have moved out while this massive work is underway. The Senate is across the street in the old railway station which was completely renovated at a cost of $600 million and the House of Commons is in the West block which can be seen in the far left corner of the photo. It too was completely renovated at a cost of $500 million. Democracy is not cheap!

The photo shows a deep trench in front of the Centre Block, the Parliament Hill is solid rock, part of the Canadian Shield, so to achieve this, all the rock had to be blown up and removed. What is going in there? I really do not know, I remember hearing it would be a visitor centre and possibly a television media room for the broadcast of Parliamentary daily debates and other legislative work. Looks impressive, I would say this trench is at least 50 feet deep.

On a cold but sunny Friday

Tags

Canada, covid, Food, Russia, Sicily, Spring, Ukraine, USA, Wine

We are in mid-January and typically the weather is very cold. I had my booster shot 3 days ago and all is well, no after effects. So now I am all boosted and frankly Covid is no longer my priority. I lived in too many countries where many awful diseases where endemic and my vaccinations protected me. So time to move along.

The weather has been cold, frigid, the Hillsborough river is now frozen. We are in a lockdown but the number of sick people has been dropping every day. Yes those who are sick are unvaccinated and maybe you will think me callous or unfeeling but I really do not care about them, it has been 2 years, plenty of time to do the right thing. Everyday we have 100 + spot for vaccination available on PEI so if you want a shot it is very easy to get and takes about 6 minutes. Someone I know yesterday was shopping and stopped at the Pharmacy enquired about a vaccine and got it on the spot. Could it be easier?

I have joined those who are fully vaccinated and feel they should be allowed to go about their lives and not have to worry about the Covidiots who sit there and complain.

So we are more or less confined to our homes, though you can shop for groceries and pick up at the restaurant, but that is not civilized living. On the other hand we have had some pretty marvellous meals at home thanks to Will.

I was thinking this week, that if one day I was to travel again I would love to return to Granada to see the Alhambra palace and the gardens again. What a stunning place it was, and to think it was built 1000 years ago, a marvel. Portugal would be another place I would like to visit again. We had a very nice visit to Lisbon a few years ago. Then Sicily, such an ancient place, beautiful Marsala, Trapani, Monreale, Ragusa, Catania on the slope of Mount Etna. The food in Sicily is a completely different cuisine from Italy, due to centuries of Spanish, Normand and Arab influences. The wines are also of great quality with all that volcanic soil.

I would like a month long trip, not a week or a few days, which is good if you are young and must get back. On the other hand I have cooled to cruises, the food is usually just ok despite what you are told, the rooms on board are nice but I never found them as comfortable as an hotel room. Frankly the crowds on ships despite being on smaller ships get to me. I think that I would like some really good food and service, something you do not come across much these days despite high prices. However if one travels now there are all these tests and complications mass confusion at the airport, not to mention the crazy travellers.

Catania and Mount Etna

Well on 1 February we will see if the sanctions come off and if life returns to a more normal pace, let’s hope so.

But then Blinken meets Lavrov to talk about the Ukraine, what they are really talking about is not so much a possible invasion as let’s not use any nuclear weapons, negotiating a complicated ballet. Would be inexcusable to blow up the planet over the Ukraine. If there is an invasion by Russia, the only likely response will be severe or more severe economic sanctions. Europe may not follow because their economy would suffer, China will help Russia in any way they can, Iran also will be part of the underhanded help. I love to listen to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, so calm and worldly, he knows his stuff and will not be perturbed, Blinken looks unsure and nervous.

As for Canada in all this, well our Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, a nice person and well educated but way over her head. Canada can do nothing in this conflict we are irrelevant, even with our gift of $120 million to help Ukraine, chump change really. Our Armed forces leadership has been decapitated with a series of well timed alleged sexual peccadillos. Our army is short 12,000 men, ill equipped, no air force to speak of and no navy, all this due to decades of cut backs on military spending. So I so not think that Russia is too worried about us.

How many days til Spring? 58 Days! Seems like an eternity.

Lots to do today

Tags

Acadia, Canada, Capitol, France, life, Maritimes, Revolution, USA

I had to get up early today at 07:30am which is somewhat like the middle of the night for me. Usually I am a Crack of Noon riser which is the civilized time for retired folks like me.

So at 9:30am I had to be at the Club for the Thursday morning Coffee and Conversation program, today we had an Acadian historian Georges Arsenault, O.C., O.P.E.I whose family has been living on PEI since 1700. He is also an author and has written much about Acadian life and history on the Island. He also has a voluminous collection of old photos of Acadian Life on the Island dating back to 1860. He showed us many old photos of Acadian families and explained traditions in the period 1860 to 1950. It was fascinating, he had wedding photos dating from prior to 1946. How the common people lived if compared to high society, there was a stark difference. Brides has no wedding dress, they simply wore their Sunday best and so did the groom. Only people with money did the fashionable weddings the way we think of them today. The food prepared and served at weddings was also very different from today. Essentially the wedding would take place in Church at 7:30am and then the family would return home for breakfast at 9:00am. Back then Roman Catholics, Acadians are all R.C. , were not allowed to have food before Mass. Everyone was in their Sunday best and all of it took place in the Kitchen including the square dancing. What Acadians call in French souper (Supper) took place at Noon and both meals were offered by the Bride and her parents in their home. The Dinner at night around 6pm moved to the Groom’s parents home for more square dancing and food and of course Whiskey and Island Gin at 50 proof. That’s the Gin I buy for my Island friends, they do not want the English stuff at 40 Proof. The most important element of a successful wedding meal during the day was the desserts and sweets, some families could offer over 30 different types of sweets not including the Wedding Cake which was white and baked usually in the village by a woman who was known for her cakes and hired for that day. Which reminded me of my great Aunt Marie-Ange in Charlesbourg near Quebec City who was known at Christmas for her desserts and sweets.

The family photos are also interesting, most taken outdoors for the light in an age when no flash existed. Women in Acadian fashion have their heads covered by a bonnet or large scarf, custom being that only unmarried maidens could show their hair. Families were also large on average 12 kids and many upwards of 19 kids, all living under one roof in small farm houses. One wonders how they did it. It is only again after 1946 that people start having small families of 2 or 3 children.

After the talk, I went to my barber Jared who is a very nice person and great to chat with, we talked about what had happened the previous day in Washington D.C. at the Capitol building. He was working so could not watch television and was being told by his customers what was happening, he was in disbelief like I was and many other people. Though he remarked and I agree, we could see all this coming and were bracing for it. How come the Capitol Police did not prepare, were they over confident? I watch it all and was sickened by it, how can the symbol of a democracy be attacked like that by a mob which looked like Duck Dynasty. Ignorance on parade, truly sad. I was wondering if the Ceausescu solution could not be applied to Trump and his family, worked in Romania in 1989. What I fear like a lot of people is a possible return of another Trump type in 4 years, populist but more intelligent and cunning. Is the USA sliding into authoritarianism, it could happen after all 75 million Americans voted for him, hopefully not and the world will move on.

Afterwards I went to the Service Canada Office which provides info and registration for all Federal Government Programs, one stop shopping. This was instituted some 8 years ago by the Canadian Government. I was having some problem online with an application and could not get anyone at their 1-800 number unless you are willing to wait an hour or more on hold. So I simply went down to the Office and saw an Officer in 5 minutes. She answered my questions and all appears all right, I am much relieved.

Today is 19 November

Tags

Canada, Christmas, Covid 19, Holiday, life, Music, PEI, politicians, USA

I had to go to an early appointment today and then to the pharmacy. Everyone as mandated by the Provincial Government of PEI is wearing their face mask, no fuss, no must. Happy to see that degree of cooperation.

While waiting to speak with the pharmacist I heard that music, you know it is mandatory to play that music at this time of the year to apparently get us in the mood. Bing Crosby and Burl Ives, yes Christmas music from the 1940 and 1950’s, it is nice of course if for no other reason that it is historical and belongs to a long ago age when things in retrospect appear more genteel.

The music expresses a more relaxed happier time none of the stress of post-modern living and other concerns like identity politics, erase culture, PC speak in our unraveling ultra consumer society, split in two by extreme partisan views in Canada like in the USA.

Was the world ever like that? Not really, other times, other worries. The media is already painting as they do each year the Holiday Season as extremely stressful and full of danger including of course this year the pandemic concerns and people behaving like spoiled kids who can’t control themselves and be mature. Horror of horrors there will be NO Santa this year in shopping malls, the world is coming to an end. The solution, Virtual Santa and you can schedule a visit via Zoom. I honestly have to say I cannot remember as a child going to sit on Old Santa’s knee, maybe once at Eaton’s in Montreal when I was 4 or 5 years old. Santa for us was more a mythical person, you did not see him, he simply came in the night when you were sleeping.

In the last 5 years or so of living here, one point of discussion that comes back daily is mental health, if you listen to the media you would be forgiven if you believed every one on the Island suffered from some kind of mental health problem. It is a non stop discussion, not enough support. There is a real split between the Capital and the countryside, yes there is more services in Charlottetown and less so out in rural areas which represent 98% of the Island, however being a small Island the further away from a medical centre is about 45 minutes. We have 2 psychologists for 150K population, we have social workers and counselling services but it seems that it is insufficient.

A troubling statistic, PEI has 50% more drunk drivers than the entire National Canadian average, given that you have to drive everywhere on the Island, since there is no public transport, the police cannot explain the spike in the last 9 months of the pandemic. We also consume a lot of drugs on the Island more so than anywhere else in Canada by a country mile. Which leads to a lot of serious accidents. A darker side of PEI not mentioned in the tourism brochures.

Finally one statistic that truly shocked me yesterday, listening to the PBS NewsHour, I have been listening to it for at least 40 years, love the presentation and the reporting. It was mentioned that 250,000 Americans had died of Covid 19, an extremely sad statistic, another 11 million are sick, it did not need to happen, it could have been prevented but politicians clearly dropped the ball on this one. In comparison the events in NYC at the World Trade Centre in September 11, 2001 seem despite the horror of that day, pale. I cannot understand how this can be and how some State Governors, Republican Senators and the out-going President wash their hands of it all, call it criminal stupidity.

In Canada 11,000 Canadians have died so far and 300k are sick and this in the most populous Provinces like Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and now Manitoba. Here conservative politicians are far more concerned with businesses than average citizens. As someone pointed out, you cannot have a business with dead customers, unless of course you are in the Funeral business.

A new book

Tags

Biden, biography, Enlightenment, Frederick the Great, President, Prussia, Rousseau, USA

First I want to show you this photo published on a friend’s account of President Elect Joe Biden and his spouse and their 2 dogs Champ and Major who is a rescue dog. I really liked Biden as VP during the Obama Presidency. It is also good for Canada to have such a neighbour. PM Trudeau already has a good relationship with Biden and we think of it as the third Obama term.

I am always looking for new titles and new books that might be interesting to read. I always like to have a look first, read a few pages so I can have a feel for the book. The current book I am reading now I first heard of it by going to the Princeton Press where it was advertised as coming out in the Fall. The Writings of Frederick II the Great is edited by Avi Lifschitz and translated by Angela Scholar,

Frederick II The Great of Prussia, 1712-1786. Born in Berlin, died at Sans Souci, Potsdam.

I do love to read historical research and biographies it can be somewhat erudite at times but I enjoy it, always have. To give an example a few years ago I spotted a book on Roman Aqueducts and Water Supply in the ancient world. Since some of these aqueducts still work today and give excellent clean drinking water, I wanted to learn more about how they were built and maintained. I also read the book of Giles MacDonogh, Frederick the Great, published in 1999.

This current book is entitled Frederick the great’s Philosophical Writings, covering a range of topics he wrote about. As a young Prince age 16 and then as King of Prussia he wrote a lot on philosophy, he also wrote poetry, entertained a lively correspondence with many Enlightenment Age philosophers, Rousseau, Voltaire, D’Alembert and he also wrote 100 music compositions and performed at his Court for his friends. The simple fact that as a head of State he wrote by his own hand and did not ask an eminent person to ghost write for him was in 18 century Europe a eyebrow raising novelty, no other prince or King did that and many other Heads of State thought this very peculiar. Thing is that Frederick’s mother Sophia Dorothea of Hanover encouraged him and he received a very good education for his time. On the other hand his father King Frederick Wilhelm I, was alarmed by this type of enlightened education.

Some of the concepts he developed was based on his own personal beliefs. He wrote on the limits of the powers of the State in an age of absolute monarchies. He abolished torture and reform the bureaucracy, he allowed non-nobles to rise up to senior positions, implemented basic education for all. He loved sciences and invited many scientists to come and work in Prussia. He favoured religious tolerance, unlike his father who was a strict Calvinist, Frederick was a sceptic on religion. He invited persecuted French Huguenots to come to Prussia. He also believed in trade and what we call today globalism, to him this was a way to achieve ‘‘luxury’‘ for the people or a higher standard of living. Many of his ideas would be adopted by the Founding Fathers of the USA. He was amongst the first King in Europe to recognize the new Republic and in 1783 signed a treaty with the USA, one clause was about the humane treatment of war prisoners, again a first for the age.

Frederick died aged 74 in 1786 and his reputation as philosopher King started to change after 1860 for political reasons and to advance the new political reality under Chancellor Bismarck. Instead of Frederick the enlighten ruler, we get Frederick the war monger. His reputation is further tarnished by the Nazis and Hitler who offer a completely different narrative more fiction than reality, based entirely on the various conflicts during his reign. It is true that Frederick was a brilliant strategist and had a very well trained army. In Prussia the ratio was one soldier for 4 citizens in a Kingdom with a population of 2.5 million people. French statesman Count Mirabeau, famously said that Prussia was not a country with an army but an army with a country.

Books I have been reading

Tags

Family, life, Russia, Stalin, USA, USSR

Well it is  time for another instalment about books I am reading. The latest is the new Biography written by fellow Montrealer Rosemary Sullivan, winner of several prestigious literary awards, on the life of Svetlana Iosifovna Stalina (1926-2011) know later in life by the family name of her late mother, Alliluyeva and when she became an American citizen as Lana Peters. The book is entitled Stalin’s Daughter.

She had brothers, one, Yakov Dzhugashvili (1907-1943) died at Sachsenhausen during the Second World War in a POW camp for famous prisoners. He was the first born son of Stalin and his first wife. Yakov spoke more Georgian than Russian and it is said that Stalin did not like him much. Her other brother was Vasili Stalin (1921-1962) Lieutenant General in the Soviet Air Force, a drunk who died of acute alcoholism. She also had another brother  by adoption Artyom Fyodorovich Sergeyev ( 1921-2008) the adopted son of Joseph Stalin. He became a major general in the Soviet military. Sergeyev’s biological father, Fyodor Sergeyev, a close friend of Stalin, died in a train crash in 1921.

Svetlana had a strange and sad life, she was known in Soviet Elite Circles as the Princess of the Kremlin. When her mother Nadezhda Sergeevna Alliluyeva committed suicide by gunshot at the age of 31 after a party in the Kremlin in 1932, Svetlana was a child of 6 yrs old. Her world went from a carefree childhood to one of harrowing unexplained events punctuated by the disappearance of uncles and aunts and other relatives. Svetlana was physically isolated within the Kremlin and saw her father only occasionally and being followed and guarded by the Secret Police. Because of her isolation she was unaware of the cruelty of her father’s regime. Only at the age of 11 she noticed that schoolmates also disappeared or heard of their parents being arrested by the Secret Police. Later at the age of 14 while learning English and having access to American and British magazine she discovered by accident an article claiming that her mother had shot herself and not died of acute appendicitis as claimed in Official Soviet version of her death. This caused her severe emotional distress. At the age of 16 she started to understand that those who had disappeared in her family had been shot on her father’s orders because he blamed them for his wife’s suicide instead of looking at his own sordid behaviour.

Stalin was cruel, vindictive, a misogynist  and distrusted everyone, always seeing conspiracies against him, always testing people, one wrong word could be a death sentence. Svetlana became afraid and careful of what she said around her father when she saw him. He in turn could be nasty, as he had been with his late wife, full of put downs and negative criticism.

The book also gives us a description of how the elite who all lived together in the old Imperial Senate building of the Kremlin, lived on a daily basis. Children had governesses, tutors, private health care and the best of everything. Wives of party officials and the family members of Stalin had access to all manners of foreign luxury goods, even in times of famine everywhere in the Soviet Union, they had access to the best food and wines. Their lives where like that of the Bourgeoisie before the Revolution.  There was also the Datcha’s ( luxury homes) outside Moscow and other old Tsarist Palaces in the Crimea on the Black Sea. Chauffeured limousine, private trains and planes. Still her life was restricted to Moscow and the surrounding countryside. She would not visit Leningrad (St-Petersburg) until adulthood after her father’s death.

A series of fresh crisis erupted with the death of her father in March 1953, the power struggle and the physical elimination of people like Lavrenti Beria who was the head of the Secret Service and managed the million of executions of so called enemies of the people. Svetlana finds herself in a difficult situation, the Central committee declares that as the daughter of the late Stalin, she is State Property and her life is managed by the new leadership. She withdraws from public view and in March 1956 with the widespread publication of Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev speech on Stalin’s crimes, she no longer dares go out in public, so afraid of the people’s loathing. She decides to change her name to her late’s mother family name, but this creates more problems for her. This is how kafkaesque the world of the Soviet Union was.

The book goes through her marriages both in the USSR and in the USA where she became an American citizen. Her famous defection in 1967 to the USA while in India to bury her husband Brajesh Singh. The publication of her first book Twenty letters to a Friend. Her 3 children, Joseph (1945-2008) Katya (1950) and Olga Peters (1971), two who are still alive live in Russia and in the USA. Olga does not speak Russian and was born in California.

Svetlana died in 2011 age 85 of cancer in Wisconsin, she also had a home in Portland. She never found peace nor did she ever get away from the ghost of her father or be reconcile with the death of her mother and became estranged from her children Josef and Katya, only Olga the American born daughter grew close to her. You feel sorry for Svetlana who like all children do not chose her parents and the accident of birth which haunted her life.

Svetlana Alliluyeva Stalina

Vacations

Tags

China, institutions, Law, Rule of Law, Russia, Trump, USA

So we are scheduled to leave for Portugal and spend about 10 days there, it will be a pleasant change all around. We have never been and I heard plenty of good things about the country.  We are also thinking of going to the Galapagos Island next year with friends, that also will be a first.

In the meantime I am worried about the USA and how your system of government is unraveling, no longer the example of democracy and in the firm grip of a President who is keen on ignoring the rules of your Constitution. The bizarre incident with the CNN reporter and his being banned because the President did not like the question. The new threats made by Trump on the new majority Democrat Congress, it will be war if they look into his finances and his family holdings. I think that he has now admitted to wrongdoing by simply making this threat, he is very obviously worried Congress will find out the truth.  This should be an incentive for Congress to act quickly. The firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his replacement by his Chief of Staff who penned an opinion this past Summer calling into question the legitimacy of Courts and the Supreme Court in particular. This new fellow could also limit the Mueller investigation and even refuse to publish the findings. This new Attorney General sounds like someone who again would do just about anything to ensure Trump stays in power no matter what happens. This is worrisome for any country with institutions and the principle of Law and Order.

Too many countries like China, Russia, North Korea control the Courts to ensure that the leadership can persecute its perceived enemies and hand down judgements it likes. If the USA goes down this road then all pretence of being a democracy founded on the principle of the rule of Law is gone and you are nothing more than a tin pot republic. It could happen in the USA because no one wants to believe that it could. This is what happened in Germany in 1933 no one believed that the parliament (Reichstag) and the Courts would allow Chancellor Hitler to take over, after all Germany was a country founded on the rule of Law, and in one night it was all gone.

Hopefully President Trump can be removed from Office before it is too late. Hopefully Congress will take charge. It shows how checks and balances is a fragile thing and not fail proof.

Then there is China, in the last few months dangerous close encounters between the Chinese Navy and the USA Navy have taken place in disputed areas at sea where China now claims total control. Would Trump declare war on China if a USA Naval ship was rammed or attacked or sunk? It could very well happen if Trump becomes desperate to cling to power.

What about Trump’s promise to do away with the Nuclear Treaty with Russia, this is pure madness and even Putin is worried, all of it moves to destabilize the world and push us towards war or the destruction of institutions in the USA.  I cannot remember any President being so callous.

All the signals are there, something needs to give to avoid a disaster. Canadians are dismayed and worried.

 

168:01 Installation

Tags

2003, art., Baghdad, books, Iraq, library, University, USA, Wafaa Bilal, war

I was at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery today to have a good look at the new Winter Show. Several artists are presenting their works. One artist is Wafaa Bilal  b. 1966 in Najaf, Iraq, he is an Iraqi American artist, a former professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and currently an associate professor at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.  Wafaa Bilal fled Iraq in 1991 and spent 2 years in a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia. Many members of his family where killed during this period.

The exhibit is entitled 168:01 

The title of the installation, 168:01, refers to the 13th-century destruction of the historic House of Wisdom library – then the largest in the world – at the hands of Mongol invaders. “Legend has it that they dumped its entire contents into the Tigris river to create a bridge to cross over, and that the pages bled for seven days – 168 hours,” Bilal said. “The extra 1 is that second when I imagine the books turned white and drained of knowledge.”

Aimed at restoring the roughly 70,000 books lost to looting and fire during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Wafaa Bilal’s 168:01 mourns the loss of the College of Fine Arts Library at the University of Baghdad. The site-specific installation, organized and circulated by the Art Gallery of Windsor, positions viewers as potential participants who can choose to donate educational texts to the Fine Arts Library.

The installation becomes a system of exchange where art objects are traded for academic texts. Visitors are encouraged to donate books from the university’s wish list to help rebuild the library collection. Each participant who donates a book to the exhibition receives a white book in return — a symbol of the void that they have helped to fill and as a reminder of their contribution.

Wafaa Bilal’s powerful suite of photographs titled “The Ashes Series” brings the viewer closer to images of violence and war in the Middle East. In an effort to foster empathy and humanize the onslaught of violent images that inundate Western media during wartime, Bilal has reconstructed journalistic images of the destruction caused by the Iraq War. He writes, “Reconstructing the destructed spaces is a way to exist in them, to share them with an audience, and to provide a layer of distance, as the original photographs are too violent and run the risk of alienating the viewer. It represents an attempt to make sense of the destruction and to preserve the moment of serenity after the dust has settled, to give the ephemeral moment extended life in a mix of beauty and violence.” In the photograph “Al-Mutanabbi Street” from “The Ashes Series”, the viewer encounters dilapidated historic and modern buildings on a street covered with layers upon layers of rubble and fragments of torn books. Bilal’s images emanate a slowness that deepens engagement between the viewer and the image, thereby inviting them to share the burden of obliterated societies and reimagine a world built on the values of peace and hope.