"Дякую за ваше лідерство"

Мистецтво Кая Стенвалла.

Президент Украины Владимир Зеленский встретился с Президентом Соединенных Штатов Америки Джозефом Байденом, прибывшим в нашу страну с визитом впервые с начала широкомасштабного российского вторжения.

"Чрезвычайно важно проявление поддержки", - отметил Владимир Зеленский.

Владимир Зеленский отметил, что визит Джозефа Байдена - чрезвычайно важный сигнал поддержки для Украины и украинцев.

Об этом сообщает официальное интернет-представительство Президента Украины.

«Я думаю, что было бы критически важно не оставить никакого сомнения в том, что США поддерживают Украину в ее войне против жестокой агрессии», – отметил лидер Соединенных Штатов.

End of the horror regime

Artwork by Kaj Stenvall.

Putin was brought to international court. 

Captured by SEAL commandos.

He is responsible for hundreds of crimes against humanity.

All that remains in the Kremlin is a double entity, which is a puppet ruler.

Enlightenment

Photo: UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE.

Here comes a immersive cinematic portrait of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, by Sean Benn, on the eve of Russian Putin’s military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

According to Variety plans were made to shoot in Ukraine, but the pandemic struck and, for about two years, Penn and Zelensky communicated via Zoom and telephone. When Kaufman and Penn, who appears on screen throughout the documentary, met Zelensky in person on Feb. 23 of last year: 

Zelensky was dressed, per Penn, 

“in a suit, as would be a head of state at the presidential palace.” 

We know that next day, Feb. 24, Russian missiles came raining down upon Ukraine.

And soon was born a film tracking the emotional odyssey of a war hero, becouse just one day later something changed:

 “Zelensky was two completely different creatures from one day to the next”,

recalls Penn of that fateful historical moment. 

“He was a spirit in waiting",

Penn says.

Man became enlightened.

"I started to understand the precarious and vulnerable position of the world"

One Yankee Ermine ask from Nick Cave:

"When did you become a Hallmark card hippie? Joy, love, peace. Puke! Where’s the rage, anger, hatred? Reading these lately is like listening to an old preacher drone on and on at Sunday mass."

Nick Cave: 

"Things changed after my first son died. I changed. For better or for worse, the rage you speak of lost its allure and, yes, perhaps I became a Hallmark card hippie. Hatred stopped being interesting. Those feelings were like old dead skins that I shed. They were their own kind of puke. Sitting around in my own mess, pissed off at the world, disdainful of the people in it, and thinking my contempt for things somehow amounted to something, had some kind of nobility, hating this thing here, and that thing there, and that other thing over there, and making sure that everybody around me knew it, not just knew, but felt it too, contemptuous of beauty, contemptuous of joy, contemptuous of happiness in others, well, this whole attitude just felt, I don’t know, in the end, sort of dumb.

Nick Cave in 2016  when Cave's 15-year-old
son had died in an accident.

When my son died, I was faced with an actual devastation, and with no real effort of my own that posture of disgust toward the world began to wobble and collapse underneath me. I started to understand the precarious and vulnerable position of the world. I started to fret for it. Worry about it. I felt a sudden, urgent need to, at the very least, extend a hand in some way to assist it – this terrible, beautiful world – instead of merely vilifying it, and sitting in judgement of it.

Perhaps, Ermine, you are right, and I did, for good or ill, turn from a living shit-post into a walking Hallmark card. But, well, here we are, you and me, sending smoke signals to each other across a yawning ideological divide. "

Nick, I like this text.

Professional liars

The few words for this pravda.ru

"It is this agreement (YYA) that Finland intends to violate by questioning its existence. "

Another contracting party, a state called the Soviet Union, ceased to exist.

"Depending on the development of events (location of bases, missile launchers), Russia reserves the right to react up to the dissolution of this Nordic state."

We hit the Russian bear in the turf and it ceases to exist itself.

"All of the above scenarios are only hypothetical. Yet, Russia already admits that it is at war with NATO. Moscow will no longer impose any restrictions on itself."

so Moscow no longer imposes restrictions on itself - they have never had any restraints on lying and cruelty.

End.

Murders of civilians by AS-4 missiles in Ukraine

Kaj Stenvall paintings ”Don’t Blame Me”, 2023, oil.

Russian Tu-22M-3 bombers are hitting Ukraine with Kh-22 (AS-4 Kitchen) 1960s missiles. 

But since AS-4 missiles have a Circular Error Probable of 3 miles, they are missing their have no targets.

The death toll by Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro has risen to 50, authorities said recently, as Western analysts pointed to indications the Kremlin was preparing for a drawn-out war in Ukraine after almost 11 months of fighting.

About 1,700 people lived in the multi-storey building, and search and rescue crews have worked nonstop since Saturday's strike to locate victims and survivors in the wreckage. 

The regional administration said 39 people have been rescued so far and 30 more remain missing. Authorities said at least 75 were wounded.

With a video surfaced purporbtedly shown the release of two Kh-22 (so called ‘AS-4 Kitchen’) missiles from a Tu-22M-3 bomber.

As widely reported and thus well-known, over the last month, and in reaction to the NATO’s deliveries of heavy weapons and associated ammunition, the Russians are running an intensive campaign of interdicting the work of the Ukrainian railway system.

Initially, such operations were run with help of cruise missiles like Kh-101 and Kh-555 (ASCC/NATO-codename ‘AS-15 Kent’). These were launched exclusively from strategic bombers like Tupolev Tu-95 and Tu-160. Quite often, the Russians deployed ship- and submarine-launched 3M-54 Kalibr (‘SS-N-27 Sizzler’), too.

As the stocks of these decreased, they began deploying P-600 Onix/Yakhont missiles of the K-300P Bastion-P coastal-defence system (‘SS-C-5 Stooge’), from sites on the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

About two weeks ago the Russians depleted their stocks of ballistic- and cruise missiles to the degree where they began deploying their old Kh-59s (‘AS-13 Kingbolt’): these are actually tactical, electro-optically guided missiles with a range of about 100–150km. We know that the Russians claim much more; but Russian advertisements and reality are two entirely different things. 

They are released from Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers, but the mass of examples still in service with the VKS is so old. Moreover, guiding a missile like Kh-59 under combat conditions is a very hard job.

Jeff Beck dies aged 78 - I'm just realizing it now.

Jeff Beck (Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was more than an idol to me, he was a source of inspiration.

I will continue on this path.

Often in jam sessions, I have played his tone patterns by my ear.

 

He Brings You Nothing But Darkness

I Bring You Nothing But Darkness.
 Kaj Stenvall's Painting.

Regime collapse is now more likely than a coup.

Can Russian President Vladimir Putin lose the war in Ukraine and retain power? 

No, he can't.

In fact, a different danger is more plausible: a comprehensive meltdown of the regime, as multiple challenges overwhelm its capacity to react and dysfunction drains confidence in Putin’s leadership.

Discussion has focused on the possibility of a coup, whether an armed insurrection by disgruntled Russian generals or a mutiny by Kremlin insiders. 

Sure, as Ukraine’s driving counteroffensive erodes Russia’s position on the battlefield, that questions about regime is getting increasing attention. 

Have you ever wondered what is hidden inside lighthouses?

Pictures:

GB 1- Bell Rock (1811) in Scotland

 on the North Sea. 

And 2- Skerryvore (1844) in Scotland, 

Inner Hebrides.

The Bell Rock lighthouse also contained several newer features, such as the rotating lights alternating between red and white that were designed by the carpenter Francis Watt.

According to legend,  the legend is immortalised in The Inchcape Rock, a poem by the 19th-century poet Robert Southey, Bell Rock got its name because, in the 14th century, the Abbot of Arbroath had had a warning bell installed on it, which was stolen a year later by a Dutch pirate.

Before the construction of the lighthouse, the rock had caused many shipwrecks because, except for a few hours a day at low tide, it lies just below the surface of the sea. By the turn of the 19th century, it was estimated that, in a typical winter, as many as six ships were wrecked on the rock. 

And In one storm, seventy ships had been lost off the east coast of Scotland.

In 1799, the Masters of Trinity House in Leith determined to build a light on the Bell Rock, due to the high numbers of losses. They commissioned Scottish engineer Robert Stevenson to devise a design for a lighthouse on the Bell Rock, but the proposal was shelved.

However, after the warship HMS York was wrecked on the rock in 1804 - in 1806 approving the proposal and enabling construction to begin.

Orsaken till kollapsen av kolsänkorna blev tydlig?

Stor avverkning och långsamt växande tallar gör det svårt för Finland att nå EU:s klimatmål – det kommer att kosta till os, säger Naturresursinstitutet Luke i dag i sin nya rapport.

En stor förklaring till den minskade tillväxten i skogarna finns enligt Lukes nya rapport hos tallarna.

Tallskogarnas åldersstruktur har helt enkelt nått en fas där det är naturligt att tillväxten minskar. Utgående från den faktorn kommer tillväxten att ligga på rätt samma nivå eller till och med lite lägre under de närmaste åren.

Enligt Lukes nya utredning kommer skogarnas kolsänka under åren 2021–2025 att vara 50–100 miljoner ton mindre än referensvärdet. Det här innebär att Finland inte kommer att nå EU-målen om utsläppsnivåer för markanvändningssektorn.

Stor avverkning och långsamt växande tallar gör det svårt för 

Den kollapsade kolsänkan i Finland ser inte ut att växa de närmaste åren, vilket innebär att Finland måste ta till andra åtgärder för att nå EU:s klimatmål för markanvändningssektorn. 

Det är Jord- och skogsbruksministeriet som bett naturresursinstitutet Luke att redogöra för orsakerna bakom den kollapsade kolsänkan. Förhandsuppgifterna om dem kom i maj och bekräftades med nya siffror förra veckan: markanvändningssektorn är nu en utsläppskälla, och det beror på stor avverkning och långsam tillväxt i Finlands skogar.

Skogsmarkerna i Finland är fortfarande en kolsänka, men den är mycket mindre år 2021 än året innan och den är inte längre stor nog för att täcka de andra utsläppen inom markanvändningssektorn.

Kolsänkan beror på avverkningen jämfört med tillväxten i skogen

Kolsänkan som räknas för klimatmålet omfattar inte all skog och mark i Finland, utan räknar med den förändring som skett i skog- och markanvändning under ett år. Medan kol släpps ut från våtmarker och jordbruksmark kan det i stället bindas i träprodukter och skog.

Tallarna har dessutom tre svåra tillväxtår bakom sig på grund av torka. I norra Finland var tillväxten exceptionellt liten år 2018 på grund av det torra vädret, medan tillväxten de två följande åren försvagades av att tallarna fick ovanligt mycket kottar.

Det är miljöfaktorer som som temperatur, regnmängd och växtperiodens längd som påverkar hur tallarnas tillväxt de närmaste åren ser ut.

Enligt Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) åldras jorden – avtagandet av dess livskraft kan ses som en förstyvning av jordskorpan och t.ex. som en avmattning i trädtillväxten.

Finland avverkade rekordmängder skog år 2018, men 2021 avverkades nästmest. Nu ser det ut som om avverkningen år 2022 når samma nivå som 2021: fram till oktober i år låg årets avverkningsmängd bara 3 procent bakom året innan.

Efterfrågan på inhemskt trä har ökat och kommer enligt Luke att öka ännu mer de närmaste åren, på grund av nya investeringsbeslut och för att virkesimporten från Ryssland har avslutats.

I markanvändningen i övrigt finns inga större förändringar och Luke räknar inte heller med att det uppstår några större sådana under jämförelseperioden 2021–2025. 

This year, St. Nicholas Day is special, ...

says Volodymyr Zelensky and continues:

Not only because it is overshadowed by war, but because we all are confident that good has incredible power and prevails. 

"Because we strongly believe that no evil can ever prevail. "

According to Zelensky our all children ask St. Nicholas to bring peace and victory to Ukraine, while we all make miracles for each other during wartime. We support and help each other, warm up the hearts of others with good deeds, and fill our own hearts with warmth. 

"This is a gift from a 14-year-old Henriikka from Finland. Since Russia’s full-scale war began, she decided to help our people in every possible way. She began knitting warm woolen socks and selling them to donate for Ukraine. At her request, one of these pairs of socks reached me. I am grateful to Henriikka and her grandfather Antti Puijola!"

And president continues that every story like this inspires and gives strength to carry on. Especially on a day like this.

Believe in your dreams and the dreams of others, believe in good, peace, love, justice, and believe they will surely prevail.

Believing in this means believing that Ukraine will prevail, too.

Man of the Year -> The Spirit of Ukraine

Photo-collage by Uzalendo News.

Here comes one Zeitgeist.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is Time Magazine's 2022 Person of the Year. This Time Magazine has named also The spirit of Ukraine as its 2022 Person of the Year.

The award goes to an event or person deemed to have had the most influence on global events over the past 12 months. The magazine said Mr Zelensky had inspired Ukrainians and was recognised internationally for his courage in resisting the Russian invasion.

"Zelensky's success as a wartime leader has relied on the fact that courage is contagious", 

editor Edward Felsenthal wrote.

"In a world that had come to be defined by its divisiveness, there was a coming together around this cause, around this country," 

Time Magazine added that the The Spirit of Ukraine referred to Ukrainians around the world, including many who fought behind the scenes.

This includes people like Ievgen Klopotenko, a chef who provided thousands of free meals to Ukrainians and medic Yuliia Payevska who was captured, then released after three months in Russian captivity.

The tradition began in 1927 - although back then it was the Man of the Year.

На шествии ”612” сожгли российский флаг: Это было наказанием для России - за ее ужасный государственный терроризм в Украине

Несколько участников шествия 612 подожгли российский флаг у ворот кладбища Хиетаниеми. Полиция попросила их остановиться.

Во время акций также никто не был задержан. Финляндия — свободная страна, 6 декабря она отпраздновала 105-летие своей независимости.

Полиция сообщает, что серьезных происшествий на акциях не. 

Несколько участников шествия "612" сожгли российский флаг перед воротами кладбища Хиетаниеми. По словам находившейся на месте событий фотографа Yle Сильи Вииталы, полиция попросила демонстрантов остановиться.

Полиция сосредоточила свое внимание на четырех демонстрациях, которые прошли в центре столицы примерно в одно и то же время.

Это марш "Хельсинки без нацистов", марш "Финляндия просыпается", шествие ”612” и автопробег ”Мотти 612”. Из них "Финляндия просыпается", и акции ”612” охарактеризовали националистическими или крайне правыми.

В демонстрации"Хельсинки без нацистов, по оценкам полиции, приняли участие 1000–1 500 человек. Число участников остальных акций варьировалось от 200 до 400 человек.

"иностранных агентов"

.

. 

"Обращение в Минюст РФ. Прошу зачислить меня в ряды иноагентов моей любимой страны, ибо я солидарна со своим мужем, честным, порядочным и искренним человеком, настоящим и неподкупным патриотом России, желающим Родине процветания, мирной жизни, свободы слова и прекращения гибели наших ребят за иллюзорные цели, делающие нашу страну изгоем и утяжеляющие жизнь наших граждан,"

 - написала Алла Пугачева в Instagram.

Алла Пугачева отреагировала, 18 сентября 2022,  на внесение ее мужа Максима Галкина в список физических лиц, выполняющих функцию "иностранных агентов".

В список иностранных агентов Алла Пугачева не попала.

На фото:

Максим Галкин и Алла Пугачева с детьми Лизой и Гарри больше девять месяцев назад покинули Россию.

Elon Musk's management of Twitter must approve an "extensive independent audit" of the platform by next year

European Union warns Elon Musk that Twitter faces ban over content moderation - Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

EU industry chief Thierry Breton made the threat during a video meeting (30.11) with Musk on Wednesday.

Breton had previously urged Musk to comply with landmark EU rules against online hate speech and disinformation. The European Commission's justice chief Didier Reynders had also voiced similar comments.

Now The European Union has threatened Elon Musk's Twitter with a ban unless the billionaire abides by its strict rules on content moderation, setting up a regulatory battle over the future of the social media platform.

Breton told Musk he must adhere to a checklist of rules, including ditching like an arbitrary approach to reinstating banned users and agreeing to an "extensive independent audit" of the platform by next year, according to the report. the FT reported this by citing people with knowledge of the conversation.

Elon Musk's management of Twitter must be agreeing to an "extensive independent audit" of the platform by next year.

Good!

This kind of stowaways do not always have the same luck

Photo: The Spanish coastguard.

On the photograph three stowaways are shown perched on the rudder of the oil and chemical tanker Alithini II.

Accoring to The Spanish coastguard men who stowed away on a tanker that arrived in the Canary Islands from Nigeria by balancing on its rudder just above the waterline.

The Maltese-flagged Alithini II arrived in Las Palmas in Gran Canaria on Monday afternoon after an 11-day voyage from Lagos in Nigeria, according to Marine Traffic, a ship-tracking website.

Spanish data shows migration by sea to the archipelago jumped 51% in the first five months of the year compared with a year earlier.

Perilous crossings to the Canaries from north Africa have increased dramatically since late 2019 after checks on Mediterranean routes were tightened.

Spanish data shows migration by sea to the archipelago jumped 51% in the first five months of the year compared with a year earlier.

In October 2020, four people stowed away on the rudder of an oil tanker from Lagos, hiding for 10 days before they were discovered by police as the vessel came into Las Palmas.

En chock!

Det händer alltid något i världen som man inte ens kan föreställa sig i förväg.

i Sverige kunde spermier användas för donation utan mäns tillstånd – det var en chock för alla.

 

Enligt SVT kan spermier ha använts för insemination utan tillstånd på Halmstad lasarett! En uppgiftsgranskning kan avslöja två fall där donatorbarn hittades av biologiska fäder som oberoende uppger att de aldrig donerat spermier. Däremot har de sökt hjälp från samma fertilitetsklinik. – Jag kan bara tycka synd om det, säger Halmstad kvinnoklinik verksamhetschef Maud Ankardal till SVT.

Emelie blev till med hjälp av donerade spermier vid kvinnokliniken på Länssjukhuset i Halmstad och föddes 1986, rapporterar Expressen.  När hon sedan i vuxen ålder kontaktade kliniken för uppgifter om donatorn, hade de ingen information att ge. 

För att få svar gjorde Emelie DNA-test och kunde genom släktforskare spåra sin donator till en man i Halmstad vid namn Zdravko.

För Zdravko kom Emelies existens som en chock, han hade aldrig donerat någon sperma. Däremot hade han i samband med en fertilitetsutredning med sin dåvarande fru lämnat spermieprov på kliniken.

Den fruktansvärda händelsen.

It suffers chronically from bots, fake accounts and other problems

Former US president Donald Trump's once-blocked Twitter  - but account reappeared on Saturday after the platform's new CEO Elon Musk announced he was lifting the ban.

Musk started a Twitter poll on Saturday, asking his legion of 117 million followers if Trump should be reinstated on the platform. 

Soon Trump's suspended account was reinstated, complete with the 59,000 tweets - he made them during his time on the platform.

However, Donald Trump was less than keen earlier in the day and said he had no interest in returning to Twitter. 

According to Trump Twitter is suffering from bots, fake accounts and that the problems it faced were almost incredible.

Banksy was there

Credit: Instagram by Martyn Reed, an artist, who said:
 "It’s beginning to look like Banksy is in Ukraine."

Unknow street artist, called Banksy has unveiled his latest artworks in the liberated Ukrainian town of Borodianka.

Borodianka was hit particularly hard by Russian airstrikes in the first few weeks of the conflict

The graffiti artist posted three images of the piece Friday on social media, with a simple caption reading Borodyanka, Ukraine - perhaps using an alternative spelling for the town's name.

Banksy is working in the war-torn country in Borodianka, located just about 35 miles northwest of the capital, Kyiv. 

It was home to 13,000 people before the war, but most fled after Russia's invasion. What was left of Borodianka, after intense shelling and devastating strikes, was then occupied by Russian forces, who moved in on February 28.

Look at one artwork, not officially claimed by the artist, depicted a man being flipped during a judo match with a little boy.

Another showed two children using a metal tank trap as a seesaw.

Borodianka was hit particularly hard by Russian airstrikes at the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February, with many buildings reduced to piles of rubble by long-range attacks.

The town has since been the focus of reconstruction efforts, with several tower blocks demolished as a result of damage caused by the fighting.

I felt a tremendous amount of power there - there was such a time in 2018 in November-Decembe

During the 2018 Moscow City Duma election Alexei Navalny supported independent candidates, most of whom were not allowed to participate in the elections, which led to mass street protests. 

Navalny led protests on urge a boycott of Russia's 2018 presidential election. Navalny was arrested on the day of the protest and then released the same day, pending trial.

I saw him.

I saw som extremely strong speachers on the edge of the Red Square.

The megaphone was directed towards the Kremlin administrative quarters.

The mood was ominous.

It didn't really do anything to stay there.

Previously.

In July 2019, Navalny was arrested, first for ten days, and then, almost immediately, for 30 days. On the evening of 28 July, he was hospitalised with severe damage to his eyes and skin. 

On 29 July 2019, Navalny was discharged from hospital and taken back to prison, despite the objections of his personal physician who questioned the hospital's motives.

Supporters of Navalny and journalists near the hospital were attacked by the police and many were detained.

Very terrible things

Here comes the world wide news. 

A pro-Kremlin television presenter has been accused of inciting genocide after calling for Ukrainian children to be “drowned” and “burned” alive during an interview on the state-funded RT channel.

Anton Krasovsky, the chief of Russian-language broadcasting for the channel formerly called Russia Today, said Ukrainian children who said they were being occupied by Russia should be 

“thrown in a river with a strong undercurrent”.

But even in the era of Russian wartime propaganda, where it appears that allmost anything goes, Krasovsky’s remarks have provoked a backlash, commented The Guardian.

They should have been drowned in the Tysyna river,”

said Krasovsky during an interview with the fantasy writer Sergei Lukyanenko. 

“Just drown these children. Drown them!”

Recently he was suspended from RT, and the head of Russia’s powerful investigative committee said it would review his remarks as part of a potential criminal investigation.

The incident has been deeply embarrassing for RT, which has been a vocal cheerleader for the war but also distanced itself from his remarks.

“For the moment, I am halting our cooperation [with this Krasovsky], because neither I nor the rest of the RT team can allow even the thought to flash that one of us is capable of supporting such savagery,” wrote RT’s editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, in a post.

Still Russian state media has previously hosted commentators who have denied the existence of Ukrainian culture or called for the country’s total annexation by Russia.

It is also still very unclear what has happened to the tens of thousands of children who were robbed from Ukraine by the Russian military forces.

I'm afraid we'll never see them alive again.

Kyssen och ett fönster

Edvard Munch - detalj av verket Kyssen,1897; båda kyssarnas huvuden smälts samman. Ansiktena är otydliga och det enda ljuset kommer från ett fönster i bakgrunden.

Målningen visar ett par som omfamnar varandra i den långa kyssen. Kärleken brinner och brinner i dem på natten.

Kyssen ingår i den serie på omkring 20 målningar som benämns Livsfrisen och skildrar den moderna människans ångest och kanska dunkla vardagsliv. 

Verkets mest kända versionerna är två oljemålningar från 1892 respektive 1897 som tillhör Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design respektive Munchmuseet, båda i Oslo.

Kyss (på norska) är en serie målningar av den norske konstnären Edvard Munch från åren 1891–1897. De  De tidigare versionerna kallas på norska: Kyss ved vinduet.

(Munch utförde även ett antal etsningar och träsnitt med samma motiv som idag bland annat finns utställda på Moderna museet och Thielska galleriet i Stockholm).

Storm Eunice

Here's an image of Monstrous waves battering a Lighthouse. 

Christopher Ison's dramatic photo, 'Storm Eunice', taken in Newhaven in the UK last year.

This photograph has won the Royal Meteorological Society Weather Photographer of the Year Competition 2022.

The judges commented that they loved the power of nature in the photo: 

“That reminding us how small and insignificant we are as it conveys the dramatic movement and force of sea together with the resistance offered by a man-made building.”

A man speaks:

"I was rewarded with a set of images I’m very proud of,”

Ison says.

“When the storm was predicted, and it was carrying the first ever red warning for the south coast of England, I knew I had to find a spot to record it – this was going to be big.” 

“I got there reasonably early to find many photographers already drenched in rain and seawater, standing very close to the harbor wall. "

And:

"I decided to head to high ground and slightly further away with my back to the weather." 

A monstrous year. (I say)

Crimean Bridge burned down as an attack against Russia

The Kerch bridge burn, symbol of Russia’s occupation of the Crimean peninsula, was hit at dawn the day after the president’s birthday.

The blast, when it came at 6.07am (3.07 GMT), was devastating. 

Pressure on V. Putin grows now as this his jewel in the crown bridge to Crimea is blown up

On the train tracks above, the powerful blast wave ruptured the fuel tanks, releasing a waterfall of burning fuel as the road carriageway buckled and collapsed. One of the supports, with its twin reinforced concrete pillars and pedestal, apparently evaporated.

Within minutes, images were circulating on Ukrainian and Russian social media channels and soon being posted around the world.

The torture room was found in Pisky-Radkivski village, Kharkiv region

An suspected incinerator similar to the one used by the Nazis at Auschwitz.
"Another torture chamber of the Russian occupiers."

Anton Gerashchenko, who serves as an adviser to the minister of internal affairs of Ukraine, tweeted the latest accusation of abuse, sharing photos that appear to indicate torture in the village of Pisky-Radkivski.

"Investigators found a torture room in Pisky-Radkivski village, Kharkiv region. Tortures such as being buried alive and putting a burning rug into a gas mask were reported. A box with torn out teeth implants was also found." 

Gerashchenko tweeted on Tuesday.

According to NewsWeek this one Ukrainian official presented photographic evidence on Tuesday of torture rooms in a village in the country's Kharkiv region.

One photograph showed a gas mask, which he said was used for torture, thrown on the ground. Another showed a box that appeared to contain teeth that were forcibly removed from torture victims. Evidence of being buried alive was also found in the village.

Allegations of war crimes and abuse from Russian soldiers emerged soon after President Vladimir Putin launched the Ukraine "special military operation" on February 24.

Slava Ukraini!

A torture chamber in Pisky-Radkivski. 2 photos. A gas mask that was put on the head of a victim who was covered with a smoldering rag and buried alive. And a box of gold dental crowns. A mini Auschwitz. How many more will be found in occupied Ukraine?
Photo @serhii_bolvinov pic.twitter.com/So4glJlt9N

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) October 4, 2022

Jack Bruce

Young Jack Bruce with his Fender VI.

You sometimes played a Fender VI.

“Yes. I started playing that with Graham Bond, because when John McLaughlin left it meant that I could do little guitar-type solos and stuff. It wasn’t really a very playable instrument because the strings were very close together for a bass, and the scale was too big for a guitarist. It was a kind of hybrid. I enjoyed it for a while, it was fun.”

Was it only with Cream that you were allowed to express yourself on the bass as much as you wanted?

“Well, I was always doing that, really. Obviously with Cream we were able to do that because it was a jamming-type band. Cream was like a jazz band, but we didn’t tell Eric that... we were like a little free-jazz trio with Eric as Ornette Coleman, but without him knowing it.”

(Eric once said that his own band played for the first time only on the Ocean Boulevard album.)

Peter

Peter and Hugh at the Savoy Theater in Helsinki
 on October 24, 2021.

With the Pawn Hearts, 1971, we felt something like this:

"That when he makes my teeth hurt with his singing, it's done on-purpose. That the squint that pinches my face when I hear him sing is my lack of knowledge about this next level of singing - singing so beyond my comprehension that I'm like a Neanderthal trying to figure out a Rubik's Cube. So I feel bad that I'm just not at that level.

Then I think, what if the people telling me all of the above are just messing with me."

I have been this kind of man, said my friends, and I 'm still it.

 "I've been doing what the hell I like for 50 years", he said 2017. Five yars ago.

Can I still see Peter Hammill?

I’ve been an ardent listener since 1971.

Hammill's voice is a very distinctive element of his music.

"Singing in registers from baritone to high falsetto, Peter growls, croons, shrieks and shouts in ways that have drawn comparison with the guitar playing of Jimi Hendrix, "

writes Wikipedia.

I' also like Hendrix and I play his music.

Peter, I hope you are feeling better.

Peter Hammill (four months ago) on Twitter: 

"Sorry to say that the tour’s off as I had a hospital visit and surgery overnight. All well now but recovery time will b needed."

I hope. 

Riots broke out all over Russia

One Russian man opening fire and killing the 
in Irkutsk region. 

New wave of arsons at military enlistment offices and local administrations unfolds across Russia when Vladimir Putin announced the Russian mobilization - arsonists started to set fire to military enlistment and administrative buildings and one office of the United Russia party with renewed vigor.

In the first six months of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine at least 20 military commissariats were set on fire; now the frequency of such incidents has increased dramatically. 

This is a partial list of new instances of arson – more are likely to follow.

According to Meduza women in Dagestan and other regions protest mobilization 

Residents of Dagestan carried out several actions protesting mobilization, the largest of which was in Makhachkala, Meduza reported.

Starting around 3:00pm Moscow time residents, mostly women, gathered in the center of the city. 

The Telegram channel “Morning Dagestan,” which had more than 30,000 subscribers before the action, published a call to come out to a demonstration. By 4:00pm about 100 people had come out, reports Dagestan outlet Chernovik:  “mothers and children gathered, and representatives of older generations, and youth.” Judging by witnesses’ videos, a few hundred people were at the protest in Makhachkala. 

Video of a Russian man opening fire and killing the military commandant in a draft centre in the city of Úst-Ilimsk in Irkutsk region. The military commandant was the head of the local draft committee. He has died, according to reports. pic.twitter.com/knnWNJxE9Y

— Andrew Roth (@Andrew__Roth) September 26, 2022

Need for the fast-tracking solution

Security forces arrested more than 1,400 people in Russia on
Wednesday night during protests condemning the mobilization,
a rights group said, hours after President Vladimir Putin ordered
Russia's first military draft since World War II.

Here comes Finland fast-tracking solution to restrict tourist visas for Russians.

Finland will not want to become a transit country for Russian tourists aiming to access to the rest of Europe. Here experts from various ministries are currently working on a solution and the matter would soon be submitted to Parliament.

There is no moral or ethical basis for allowing Russian tourism to continue as normal. We have often raised this issue in the EU.

We are very, very disappointed with the EU's handling of the visa issue, and that introducing restrictions to the Schengen system had proven difficult. 

Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday that Finland is urgently seeking a solution to restrict the issuing of tourist visas to Russian citizens.

According to the minister, Finland now wants a national solution to ensure this happens. Haavisto noted that he was disappointed with the EU's handling of the visa issue, and that introducing restrictions to the Schengen system had proven difficult.

Although Finland reduced the number of tourist visas granted to Russians considerably, not all countries have followed suit. As a result, a national solution is now being prepared.

On Monday, Finland appealed to the European Commission to issue an EU-wide recommendation that would restrict the entry of Russian citizens into EU countries under tourism visas, but without success.

Я верю, что украинский флаг и свободная жизнь снова вернутся в Крым

"Верьте в ВСУ и ждите увольнения". В Крыму по РосТВ показали ролик с обращением Владимира Зеленского  – фрагмент обращения президента от 4 сентября.

Крымчанам показали фрагмент одного из вечерних обращений Зеленского

Перед выступлением Зеленского несколько секунд транслировались информационное сообщение

– жителей Крыма на украинском призывали держаться подальше от российских военных объектов,

 "верить в ВСУ и ждать освобождения."

9 сентября в оккупированном Россией Крыму на российских телеканалах приступили к трансляции обращения президента Украины Владимира Зеленского. Видео было опубликовано в верифицированном Telegram-канале Ukraine NOW.

Слава Украине!

"Я верю, что украинский флаг и свободная жизнь снова вернутся в Крым. Мы освободим всю нашу землю и наших людей. ВСУ, наша разведка и специальные службы уже делают шаги именно для этого, и эти шаги можно услышать, и все видят, оккупанты уже начали бежать из Крыма. Это правильный выбор для них всех. Мы вернем свободу Крыма, всем нашим людям в Крыму и обязательно сделаем Крым одним из лучших, комфортных мест в Европе. Крым этого заслуживает",

говорит он.

Sanningen måste avslöjas

Här kommer Estonian Accident Investigation Centers nya bild från utredningar av Estonia fartygs vraket.

Vid tidpunkten för olyckan gjorde stormakternas underrättelsetjänster fortfarande vad de ville här. Och den mindre tacksamma delen av de små staterna var att dölja vad de gjorde här. 

Chefen för Estlands haverikommission, kapten Rene Arikas, säger att skadorna på skrovet är klart mer omfattande än vad som beräknades förra året.

Enligt förra årets förundersökningar var bristningen på höger sida fyra meter hög och 22 meter bred.

"Nu har vi fått veta att revan är minst sex meter hög och minst 40 meter bred."

Utredningen av vraket av fartyget som sjönkes på år 1994 på rutten Tallinn-Stockholm fortsätter. Det beslutades att återuppta undersökningarna efter att tv-teamet upptäckt en tidigare okänd reva i fartygets skrov hösten 2020.

Our Prime Minister, I am speechless

"In my opinion that photo is not appropriate, I apologise for that, that photo shouldn't have been taken." 

PM Sanna Marin and Sabina Särkkä.

Here in Finland we have couple of videos of the Prime Minister dancing, singing and partying with various Finnish celebrities and public figures spread throughout social media. I see from this picture that soon they (guests in Prime Minister's official Kesäranta residence) will make love - maybe.

Speaking to reporters following a speech at the annual meeting in Helsinki of Finland's heads of missions abroad, Marin explained that she invited some friends over to Kesäranta after the Ruisrock music festival to "sauna, swim and spend time together."

For six out of nine days, PM has been found drinking.

Everything is not okay.

Tänään tuli Seiskalta ulos Sabina Särkän ja Sanna Marinin kiehnäysvideo.

Tällaista kuvastoa löytyi vielä hetki sitten Sabina Särkän TikTokista päiväyksellä 10.7.

Näyttäis valtioneuvoston grafiikkaseinä päässeen arvokkaampaan käyttöön...🤔#jauhojengi #kesärata22 pic.twitter.com/oMBJ0rpWFQ

— Kimmo Kautio (@Kimmo_Kautio) August 22, 2022

Welcome back to the Middle Ages

Here comes a brand new report Safeguard Defenders, Drugged and Detained: China’s Psychiatric Prisons. PDF.

In 2022, the Chinese Communist Party, so called CCP is still routinely locking up political targets in psychiatric hospitals despite implementing legal changes to stop this barbaric practice more than a decade ago.

In the name of stability maintenance, the CCP is able to remove petitioners and activists entirely out of the justice system, with no hope of seeing a lawyer or going to trial, while “diagnosing” them with mental illness so that they are socially isolated even after release.

Detained: China’s psychiatric prisons, exposes how Chinese police and government agents are still sending petitioners and activists to psychiatric wards for medically-unnecessary compulsory treatment, where some languish for years.

Raport China’s Psychiatric Prisons tells all what's going on.

It provides evidence that China is routinely locking up activists and petitioners in mental hospitals, one of the most chilling ways that China silences critics.

Mental torture: China is locking up critics in psychiatric facilities

In China, posting a political comment, submitting a complaint about a corrupt official, or shouting slogans in the street, will quickly get you locked up in a detention centre.

Or it might get you committed to a psychiatric hospital.

Organsiation used secondary sourced interviews of victims and their families and found 99 people had been locked up in psychiatric wards 144 times in the seven years from 2015 to 2021, covering 109 hospitals in 21 provinces, municipalities or regions across China.

Sure, may all those numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. Countless more cases would not have been noticed by NGOs and media, especially in this climate of fear under Xi Jinping that has increasingly closed off China to the outside world.

Alcohol destroys human chromosomes

Human Chromosomes' telomere length medical concept and 
telomeres located on the end caps of a chromosome resulting in 
aging by damaging DNA or protection.
Credit: Lightspring Shutterstock.com

Alcohol’s impact on telomere length, a proposed marker of biological aging, is almost clear. 

The studyTrusted Source, published by Nature, in Molecular Psychiatry, is the largest of its kind to date.

Shorter telomeres were found in those who drank heavily or had alcohol use disorder (for example, there were about 400,000 alcoholics in Finland, in other words, about seven percent of the entire population).

In this case researchers reviewed data of over 245,000 UK individuals to assess how alcohol impacts aging.

We performed the largest observational study to date (in n = 245, 354 UK Biobank participants) and compared findings with Mendelian randomization estimates, 

they say.

Telomere length is linked to biological aging and disease onset.

The pros and cons of drinking alcohol are frequently relayed, and there’s a new addition to the ever-growing list. Research conducted by Oxford Population Health, part of the University of Oxford, indicates excessive alcohol consumption can speed up the aging process at a biological level.

Data on participants’ weekly alcohol consumption — self-reported when joining the Biobank — was used as the basis of an observational analysis.

Observational analysis findings indicated that heavy alcohol drinkers and those with alcohol use disorder (AUD) were significantly more likely to have shorter telomeres — an essential part of our chromosomes linked to aging and the onset of various health concerns.

Meanwhile, the MR analysis also found a strong link between telomere length and genetically-predicted AUD. The most influential gene was discovered to be AD1HB, which acts as an alcohol metabolizer in the body.

Also stress has even been reported to accelerate aging and the onset of age-related diseases. Recent research links both chronic and perceived stress and alcoholism with telomere shortening, a phenomenon with a known relationship to cellular aging.

A lackey of the Kreml

“Although unwillingly, the organization created material that sounds like support for Russian narratives. Seeking to protect civilians, the study has instead become a tool of Russian propaganda.” 

So says Director of Amnesty International Ukraine, Oksana Pokalchuk, who has spent seven years documenting and investigating human rights abuses as Director of Amnesty International Ukraine, tendered hers resignation as the backlash continued over a controversial Amnesty International report titled, 

“Ukrainian fighting tactics endanger civilians.”

Pokalchuk took to Facebook on August 4 to disavow the report, explaining that Amnesty’s global branch had effectively sidelined the Amnesty Ukraine team and proceeded with publication without their input or consent. She resigned the following day.

The Kremlin has warmly welcomed Amnesty’s claims, with Russian officials actively promoting the report to justify Moscow’s ongoing bombing campaign in Ukraine.  

Some of the expectations expressed in the Amnesty report, such as the notion that Ukrainian troops should defend civilians from Russian attack without stationing themselves nearby, are nothing short of absurd

Hundreds of people canceled their donations to Amnesty.

Vi mår bra

Vi mår rätt bra i jobbet, gott ledarskap är viktigt för att vi ska orka.

Aktivt lärande hopar sig till dem som i och med sin utbildning och sina arbetsuppgifter redan har bra kompetens, goda färdigheter och goda utvecklingsmöjligheter, säger arbetslivsbarometern. 

Det är en undersökning som utförs varje år och får vi tro på resultaten från 2021 så har 80 procent av löntagarna en god arbetsförmåga i förhållande till arbetets fysiska och psykiska krav.

Det kontinuerliga lärandet är en viktig faktor för att vi ska må bra i arbetet. 

Men till exempel detta kontinuerligt lärande är inte alla förunnat utan blir lätt en klassfråga, visar den nya arbetslivsbarometern. 

Den arbetarskyddsreformen är på gång. Arbetslivsbaromentern visar ändå stora klasskillnader när det gäller kontinuerligt lärande.

En rätt positiv syn på arbetsmarknaden, så beskriver Arbets- och näringslivsministeriet löntagarnas känslor från det andra coronaåret. 

Первое судно с украинским продовольствием вышло из Одесского порта

Президентом Украины Владимиром Зеленским
Фото: Офис президента Украины.

Сегодня Украина вместе с партнерами делает очередной шаг к предотвращению мирового голода. Разблокировка портов даст не менее 1 млрд долларов валютной выручки для экономики и возможность для аграрного сектора спланировать посевную в следующем году.

Украина является 4-м крупнейшим экспортером кукурузы в мире, поэтому возможность его вывоза через порты – это колоссальный вес успех для обеспечения глобальной продовольственной безопасности.

 На его борту 26 тыс. тонн украинской кукурузы.

Вместе с представителями ООН и Турции уже наработаны внутренние операционные регламенты. Со своей стороны, Украина сделала все, чтобы возобновить работу портов и всех задействованных предприятий. Важно отметить о неукоснительной поддержке со стороны американских и европейских партнеров на пути к разблокированию украинских морских портов

Это был сложный путь продолжительностью 3 месяца. Все это время процесс переговоров и согласования вопросов безопасности контролировался Президентом Украины Владимиром Зеленским:

"Мы благодарны партнерам, которые, несмотря на сложности, не останавливали работу по подготовке к экспорту."

Хороший!

En studie snakkar att Rysslands ekonomi förlamad av sanktionerna

Sanktionerna har tillintetgjort 30 år av utländska investeringar och företagsetableringar i landet, visar en ny studie av forskare vid Yaleuniversitet,

Så finns det klart att Ryssland drabbas hårdare av sanktionerna från väst än vad som framkommer av medierapporteringen. 

Det finns många typer av sanktioner.

Med ekonomiska sanktioner försöker västländerna göra Rysslands ekonomi så svag att Ryssland tvingas avsluta kriget i Ukraina. Ryssarna blir fattigare på grund av sanktionerna. Västländerna hoppas att det leder till missnöje med ryska ledare och det dyra kriget.

Och på grund av sanktioner kan ryska banker inte fungera i västländerna. Västerländska företag lämnar Ryssland. Handeln mellan Ryssland och västvärlden har minskat väldigt mycket. Ryska produkter säljs inte i västerländska butiker.

Here come grain ships

a guided walking tour in Kyiv.
Photo: EPA.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky visits port as Ukraine prepares to ship out grain. He's saying the departure of grain will begin with several ships that were already loaded but could not leave Ukrainian ports after Russia invaded in late February.

Zelenskyy has visits a Black Sea port as crews prepared terminals to export grain trapped by Russia’s five-month-old war, work that was inching forward a week after a deal was struck to allow critical food supplies to flow to millions of impoverished people facing hunger worldwide.

“The first vessel, the first ship is being loaded since the beginning of the war,” 

Zelenskyy, in his signature olive T-shirt, tells reporters on Friday as he stands next to a Turkish-flagged ship at the Chernomorsk port in the Odesa region.

Ukraine is a key global exporter of wheat, barley, corn and sunflower oil, and the loss of those supplies has raised global food prices, threatened political instability and helped push more people into poverty and hunger in already vulnerable countries.

Yesterday

Jonas Metsäkylä Trio has once again adapted the best jazz classics to a dynamically rich trio line-up. 

I saw & heard that this band has been workking closely developing their ensemble playing and honing their artistic vision for a few years now.

Jonas Metsäkylä, guitar. Kaisa Mäensivu, bass. Joe Peri, drums.

This time, the repertoire includes compositions from the pens of Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, among others. 

en Finne igen.

Finska kvinnan knuffade ner mannen på spåret – då kom tåget

Den tredje juli blev en äldre man nerknuffad framför tunnelbanan av en kvinna som kunde gripas på platsen.

 ”Han var ju svart”,

sa hon orden i polisförhöret.

Bild: tv4.se

Enligt Expressen som rapporterar om ärendet, har den misstänkte

finskt medborgarskap.

Mannen fick skador i huvudet och handen, men tack vare vittnen som ingrep och stannade tåget, så kunde mannen räddas upp från spåret. I tisdags väcktes åtal mot kvinnan som misstänks för mordförsök, alternativt grov misshandel.