Conflict – Mentatul

“Helping” Developing Countries – The Mastery of Abuse

25April2019Axonn EchysttasConflictcivilwar, neocolonialism, oil, weapon

Mentatul Monthly Focus
April 2019 Edition
– (War-torn) Developing Countries –

The way superpowers and developed countries have spent money in order to „help” developing countries is often highly questionable. The „help” ranges from plain naive to ruthless neo-colonialism.

What adds insult to injury is that more often than not, the problem was caused by those „helpful” nation-states in the first place. This is a very complex topic that, for now, I will not debate. I’ll just give you the information along with a few short comments.

1. We’re going to start with borders, more specifically what happens when one draws a straight line between communities that share the same religion or put vastly different cultures in the same bucket.

2. Then we’re going to go into neo-colonialism with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

3. A naïve interlude will tell the story of an idealist computer scientist who hoped that giving poor children laptops would improve their chances of success in a world where technology plays an ever-increasing role. We will never know if he was right, because the project failed (not with a bang, but with a whimper).

4. No list of atrocities done to/in developing countries would be complete without a story about weapons trade.

5. The dismal situation in the world’s youngest country.

The “No First Use” Nuclear Weapons Policy

24February2018Axonn EchysttasConflictnkorea, nuclear-weapon

The title says it clearly enough. A “no first use” pledge might work much better than threats if we want to advert a nuclear war with, for example, North Korea. Given the size of the country’s army, even a conventional weapons conflict would have devastating consequences on the Korean peninsula. But a “no first use” pledge would probably prevent that as well, since it could include something like “no state will use nuclear weapons as long as its territorial integrity is preserved”. Here’s an article that describes all this in more detail.

Trump, Putin and Cold War 2.0

10June2017Axonn EchysttasConflictcyberwar, russia, usa

I present you with one of the best geopolitical analysis articles I’ve read in the past couple of years. It’s also quite a long read. But if you care about the conflict between the world’s superpowers, this will be an excellent use of your time since it’s also very well written.

The text goes in ample detail regarding cyberwarfare and how Russia has become a force to be reckoned with in the field of social media manipulation. You will also learn why it was possible for Russia to influence the elections in the United States. In turn, this will make it clear that democracy is facing a threat as a result of the intense polarization affecting many societies on Earth.

Amid Souring Relations, Russia Pulls out of Nuclear Treaty

22October2016Axonn EchysttasConflict, Recommendationschina, nuclear-weapon, russia, usa

During the past few weeks and months, there have been some worrying rumblings among the world’s superpowers. We’ve witnessed a serious degradation of relations between Russia and the USA, while China is slowly but surely pursuing its own agenda.

Part of a process of rebalancing itself in the planetary power-play, Russia has recently been involved in military exercises together with China. This sends a clear message that the Eurasian superpowers are waking up to the fact that they share more points in common than just the massive landmass they occupy. These military drills were held in the contested waters of the South China Sea. There, the USA has been involved in arbitration between other claimant nation-states. But the balance is quickly shifting, even as Philippines’ human rights violator and political wildcard Rodrigo Duterte cares little about the meddling of far-away USA in regional matters.

Flight MH17 Was Indeed Downed By A Russian Rocket

6August2016Axonn Echysttas2 CommentsConflict, Recommendationsrussia, ukraine

It took a couple of years, but finally the Dutch have completed their investigation concerning the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. The plane crashed in Ukraine during the Russian intervention there a bit over two years ago. There were no survivors.

Cyber-Warfare is Scary

15June2016Axonn EchysttasConflict, Recommendationscyberwar, hardware, security, surveillance

When we read in the press about “hacking”, it’s mostly about software-based attacks. It may be about exploiting a vulnerability to reveal passwords or attacking an insecure computer.

Tiny hardware back-doors can be baked inside any integrated circuit. It’s not news that this is doable, but what is news is that it’s way too easy to achieve and almost impossible to detect. Even in the case of the highly advanced computer processors that are inside all our devices. Apparently it can be done by a single (well trained) person working inside the factory that manufactures the chip.

Best War Buddies Australia & France

8May2016Axonn EchysttasConflict, Recommendationsaustralia, china, france, russia, submarine

Fans of the military industrial complex, rejoice. There is a new romance on the block. Australia and France are deepening their military relationship, under the auspices of a fat ship-building contract.

Contemplating world peace, the Australian decision-makers thought that a dozen submarines are totally worth $50 billion of their people’s work. On the other side of the world, the failing French economy is in dire need of a stimulus.

Not the Usual Sermon Against Terrorism

28March2016Axonn Echysttas2 CommentsConflict, Recommendationsasia, duality, europe, middleeast, terrorism

Of all the things I’ve learned throughout my life, I think nothing is more important than starting to have an understanding about the meaning of duality. For me, the very challenge of life is to reconcile the duality I observe with the oneness I strive for. Duality is not only about good and evil or about life and death. Duality is also about us and the others, and it is this aspect that I’d like to write a few words about.

Mentatul

Because being informed is just not enough anymore...

Mentatul

Because being informed is just not enough anymore...

“Helping” Developing Countries – The Mastery of Abuse

The “No First Use” Nuclear Weapons Policy

Trump, Putin and Cold War 2.0

Amid Souring Relations, Russia Pulls out of Nuclear Treaty

Flight MH17 Was Indeed Downed By A Russian Rocket

Cyber-Warfare is Scary

Best War Buddies Australia & France

Not the Usual Sermon Against Terrorism