Generational Dynamics World View News

[Guest]

I also wonder what's going to happen to the authors, Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao. I hope they enjoy living in a bottomless pit.

They have gone missing as of this morning according to South Korean media.

[John]

** 16-Feb-2020 World View: Coronavirus in Singapore

> The authorities are aware of all that, but are hoping that, at
> least when warmer weather comes in April or May, the virus will
> stop spreading.

> But I've heard several experts say that they don't know whether or
> not warm weather will stop the spread of the virus. And they don't
> know whether it will then start to spread in the southern
> hemisphere, in Australia, South America, South Africa, and so
> forth.

> Singapore is hot and humid year round.

Here's an article from Singapore that says that the virus is less
active in warmer weather so you should keep your air conditioners
turned off:

> "Coronavirus: Turn off air-conditioners and open
> windows to reduce risk of being infected, say experts

> SINGAPORE - On top of washing their hands and disinfecting
> surfaces, people need to switch off the air-conditioner, turn on
> the fan and get fresh air to reduce the chances of getting
> infected by the novel coronavirus.

> The reason is that while many unknowns remain about the virus,
> earlier studies have shown that viruses thrive better in cool, dry
> climates.

> That would make tropical Singapore, with its hot and tropical
> weather, less conducive for the virus to thrive."

> https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ ... k-of-being

However, it's not clear whether the author of this article actually
knows something or is just guessing.

[FishbellykanakaDude]

The authorities are aware of all that, but are hoping that, at least
when warmer weather comes in April or May, the virus will stop
spreading. But I've heard several experts say that they don't know
whether or not warm weather will stop the spread of the virus. And
they don't know whether it will then start to spread in the
southern hemisphere, in Australia, South America, South Africa,
and so forth.

Singapore is hot and humid year round.

True,.. but I think they still have a "disease" season, or seasons, apparently:

• "In Singapore, flu season tends to arrive during the cooler periods between May to July, and December to February."

..as per https://www.gleneagles.com.sg/healthplu ... ntion-tips

[Nathan Redshield]

Regarding grandparents, interesting point. But there are other things going on and grandparents etc. vary in interests; some are More Useful than others in describing the Old Days. Then their grandchildren might not be as interested in finding out; that varies. Generational Dynamics ideas may work better regarding ordinary run-of-the-mill people who aren't inquisitive about the past rather than people who know how to research the past--and do it. Even John Xenakis has some blind spots (the Origins of The Great War; John swallows Allied propaganda hook line and sinker!). Regarding Afghanistan, war is waged not just upon the enemy but also on the home front so "peace initiatives" often are things devised to "please" the home folks in mass democracies. Afghanistan has been a "mess" for a l-o-n g time--so we must come up with something that passes for good and vamoose while the gettin's good.

[John]

** 17-Feb-2020 World View: Origins of Great War

> Regarding grandparents, interesting point. But there are other
> things going on and grandparents etc. vary in interests; some are
> More Useful than others in describing the Old Days. Then their
> grandchildren might not be as interested in finding out; that
> varies. Generational Dynamics ideas may work better regarding
> ordinary run-of-the-mill people who aren't inquisitive about the
> past rather than people who know how to research the past--and do
> it. Even John Xenakis has some blind spots (the Origins of The
> Great War; John swallows Allied propaganda hook line and sinker!).
> Regarding Afghanistan, war is waged not just upon the enemy but
> also on the home front so "peace initiatives" often are things
> devised to "please" the home folks in mass democracies.
> Afghanistan has been a "mess" for a l-o-n g time--so we must come
> up with something that passes for good and vamoose while the
> gettin's good.

OK, I'm sorry, what did I swallow hook line and sinker?

[John]

** 17-Feb-2020 World View: Warmer Weather

> The authorities are aware of all that, but are hoping that, at
> least when warmer weather comes in April or May, the virus will
> stop spreading. But I've heard several experts say that they
> don't know whether or not warm weather will stop the spread of the
> virus. And they don't know whether it will then start to spread in
> the southern hemisphere, in Australia, South America, South
> Africa, and so forth.

> Singapore is hot and humid year round.

> True,.. but I think they still have a "disease" season, or
> seasons, apparently:

• > "In Singapore, flu season tends to arrive during the cooler
  > periods between May to July, and
  > December to February."

> ..as per
> https://www.gleneagles.com.sg/healthplu ... ntion-tips

OK, so Singapore is right on the equator.

So is there any expectation of an outbreak in Australia or New Zealand
in July?

[John]

** 17-Feb-2020 World View: UN declares Libya agreement to be a 'joke'

• Stephanie Williams, UN deputy special envoy for Libya

There was a press conference in Munich on Sunday, to achieve agreement
to stop supply weapons to factions in Libya.

Egypt and UAE have been supplying weapons to one side -- the Libyan
National Army (LNA), led by international renegade Khalifa Haftar.
Haftar is headquarted in the east, and is attacking Tripoli in the
west.

Turkey has been supplying weapons to the other side -- the
internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), led by
Fayez al-Serraj. The GNA is in Tripoli.

Sunday's Munich meeting was a follow-up to a meeting a month ago in
Berlin, when foreign ministers from a dozen countries agreed to an
arms embargo.

Turkey, Egypt and UAE ignored the agreements they made in Berlin, and
continued supplying arms as if nothing had happend.

So I watched some of the press conference Sunday in Munich, attended
by the same foreign ministers of the same countries as last month's
meeting in Berlin. I particularly watched particular the report given
by U.N. Deputy Special Representative to Libya Stephanie Williams.

Williams was practically in tears as she described the suffering in
Libya, and she said:

"The arms embargo has become a joke, we all really
need to step up here."

So, all the foreign ministers talked for a while, evaded answering a
few questions from the press, agreed to enforce the arms embargo,
stood for a photo shoot, and went home, having done their jobs. Today
they'll ignore the agreement and violate the arms embargo again.

In my article yesterday on Afghanistan, I described three laughable
peace agreements -- in Afghanistan, the Mideast, and Idlib (Syria).
All of these agreements are jokes that will never be honored.

And now we have this laughable Libya agreement, where these people
agree to an arms embargo and then just ignore what they agreed to.
But this is a little different than the other agreements: It isn't
just me that's calling it a joke. It's the UN representative.

Actually, everyone knows it's a joke. Everyone knows that the other
three agreements are also jokes.

What the hell are these people doing? And why am I here?

You know, every day I sit alone in my apartment for 14-16 hours per
day, reading the news, writing little articles. So I read stories
every day about babies starving, children raped, men beaten and
tortured, endless slaughter, mutilations, lost mothers, lost fathers,
lost children, starving children with exposed bones, enslavement,
child trafficking, child prostitution, child soldiers, and depraved
politicians hiring trolls to lie about their atrocities. Rarely does
a day go by when there aren't two or three stories that bring tears to
my eyes.

When I was young, I didn't understand what was going on, and I figured
that I was too young to understand, and that I'd understand when I was
older. Well, that turns out to be true. I'm old enough now, and I
understand. And a lot of these politicians are really sick
psychopaths. Bashar al-Assad is the worst, but Vladimir Putin, Seyed
Ali Hosseini Khamenei, and Xi Jinping aren't far behind.

And I even understand how it happens, thanks to Generational Dynamics.
It's really very simple. I've seen it in country after country. I've
started calling it the "democide pattern."

When two ethnic groups have a generational crisis war with each other,
they conduct the most horrendous atrocities on each other during the
war. The most sickening acts become the norm during such a war. The
people who conduct these atrocities become traumatized, and turn into
psychopaths and sociopaths. At the climax of the war, when the worst
and most sickening atrocities occur, the war ends. The top general of
the side that wins becomes head of government. This is a guy who
ordered one sickening atrocity after another, and now he can't stop.
He's the worst sociopath of all.

So I see these politicians coming out of the Democide Pattern,
committing the most horrendous, sickening acts every day. There's an
unfolding catastrophe in Idlib, as well as active Holocausts in
Xinjiang and Rakhine, but these politicians just agree to pretend it
isn't happening. Or they hold a committee meeting, say "this is not
acceptable!" and then go home. As far as they're concerned, people
are no better than cockroaches.

As I've written in the past: There are several Holocausts going on
today, and nobody cares. Actually, nobody cared about the Nazi-Jew
Holocaust while it was going on. To care about a Holocaust while it's
actually going on is too politically painful, because the politicians,
the trolls, the defenders, the acolytes, the deniers, the
cheerleaders, the propagandists, the psychopaths, the sociopaths, and
the collaborators all benefit from the Holocaust, and will protect it.
It's only after it's over that nobody stands to benefit, and then the
wise men can stand up and say, "Never Again!"

So every day, every hour, every minute, I ask myself, why the hell am
I alive? I have no place in this world. Even if it weren't for the
fact that I'm going to run out of money and then I'll be forced to
kill myself, even forgetting that problem, there's still no place in
this world for me. This is an insane world which makes no sense to me
at all.

And the feeling is mutual. The world would like to get rid of me as
well. Here's a typical conversation:

Recruiter: Hi, John. I saw your sensational resume
online, and you have exactly the skills that my new client is
looking for. Do you have a few minutes to talk a new software
engineering role?

Me: Sure! But it's really a waste of time, because I'm over 60,
and nobody is hiring anyone over 60.

Recruiter: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. [pause] Well, do you know
anyone younger with the same skills?

Me: [Click]

The above is not a joke. It actually happened, and something like it
happens every week.

So on both a global and personal level, I have absolutely no place in
this world. On the global level, politicians make ridiculous
agreements that no one cares about, and on the personal level I don't
even exist.

Yeah, I know, thousands of people read the articles I write, and they
care. But for all but a few of them, the articles are like comic
strips that you can enjoy reading every day as long as they're free.
No one considers them to be worth anything, or worth paying a salary
for. Someone told me that they make thoughtful points, which means
that he considers them like Peanuts comic strips. If I disappeared, I
would be forgotten by all but a few people within a couple of weeks.
I'm like a cartoon character in my own comic strip. Why do I keep
doing this? I keep asking myself and never have an answer, except
you've gotta do something to fill the time till you run out of money.

Did all of you see the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" It's like
I used to live in the real world, but somehow I got abducted by
a Toon, and now I'm trapped in Toontown, and I've turned into a Toon
myself, with no way back to the real world.

And remember "The Dip"? It's impossible to kill a Toon since, after
all, they're Toons. But Judge Doom has found a way, with
The Dip, a mixture of turpentine, acetone, and benzine.
When Judge Doom throws a Toon into a vat of The Dip, then the
Toon dissolves.

So today, I'm trapped in Toontown and can't get out. Some politicians
are using The Dip in Syria, Burma, China, and elsewhere. And other
politicians scream, "this is not acceptable!" but then pretend it
isn't happening. And then there are the Democrats. Have you seen the
Democrats? They compete with each other every day to prove to the
world that they're the stupidest Toons of all.

And I keep wondering, why the hell am I here in Toontown? And if I've
turned into a Toon, and I can't get out of Toontown, then at least
tell me how I get access to that vat of The Dip.

Sorry about this long rant, and sorry to make it all about me. But
let's face it, I'm right. Look around. We do live in Toontown.

---- Sources:

-- U.N. says Libya arms embargo a 'joke', demands accountability
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germ ... SKBN20A09X
(Reuters, 16-Feb-2020)

-- Libya arms embargo is a joke, says UN envoy as ceasefire talks
continue
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... alks-stall
(Guardian, London, 16-Feb-2020)

-- Powers renew pledge to uphold Libya arms embargo
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/ ... 27169.html
(Al Jazeera, 16-Feb-2020)

-- Who Framed Roger Rabbit - plot summary
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096438/plotsummary
(IMDB)

----- Related articles:

** 16-Feb-20 World View -- US and Taliban to sign laughable 'reduction in violence' agreement in Afghanistan
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/ ... tm#e200216


** 6-Dec-18 World View -- New head of US Central Command says Afghanistan war is unsustainable
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/ ... tm#e181206


** Guess what? British politicians and journalists are just as ignorant as Americans
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/ ... m#e070114b

[Trevor]

Wow, John. You make me look like an optimist in comparison.

My own thoughts on at least the United States, Europe, and the United Nations: Yes, it's terrible. Yes, we all know none of this agreements are worth the paper or data they're printed on. On the other hand, what can we really do about it? Terrible things happen all the time, whether on a family level, or an international level.

When it comes to the massacre in Syria, for instance, what can we realistically do at this point? Assad's not going to stop butchering his own people, Putin's not going to stop supporting him, and if we did decide to remove him from power, there's no guarantee things would turn out any better. Now Turkey's involved in the war, and I'd expect at least some rebels would take pleasure in giving the Alwaite minority the same treatment. Life rarely gives us neat, tidy solutions, however much we wish otherwise.

It reminds me a little bit of what politicians have to say after local disasters and there's really no way to win. If you say: "Everything's under control, there's nothing to worry about," you're accused of covering things up. If you sound the alarm and demand imminent action, you're accused of inciting panic. Regardless of what approach you take, someone's going to get outraged.

No need to apologize for ranting about how you feel about what's going on in the world.

[Tom Mazanec]

John, try going into the interview without the defeatist “I am too old!” before you even start.

[John]

** 17-Feb-2020 World View: Advice

> John, try going into the interview without the defeatist “I am too
> old!” before you even start.

Thanks, Tom. I always find your sage counsel and advice so very
extremely useful. What would I ever do without it?