War in Europe, weeks 103 through 107, weeks 19 through 23

Unfortunately, there is no change to report yet. The Tsar continues his murderous assault on Ukraine with no end in sight. In the US, the Republican Party is still blocking any further aid, severely hampering Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.

There was a time in the past when the GOP would rise to defend democracy; nowadays, they seem only to exist to support Donald Trump and his love of strongmen and disdain for anything that’s not old-school heteronormative.

As far as the Israeli-Arab conflict is concerned, I’m at a loss for words. There was a fleeting hope for a cease-fire, but that has passed.

On the positive side, we are back on track to reach our 2030 goal of reducing emissions. If only there were a will to tell people that climate change will bring change…

We need to create a vision for a sustainable future!

(Visionsstammtisch, Cologne, 3/11/24)

War in Europe – Two Years

On this day two years ago, the Russian Emperor decided to invade Ukraine.

The Tsar continues to slaughter civilians and commit other war crimes for his gain and glory.

Western support is unfortunately hampered by the Republicans in the US, who do not want to send further aid, and our chancellor, who is afraid to send long-range weapons and more ammunition.

To help Ukraine defend itself and Europe, you can donate here: United24.

(Flag of Ukraine with coat of arms, Wikimedia Commons, CC0)

War in Europe, weeks 97 through 102, weeks 13 through 18

The Tsar is still slaughtering Ukrainians for fun and personal gain, and there are no signs of him relenting. In Germany, he’s investing in a second political party, the BSW, in addition to the AfD, to further his right-wing agenda and destroy our democracy.

In the Israeli-Arab conflict, there’s a little glimmer of hope that a ceasefire might be reached soon; both sides are drafting and exchanging plans.

Domestic politics are overshadowing all climate issues – an undercover investigation into the German far-right party AfD has revealed its plans to forcefully drive out millions of people from Germany, especially those who are not aligned with their ultra-nationalist and ultra-conservative views. This is utterly despicable, and there have been countless protests and rallies all over Germany since.

We need to turn these protests into a long-term movement to defend democracy and our open society!

(Anti-AfD Protest, Cologne, 1/16/24)

War in Europe, weeks 94 through 96, weeks 10 through 12

Just in time for the New Year, the Tsar intensified his assaults on Ukrainian civilians, murdering countless people again for fun and personal gain.

In his New Year’s speech, he said that 2024 would become the year of the family – if you’re Russian, that is. Otherwise, it will be all bullets and missiles for you. This is the same nationalistic tune that all far-right dictators and politicians sing. It still baffles me, though, how one human being can believe that another human being is less or of different worth.

No good news in the Israeli-Arab conflict either.

2024 is around the corner, and after this year, which is already 2.4 degrees hotter than last century, we need to step up our efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The big challenge for next year will be to convince more people that we’d need to do this – there’s a lot of reluctance toward the necessary changes, and it will be up to us to define a positive narrative and vision.

(Window Friday, Cologne, 12/31/23)

 

War in Europe, week 93 and week 9

The Tsar is still murdering people in Ukraine, and the Arab-Israeli war is continuing unabated, not to mention the other ongoing forgotten wars.

After the Tsar has declared the LGBTQI* community as a terrorist organization, he’s now going after women’s rights, very much like all the other fundamentalist dictators worldwide do.

The current state of the final resolution at COP28 is a disgrace – driven by fossil fuel lobbyists, the necessary phase-out of fossil fuels is not included in the text.

We know that COP will likely continue to fail us, so we spent the last week at the Earth Social Conference in Casanare, Colombia, working on a shared vision for a climate-just world.

During this year’s conference, we learned a lot from each other about concepts like Buen Vivir or Radical Tenderness. I am very much looking forward to continuing the work throughout the year! The ESC in 2024 is scheduled to be in Mexico at the same time as COP29 and will help us to prepare for COP30.

(Transversal del Sisga, Colombia, 12/11/23)

War in Europe, week 92 and week 8

Nothing new on the Eastern Front: The Tsar is continuing his murderous assault on Ukraine and its people. To continue to justify the war, he recently branded all queer people as a terrorist organization, following the same path as many dictators before him.

Fighting in the Arab-Israeli conflict has resumed, and there will be more cruelty and death in the coming weeks.

The chairperson of the COP, Sultan Al Jaber, has said that there is ‘no science’ behind demands for the phase-out of fossil fuels, according to The Guardian. That was not unexpected, but it’s a chilling statement nonetheless.

In a couple of days, the Earth Social Conference in Casanare will start and try to address the climate emergency and create a plan for a sustainable and equitable future.

(Breakfast with a view, Bogotá, 12/2/23)

War in Europe, weeks 90 and 91, weeks 6 and 7

The war in Ukraine drags on, and the Tsar continues to slaughter innocent civilians for his personal gain.

Unfortunately, the Tsar has found a new ally in Europe – the Dutch have elected a far-right politician for president. Together with Hungary’s president, the two ultra-nationalists do not bode well for our efforts to protect the Ukraine and thus ourselves against the Tsar’s imperialist ambitions.

The Arab-Israeli war has entered a new phase, with a temporary truce and the exchange of hostages. For the sake of the people living there, I hope they will soon reach a step toward lasting peace!

But I am skeptical; the military leaders of Hamas, like the Tsar, have no interest in protecting the lives and well-being of civilians; their only interest lies in their respective ideologies of power and the illusion of their own grandeur.

Two weeks from now, the Earth Social Conference will start in Casanare, Colombia. The program is almost complete, logistics are in place, and I can’t wait to meet all the other climate activists from around the globe to build a realistic alternative to the COP.

KubeCon in Chicago was good but less energetic than the spring conference in Amsterdam. And there were new Geekos!

(Geekos on the shelf, Cologne, 11/16.23)

War in Europe, weeks 88 and 89, weeks 4 and 5

Even though the Tsar is continuing to murder Ukrainians, the occupation is overshadowed by the Israeli-Arab conflict and the bloody battles there.

Antisemitism is on the rise worldwide; the Abraham Accords are on hold, so Hamas has already achieved its fundamental goal of isolating Israel and making a lasting peace highly unlikely.

Portraying Hamas, a very violent and militant Islamist terrorist group, as “freedom fighters” is no small PR feat – Hamas fighters hate Jews and Queers with a vengeance and strongly oppose Women’s rights; there is no freedom whatsoever in a world controlled by Hamas.

To be clear: There is no justification for killing innocent civilians, neither for religion nor revenge, or both; the space for compassion, however, is currently being drowned out by righteous ignorance.

One casualty of this is Fridays for Future, torn apart by warring factions from the Left.

Does the climate emergency care? No, global heating will continue to destroy our planet as long as we continue to burn fossil fuels.

Will we all suffer? Yes.

(The “L”, Chicago, 11/4/23)

War in Europe, weeks 86 and 87, weeks 2 and 3

The people of Ukraine are still fighting heroically against the Tsar’s aggression and seem to be making progress. That’s good news!

Not so good news from the other war, however. Countless innocent civilians are being killed daily on both sides, and all we can do from afar is hope for a quick end to the bloodshed and support everybody affected.

And of all the conflicts in the world, Greta decided to wade smack into the middle of the Arab–Israeli conflict. Oh well.

The climate emergency does not wait, nor can we dally with finding a solution. In December, there will be the Earth Social Conference in Casanare, Colombia, where climate realists from all over the world will get together to work on a global strategy.

We’ll be there with a delegation from Cologne – I hope to see you there, too!

(Disarstar – Rolex für Alle Tour, Carlswerk Victoria, 10/15/23)

War in Europe, week 85 and week 1

And another war! Not only does the Tsar continue his pointless slaughter, but now Iran-backed Hamas has started an all-out war against Israel.

It almost seems as if the dictators of this world are trying to bomb our rules- and values-based world back into the rule of (male) power.

Should Xi Jinping use the opportunity to start a war against Taiwan, we’ll be in yet another world war at a time when we should unite and deal with the climate emergency as the planetary species that we are.

There is no Planet B, not for the Tsar, the Mullahs, or Xi Jinping. Or Elon, for that matter.

(Alte Commerzbank, Cologne, 9/24/23)