War in Europe, week eight

This week was utterly frustrating – Ukraine is under heavy attack, and our government is doing almost nothing to support them.

There was a good analysis by Anders Östlund on Twitter, pointing out the four old white men in our governing party (Olaf Scholz, Gerhard Schröder, Sigmar Gabriel,  and Walter Steinmeier). They do not want to acknowledge that their policy toward Russia has failed. The approach that worked well with the former Soviet Union now fails with the Tsarist autocracy and leads to bloodshed and murder.

Also, we should not underestimate the role of fossil fuels and greed in this.

On Covid, the incidence figures in Cologne have remained stable at 600. Nevertheless, I got my recommended second booster this week, four months after the first.

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(Ferris wheel and bridge, Cologne, 4/12/22)

War in Europe, week seven

The slaughter in Ukraine continues, and evidence of war crimes mounts every day.

Our government acts as indecisive as it did the last couple of weeks. It shows an apparent unwillingness to support the people of Ukraine by sending arms and stopping energy imports. Why did I even vote for them?

Pink Floyd released a new song in support of Ukraine, which I have on repeat ever since – David Gilmour’s guitar touches me on so many levels, and I’m so grateful that they came out in support of the people of Ukraine.

On Covid, the incidence has further gone down to 600 in Cologne.

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(Pink Floyd: Hey Hey Rise Up, YouTube, 4/10/22)

War in Europe, week six

Six weeks into the war and the slaughter of civilians is continuing unabated.

For Europe, there is only one course of action left before entering into the war: Stop buying energy from Russia. Now!

However, the German government is too afraid to agree to an outright embargo, even though most Germans would support a ban on Russian gas.

I wonder what we can do to make our government act. Any ideas?

On Covid, the incidence has gone back down to 1000 in Cologne.

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(Tunnel with light at the end, even though there is none; Frankfurt; 4/3/22)

War in Europe, week four

Actions speak – as Jakub Janda points out on Twitter. So true!

Germany has done almost nothing to support Ukraine against the murderous attacks from Russia; instead, it continues to fund the war through massive imports of oil, coal, and gas.

The actions of our government are shameful, at best.

As with Afghanistan, the lesson to the world is that Germany will only look after its interests and betray you in a blink of an eye.

The German inaction will be an issue during the next global climate strike; in Cologne, it will be on Friday, March 25, at noon in Rheinpark.

Regarding Covid, the incidence has gone back down to 1670 in Cologne.

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(Burning Kangaroo, Cologne, 3/19/22)

War in Europe, week three

We’re in the third week of the war and the seventy-first week of the second Covid-19 shutdown.

The Czar is continuing to murder for his personal gain, and Covid-19 is killing people, too; the incidence in Cologne is at 2525 right now. And I haven’t talked about the climate emergency yet.

Our government is too afraid to take decisive action against Russia and stop all energy imports – I’m not proud of them right now. At least we’re taking in refugees this time.

I’ve turned off our heating to minimize energy consumption and not fund Putin’s murders.

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(Gira Smart Home, Cologne, 3/13/22)

War in Europe, week two

The czar is still murdering people in Ukraine.

Thirty-five years after the end of the cold war, this new hot war reshapes our world and ends decades of peaceful cooperation.

The iron curtain is coming back up again. Sigh.

When the war started, Cologne was at the beginning of Carnival – we turned the annual parade into a peace rally, and many people attended. Not surprisingly, the incidence in Cologne skyrocketed during Carnival and is now at 2333.

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(Cathedral, Cologne, 3/6/22)

War in Europe, week one

This week is the first week of the war in Europe, where Russia invaded Ukraine.

I am so, so tired of Cro-Magnon men forcing people to kill each other to secure their grip on power.

On Omicron BA.1 and BA.2, the incidence in Cologne is at 1046 right now.

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(Listening to some Drill to drown out the sound of war in my head)

Shutdown two, week sixty-eight

Omicron is diminishing slightly; the incidence is at 1285 in Cologne right now. These numbers do not reflect the new BA.2 variant, though.

There was some backlash against my last post, mostly from people far down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. Still, some people confuse acts of solidarity with infringement on personal liberties.

The only way to stop the pandemic is to prevent the spread of the virus.

Likewise, the only way to stop the impact of the climate emergency is to stop the proliferation of CO2 and other greenhouse gases.

So simple.

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(No-Schwurbel rally, Cologne, 2/14/22)

Shutdown two, week sixty-seven

Omicron is still going strong; the incidence has risen even more, and it’s at 1658 right now in Cologne.

Did I mention that I’m entirely at a loss to understand the people demonstrating against the virus?

Another casualty of the pandemic, apart from losing friends and family to conspiracy theories, is my social media game. I hardly ever travel or leave the house for anything but shopping, so there are simply no opportunities to capture fantastic images for Instagram, as an example.

I still hunt Pokémon, but you can take only so many snapshots of your buddy before people stop liking them. And my YouTube channel has been dormant ever since the pandemic’s start. Oh well.

Other than that, life is pretty good! I’m very privileged to work from home, and all of my close family have recovered well.

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(Steelix Raid, Cologne, 2/4/22)