La Gabbia.
Fare gli esperimenti culturali mi è sempre piaciuto, fin dai tempi in cui mi inventai la storia dell’olio di colza per motori diesel. Stavolta ho fatto un altro esperimento, e i dati che ne sono usciti sono interessanti.
USA vs. GOD
Before embarking on a discussion of a thorny and potentially divisive subject, it is only fair—and, I would say, intellectually honest—to make my bias explicit from the outset, rather than letting it emerge implicitly along the way. When it comes to religion, my more “polite,” measured formulation is this: I regard it as the right answer given to the wrong question—a construction that may possess its own internal coherence, yet ultimately rests upon premises that I do not share.
Nukes?
Contrary to what you might think, this post does not intend to discuss whether there are nuclear weapons in Iran, or whether Iran is in the process of building them. On the contrary, I would simply like to talk about how, if the enemy is the United States—or great powers in general—building nuclear weapons is, quite simply, the most foolish choice possible. It means choosing to fight superpowers on the very terrain where they are strongest.
“Are we Europeans still ‘Western’?”
Italian newspapers have given extensive coverage to the visit by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who traveled to several Arab countries to discuss ways of ensuring the flow of oil to Italy. Yet only a handful of Italian outlets have paid attention to the reactions published in the (limited) English-language Arab press. And the most common question has been: “Why is a Western country coming to ask for help against actions carried out by the West itself?”
How politics killed history.
Given the current, frankly absurd policies, political commentators—even the most sophisticated ones, and in fact especially them—keep telling us that MAGA voters are, at best, rednecks, and at worst “white trash.” That may well be true. But if we want to take the argument seriously, we also need to ask where these people actually come from.
...and here we are.
Only one day has passed, and already the “unpredictable” has done exactly what was expected, promising to “bring Iran back to the Stone Age,” that is, to destroy its civilian infrastructure. The problem, at this point, is very simple. What does a people that lives with electricity, drinking water, and civilized services do when it is suddenly thrown back into the Stone Age, when there is no more food, and not even drinkable water? Simple: it flees hunger, and it emigrates. And so Trump is working to create another, immense wave of migration toward Europe, like the Syrian one, but larger.
"Unpredictable"?
Many people think that Trump is “unpredictable” or “moody”, whereas I believe that, if one wishes to understand how to “read” him, Trump is not only highly predictable and consistent, but is in fact pursuing a policy, dictated by American “big money”, that has been consistent and essentially unchanged at least since the Obama era.
Vibes and The Software Barrier
As you may know, I am a great admirer of open source software. And this dates back to the early ’90s, when the limits of shareware were reached, and it was clear that that model could not hold. But in recent years, doing OSS has become increasingly difficult, for a very simple reason. Generally speaking, OSS — the real kind — is created by individuals who work on it in their spare time. Now, the interesting question is: WHICH spare time? And HOW MUCH spare time?