Armchair Ideas about International Diplomacy and the War Chest

While world events are hardly inspiriting, I've been quite happy in my personal life lately.

Partly I do attribute it to my new technique of 'Detrumpification': when I read news that I find depressing, I put it into a spreadsheet and try to quickly find something positive to do about the relevant issue. 

It's informed the books and articles that I read: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, transgender rights, Latine writers, a lengthy work about the history of U.S. immigration, and independent Canadian publishers, are now major elements of my reading list. It's led to the embarrassment of riches that I now have in the way of freshly mended socks (to add something to the ecological side of the world's ledger). It's inspired me to look up official YouTube channels for Cuban and Mexican music. It's emboldened me to use my preferred gender pronouns in an email just because it feels good that I can do that without being fired from a job. And so on and so forth.

Besides, I'm simply happy about the university holidays and my freedom. It's the best I've felt since the earlier, glory days at my last job.

That said, I'm apprehensive about the social budgets being cut in Berlin and presumably in other parts of Germany, as well as e.g. closures of hospitals due to unprofitability and a new federal law that alters funding structures. Because I think that the extreme right is profiting a great deal by the economic impacts of Covid and the war in Ukraine. And it is a fair question, not just in Germany but also for example in France, to ask why taxpayer money that was unavailable to regular citizens in the face of steep inflation and regal rents is suddenly available to arm Ukraine.

I think that arming Ukraine is necessary and that abandoning Ukraine to its own devices (as a certain somebody has largely done) is morally deficient. But even in terms of dispassionate military strategy I think it is best at the same time to prevent social discord in the countries that will pay for it. €100 million [Edit: billion] for infrastructure investment, as the CDU and SPD have proposed, doesn't seem like enough. Do I wish that (by and large) the far right would be honest about the role that its beloved partner the Russian president had played in invading Ukraine and crashing the economy, and that the far right would stop promoting his views and interests and ridiculously blaming the effects of his malfeasance on migrants and refugees? — Yes, but I'm not holding my breath that they will finally be truthful, either with themselves or with anybody else.

At the same time, although I figure that Russia's government and media landscape (like those of other countries) could use serious reform, it was a relief to briefly have hope that warmer diplomatic relations would be reestablished. On the basis of its President not invading any more countries, and in some way being fair to Ukraine. Even after that hope was killed off in the Oval Office, I was quite pleased that President Emmanuel Macron took the opportunity of his speech on French television to say that he could envision a good relationship in future. That said, returning to the topic of reform: Looking at domestic Russian politics, I'm struggling to think of any historical parallel where it worked well for a population to have its dictator stay in power after he had killed off tens of thousands of citizens, and destroyed their economy, in an arbitrary war that had 'sounded good to him at the time'. They deserve better.

*

Spring has brought a string of mild and sunny days to Berlin, and golden winter aconites, snowdrops, purple and yellow crocuses are everywhere. Last weekend I saw a budding pink hyacinth and daffodils on the verge of opening into flower, and in the allotment gardens I saw freshly set out primroses. But otherwise it's still quite wintry.

I only have one photography class left, for which I need to take another roll of film. It's still not clear in my mind what to photograph, although perhaps the pro-Ukrainian protest on Sunday is an option. But this weekend the class was postponed due to International Women's Day, which has recently become a statutory holiday in Berlin.