Stories and News

Stories and News No. 1287 If I weren't a human being. Not an alien, even if I often feel like that – or maybe others made me feel, but just a different life on earth. If I were not a human being, but at the same time able to reflect on the misdeeds against all other terrestrial creatures, these days I would find myself watching with terror the methane leakage from the pair of North Stream gas pipelines. The first and second, in a kind of one-two with which an idiot boxer insists on smashing his face by himself. If I didn't belong to our species, the first thing I would find absurd is the dispute among humans about who is to blame for what happened. Nonetheless, I would learn that Anders Puck Nielsen, a researcher with the Center for Maritime Operations at the Royal Danish Defense College, as well as Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak, believe that Russia is the biggest gainer. Going on, I would note that the Asia Times News Agency says it will be the Baltic sta...

Stories and News No. 1286 The Queen is gone. No controversy, really. After 96 years of life and 70 plus 214 days of reign, Elizabeth II died. No comparison, I assure you. For two weeks at least, but probably the fact will still occupy part of the media in the coming days, the news of the death of the elderly woman seated at the head of the British monarchy has got primal attention in much of the Western world. Until the climax, that is the sumptuous funeral with the many heads of state and television coverage from all over the planet. The Queen lived, the Queen reigned, the Queen will be forever in history. Nonetheless, as is tradition on these pages of mine, it is the stories with the initial neglected that take precedence. Without any controversy or confrontation, I repeat, I cannot help but ignore the more or less authoritative celebrations up there and concentrate my awareness, as well as my gaze, for example on the Horn of Africa, the area where my dad came from, where 15 milli...

Stories and News No. 1285 Or, The kingdom of words and the land of tears and blood Once upon a time there were two worlds, different and disjointed, contradictory and antithetical. However, for once you will be able to observe them side by side. How to read a story with the parallel text of the translation, but for the sake of reality, rather than for purely linguistic reasons. Or, if you prefer, how to follow two screens at the same time. And even if one of the most unavoidable theatrical rules requires never showing more than one scene at a time, in this case it is fundamental to grasp the meaning. Anyway the protagonist is the same. What changes is the context. Or rather, what differs is in the words, in their presence, importance and weight in the eyes of those who read or listen. And the discrepancy rely on one of the mirrors, where syntax and semantics matters little or nothing, I assure you. Therefore, as it has been used on these parts for more than a decade now, there was ...

Stories and News No. 1284 It is the year 2034, ladies and gentlemen, and this is a journey into a nightmare that some call a dream. Much has changed since the September election day twelve years ago. As promised, many say, or perhaps we should say feared. The Italian government - moved to the right of itself, formed by the trio Meloni, Salvini and Berlusconi, has already won more than one mandate and is a favorite for the next. Because by now they have understood how to force the rules, manipulate the parties on the field and divide to conquer, winning hands down with percentages even higher than expected. But let's talk about how Italy has changed since the day they took office. In recent years, the acutal government has disrupted the Italian media landscape, which has led to accusations of limitation of media freedoms by the European Union and by groups for democracy. The executive has strengthened its hold on the national media, along with TV, turning them into spokespersons...

Stories and News No.1283 Abroad, the now more than realizable scenario that, in the coming weeks, will see an Italy led by a government headed by “the mother”, as well as “the Christian woman”, Giorgia Meloni, “the Russian” Matteo Salvini and “the immortal” Silvio Berlusconi arouses understandable concern. Nonetheless, browsing through the political programs of the aforementioned and above all reading their respective statements, I cannot help but notice their common affection for the so-called traditional family. Consequently, I would like to address this issue as usual with a short story. Once upon a time the traditional family. The new one, I mean, model 2.0, version 2022 but without any update, because flaws and bugs are always there. In the new family, conscientiously and above all ethically respectful of tradition, the dean, aka the grandfather is the old Silvio. Nevertheless, let’s continue as if it were really a fairy tale, where often the story counts more than the protagon...

Stories and News No. 1282 Most likely, yes. That is, Shireen Abu Akleh was most likely shot by an Israeli soldier, the Israeli army finally said . Now it is all a matter of statistics, pies and percentages, discounted forecasts and surveys in the form of sentences, demeaned, humiliated and derided hopes before and after, and a population of exiles from the principal graph that increases every day more. Therefore, you open the newspapers, browse, run, escape and look for a refuge on the world wide web, indeed, far from it, you listen to friends, colleagues and acquaintances, and everything seems to have already been decided without you being able to do anything about it. Because it is most likely, the modern and polite way to make fun of you. In no particular order, most likely in the next italian elections the right will win, and even if it is further to the right of that past one, it still makes fun of you and those who vote for it by coloring itself with a placid center and dressi...