The Human Archipelago / L'Archipel humain

  La civilisation est la plus belle invention humaine, dit-on. L'histoire de l'humanité, au cours des différentes époques, serait celle de la civilisation, plus précisément des différentes civilisations qui se sont succédé ici et là, dans les différentes régions du monde, au cours des siècles et des millénaires. Un peu comme la santé, la civilisation ne révèle son importance primordiale que lorsqu'elle commence à s'effriter. À l'époque des grandes guerres mondiales du siècle dernier, par exemple, il était courant de souligner à quel point le vernis de civilisation de l'humanité est mince, avec quelle facilité la barbarie, la sauvagerie et la cruauté peuvent ressurgir, issues de nos plus bas instincts, et ébranler le monde jusque dans ses fondations les plus profondes. Pourtant, cette civilisation, si essentielle, si fondamentale, si indispensable, qu'est-elle exactement? Essentiellement, c'est l'ensemble de la culture, du savoir, des techniques, des ...

  The article below present what, essentially, is the Iranian point of view on the South Caucasus crisis. It shows the divergence of views between Iran and Russia on the matter, Iran being a de facto ally of the Armenians, and Russia guarding the peace since the last war between Armenia and Azerbaijan and being also the custodian power in that vast region since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 90s. It is undeniable that Iran and Russia, both Shanghai Cooperation Organization members, must better coordinate their views and actions on the matter. That being said, the deux major wars and many smaller skirmishes since the disappearance of the Soviet Union are proof of the constant tensions between the region's Armenians and Azerbaijanis. Even without mentioning the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Turks at the end of the First World War, or the pogroms that took place in many Azerbaijani cities after the fall of the Soviet Union, the relationship between Armenians ...

  Parfois, ce sont les questions les plus simples, apparemment les plus idiotes, qui se révèlent les plus fructueuses. Pensez au physicien Isaac Newton. Selon la légende, le simple fait de voir une pomme se détacher toute seule d'un arbre et se diriger immédiatement vers le sol a déclenché une série de réflexions menant à la formulation de nouveaux concepts, comme celui de force gravitationnelle. Cette force, bien comprise, explique notamment pourquoi la Lune et la Terre s'attirent mutuellement, la Lune n'ayant toutefois qu'une force gravitationnelle bien moindre que celle de la Terre, beaucoup plus massive qu'elle. La force gravitationnelle qu'exerce la Lune sur la Terre, bien qu'inférieure à celle qu'exerce la Terre sur la Lune, est cependant assez forte pour avoir un effet tangible et très perceptible sur les marées agitant régulièrement les mers et les océans de notre planète, d'une manière suffisamment prévisible pour qu'il soit possible de ...

  A few days ago, a preliminary agreement was concluded  by NATO and the EU, with Turkish leader Erdogan, for admitting Sweden inside NATO, against a bid to admission in the EU. Did the Europeans take Erdogan for some moron? Is it a wonder he changes his mind since the agreement made in Vilnius (Lithuania) a few days ago? What kind of transaction is this: a hollow promise about a bid for an eventual entry into the European Union, one day, sometime in the future, against Sweden's immediate admission into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization? Erdogan has a much better chance of entering the BRICS economic association (made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) than of ever entering the European Union, after decades of waiting. And there, in the BRICS, he could realistically be expert to be warmly welcome, as opposed to continue being coldly snubbed by Europeans as he wait and wait for them to open the golden doors. As for NATO, its future remains dubious. If the...

  AND GOD SAID TO MAN: THOU SHALL NOT DIRTY THE NAME OF WOMAN, THE LOVE OF WOMAN, THE SOUL OF WOMAN, THE HOME OF WOMAN, THE BATHROOM OF WOMAN, ESPECIALLY HER BATHROOM, IF YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOOD FOR THOU, IN THIS VALLEY OF DARKNESS, IN THIS LOWLY, SINFUL WORLD, IF YOU WANT TO AVOID THE FURY OR A WOMAN SCORNED, LIKE WHOEVER-IT-WAS ONCE WROTE, (IT MAY HAVE BEEN MOLIÈRE, FOR ALL I KNOW), AND IF YOU DO   NOT WANT ALL HELL TO BREAK LOOSE, IN THE UNIVERSE THAT I, THY RIGHFUL AND ONLY GOD , CREATED FOR THE BOTH OF THOU, TO OWN AND POPULATE, REPEAT, FOR THE BOTH OF THOU, TO OWN AND POPULATE, THEN THOU SHALL BETTER YOUR WAYS, AND IO AND BEHOLD, THOU SHALL, ALSO, BEWARE THE IDES OF MARS AND EVEN MORE THE HORDES OF VENUS.   THOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. NOW TRY TO BE WISER THAN WOMAN, IF THOU CAN, SOMETHING WHICH I,  THY RIGHTFUL AND ONLY GOD , OFTEN DOUBT.   THIS, I SWEAR TO ALL HEAVENS,   IS TRUE FOR ALL ETERNITY.   SO HELP ME GAÏA   Signed:    ...

  The American publication Foreign Affairs just published, in its last issue, a very interesting article about a little-known (but quite significant) development in the political situation in Israel. In short: with barely a whisper, Israel has annexed the West Bank. With a simple switch from a military administration to a civilian administration, the current government has accomplished a de facto annexation. This development came after decades and decades of enforced demographic change in the ethnic make-up of the West Bank. That artificial change was done through the implantation of hundred of thousands of Jewish settlers in the area, especially in the enlarged territory of Israël's capital, Jerusalem. With the Golan already annexed by the Jewish State, and with Gaza left in a sort of legal limbo (should it be annexed by Egypt, turned into an independent State, left to its own devices?), and with the Sinai already retroceded to Egypt in stages, in exchange of peace with that coun...

  The Americans, the Chinese and the Indians have their eyes on the Moon. NASA, the American space agency, recently sent one of its new SLS rocket, with no astronauts aboard, for a preliminary tour around the Moon and back. That dry run will be followed by a manned mission, but not before 2025. The Chinese are planning a first manned expedition on the Moon by the end of the 20s, more exactly in 2030. A short video was recently released to show the main aspects of the mission. It showed a lot of equipment sitting on the ground, waiting for the rocket to land, hinting at many un-manned missions organized before hand, to stock up all the needed materiel in advance of the arrival of the first manned mission. It may also suggest an intent to build-up that site, slowly, by a process of aggregation, with a view of creating a permanent base at that very location. As for the Indians, they are new in the game, but quite cost-effective. They're sending an un-manned mission, Chandrayaan-3 to a...