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 succédées 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, ave c 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

  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 indeniable 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 Armenian

  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 change 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 Treay 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 expert to be warmly welcome, as oppose to continue being coldly snobbed by Europeans as he wait and wait for them to open the golden doors. As for NATO, itss future remain dubious. If the Republican

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  The American publication Foreign Affairs just published, in its last issue, a very interesting article about a little-known (but quite significant) developement 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 accomplish 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 independant State, left to its own devices?), and with the Sinai already retroceded to Egypt in stages,in exchange of peace with that countr

  The Americans, the Chinese and the Indians have their eyes on the Moon. NASA, the American spage 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 equipments sitting on the ground, waiting for the rocket to land, hinting at many un-manned missions organized before hand, in order to stock up all the needed materiel in advance of the arrival of the first manned mission. It may also suggest an inten 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, Chandraya

  Bénin in relation with Haïti (with Jamaica just south of Cuba.) The real city of Ouidah never was (and still isn't) a seaport, as shown erroneously in the movie ''The Woman King''. West African nations are at the sources of many populations living presently in the Caribean region, through the unfortunates slaves who were brought there in colonial times. It is the case in the island of Jamaica, according to an interesting article (below), especially with Ashanti and Yoruba peoples, among others. It is also the case in the ancient French colony of Saint-Domingue, now the independant country of Haïti, the first black republic of the world. There, though, it was mainly Fon and Yoruba peoples, with smaller contingents. The fongbe-speaking Fons are the powerful nation that created the Dahomey kingdom and whose language is still prevalent over much of southern Bénin. The many Yoruba-like tribes and subtribes, for their part, inhabits South-West Nigeria (and also large p

  Les pays actuels (Brésil, Afrique du Sud, Russie, Inde et Chine.) Les choses se précisent peu à peu pour le prochain sommet des BRICS, le mois prochain. Il y aurait donc à cette rencontre, tenue à Johannesbourg (Afrique du Sud), les représentants de 22 pays invités à participer, ainsi que ceux des cinq pays qui sont déjà membres du regroupement. La Russie sera sans doute représentée, par son président, sinon par son ministre des Affaires étrangères (ou un autre). Les deux principaux sujets devraient être: A) l'élargissement de cette alliance de type économique, grâce à l'ajput de nouveaux membres, et B) la création d'une monnaie destinée aux échanges commerciaux entre tous les membres, anciens et nouveaux. Dans le cas de cette nouvelle monnaie, on peut raisonnablement s'attendre à ce que ses caractéristiques soient dévoilées, avec un calendrier de déploiement, entre autres. Au niveau de l'élargissement du groupe, il devrait y avoir des phases successives sur un

  Meeting between the US Secretary of State and  his Chinese counterpart. (Photo: Leah Millis, Pool, The Atlantic) A recent article in the American magazine The Atlantic raised questions about Beijing's real intentions in its current rivalry with the United States of America: '' China doesn't want to compete. It wants to win ''. Simply put, China has no wish to start a war, except maybe in the case of Taiwan, seen as a wayward province, and it is certainly not seeking military confrontation with the US. That's for a very good reason: it is winning the peace, in a mainly peaceful manner, using mainly peaceful economic means . But then, why attack the US? Clearly, Beijing's objective is not to crush America and turn it into a bloody pulp, but simply to isolate it and, by doing so, render it impotent militarily. The goal of the Chinese game of go is not to kill the opposite king/player, but to make him toothless by controlling more territory (that is to sa

  Joe Biden, the American President, is cleraly overconfident about the Ukrainian War. So are the United States, the countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Western world in general. While Bidden seems to think that the war is already won, essentially, Trump (and DeSantis) are preparing their bid for the US presidency election in 2024. It is quite possible that the war will last a long time. Erdogan appears to think it might be over by October 2023, but that sounds much too soon. On the other hand, the US election is on November 2024. All that indicate that the US Democratic Party has a span of maybe 11 months to find a way to put an end to the conflict. Otherwise, a Republican victory will doom the prospect of a Western-aligned Ukraine, and may also: bring an end to NATO, herald a return to the isolationism of old (as the Republicans concentrate on correcting the budgetary imbalance, reducing the national debt, and curing the nation's many social ills), and b