Kajetan Maciuszko - blog

French monks from a monastery in the heart of Burgundy have launched an emergency online sale of 2.8 tonnes of artisanal cheeses, which are languishing in the cellars as Covid-19 prevents them from selling the cheese traditionally. Brother Jean-Claude, who oversees marketing at the monastery, said that “our sales are down nearly 50%”. This situation is just another evidence of how this whole pandemic turned our lives upside down – even the monasteries are degenerating! Even though I find some aspects of this situation to be kind of hilarious, like the fact that a monastery has a person in charge of marketing, who is also rather humorous, since in an interview he nsaid “We tried explaining to our 75 cows that they needed to produce less milk but they don’t seem to have understood”. I hope they’ll manage to sell all of their cheese, and since almost 700kg of it has already been ordered, it seems that they are going to make it. Link: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/mar/26/fren...

A volcano has erupted in Iceland near the capital Reykjavik after thousands of smaller earthquakes in the area in recent weeks. A red cloud lit up in the sky after the eruption began in Fagradalsfjall about 40km from the capital. A no-fly zone has been established in the area. In my opinion, the decision to stop air traffic was good, but a bit premature, since the eruption has only just begun, and these effusive eruptions are known to be very calm, and typically involve only slowly flowing lava streams, thus causing pretty much no threat to the general population, especially considering the fact that the area around the mountain is uninhabited. The eruption may also bring new data to studying volcanoes, since it was previously considered to be inactive. I think that the eruption itself is a beautiful natural phenomenon, that people should be able to see. Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/19/iceland-volcano-eruption-under-way-in-fagradalsfjall-near-reykjavik

Foreign ministers in the G7 group have recently condemned China’s decision to fundamentally erode democratic elements of the electoral system in Hong Kong. PRC’s parliament approved on Thursday a draft decision to change Hong Kong’s electoral system via introducing a mechanism to vet politicians’ loyalty to the government. These actions are part of Beijing’s effort to consolidate its grip over the Asian financial hub. In my opinion, these actions show how dangerously little China cares about the “one country, two systems”, which was one of the main grounds on which UK gave Hong Kong back to China in the 90s. The overall reaction of various countries was in my opinion good, largely condemning the decision, but it seems as if the Chinese government didn’t even care about other country’s opinion, they’re just doing what they want, knowing that no one will stop them. What if they don’t stop on Hong Kong, and will try to integrate other beings into itself, like Taiwan? Link: https://w...

Twenty people have been killed and at least thirty others were injured after a rickshaw loaded with explosives was detonated at a popular restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia. The attack was claimed by al-Qaida linked al-Shabaab terrorist group. They were driven out of Mogadishu in 2011, but still control territory from where they launch frequent attacks. I can’t say much about the terrorist attack itself, since they became so frequent lately, especially in this part of the world. My main concern linked to it is more general – how do the governments of other countries react to these attacks. Largely, they remain unacknowledged by other countries, and even worldwide peacekeeping organizations and unions, like UN, have stopped doing anything in relation to these attacks. But the problem is much more complex then that – this frequent attacks show, how helpless can entire governments and countries be against a group of few or hundreds of men, who often operate and carry out their attacks wit...