Both the yeares, and the dayes deep midnight / The morning from East Aleppo: Don't let them take any memory

December 14, 2016, 3:17 am

≫ Next: On the trading floor of the open outcry pit, as Empire strikes rain down over the ruins / Wislawa Szymborska: Discovery

≪ Previous: Full moon with red sunrise / Look to her eyes (The people running away to nowhere)

The morning from east #Aleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 13 December 2016

Street Execution of Civilians in Aleppo. Human rights activists and informed sources have reported that Bashar Assad’s forces and their allies (Iranian regime’s affiliated militants) have executed at least 200 people in four districts of East Aleppo. According to Al-Hadath TV Network, based on these reports, medical staff of Al-Hayat Hospital in Classeh neighborhood in Aleppo are among those executed. These people were executed by firing bullets. In addition, the Assad regime’s allied militants have brutally burned 9 children and 4 women alive in Al-Ferdows neighborhood in Aleppo. This is despite the fact that the manager of Aleppo’s emergency (department) says there is no hospital left in the East of the city to help the wounded.The activists say that most executions were carried out by Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants in street and summary-like executions. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Hezbollah of Lebanon as well as Iraqi, Pakistani, and Afghan Shiite militants form allied forces of Syrian regime. These allies enjoy Russia’s air support. These events coincide with the advance of Syrian regime forces and their allies in regions of East Aleppo on Monday, December 12.: photo via National Council of Resistance of Iran, 13 December 2016

One of the #Assad militants Holding #Palestine Flag and Victory sign in #Umayyad_Mosque, I would like to remember you it's Not #Jerusalem: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 13 December 2016

#Aleppo while ago..: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 13 December 2016

Those who's been bombed by #Assad and #Russian since years, the #Syrian displacement by Assad sponsored by @UN @UNICEF @hrw: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 13 December 2016

Preparing the Injury cases in East #Aleppo to be the first group of civilians will be evacuated from #Aleppo toward East countryside: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 13 December 2016

The Rebels start burning their vehicles instead of leave it for the #Assad militants in East #Aleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 13 December 2016

Members of Revolutionary Council of Salahidden start burning their place in #Aleppo to don't let #Assad members and supporters take any memory: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 13 December 2016

A member of Syria’s government forces in Aleppo: photo by George Ourfalian/Agence France-Presse, 13 December 2016

Residents who had fled the violence in the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood reached Aleppo’s Fardos area on Tuesday: photo by Agence France-Presse, 12 December 2016

The journey from eastern Aleppo has been perilous for civilians, some of them older people in wheelchairs: photo by Agence France-Presse, 13 December 2016

About 37,000 people have fled eastern Aleppo for western areas of the city or the countryside, according to the United Nations: photo by Agence France-Presse, 13 December 2016

Government troops have seized areas of the old city around Aleppo’s citadel, used as an army base: photo by Omar Sanadiki/Reuters, 13 December 2016

Government fighters celebrate as they seize eastern Aleppo. The United Nations has accused pro-government forces of killing women and children as they took the city.: photo by Agence France-Presse, 13 December 2016

I rarely see so much suffering like here in Mahalej where thousands of people from East #Aleppo live now. Their situation breaks my heart: image via Pawel Krzysiek @PKrzsiekiCRC, 12 December 2016

The morning from East Aleppo: Don't let them take any memory

#Syria Smoke billows from the former rebel-held district of Bustan al-Qasr in #Aleppo #AFP Photo by @KaramAlmasri25: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 13 December 2016

Battle of Aleppo ends after years of bloodshed with rebel withdrawal: by Laila Bassam, Angus McDowell and Stephanie Nebehay | ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT/GENEVA, Reuters, 13 December 2016 | 6:39pm EST

Rebel resistance in the Syrian city of Aleppo ended on Tuesday after years of fighting and months of bitter siege and bombardment that culminated in a bloody retreat, as insurgents agreed to withdraw in a ceasefire.

The battle of Aleppo, one of the worst of a civil war that has drawn in global and regional powers, has ended with victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his military coalition of Russia, Iran and regional Shi'ite militias.

For rebels, their expected departure with light weapons starting on Wednesday morning for opposition-held regions west of the city is a crushing blow to their hopes of ousting Assad after revolting against him during the 2011 Arab uprisings.

However, the war will still be far from over, with insurgents retaining major strongholds elsewhere in Syria, and the jihadist Islamic State group holding swathes of the east and recapturing the ancient city of Palmyra this week.

"Over the last hour we have received information that the military activities in east Aleppo have stopped, it has stopped," Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told a heated U.N. Security Council meeting. "The Syrian government has established control over east Aleppo."

Rebel officials said fighting would end on Tuesday night and a source in the pro-Assad military alliance said the evacuation of fighters would begin at around dawn on Wednesday. A Reuters reporter in Aleppo said late on Tuesday that the booms of the bombardment could no longer be heard.

Fighters and their families, along with civilians who have thrown in their lot with the rebels, will have until Wednesday evening to quit the city, a Turkish government source said. The ceasefire was negotiated by Turkey and Russia, without U.S. involvement.

A commander with the Jabha Shamiya rebel group said that Aleppo was a moral victory for the insurgents. "We were steadfast ... but unfortunately nobody stood with us at all", the commander, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

"UNCOMPROMISING VICTORY"

The plight of civilians has caused global outrage in the wake of a sudden series of advances by the Syrian army and its allies across the rebel enclave over the past two weeks.

"We appear to be witnessing nothing less than ... a total uncompromising military victory," U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.

The rout of rebels from their ever-shrinking territory in Aleppo sparked a mass flight of terrified civilians and insurgents in bitter weather, a crisis the United Nations said was a "complete meltdown of humanity". There were food and water shortages in rebel areas with all hospitals closed.

The United Nations earlier on Tuesday voiced deep concern about reports it had received of Syrian soldiers and allied Iraqi fighters summarily shooting dead 82 people in recaptured east Aleppo districts. It accused them of "slaughter".

People walk as they flee deeper into the remaining rebel-held areas of Aleppo, Syria: photo byAbdalrhman Ismail/Reuters, 13 December 2016

"The reports we had are of people being shot in the street trying to flee and shot in their homes," said Rupert Colville, a U.N. spokesman. "There could be many more."

"They have gone from siege to slaughter," British U.N. ambassador Matthew Rycroft said. "Aleppo will join the ranks of those events in world history that define modern evil, that stain our conscience decades later - Halabja, Rwanda, Srebrenica and now Aleppo," said U.S. ambassador Samantha Power.

The Syrian army has denied carrying out killings or torture among those captured, and its main ally Russia said on Tuesday rebels had "kept over 100,000 people in east Aleppo as human shields".

An official with an Aleppo rebel group said the bulk of about 50,000 people was expected to be evacuated.

Fear stalked the city's streets. Some survivors trudged in the rain past dead bodies to the government-held west or the few districts still in rebel hands. Others stayed in their homes and awaited the Syrian army's arrival.

For all of them, fear of arrest, conscription or summary execution added to the daily terror of bombardment. "People are saying the troops have lists of families of fighters and are asking them if they had sons with the terrorists. (They are) then either left or shot and left to die," said Abu Malek al-Shamali in Seif al-Dawla, one of the last rebel-held districts.

WASTELAND OF RUBBLE

A Syrian military source said the evacuation of fighters would start at 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Wednesday. The source said fighters' families would also leave, but did not mention other civilian evacuations.

"We're going to watch this closely," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said. "Obviously if it is true and there has been a ceasefire arrangement reached that not only stops the bombing and the violence but allows people to safely leave Aleppo, we would welcome it."

Behind those fleeing was a wasteland of flattened buildings, concrete rubble and bullet-pocked walls, where tens of thousands had lived until recent days under intense bombardment even after medical and rescue services had collapsed.

The once-flourishing economic center with its renowned ancient sites has been pulverized during the war which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, created the world's worst refugee crisis and allowed for the rise of Islamic State.

The U.N.'s Colville said the rebel-held area had become "a hellish corner" of less than a square kilometer. Its capture was imminent, he added.

The Syrian army and its allies could declare victory at any moment, a Syrian military source had said earlier, predicting the final fall of the rebel enclave on
Tuesday or Wednesday, after insurgent defenses collapsed on Monday.
Terrible conditions were described by city residents.

Abu Malek al-Shamali, a resident in the rebel area, said dead bodies lay in the streets. "There are many corpses in Fardous and Bustan al-Qasr with no one to bury them,” he said.

"Last night people slept in the streets and in buildings where every flat has several families crowded in," he added.

TIDE OF REFUGEES

State television broadcast footage of a tide of hundreds of refugees walking along a ravaged street, wearing thick clothes against the rain and cold, many with hoods or hats pulled tight around their faces, and hauling sacks or bags of belongings.

One man pushed a bicycle loaded with bags, another family pulled a cart on which sat an elderly woman. Another man carried on his back a small girl wearing a pink hat.

At the same time, a correspondent from a pro-Damascus television station spoke to camera from a part of Aleppo held by the government, standing in a tidy street with flowing traffic.

In some recaptured areas, people were returning to their shattered homes. A woman in her sixties, who identified herself as Umm Ali, or "Ali's mother", said that she, her husband and her disabled daughter had no water.

They were looking after the orphaned children of another daughter killed in the bombing, she said, and were reduced to putting pots and pans in the street to collect rainwater.

In another building near al-Shaar district, which was taken by the army last week, a man was fixing the balcony of his house with his children. "No matter the circumstances, our home is better than displacement," he said.

"The crushing of Aleppo, the immeasurably terrifying toll on its people, the bloodshed, the wanton slaughter of men, women and children, the destruction – and we are nowhere near the end of this cruel conflict," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said in a statement.

Syrian military sources say a truce has been reached allowing rebels out of their enclave in Aleppo: image via Reuters TV @ReutersTV, 13 December 2016

'Get us out of here': Aleppo residents desperate as the four-month siege nears its end.: image via Reuters TV @ReutersTV, 13 December 2016

he 'Kongl. Teknologkoren' choir performs in Seglora church at the open-air museum Skansen in Stockholm, Sweden on Saint Lucy's Day, on December 13, 2016. Saint Lucy's Day is a Christian feast day celebrated on 13 December in Advent, most commonly in Scandinavia. / AFP PHOTO / TT News Agency / Henrik MONTGOMERY / Sweden OUTHENRIK MONTGOMERY/AFP/Getty Images

The ‘Kongl. Teknologkoren’ choir performs in Seglora church at the open-air museum Skansen in Stockholm, Sweden on Saint Lucy’s Day: photo by Outhenrik Montgomery/AFP, 13 December 2016

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The ‘Kongl. Teknologkoren’ choir performs in Seglora church at the open-air museum Skansen in Stockholm, Sweden on Saint Lucy’s Day: photo by Outhenrik Montgomery/AFP, 13 December 2016

John Donne: A nocturnall upon S. Lucies day, Being the shortest day

Sun's daily path, from summer to winter #solstice... captured with a beer-can pinhole camera!: image via Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell, 21 December 2014

Tis the yeares midnight, and it is the dayes,
Lucies, who scarce seaven houres herself unmaskes,

..The Sunne is spent, and now his flasks
..Send forth light squibs, no constant rayes;
....The worlds whole sap is sunke:
The generall balme th’ hydroptique earth hath drunk,
Whither, as to the beds-feet, life is shrunke,
Dead and enterr’d; yet all these seem to laugh,
Compar’d with mee, who am their Epitaph.

Study me then, you who shall lovers bee
At the next world, that is, at the next Spring:
..For I am every dead thing,
..In whom love wrought new Alchimie.
....For his art did expresse
A quintessence even from nothingnesse,
From dull privations, and leane emptinesse
He ruin’d mee, and I am re-begot
Of absence, darknesse, death; things which are not.

All others, from all things, draw all that’s good,
Life, soule, forme, spirit, whence they beeing have;
..I, by loves limbecke, am the grave
..Of all, that’s nothing. Oft a flood
....Have wee two wept, and so
Drownd the whole world, us two; oft did we grow
To be two Chaosses, when we did show
Care to ought else; and often absences
Withdrew our soules, and made us carcasses.

But I am by her death (which word wrongs her)
Of the first nothing, the Elixer grown;
..Were I a man, that I were one,
..I needs must know; I should preferre,
....If I were any beast,
Some ends, some means; Yea plants, yea stones detest,
And love; all, all some properties invest;
If I an ordinary nothing were,
As shadow, a light, and body must be here.

But I am None; nor will my Sunne renew.
You lovers, for whose sake, the lesser Sunne
..At this time to the Goat is runne
..To fetch new lust, and give it you,
....Enjoy your summer all;
Since shee enjoyes her long nights festivall,
Let mee prepare towards her, and let mee call
This houre her Vigill, and her Eve, since this
Both the yeares, and the dayes deep midnight is.

John Donne (1572-1631): A nocturnall upon S.Lucies day, Being the shortest day: from Poems (1633)

Low #solstice sun casts a 1000-mile long cloud shadow to north of UK: image via BBC Weather @bbcweather, 21 December 2014

U.S. Energy Department balks at Trump request for names on climate change: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 13 December 2016

As daylight advances the crowds get bigger, the drizzle gets heavier and the clouds thicker #solstice at #newgrange: image via Richard Dowling @richardowling, 21 December 2014

The crowd beginning to gather outside the 5,000 year old passage tomb at #newgrange for the #solstice: image via Richard Dowling @richardowling, 20 December 2016

#newgrange today. Utterly astonishing place. #solstice: image via Neil Morrow @mrneilmorow, 21 December 2014

The Druid ‘king of Britain’, Arthur Uther Pendragon, conducts a service: photo by Ben Birchall/PA, 22 December 2014

Last week English Heritage, which manages the stones, reported a record 1.3 million people had visited the site since December 2013: photo by Velar Grant/ZUMA Press, 22 December 2014

A woman meditates between standing stones at Stonehenge. If you share the beliefs of ancients pagans, this is the holiest time of the year, with the sunlight creating startling effects on Britain’s late neolithic and early bronze age monuments: photo by Ben Birchall/PA, 22 December 2014

Hundreds of people gather at Stonehenge in Wiltshire each year to watch the sun rise in perfect alignment with the stones: photo by Ben Birchall/PA, 22 December 2014

The Druidan name for the winter solstice festival is Alban Arthan, which means ‘the light of Arthur': photo by Ben Birchall/PA, 22 December 2014

Musicians walk around the site, pounding drums, chanting and dancing: photo by Velar Grant/ZUMA Press, 22 December 2014

A caped reveller celebrates the dawn. The popularity of the winter solstice, a quieter and gentler affair than its summer counterpart, has grown in recent years: photo by Dylan Martinez/Reuters, 22 December 2014

#Winter solstice=shortest day of year in northern hemisphere and excuse 2 RT this from my power #walk at #Stonehenge: image via Curtis S. Chin @CurtisSChin, 21 December 2014

An Iraqi girl looks out the window of her family house at Namrod village in Iraq December 13, 2016. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

An Iraqi girl looks out the window of her family house at Namrod village in Iraq: photo Mohammed Salem/Reuters, 13 December 2016

Indian fisherman from Koli community collects fish and prawns caught from the Arabian Sea at the Gorai beach in Mumbai, India, 13 December 2016. The process of preparing and drying fish and prawns is a smelly, backbreaking task that requires continual vigilance to ensure that the fish and prawns thoroughly dried. EPA/DIVYAKANT SOLANKI

Indian fisherman from Koli community collects fish and prawns caught from the Arabian Sea at the Gorai beach in Mumbai, India: photo by Divyakant Solanki/EPA, 13 December 2016

This photo provided by NASA TV shows a Japanese cargo ship before it arrives with Christmas gifts to the International Space Station on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016. The capsule â€šÃ„Ã® called Kounotori, or white stork â€šÃ„Ã® contains nearly 5 tons of food, water, batteries and other supplies. NASA said there also are Christmas presents for the two Americans, three Russians and one Frenchman on board. (NASA TV via AP)

This photo shows a Japanese cargo ship before it arrives with Christmas gifts to the International Space Station. The capsule contains nearly 5 tons of food, water, batteries and other supplies. NASA said there also are Christmas presents for the two Americans, three Russians and one Frenchman on board.: photo by NASA/AP, 13 December 2016

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On the trading floor of the open outcry pit, as Empire strikes rain down over the ruins / Wislawa Szymborska: Discovery

December 15, 2016, 6:07 am

≫ Next: Leaving Aleppo / Kashmir in torment: "My life has been ruined, what can I be now?"

≪ Previous: Both the yeares, and the dayes deep midnight / The morning from East Aleppo: Don't let them take any memory

A reflection on waste liquid shows a woman wawing Turkish and Free Syrian flags as an aid convoy to Aleppo organized by IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation is about to leave, on December 14, 2016 in Istanbul. Turkey's aid campaign for the besieged people of Aleppo continued with several nongovernmental organizations sending food, water and clothing. / AFP PHOTO / OZAN KOSEOZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images

A reflection on waste liquid shows a woman waving Turkish and Free Syrian flags as an aid convoy to Aleppo is about to leave Istanbul for Syria.: photo by Ozan Kose/AFP, 14 December 2016

Wislawa Szymborska: Discovery

I believe in the great discovery.
I believe in the man who will make the discovery.
I believe in the fear of the man who will make the discovery.

I believe in his face going white,
his queasiness, his upper lip drenched in cold sweat.

I believe in the burning of his notes,
burning them into ashes,
burning them to the last scrap.

I believe in the scattering of numbers,
scattering them without regret.

I believe in the man’s haste,
in the precision of his movements,
in his free will.

I believe in the shattering of tablets,
the pouring out of liquids,
the extinguishing of rays.

I am convinced this will end well,
that it will not be too late,
that it will take place without witnesses.

I’m sure no one will find out what happened,
not the wife, not the wall,
not even the bird that might squeal in its song.

I believe in the refusal to take part.
I believe in the ruined career.
I believe in the wasted years of work.
I believe in the secret taken to the grave.

These words soar for me beyond all rules
without seeking support from actual examples.
My faith is strong, blind, and without foundation.

Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012): Discovery, from Poems New and Collected 1957-1997, translated by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh

Da #Istanbul partirà un convoglio di aiuti diretto ad #Aleppo #syria. Speriamo che lla stupidità non lo fermi. @ozannkosee @DonnaModerna: image via SAMANTHA PASCOTTO @SAMAPAS, 14 December 2016

#Turkish football player write on his shirt (In #Aleppo there's a Genocide): image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 14 December 2016

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA - Bosnian protest in Sarajevo to raise their voice against killing in Aleppo. By Elvis Barukcic: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 14 December 2016

#Bosnia Protest in #Sarajevo against killing in #Aleppo #AFP Photo by By Elvis Barukcic: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY,15 December 2016

UK - Demonstration in solidarity with the inhabitants of the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo in London. By @DSorabji #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard AFP, 14 December 2016

FRANCE - The lights of the Eiffel Tower are exceptionally switched off in Paris in support of the Syrian city of Aleppo. By @philippe_lopez: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard AFP, 15 December 2016

Paris avec les habitants d’Alep / Paris supports the people of #Aleppo / باريس مع سكان حلب #Syria #Syrie #Alep: image via Ane Hidalgo @Anne_Hidalgo, 14 December 2016

SAVE Aleppo #Paris #eiffeltowerTower blacks out for #Aleppo yesterday night #AFP Photo by @philippe_lopez: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY,15 December 2016

#Syria Smoke rising from buildings in #Aleppo southeastern al-Zabdiya neighbourhood following government strikes yesterday #AFP @AFPPhoto: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY,15 December 2016

Photo of ppl waiting for evacuation I received from #Aleppo just now by activist: image via Hadeel Al-Shaichi @hadeelaish,15 December 2016

My brother and my colleague in SCD, Baibrs, was shot by Assad's sniper while he was contributing in evacuation of the injured in #Aleppo: image via Ismail Alabdullah @ishmael12345611,15 December 2016

SYRIA - Deadly clashes erupted in Aleppo as a deal for the evacuation of rebel areas was put on hold. By @KaramAlmasri25 #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard AFP, 13 December 2016

SYRIA - Smoke rising from buildings in Aleppo's southeastern al-Zabdiya neighbourhood following government air strikes. By @AFPphoto #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard AFP, 14 December 2016
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In the streets of an opposition quarter of East Aleppo on Tuesday: photo by Wissam Zarda, 13 December 2016

Initial reports of many civilians injured after Sukari, Ansari and Al Etha'a neighborhoods in #Aleppo city were targeted with artillery shells: tweet via The White Helmets @SyriaCivilDef, 14 December 2016

The @SyriaCivilDef teams says: In #Aleppo We hear the cries of children under the rubble while we can't help: image via Majd khalaf @majdkhlafa19931, 12 December 2016

The human (and feline) face of displacement [Aleppo 14 December photo by @KaramAlmasri25 #AFP]: image via Jeff Crisp @JFCrisp, 14 December 2016

Syrians fleeing a rebel-held area of Aleppo on Tuesday. Evacuations were set to begin early today, but there were reports of delays and renewed shelling:photo by Karam Al-Masri/Agence France-Presse. 14 December 2016

#standwithaleppo That what today early morning #aleppo looked like: image via Rami Zien @Rami_Zien, 14 December 2016

Just being hit with Artillery. Photo from my balcony Be aware THERE IS NO EVACUATION... NO SAFE EXIT. NO CEASEFIRE. No PEOPLE GETTING OUT: image via Rami Zien @Rami_Zien, 9 December 2016

100 day of siege.... 35 days in the previous siege This is #aleppo Everyone #StandWithAleppo Ph: one of the greatest markets was running: image via Rami Zien @Rami_Zien, 2 December 2016

They left a flower behind, to guard their souls, the souls of loved ones they lost and their beloved city, they only left love behind!: image via Khaled Khatib @995Khaled, 14 December 2016

SYRIA - Smoke billows from the former rebel-held district of Bustan al-Qasr in Aleppo. By @KaramAlmasri25 #AFP: imagevia Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard AFP, 13 December 2016

SYRIA - A Syrian child cooks in the street in a rebel-held area of Aleppo. By @AFPphoto #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard AFP, 14 December 2016

SYRIA - Pro-government forces take a selfie in the courtyard of the ancient Umayyad mosque in Aleppo. By George Ourfalian #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard AFP, 14 December 2016

SYRIA - A member of the Syrian government forces stands in a damaged street in Aleppo's A-Kalasseh neighbourhood. By George Ourfalian #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard AFP, 13 December 2016

#Syria Government forces stand in damaged streets in newly captured Al-Kalasseh neighbourhood #Aleppo #AFP Photo by George Ourfalian: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 13 December 2016

Aleppo: Nobody can claim victory in a context of such intense human suffering and proliferation of horrific violence: photo via Al Jazeera News, 15 December 2016

A Chinese cook stands in the window of a local fish restaurant as he talks on his phone on December 14, 2016 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

A Chinese cook stands in the window of a fish restaurant in Beijing as he talks on his phone: photo by Kevin Frayer, 14 December 2016

A trader speaks on fixed-line telephones on the trading floor of the open outcry pit at the London Metal Exchange Ltd, in London: photo by Simon Dawson/Bloomberg, 14 December 2016

A herd of reindeers is seen inside an enclosure as herders select and sort them in the settlement of Krasnoye in Nenets Autonomous District, Russia, November 28, 2016. Picture taken November 28, 2016. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY. SEARCH "REINDEER ARCTIC" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "THE WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. - RTX2UYV0

A herd of reindeers is seen inside an enclosure as herders select and sort them in the settlement of Krasnoye, Russia: photo Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters, 14 December 2016

A performer dressed as the Marvel comic character Iron Man arrives at the new attraction "Iron Man Experience" during a media tour in Hong Kong Disneyland, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2016. Hong Kong Disneyland added an Iron Man-themed area in the hopes that the Marvel superhero's success at the Chinese box office will help draw more visitors to the underachieving resort. The Iron Man Experience include a thrill ride that will let visitors "take flight with Iron Man on an epic adventure" involving a "battle against alien invaders" across Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

A performer dressed as the Marvel comic character Iron Man arrives at the new attraction “Iron Man Experience” during a media tour at Disneyland in Hong Kong: photo Kin Cheung/AP, 14 December 2016

Demonstrators clash with police during a protest in front of the National Congress in Brasilia on December 13, 2016. Brazil's Senate approved Tuesday a 20-year freeze on government spending billed as the centerpiece of austerity reforms aimed at restoring economic health to the troubled Latin American giant. / AFP PHOTO / ANDRESSA ANHOLETEANDRESSA ANHOLETE/AFP/Getty Images

Demonstrators clash with police during a protest in front of the National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil: photo by Andressa Anholet/AFP, 14 December 2016

The Wreck of the Peter Iredale, Oregon | by austin granger

The Wreck of the Peter Iredale, Oregon (Fort Stevens, Oregon): photo by Austin Granger, 11 December 2016

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Leaving Aleppo / Kashmir in torment: "My life has been ruined, what can I be now?"

December 17, 2016, 8:50 am

≫ Next: Amid broken stones

≪ Previous: On the trading floor of the open outcry pit, as Empire strikes rain down over the ruins / Wislawa Szymborska: Discovery

Buses during the evacuation operation in Aleppo on Thursday: photo by Karam Al-Masri/Agence France-Presse, 15 December 2016

An older man is evacuated from a rebel-held neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, on Thursday: photo by Karam Al-Masri/Agence France-Presse, 15 December 2016

#Assad forces won against those innocent people .. poor people #Aleppo people will face you in the judgment day: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 15 December 2016

A bus carried families out of Aleppo on Thursday. The evacuation deal was reached between Russia, which backs the Syrian government, and Turkey, which supports the opposition.: photo by Karam Al-Masri/Agence France-Presse, 15 December 2016

The evacuation process suspended for second time because of ceasefire violation by Assad forces during evacuation [of] injure[d]: tweet via baraa al halabi @baraaalhalabi, 16 December 2016

#Syria Buses are seen during an evacuation operation of rebel fighters and civilians in west #Aleppo #AFP Photo by George Ourfalian: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 16 December 2016

#Syria #Aleppo Salaheddin neighbourhood residents watch as buses evacuate rebel fighters yesterday #AFP Photo by @YoussefKarwasha: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 16 December 2016

#Iran militias stop the convoy and kidnap 800 passengers from E #Aleppo #standwithaleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 16 December 2016

The convoy captured by Assad militants is back to E #Aleppo, Assad militants killed 3 and capture 5 hostage 10 civilians killed while waiting: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 16 December 2016

#Retweet please Those injuries still in #Aleppo suffering, 2 doctors left in #Aleppo Please try to do something protest#standwithaleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 16 December 2016

#Retweet please Those injuries still in #Aleppo suffering, 2 doctors left in #Aleppo Please try to do something protest #standwithaleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 16 December 2016

Hundreds of Families still waiting after the Shia militants blocked their way and refused to let them Go to W countryside of #Aleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 16 December 2016

This is the situation of the people who's still waiting for the Evacuation from East #Aleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 16 December 2016

Now I understandthe wordswhen he sang@KadimAlSahirORG..exiled meandsettledstrangersin my place..and destroyedallthings..: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 16 December 2016

Look at their Eyes, and on the reflection on the glass You'll know why they escape because of the bombs that destroyed their future #Aleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 16 December 2016

Horrific situation today when we tried to just go out of our city, no Internet in the city except mine, we need an immediate protection: image via Monther Etaky #montheretaky, 16 December 2016

Lebanese Militia Interrupts evacuation process in eastern #Aleppo: image via Rami Jarrah @RamiJarrah, 16 December 2016

This is what the #Assad and Shia militants do to the innocent people who's been evacuated from #Aleppo Damn on this World They're civilians: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 16 December 2016

Said to show today's incident when pro-gov militia stopped convoy of evacuees from E. Aleppo. Geolocation checks out: Ramouseh.: image via Anne Barnard @ABarnardNYT, 16 December 2016

Russia before officially announced that their troops will guarantee the safety of all evacuees incl. Armed men. Indeed I see how!: image via Rami Zien @Rami_Zien, 16 December 2016

ALEPPO UPDATE: Evacuation process halted in Eastern #Aleppo: image via Rami Jarrah @RamiJarrah,, 16 December 2016

#Syria #Aleppo Salaheddin neighbourhood residents watch as buses evacuate rebel fighters yesterday #AFP Photo by @YoussefKarwasha: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 16 December 2016

More and more of Syrian civilians are waiting the permission to cross the Ramosa border to the western countryside of the city.#Aleppo: image via Malek Alshemali @MalekAlshemali 15 December 2016

the evacuation process of the eastern part of #Aleppo: image via Malek Alshemali @MalekAlshemali 15 December 2016

Carrying his brother who was injured as a result of the latest attack by the regime's militants and Russian as well but survived! #Aleppo Photo by Malek Alshemali: image via Zouhir AlShimale @ZouhirAlShimale, 15 December 2016

#Aleppo evacuation: Al-Nusra and Nordeen Znki is preparing to leave with their cars now heading towards the rural tonight pic @MalekAlshemali: image via Zouhir AlShimale @ZouhirAlShimale, 15 December 2016

What the world would do with the humanitarian crises that's takin place now after being done from east #Aleppo once #Ironic #refugeecrisis: image via Zouhir AlShimale @ZouhirAlShimale, 15 December 2016

SYRIA - A woman watches from her balcony during an evacuation of Syrian rebel fighters and civilians from Aleppo. By George Ourfalian #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 December 2016

SYRIA - Wounded men evacuated from rebel-held neighbourhoods of Aleppo, sit in ambulance in opposition-controlled area. By @baraaalhalabi: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 December 2016

SYRIA - A wounded girl evacuated from rebel-held neighbourhoods in Aleppo, arrives in the opposition-controlled area. By @baraaalhalabi #AFP: image via baraa al halabi @baraaalhalabi, 16 December 2016

The evacuation process suspended for second time because of ceasefire violation by Assad forces during evacuation [of] injure[d]: tweet via baraa al halabi @baraaalhalabi, 16 December 2016

One dead in 'Indian shelling' on school van in Kashmir: image via Al Jazeera News @AJENews, 16 December 2016

INDIA - Kashmiri Muslims pray as custodian displays relic believed to be hair from beard of Prophet Mohammed in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 December 2016

SYRIA - Injured people from Aleppo are being transported from Syrian side of Bab al-Hawa border crossing to hospital in Turkey. By @Kilicbil: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 December 2016

Kashmiri Muslims react upon seeing a relic believed to be a hair from the beard of Prophet Mohammed, being displayed on the Friday following the festival of Eid-e-Milad-ul-Nabi, the birthday anniversary of the prophet, at the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar: photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters, 16 December 2016

The pre-Alpine region near Bernbeuren, southern Germany, is pictured during the sunrise on December 16, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / dpa / Karl-Josef Hildenbrand / Germany OUTKARL-JOSEF H

The pre-Alpine region near Bernbeuren, southern Germany, is pictured during sunrise: photo by Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa/AFP, 16 December 2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin in Japan

Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, watch a performance of judo, when they visits the Kodokan Judo Institute, the headquarters of the worldwide judo community, in Tokyo, Japan: photo by Toru Yamanaka/EPA, 16 December 2016

Evacuation of civilians from eastern Aleppo

Women and children with their baggage await evacuation from the eastern part of Aleppo, Syria: photo by Ghith Sy/EPA, 16 December 2016

Aleppo evacuation halted without explanation - WHO: Reuters, 16 December 2016 | 2:13pm GMT

The evacuation of wounded and civilians from eastern enclaves of Aleppo was aborted on Friday and aid agencies and vehicles were told to leave the area without explanation, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

Elizabeth Hoff, WHO representative in Syria, speaking from west Aleppo, told a news briefing in Geneva: "I assume the message (to abort the operation) came from the Russians who are monitoring the area". Her team of nine staff in east Aleppo had no contact with Syrian authorities at the Ramouseh transit site.

By 7 a.m. local time, 194 evacuated patients had arrived in eight "overwhelmed" hospitals in opposition-held rural parts of western Aleppo, in Idlib and nearby Turkey, according to the latest WHO figures. War-wounded patients have brain and eye damage, while others are being treated for chronic diseases including diabetes, Hoff said.

Syrians were evacuated from a rebel-held area of eastern Aleppo on Friday: photo by Agence France-Presse, 15 December 2016

Pro-government forces in Aleppo, Syria, on Tuesday. Evacuations of rebel-held districts in the city were delayed by gunfire Wednesday and Thursday.: photo by George Ourfalian / Agence France-Presse, 12 December 2016

Thousands of Kashmiri Muslims gathered at a shrine in Srinagar, the capital of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region, to pray on Monday, the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad: photo by Tauseef Mustafa / Agence France-Presse, 11 December 2016

The bodies of Iraqi soldiers killed while advancing against the Islamic State lay on a road near Ganus, about 44 miles south of Mosul: photo by Manu Brabo/Associated Press, 16 December 2016

Azad Hassan (L), whose hand was chopped off by Islamic State militants, cries as he stands beside his wounded father in a house at Nimrud village, south of Mosul, Iraq: photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters, 15 December 2016

Freed from #Mosul, Iraqi brothers carry scars of Islamic State rule: image via Reuters India @ReutersIndia, 15 December 2016

#Syria Fighters from the Kurdish-Arab alliance (Syrian Democratic Forces) are seen near Khirbet al-Jahshe #Raqa #AFP Photo by @Delilsouleman: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 14 December 2016

Displaced Iraqi children, who fled the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, look through a window in a tent in Khazer refugee camp

Displaced Iraqi children who fled the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, look through a window in Khazer refugee camp east of Mosul, Iraq: photo by Ammar Awad/Reuters, 15 December 2016

Read "Some day we will return"

SYRIA - A man cries during an evacuation operation of rebel fighters and families from rebel-held neighbourhoods in Aleppo. By@KaramAlmasri25: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 15 December 2016

SYRIA - Evacuation of rebel fighters and families from rebel-held neighbourhoods in Aleppo - Read "some day we will return". By @KaramAlmasri25: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 15 December2016

#instantanés: des civils tentent d'évacuer la ville d'Alep, en ruines #AFP: image via Agence France-Presse @afpfr. 15 December 2016

SYRIA - Syrians gather during evacuation operation of rebel fighters and families from rebel-held neighbourhoods in Aleppo. By@KaramAlmasri25: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 15 December 2016

#Syria Buses are seen during an evacuation operation of rebel fighters families in the embattled city of #Aleppo #AFP Photo @KaramAlmasri25: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 15 December 2016

#Syria First evacuations from rebel-held #Aleppo #AFP Pictures taken today by George Ourfalian @AFPphoto: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 15 December 2016

One killed as Aleppo medical convoy comes under fire: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 15 December 2016

Aleppo official pleads with EU as leaders urge full ceasefire: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 15 December 2016

Buses evacuate thousands of exhausted Aleppo residents in ceasefire deal: Laila Bassam, Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Tom Perry | ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT, Reuters, 15 December 2016

Thousands of people were evacuated on Thursday from the last rebel bastion in Aleppo, the first to leave under a ceasefire deal that would end years of fighting for the city and mark a major victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

A first convoy of ambulances and buses with nearly 1,000 people aboard drove out of the devastated rebel-held area of Aleppo, which was besieged and bombarded for months by Syrian government forces, a Reuters reporter on the scene said.

Syrian state television reported later that two further convoys of 15 buses each had also left east Aleppo. The second had reached the rebel-held area of al-Rashideen, an insurgent said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said late on Thursday that some 3,000 civilians and more than 40 wounded people, including children, had already been evacuated.

ICRC official Robert Mardini told Reuters there were no clear plans yet for how to ship out rebel fighters, who will be allowed under the ceasefire to leave for other areas outside government control.

Women cried out in celebration as the first buses passed through a government-held area, and some waved the Syrian flag. Assad said in a video statement the taking of Aleppo - his biggest prize in more than five years of civil war - was a historic moment.

An elderly woman, who had gathered with others in a government area to watch the convoy removing the rebels, raised her hands to the sky, saying: "God save us from this crisis, and from the (militants). They brought us only destruction."

Wissam Zarqa, an English teacher in the rebel zone, said most people were happy to be leaving safely. But he said: "Some of them are angry they are leaving their city. I saw some of them crying. This is almost my feeling in a way."

Earlier, ambulances trying to evacuate people came under fire from fighters loyal to the Syrian government, who injured three people, a rescue service spokesman said.

"Thousands of people are in need of evacuation, but the first and most urgent thing is wounded, sick and children, including orphans," said Jan Egeland, the U.N. humanitarian adviser for Syria.

Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. special envoy for Syria, said about 50,000 people remained in rebel-held Aleppo, of whom about 10,000 would be evacuated to nearby Idlib province and the rest would move to government-held city districts.

Behind those fleeing was a wasteland of flattened buildings, concrete rubble and bullet-pocked walls, where tens of thousands had lived until recent days under intense bombardment even after medical and rescue services had collapsed.

The once-flourishing economic center with its renowned ancient sites has been pulverized during the war that has killed more than 300,000 people, created the world's worst refugee crisis and allowed for the rise of Islamic State.

The United States was forced to watch from the sidelines as the Syrian government and its allies, including Russia, mounted an assault to pin down the rebels in an ever-diminishing pocket of territory, culminating in this week's ceasefire.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that the Syrian government was carrying out "nothing short of a massacre" in Aleppo. U.N. aid chief Stephen O'Brien will brief the Security Council on Friday on the Aleppo evacuation.

The Syrian White Helmets civil defense group and other rights organizations accused Russia of committing or being complicit in war crimes in Syria, saying Russian air strikes in the Aleppo region had killed 1,207 civilians, including 380 children.

In a letter submitted to the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria and seen by Reuters on Thursday, the groups listed 304 alleged attacks carried out in the Aleppo area primarily between July and December and said there was a "high likelihood" of Russia responsibility.

The Russian U.N. mission was not immediately available to comment on the allegations. Russia has said it stopped air strikes in Aleppo in mid-October.

In Aleppo's rebel-held area, columns of black smoke could be seen as residents hoping to depart burned personal belongings they do not want to leave for government forces to loot.

A senior Russian general, Viktor Poznikhir, said the Syrian army had almost finished its operations in Aleppo.

But the war will still be far from over, with insurgents retaining their rural stronghold of Idlib province southwest of Aleppo, and the jihadist Islamic State group holding swathes of the east and recapturing Palmyra this week.

Rebels and their families would be taken toward Idlib, a city in northwestern Syria that is outside government control, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

province, mostly controlled by hardline Islamist groups, is not a popular destination for fighters and civilians from east Aleppo, where nationalist rebel groups predominated.

A senior European diplomat said last week the fighters had a choice between surviving for a few weeks in Idlib or dying in Aleppo. "For the Russians it's simple. Place them all in Idlib and then they have all their rotten eggs in one basket."

Idlib is already a target for Syrian and Russian air strikes but it is unclear if the government will push for a ground assault or simply seek to contain rebels there for now.

The International Rescue Committee said: "Escaping Aleppo doesn't mean escaping the war ... After witnessing the ferocity of attacks on civilians in Aleppo, we are very concerned that the sieges and barrel bombs will follow the thousands who arrive in Idlib."

SHI'ITE VILLAGES

The evacuation deal was expected to include the safe passage of wounded from the Shi'ite villages of Foua and Kefraya near Idlib that are besieged by rebels. A convoy set off to evacuate the villages on Thursday, Syrian state media said.

Efforts to evacuate eastern Aleppo began earlier in the week with a truce brokered by Russia, Assad's most powerful ally, and Turkey, which has backed the opposition. That agreement broke down following renewed fighting on Wednesday and the evacuation did not take place then as planned.

A rebel official said a new truce came into effect early on Thursday. Shortly before the new deal was announced, clashes raged in Aleppo.

Government forces made a new advance in Sukkari - one of a handful of districts still held by rebels - and brought half of the neighborhood under their control, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group.

The Russian Defence Ministry said - before the report of the government forces' advance in Sukkari - that the rebels controlled an enclave of only 2.5 square km (1 square mile).
The evacuation plan was the culmination of two weeks of rapid advances by the Syrian army and its allies that drove insurgents back into an ever-smaller pocket of the city under intense air strikes and artillery fire.

By taking control of Aleppo, Assad has proved the power of his military coalition, aided by Russia's air force and an array of Shi'ite militias from across the region.

Rebels have been backed by the United States, Turkey and Gulf monarchies, but that support has fallen far short of the direct military assistance given to Assad by Russia and Iran.

Russia's decision to deploy its air force to Syria more than a year ago turned the war in Assad's favor after rebel advances across western Syria. In addition to Aleppo, he has won back insurgent strongholds near Damascus this year.

Do you know that almost whole world was sad about what's happened in #Aleppo While pro #Assad were happy to kill and displace their people?: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 15 December 2016

The very sad side of history This dentist wrote to #Assad forces don't vandalize, there is stuff that might be useful for your kids #Aleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 15 December 2016

We will comeback #Aleppo... messages left on the walls of Aleppo to tell the world it's our homeland is been stolen in front the world @Pink: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 15 December 2016

Love and War, Freedom and displacement, #FSA member with his wife in one of the besieged neighborhood in East #Aleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 15 December 2016

To who join me in the Siege, I love you We will come back... #Aleppo today before the evacuation...: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 15 December 2016

Who can feel what this man feel ? This man lost his life his history his own home his nation in #Aleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 15 December 2016

#Aleppo our pain: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 15 December 2016

Old man crying while he's leaving his land, his home, his history The World support #Assad to evacuate Civilians, Not to Stop his killing: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 15 December 2016

Women and children with their baggage await evacuation from the eastern part of Aleppo, Syria: photo by Ghith Sy/EPA, 15 December 2016

Aleppo evacuation halted without explanation - WHO: Reuters, 16 December 2016 | 2:13pm GM

The evacuation of wounded and civilians from eastern enclaves of Aleppo was aborted on Friday and aid agencies and vehicles were told to leave the area without explanation, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.Elizabeth Hoff, WHO representative in Syria, speaking from west Aleppo, told a news briefing in Geneva: "I assume the message (to abort the operation) came from the Russians who are monitoring the area". Her team of nine staff in east Aleppo had no contact with Syrian authorities at the Ramouseh transit site. By 7 a.m. local time, 194 evacuated patients had arrived in eight "overwhelmed" hospitals in opposition-held rural parts of western Aleppo, in Idlib and nearby Turkey, according to the latest WHO figures. War-wounded patients have brain and eye damage, while others are being treated for chronic diseases including diabetes, Hoff said.

A member of the Syrian government forces watched the evacuation operation of rebel fighters and civilians from Aleppo on Friday: photo by George Ourfalian/Agence France-Presse, 16 December 2016

A propaganda troupe perform before the Arch of Triumph on the last day of the 200-day campaign in Pyongyang on December 15, 2016. North Korea wrapped up a 200-day mass mobilisation campaign aimed at boosting an economy struggling with upgraded UN sanctions imposed after its two nuclear tests this year. Coming hard on the heels of a similar 70-day campaign that ended in May, the 200-day version kicked off in early June, pushing extra hours and working weekends. / AFP PHOTO / KIM Won-JinKIM WON-JIN/AFP/Getty Images

A propaganda troupe perform before the Arch of Triumph on the last day of the 200-day campaign in Pyongyang: photo by Kim Won-Jin/AFP, 15 December 2016

A worker applies colour to strings which will be used to fly kites, on a roadside in Ahmedabad, India, December 15, 2016. REUTERS/Amit Dave TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

A worker applies colour to strings which will be used to fly kites in Ahmedabad, India: photo by Amit Dave/Reuters, 15 December 2016

Bernat Armangue: The warblind of Kashmir: "My life has been ruined, what can I be now?"

In this Nov. 29, 2016 photo, Insha Mushtaq Malik poses for a portrait inside her home in Sedow, south Kashmir. Insha says she was standing by the window of her village home watching protesters and troops skirmish when more than 100 pellets hit her face, "Everything looks dark and black." Five months after she lost her eyes. Malik is still learning how to deal with her loss, both emotionally and practically. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

The pellets have been in use here since 2010. Soldiers are trained to fire the shotguns below protesters' waists, causing immense pain but — in theory — no permanent injuries. But a police official acknowledged that the rules are "more or less not followed because of the intensity of stone-throwing protests. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with department policy.

The latest wave of protests began in early July after Indian troops killed Burhan Wani, a young and charismatic militant commander. As government troops cracked down on angry street protests in the Kashmir valley, shotguns were their weapon of choice.
Health officials say that in the past five months more than 6,000 people, mostly young men, have been injured by shotgun pellets, including hundreds blinded in one or both eyes. Police and hospital officials say the pellets have killed at least eight people, though a prominent local rights group, Jammu-Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, says the death toll from the pellets is 18.
International groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called for an end to the use of shotguns, which shower pellets widely. In July, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh cautioned security forces to minimize use of the weapons, but that warning had little apparent effect. As recently as last week, at least 30 people were injured when troops fired shotguns to quell rock-throwing protests.
Some of those injured were protesters, others just bystanders.
Insha Mushtaq Malik, 14, was standing by the window of her village home watching protesters and troops skirmish when more than 100 pellets hit her face. She lost both eyes.
"Everything looks dark and black," she says, as smiles and sadness take turns flitting across her face. Five months after she lost her eyes, Malik is still learning how to deal with her loss, both emotionally and practically. She needs help with everything, including climbing the stairs, going to the bathroom and getting dressed.

In this Dec. 1, 2016 photo, Photojournalist Xuhaib Maqbool, 30, poses for a portrait in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir. Xuhaib ended up losing vision in his left eye as he shot images of protesters chanting anti-India slogans and demanding "azadi" or freedom from Indian rule. He says he clearly raised his camera to show the soldier who shot at him that he was not a protester. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Nov. 29, 2016 photo, Abbas Ahmad Pandit poses for a portrait in the village of Karimabad, Indian-controlled Kashmir. Pandit's right eye got severely damaged by pellet injuries during clashes with Indian security forces. Indian authorities began using shotguns for crowd control in Indian-controlled Kashmir in 2010, calling them “non-lethal” weapons that could control massive crowds of stone-throwing protests. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Dec. 1, 2016 photo, Firdous Ahmas Dar poses for a portrait in the village of Sopore, Indian-controlled Kashmir. Firdous, 25, a Kashmiri man who like many others lost vision in both eyes after Indian troops used shotguns to spray hundreds of metal pellets to quell an anti-India protest in the troubled Himalayan region. "I was the only bread earner of the family. It was my time to look after my old parents and my siblings, but now they have to look after me." (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Indian authorities call the shotgun shells filled with hundreds of small metal pellets a "non-lethal" weapon for crowd control, but that does not make them harmless. They've inflicted a permanent toll on hundreds of Kashmiris hit by them.
Their faces are scarred. Their eyes are damaged or simply gone, replaced with prosthetics. And their psychological wounds run deeper still.
"What I miss most is being able to read the holy Quran," says Firdous Ahmad Dar, 25, a Kashmiri man who lost vision in both eyes after being shot with the pellets during an anti-India protest in the troubled Himalayan region.

A cycle of violence is repeating itself constantly in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Angry protests are quelled by force that in turn feeds more simmering rage.

But sometimes all it leaves behind is pain and helplessness.
For Dar, it means being completely dependent on the family he once supported by driving an autorickshaw.
"My dream was to educate my young siblings, but now they are helping me," he says.
The rest of his family is busy in the courtyard preparing for his sister's wedding. Dar now has no role to play. "Very old men are now looking after young men."

In this Nov. 29, 2016 photo, Suhail Ahmad Mir, 17, poses for a portrait in the village of Karimabad, Indian-controlled Kashmir. Suhail was wounded by metal pellets during one of the recent protests erupted in early July after Indian troops killed Burhan Wani, a young and charismatic militant commander. He lost eyesight in one eye and was left with scars all over his face. "My life has been ruined, what can I be now?" (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Nov. 29, 2016 photo, Faisal Ahmad poses for a portrait in the village of Karimabad, Indian-controlled Kashmir. Metal pellets shot by Indian security forces wounded Faisal during a raid in his village, losing eyesight on his left eye. The most recent protests erupted in early July after Indian troops killed Burhan Wani, a young and charismatic militant commander and sparked off more than five months of angry street protests in the Kashmir valley. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Nov. 30, 2016 photo, Tanveer poses for a portrait with his face partially covered, near Baramulla, Indian-controlled Kashmir. Tanveer lost eyesight on his right eye because metal pellet injuries. "I was an earning hand of my family. I feel like a living dead." he says. Health officials say that in the past five months more than 6,000 people, mostly young men, have been injured by shotgun pellets, including hundreds blinded in one or both eyes. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Nov. 30, 2016 photo, Aamir Kabir Beigh poses for a portrait in the village near Baramulla, Indian-controlled Kashmir. Kabir lost his vision six years ago because metal pellet injuries. Indian authorities began using shotguns for crowd control in Indian-controlled Kashmir in 2010, calling them “non-lethal” weapons that could control massive crowds of stone-throwing protests. International groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called for an end to the use of shotguns. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Nov. 29, 2016 photo, Aamir Ashraf Hajam, 25, poses for a portrait in a village near Baramulla, Indian-controlled Kashmir. Aamir lost his right eye six years ago after India security forces used a shotgun loaded with metal pellets. Health officials say that in the past five months more than 6,000 people, mostly young men, have been injured by shotgun pellets, including hundreds blinded in one or both eyes. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Dec. 2, 2016 photo, Manzoor Ah-Dar poses for a portrait in Rahmoo, district of Pulwama, Indian-controlled Kashmir. Manzoor was injured in both eyes by metal pellets when Indian forces raided the village. Health officials say that in the past five months more than 6,000 people, mostly young men, have been injured by shotgun pellets, including hundreds blinded in one or both eyes. International groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called for an end to the use of shotguns. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Dec. 1, 2016 photo, Nasir Fayaz Mir, 16, poses for a portrait in Pattan, Indian-controlled Kashmir. The most recent protests erupted in early July after Indian troops killed Burhan Wani, a young and charismatic militant commander and sparked off more than five months of angry street protests in the Kashmir valley. Health officials say that in the past five months more than 6,000 people, mostly young men, have been injured by shotgun pellets, including hundreds blinded in one or both eyes. Nasir was wounded in July and lost eyesight in his right eye. He has to wear sunglasses to protect his damaged eyes from the light and the dust. "I felt as the whole universe turned dark." (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Dec. 1, 2016 photo, Danish Rajab Jhat, 24, poses for a portrait in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir. "My left eye is completely damaged and with my right eye I can only see some sort of shadows, not clear vision." Health officials say that in the past five months more than 6,000 people, mostly young men, have been injured by shotgun pellets, including hundreds blinded in one or both eyes. International groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called for an end to the use of shotguns. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Dec. 2, 2016 photo, Javed Ah-Dar poses for a portrait in Rahmoo, district of Pulwama, Indian-controlled Kashmir. The most recent protests erupted in early July after Indian troops killed Burhan Wani, a young and charismatic militant commander and sparked off more than five months of angry street protests in the Kashmir valley. Javed was injured in both eyes by metal pellets when Indian forces raided the village. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Pellets fired to quell protests blind hundreds of Kashmiris

Pellets fired to quell protests blind hundreds of Kashmiris

Text and photos by Bernat Armangue via AP Images @AP_Images, 14 December 2016

↧

Amid broken stones

December 18, 2016, 4:01 am

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≪ Previous: Leaving Aleppo / Kashmir in torment: "My life has been ruined, what can I be now?"

The evacuation convoy was attacked yesterday by Assad's mercenaries. #Aleppo #STOP_THE_GENOCIDE: image via Ismail Alabdullah @ishmael12345611, 17 December 2016

Up till now the operation the forced displacement is stopped and fifty thousands people are trapped: image via Ismail Alabdullah @ishmael12345611, 17 December 2016

SYRIA - A boy sits with belongings he collected from the rubble of his house in Aleppo's Al-Arkoub neighbourhood. By Youssef Karwashan #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 17 December 2016

Crying men to get out of Aleppo: image via baraa al halabi @baraaalhalabi, 17 December 2016

Our last hours in east #Aleppo. Where we lived, hoped and covered regime and Russian war crimes together with @montheretaky @ShSam94: image via Zouhir AlShimale @ZouhirAlShimale, 17 December 2016

Zouhir Al-Shimale: Notes from a journalist living under siege, via Middle East Eye, 17 December 2016

Friday 16 December

About 800 tried to leave from the evacuation point, so there was a Syrian Red Crescent observer waiting for them.

They were about 25 cars, including one ambulance.

All of them were civilians and injured people, mostly women and children... the buses didn’t arrive.

There was big delay. Waiting from the morning for 6 to 7 hours. It was a huge delay.

After this, they arrived from the regime's side and it was total chaos.

Militias and military guys surrounded them and asked them to exit their cars and kneel on their ground.

They asked the men to do this, not the women. They put them on the ground and kicked them so brutally.

They took everything, money and mobile phones. Everything they had, it was gone.

Having beaten them so badly, they killed four people, total extermination.

After the attack, the people in the crowd, the rest of the 800 people, went totally crazy, messed up, as they were told to leave with no explanation.

Their possessions were taken and they were told to get out.

The militias took many hostages, we don’t how many, but as they got there they started shooting in the air towards people, towards the east and making trouble for the people who were close to the firing.

They had heard that the regime was advancing, attacking the east and all of it, so they were running very fast trying to save their lives.

You can imagine 16,000 people in the street and maybe many gathering in a small area, running at the same time with cars surrounding them and yes, there were no injured in this case but the chaos was really unbelievable.

Everybody, after this chaos, they all returned home, totally messed up and shocked.

Saturday 17 December

It was a nightmare as well today. We were just waiting for hours in the morning to evacuate.

After we got through the evacuation process we were waiting for hours and hours and we ended up being shot at and being forced to leave.

2pm

Here we are in the second day of evacuation, trying to reach the evacuation point where many of the families are.

We are in the Sukkari area, where it is not quite as overcrowded as it was yesterday

You can see how many people are on the street. Not overcrowded.

The city is still not empty because the buses have not entered yet and we are waiting.

Because we are waiting and now its around half past two we are still waiting for the buses come.

Maybe the last day here in the Sukkari area.

People are just waiting.

9pm

Still waiting, but I’m fine today.

It was really exhausting, I finally got some sleep but it was freezing. I had a meal even if it was very little food.

Yes I can still carry on and be strong for the last hours and maybe tomorrow. I’m thinking that maybe we’ll be let go, inshallah.

Let's keep praying for us and this nightmare to end. Its really unbelievable, how freezing cold it is. People don’t have any source of heat or fire to keep them warm.

I never expected to go so viral, but my tweets are being retweeted loads by people from around the world. Please, keep praying for us during this time.

FRANCE - Protest of Syrian demonstrators against Iranian involvement in Aleppo's siege - Read "long live Free Syrian Army". By @MartinBureau1: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 17 December 2016

Yesterday at night people in the streets was burning there clothes to have some heat. #Aleppo: tweet via Malek Alshemali @MalekAlshemali, 17 December 2016

Syria government, rebels working to secure Aleppo evacuation deal: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 17 December 2016

Syria government, rebels working to secure Aleppo evacuation deal: Laila Bassam in Aleppo and Lisa Barrington and Tom Perry in Beirut, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Suleiman al Khalidi in Amman and Mohamed el Sherif in Cairo, Reuters, |Sat Dec 17, 2016 | 6:39pm EST

A new deal is being negotiated to complete the evacuation of rebel-held areas of Syria's east Aleppo which ground to a halt on Friday after demands from pro-government forces that people also be moved out of two villages besieged by insurgents.

A Syrian rebel official and a government official said early on Saturday the evacuation of Aleppo would resume and the two Shi'ite villages would be evacuated, as well as the wounded from two towns near the Lebanese border and east Aleppo.

But sources said negotiations between pro-government and opposition forces as well as their international backers, were still going on to finalize how the evacuations would take place and how many people would leave.

The chaos surrounding the evacuation reflects the complexity of Syria's civil war, with an array of groups and foreign interests involved on all sides.

Aleppo had been divided between government and rebel areas in the nearly six-year-long war, but a lightning advance by the Syrian army and its allies began in mid-November following months of intense air strikes, forcing the insurgents out of most of the rebel-held territory within a matter of weeks.

A senior Syrian rebel official from the powerful Ahrar al Sham group involved in the talks on Saturday said the deal was being held up by Iran and its allied Shi'ite militias which were insisting people be allowed to leave the besieged Shi'ite villages of Kefraya and al-Foua before allowing the Aleppo evacuation to proceed.

"Iran and its sectarian proxies are using the humanitarian situation of our people in besieged Aleppo and preventing civilians from leaving until the evacuation of their groups in al-Foua and Kefraya," Munir Sayal, the head of the political wing of the movement, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Al Farouk Abu Bakr, the head rebel negotiator inside Aleppo charged with negotiating on their behalf, earlier said an agreement was reached that included the two Shi'ite villages as demanded by Iran. But he said later that Tehran had once again obstructed a deal.

As darkness fell on Saturday afternoon and temperatures began to fall below freezing, there was no sign the evacuation was happening. A resident in Aleppo told Reuters that nobody had left the rebel-held enclave and no buses had entered. He also said he had heard gunfire near where people were to wait for the buses.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said thousands of cold, scared and injured people were still in east Aleppo waiting to leave. It said it had received some indications that a deal would be reached soon.

The Syrian government official, part of the team negotiating the evacuations, said: "It was agreed to resume evacuations from east Aleppo in parallel with the evacuation of (medical) cases from Kefraya and al-Foua and some cases from Zabadani and Madaya."

The towns of Madaya and Zabadani are blockaded by pro-government forces.

The operation to evacuate fighters and civilians from the last opposition-held area of Aleppo was suspended on Friday, its second day, after pro-government militias demanded that the wounded also be brought out of al-Foua and Kefraya, and protesters blocked a convoy on the road out of Aleppo.

Another Free Syrian Army official Zakaria Malhafji said that he expected the Aleppo evacuation to resume on Sunday after reaching an agreement that also includes simultaneous evacuation from the two Shi'ite villages.

"Tomorrow morning the evacuation from Aleppo will begin again", Malhafji told TV news channel al-Arabiya al Hadath.

BEATEN AND ROBBED

Numerous activists, rebels and east Aleppo residents shared reports and videos of people fleeing amid chaos, the sound of shooting, being detained and returning home badly beaten and robbed of their possessions near a checkpoint as they tried to leave the city on Friday.

Rebels said the previous evacuation deal was breached by pro-government, Iran-backed militias who detained "hundreds" of people trying to leave, leading to some deaths. A Syrian military source denied this, but said a convoy trying to leave was sent back.

"Now we are working on international guarantees to guarantee the safety of those who leave Aleppo so that such violations are not repeated," Syrian rebel negotiator Abu Bakr told al-Arabiya from Aleppo on Saturday.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and the ICRC said guarantees were needed to protect people.

"We're ready to resume facilitating the evacuation according to our humanitarian mandate. But we now expect all the parties on the ground to provide us with solid guarantees in order to keep the operation going," said Marianne Gasser, head of the ICRC in Syria.

NO EVACUATIONS ON SATURDAY

A military news outlet run by Hezbollah, an ally of Damascus, had said evacuation buses were heading to the two villages to complete the evacuations and said this could happen on Saturday.

But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, said the evacuations in al-Foua or Kefraya, where it says there are around 20,000 people - of whom roughly 4,500 are pro-government fighters - was postponed and would begin on Sunday.

It was expected that 50 buses would take around 1,500 people, including wounded, to government-held areas.

The Observatory said 8,000 people, including some 3,000 fighters and more than 300 wounded, had left Aleppo in convoys of buses and ambulances in the evacuations that began on Thursday morning.

Rebel officials say the numbers evacuated are much lower, with no fighters having left.

The United Nations says around 30,000 people remain in rebel-held Aleppo, of whom a number would be taken to Idlib province, which is mostly controlled by hardline Islamist groups, and the rest would go to government-held city districts.

Idlib is already a target for Syrian and Russian air strikes, but it is unclear whether the government will push for a ground assault or simply seek to contain rebels there for now.

Turkey has said Aleppo evacuees could also be housed in a camp to be constructed near the Turkish border to the north.

OVERNIGHT BOMBING

The Observatory said war planes bombed insurgent-controlled areas west of Aleppo overnight and north of Aleppo on Saturday.

Syrian state media reported on Saturday that a number of fighters south of Damascus had surrendered their weapons to the state in the towns of Zakiya and al-Deirkheyba as part of local truces.

Through a series of so-called settlement agreements and army offensives, the Syrian government, backed by Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, has been steadily suppressing armed opposition in the suburbs of the capital.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syria's most powerful ally, said on Friday he was working with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to try to start a new round of Syrian peace talks aimed at securing a nationwide ceasefire.

A senior Syrian opposition leader, Riyad Hijab, said he was willing to attend the talks if the aim was to set up a transitional government. Assad has ruled out stepping down as part of a political solution to the war.

Aleppo, a once-flourishing economic center with renowned ancient sites, has been pulverized during the war that has killed more than 300,000 people, created the world's worst refugee crisis and allowed for the rise of Islamic State.

Even with victory for Assad in Aleppo, the war will be far from over. Insurgents still retain the rural stronghold of Idlib province as well as other territory in western, northern and southern Syria, while the jihadist Islamic State militant group holds swathes of the east and recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra earlier this week.

Syrian rebel group blames Iran for holding up Aleppo evacuation [photo: People wait to be evacuated from a rebel-held sector of eastern Aleppo, Syria December 16, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail]: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 17 December 2016

Syrian rebel group blames Iran for holding up Aleppo evacuation: Suleiman Al-Khalidi | AMMAN, Reuters, |Sat Dec 17, 2016 | 2:13pm EST

A senior Syrian rebel blamed Iran and its Shi'ite militias on Saturday of holding up the evacuation of civilians trapped in the remaining rebel bastion in Aleppo and urged Russia to live up to its commitment to implement the deal.

Munir al Sayal, the head of the political wing of the Ahrar al Sham rebel group involved in negotiations over the deal, said Iran was insisting people be allowed to leave two besieged Shi'ite villages before letting the Aleppo evacuation happen. He said Russia was failing to restrain its ally.

"Iran and its sectarian proxies are using the humanitarian situation of our people in besieged Aleppo and preventing civilians from leaving until the evacuation of their groups in al-Foua and Kefyra," Sayal told Reuters in a telephone interview.

The operation to evacuate fighters and civilians from the last opposition-held area of Aleppo was suspended on Friday, its second day, after pro-government militias demanded that wounded people also be brought out of al-Foua and Kefraya, and protesters blocked the road out of Aleppo.

Sayal said Iranian-backed Shi'ite fighters led by Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah militia and other Iraqi Shi'ite groups were behind the detention of hundreds of people trying to leave on Friday, leading to some deaths before they were turned back, in an effort to disrupt the evacuation.

Numerous rebels and east Aleppo residents shared reports and videos of people fleeing the sound of shooting, being detained and returning home badly beaten and robbed of their possessions near a checkpoint as they tried to leave the city on Friday.

"These sectarian militias are responsible but we warn them the safety of our people in Aleppo is the priority and all options are open toward achieving that goal," said Sayal, whose armed group has a countrywide presence and is particularly active in northwestern Syria.

The Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias have played a leading role in the siege of rebel-held Aleppo and in the Syrian army's retaking of near full control of the city.

A picture of Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Qassem Soleimani in a war-torn street in Aleppo was circulating on social media on Saturday by supporters. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the photo.

Sayal said Moscow's assertion that most civilians had already been evacuated from Aleppo showed Russia was trying to renege on its responsibilities under the deal. Thousands of hungry and cold civilians needed to be evacuated as soon as possible, he said.

The agreement to evacuate the civilians and fighters was reached mainly between Russia, whose aerial bombing of Aleppo played a critical role in the defeat of the insurgents, and Turkey, which backs the mainstream rebels, acting as a go-between for the main insurgent groups.

"Russia has failed to restrain the sectarian Shi'ite militias in Aleppo to complete the deal and Moscow should abide by its commitments," Sayal said.

"There are still civilians in Aleppo who need to be evacuated in harsh weather conditions and Russian statements that besieged Aleppo is empty is absolving itself from following up on the agreement," he added.

Syrian rebel says new deal reached to secure Aleppo evacuation [photo: A child reacts while waiting with others to be evacuated from a rebel-held sector of eastern Aleppo, Syria December 16, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail]: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 17 December 2016

SYRIA - A boy makes his way through the rubble as he heads to his house in Aleppo's Dahret Awad neighbourhood. By Youssef Karwashan #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 17 December 2016

SYRIA - A man sits on rubble of his house after pro-gov forces retook Aleppo's Al-Arkoub neighbourhood from rebels. By Youssef Karwashan: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 17 December 2016

SYRIA - A bulldozer removes rubble from road as pro-gov forces re-open a street in Aleppo that was formerly barricaded. By Youssef Karwashan: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 17 December 2016

Russia’s influence has risen but Iran is the real winner in Aleppo Tehran’s help in securing Syria’s second city is much less to do with re-establishing state sovereignty than about asserting its own agenda: Martin Chulov in Beirut for The Observer, Saturday 17 December 2016 15.05 EST

As the green surrender buses trickled out of Aleppo last Wednesday, Bashar al-Assad’s two biggest backers reacted very differently.

Russia, which had brokered the deal with Turkey to allow the refugees to leave, was urging the convoy on towards the countryside, where the first of the city’s final refugees were to be disgorged. Iran, on the other hand, was looking for ways to stop it.

To Moscow, the ceasefire was the pinnacle of Russia’s intervention in Aleppo, a moment when it could mount a new case as a peacemaker, after bombing opposition groups to capitulation for 15 months. To Tehran, allowing remaining civilians and rebel fighters to leave was a potential loss of leverage – at precisely the time that Iranian influence on the battlefield had started to eclipse that of Russia’s.

The divergence marked a seminal moment in the Syrian war; the mutual interest in securing Assad that had brought the two countries together had suddenly given way to a feud about who calls the shots now that the war is nearly won. The Russian air force matters little now. The Iranian revolutionary guards count for more.

Besieged populations have been bargaining chips throughout the six-year conflict, and Iran has played a direct role in turning the fate of cornered opposition communities into political victories that secure Assad and strengthen its own hand.

Allowing the last desperate holdouts of Aleppo to leave, without first seeking terms, was not in the Iranian playbook. And, within hours of Turkey and Russia announcing a deal, Iran had sabotaged it, demanding the lifting of a siege of two Shia villages north of Aleppo, Fua and Kefraya, which had been surrounded by the al-Qaida-inspired Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. It also wanted a trade of prisoners and bodies of slain Hezbollah and Iraqi militants under its tutelage.

Victory in Aleppo matters enormously for both sides, but when the dust finally settles in Aleppo, it counts for more in Iran. Securing Syria’s second city and industrial heart is much less to do with re-establishing state sovereignty than about asserting its own influence and agenda in the strategic heart of the region.

Aleppo is a crossroads in Iran's project to build a land corridor to the Mediterranean coast. It is also likely to be a new centre of Tehran’s geopolitical projection, which has been on open display elsewhere in the conflict.

Iranian officials have directly negotiated with the opposition militia, Ahrar al-Sham, about the fate of the battered opposition-held town of Zabadani, west of Damascus. Iran proposed a swap of the town’s Sunnis, who would be sent to Idlib province, for the residents of Fua and Kefraya, who would in turn be relocated to Zabadani.

“The Iranians want no Sunnis between Damascus and the Lebanese border,” said one senior Lebanese official yesterday. “There is a very clear plan to change the sectarian tapestry of the border.”

In the Damascus suburb of Darayya, where opposition communities surrendered in August, and accepted being flown to Idlib, 300 Shia families from Iraq have moved in. Further to the west, near the Zainab shrine, Iran has bought substantial numbers of properties, and also sponsored the arrival of Shia families, securing the area as a bridgehead before Zabadani.

Securing corridors of influence with Shia communities marks, potentially, Iran’s most assertive moment since the Islamic revolution of 1979, after which Tehran’s proxies have gradually projected its influence, through Hezbollah, through the US invasion of Iraq – which switched political power from Sunnis to Shias – and now through the chaos of Syria.

Russia’s goals have been less about ideology, and more about realpolitik. Vladimir Putin now has a renewed stake in the region, at the expense of the US, which he believes abdicated a decades-long role under Barack Obama, and which Donald Trump has little interest in reclaiming. Russian influence is likely back in the Middle East to stay. But, as America found out, it will be checked by the fervour of an ascendant regional heavyweight.

SYRIA - Syrians walk down a destroyed street in Aleppo's al-Akroub neighbourhood. By Youssef Karwashan #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 17 December 2016

SYRIA - Demonstrators gather in the rebel-held town of Saqba, in solidarity with the inhabitants of Aleppo. By Msallam Abdalbaset #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 17 December 2016

we don't want to leave ..we were forced to flee #Aleppo PH: Abd Alkader Habak: image via zakaria abdelkafi @zakria_alkafi, 17 December 2016

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On history making / Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga: Trees / Arboles

December 19, 2016, 2:44 am

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≪ Previous: Amid broken stones

Khan al-Assal (Syrie) (AFP) 16.12.2016 - 17:25 Des combattants rebelles et des civils évacués d'Alep-Est sont regroupés dans une zone contrôlée par le régime à Khan al-Aassal (ouest d'Alep), le 16 décembre 2016: photo by AFP, 16 December 2016

It's not the Judgment day, Those thousands of people waiting to be evacuated from #Aleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib,18 December 2016

photos of the injured waiting for evacuation from east Aleppo - @omaralsory641: image via Stork @NorthernStork, 18 December 2016

Breaking: After 9 Hours of Waiting, Several buses and 2 ambulances moving from #Aleppo toward the West countryside of #Aleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 18 December 2016

SYRIA - Buses drive through gov-controlled crossing of Ramoussa in Aleppo during evacuation operation of rebel's area. By George Ourfalian: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 18 December 2016

Aleppo deal stalls again after evacuation buses attacked and burned: Vehicles set on fire going to Kefraya and Fua, where villagers were to be allowed to leave in exchange for Aleppo evacuation: Martin Chulov in Beirut for The Guardian, Sunday 18 December 2016 19.02 EST

A deal to free east Aleppo’s remaining civilians in exchange for sick and wounded people from two pro-government villages stalled again on Sunday after six buses sent to evacuate the loyalist areas were stopped and set ablaze.

The buses were intercepted in an area under the control of Jund al-Aqsa, a jihadi faction aligned to the Syrian opposition. The deal to partially lift a siege of the villages, Fua and Kefraya, had been opposed by the al-Qaida-inspired Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, which was largely responsible for a three-year siege of the majority-Shia enclaves.

Sabotage attempts have turned an urgent evacuation of up to 40,000 trapped civilians into a protracted series of negotiations, which allow trickles of refugees to leave before breaking down again. Late on Sunday night, however, there were reports from a senior UN official and the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that some buses from rebel-held areas carrying evacuees had been allowed to leave the city.

Iran and the Syrian regime have been determined to use the fate of east Aleppo to settle accounts with the opposition elsewhere in the country, while jihadis who influence parts of the rebel movement have delayed the process to win concessions as their grip on northern Syria steadily slips.

Fua and Kefraya have been key bargaining chips throughout the conflict. Both have been besieged, but not with the same result as east Aleppo. For the past 18 months, Iran has tried to broker a deal with the powerful Islamist militia Ahrar al-Sham which would allow the remaining villagers to be relocated to Zabadani and Madaya, between Damascus and the Lebanese border.

In return, Sunni residents of those towns would be sent to Fua and Kefraya, as part of a population swap that would change the geopolitics of the region and help build a Shia presence from the suburbs of Damascus into Lebanon’s Bekaa valley, and beyond to southern Lebanon.

The population swaps were not part of the original terms of the Aleppo evacuation deal, which were brokered between Russia and Turkey. However, soon after the deal was announced early last week, Iran made a series of its own demands.

In addition to the relocation of sectarian groups, Iran demanded the bodies of slain militia fighters that it had sent to Syria, including members of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iraqi militias. It also demanded information about any fighters that had been taken prisoner.

The chaos surrounding the evacuation deal underscores the stakes, with east Aleppo in its death throes and the six-year war beginning to lose steam for the first time. It also underlines how a splintered opposition cannot control all the elements in the fight against the Syrian leadership, even as tens of thousands of civilians remain cornered, many of them in the open with little food in the depths of winter.

A claim of responsibility was posted on social media, purportedly by a jihadi front group, which spoke of the trapped Shia communities in strident sectarian tones.

The Free Syria Army, an umbrella organisation of moderate rebel groups, said: “The people who resisted in Aleppo are paying the price of the irresponsible acts of a few. This was a reckless act endangering the lives of more than 50,000 people. It is a crime and a humiliation against our revolution and the resistance of the beseiged Aleppo people.”

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to secure a lifeline to those trapped in east Aleppo appeared to inch forwards after the UN security council agreed a compromise draft resolution on UN monitoring of evacuations. A vote will he be held on Monday, diplomats said.

“We expect to vote unanimously for this text tomorrow at 9 am (1400 GMT),” the US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, told reporters after more than three hours of negotiations.

The Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, had earlier vowed to veto a French-drafted resolution, arguing that it did not account for the preparation needed for UN officials to be able to monitor evacuations.

Russia, which began air attacks on rebel-held territory in September 2015 in support of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has vetoed six security council resolutions on Syria since 2011.

“I think we have a good text, we agreed to vote tomorrow morning,” Churkin told reporters after agreeing the compromise draft.

The French-drafted resolution had asked for the UN to “redeploy … humanitarian staff already on the ground to carry out adequate, neutral monitoring, direct observation, and to report on evacuations from besieged parts of Aleppo and protection of civilians inside Aleppo”.

It also urged: “The evacuations of civilians must be voluntary and to final destinations of their choice, and protection must be provided to all civilians who choose or who have been forced to be evacuated and those who opt to remain in their homes.”

The fate of more than 500 men who were detained inside Aleppo, or arrested at checkpoints as they tried to leave remains unknown, and rights groups have expressed serious fears for their safety.

By some estimates, up to 80,000 people have left east Aleppo in recent days, most crossing into the regime-held west of the city. Around 8,000 people were evacuated to the north-west Aleppo countryside as part of the evacuation deal. Opposition fighters were among the first to leave the city. Such a move had been central to the drafted terms, but was also being seen by some of the trapped civilians as an abandonment.

تحضر الارهابين والمسلحين من بلدتي كفريا والفوعة للخروج بالباصات الخضراء إلى مناطق الإحتلال الإيراني بسوريا: image via @omaralsory641, 18 December 2016

#Fatih_Sham and Extremists protesters burned buses on the Way to evacuate Kafria-Fowa people And put #Aleppo people souls in Danger: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib,18 December 2016

Emerging footage shows #JFS #JundalAqsa giving rousing speeches at site of #Fuah bus burning: image via Riam Dalatti @Dalatrm, 18 December 2016

The puppet of Iran and Russia lectures on history making: image via Abdurahman @bdrhmnhrk, 16 December 2016

Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga: Trees / Arboles

El Bosque. Albuquerque, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, December 2016

Hagg Lake, Scoggins Valley, Oregon: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, 17 January 2014

Reyes Station, Carrizo Plain, California photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, March 2002

El Bosque. Albuquerque, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, December 2016

Red Bluff, California: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, June 2014

↧

Vernissage

December 20, 2016, 7:53 am

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≪ Previous: On history making / Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga: Trees / Arboles

The gunman after shooting the Russian ambassador: photo by Burhan Ozbilici/Associated Press, 19 December 2016

the best photo in 2016 #Aleppo #Ankara: image via pepo @ipepo74, 19 December 2016

One of my favourite places in #berlin. A place that symbols the past and peace today became…: image via author n.j. mauchlin @njmauchline, 19 December 2016

#syria A man rides his motorbike past damaged buildings covered with snow yesterday in a rebel-held district of Homs #AFP by Mahmoud Taha: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 19 December 2016

People huddled during the shooting in the art gallery: photo by Burhan Ozbilici/Associated Press, 19 November 2016

Vernissage--A man, reported by The Associated Press to be the gunman, after the shooting of the Russian ambassador, on the floor, on Monday at a gallery in Ankara, the capital of Turkey: photo by Hasim Kilic/Hurriyet, via Reuters, 19 December 2016

The assassination came after days of protests by Turks angry over Russia’s support for the Syrian government in the conflict and the Russian role in the killings and destruction in Aleppo, the northern Syrian city.

The Russian envoy was shot from behind and immediately fell to the floor while speaking at an exhibition of photographs, according to multiple accounts from the scene, the Contemporary Arts Center in the Cankaya area of Ankara.

The gunman, wearing a dark suit and tie, was seen in video footage of the assault waving a pistol and shouting in Arabic: “God is great! Those who pledged allegiance to Muhammad for jihad. God is great!”

Then he switched to Turkish and shouted: “Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria! Step back! Step back! Only death can take me from here.”

Assassination of ambassador instantly vaults Turkey-Russia relations to a new level of crisis over Syrian conflict: image via New York Times World @nyrtimesworld, 19 December 2016

The Turkish police secured the area outside the art gallery after the attack: photo by Erhan Ortac, 19 December 2016

Turkish avenge Syria, AleppohauntsRussiain Ankara: image via Primo @PrimoAhmad, 19 December 2016

A trail of devastation is left behind in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016, the day after a truck ran into a crowded Christmas market and killed several people. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

A trail of devastation is left behind in Berlin, German the day after a truck ran into a crowded Christmas market and killed several people: photo by Markus Schreiber/AP, 20 December 2016

#UPDATE At least nine dead after truck ploughs into Berlin Christmas market: police #Breitscheidplatz: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 19 December 2016

A man screams as people gather to protest in the neighbourhood of Yolo in Kinshasa. Gunfire was heard in DR Congo’s two largest cities as the opposition leader called on citizens to reject President Joseph Kabila whose mandate expired on Tuesday.: photo by Eduardo Soteras/AFP, 20 December 2016

A man is arrested by a member of the military police after people attempted to block the road with rocks, in the neighbourhood of Majengo in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo as tensions rose with one day left of Congolese President Joseph Kabila’s mandate: photo by Griff Tapper/AFP, 19 December 2016

Protests erupt in Congo as Kabila's mandate expires: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 19 December 2016

#Berlin At least nine dead after truck ploughs into Berlin Xmas market. Photo @oddandersen #AFP: image via Stephanie Beauge @sbeaugeAFP, 19 December 2016

#Berlin At least nine dead after truck ploughs into Berlin Xmas market. Photo John Mac Dougall #AFP: image via Stephanie Beauge @sbeaugeAFP, 19 December 2016

A truck driver plowed into a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday evening: photo by Odd Andersen/Agence France-Presse, 19 December 2016

Man of the year 2016 don't forget #Aleppo #Ankara: image via pepo @ipepo74, 19 December 2016

SYRIA - Wounded people lie on floor at last functioning hospital as people wait to be evacuated in rebel-held east of Aleppo. By @KaramAlmasri25: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard, 19 December 2016

Even for a visit to Turkey alwayswas reluctantto leave Aleppo @KaramAlmasri25 forced out: image via ameer alhalabi @ameeralhalabi, 19 December 2016

INDONESIA - Protest to call on Russia to stop the war in Syria, outside the Russian Embassy in Jakarta. By @BerryAdek #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard, 19 December 2016

Putin says Turkey ambassador murder is ploy to wreck Syrian peace process: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 19 December 2016

Gunman wounds three in Zurich mosque rampage, motive unclear: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 19 December 2016

3 injured in #shooting at #Zurich Islamic center: image via RT Verified account @RT_dotcom, 19 December 2016

A Russian ambassador was murdered in #Ankara, shootings in #Zurich, truck crashes into #Berlin market (9 dead). Snow in #Sahara. Well done 2016.: image via Takis Karagiannis @T_Karagiannis,, 19 December 2016

#haveaniceday #france #sunrise on the coal-mining area is pictured on December 15 in Loos-en-Gohelle #AFP Photo by Philippe Huguen: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 19 December 2016

A man cooks in open air as heavy smog blankets Shengfang, in Hebei province, on an extremely polluted day with red alert issued, China December 19, 2016. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

A man cooks outside as heavy smog blankets Shengfang on an extremely polluted day in China: photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters, 19 December 2016

The worlds along the road to #Mosul. @GebellyM masterful account of covering the offensive. @AFPblogs [Ph: Thomas Coex/AFP]: image via AFP Correspondent @AFPblogs, 15 December 2016

Iraqi girl wait to fill jerricans with water in Mosul's eastern district of Khadraa, on December 2, 2016.

Mosul's eastern district of Khadraa, December 2016: photo by Safin Hamed/AFP via AFP Correspondent, 15 December 2016

Soldiers from the Iraqi army 9th armoured division greet residents as bodies of Islamic State (IS) group fighters litter a street in the eastern Al-Intissar neighbourhood of Mosul on November 6, 2016.

Bodies of Islamic State fighters lie on a street in Mosul's eastern Al-Intissar neighborhood as Iraqi soldiers talk to residents: photo by Odd Andersen/AFP via AFP Correspondent, 15 December 2016

A commander from the Iraqi Special Forces 2nd division calls his men back to a previous position as they come under fire from IS fighters while pushing into the Aden neighbourhood in Mosul on November 16, 2016.

A commander from the Iraqi Special Forces 2nd division calls his men back as they come under fire from IS fighters in Mosul, 16 November 2016: photo by Odd Andersen/AFP via AFP Correspondent, 15 December 2016

An Iraqi child smokes a cigarette upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul, on October 28, 2016 after troops recaptured it from the Islamic State (IS) group jihadists as part of their operation to retake the main hub

An Iraqi boy smokes a cigarette in the village of Umm Mahahir south of Mosul, October 2016: photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP via AFP Correspondent, 15 December 2016

A member of the Iraqi government forces smokes a cigarette as they rest in the village of al-Khuwayn, south of Mosul, after recapturing it from Islamic State (IS) group jihadists on October 23, 2016, in part of an ongoing operation to tighten the noose ar

A member of the Iraqi government forces smokes a cigarette in the village of al-Khuwayn, south of Mosul, 16 November 2016: photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP via AFP Correspondent, 15 December 2016

Rohingya Muslim refugees along with Indian supporters shout slogans against human rights violations in Myanmar, during a march to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in New Delhi: photo by AFP, 19 December 2016

Somali security forces patrol along the coast of Qaw, in Puntland, northeastern Somalia on December, 18, 2016. Armed militants groups have become more active in the Puntland's region, northern Somalia, since being pushed out of their strongholds in southern Somalia by African Union forces and the Somali National Army. / AFP PHOTO / Mohamed ABDIWAHABMOHAMED ABDIWAHAB/AFP/Getty Images

Somali security forces patrol along the coast of Qaw, in Puntland, northeastern Somalia: photo by Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFP, 19 December 2016

A boy waits with a relative outside a hospital in Beijing. Heavy smog suffocated northeast China for a fifth day on December 20th, with hundreds of flights cancelled with road and rail transport grinding to a halt due to low visibility conditions.: photo Greg Baker/AFP, 20 December 2016

The scene at Whitley Bay in Northumberland just before sunrise this morning. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday December 19, 2016. Photo credit should read: Owen Humohreys/PA Wire

The scene at Whitley Bay in Northumberland just before sunrise on Monday: photo by Owen Humphreys/PA, 19 December 2016

↧

Now winter nights enlarge

December 21, 2016, 5:13 am

≫ Next: Nothing to say (Winding-sheet for a dream)

≪ Previous: Vernissage

A drawing of Mickey Mouse painted over by Islamic State militants is shown on the wall of a kindergarten in Mosul, Iraq. Photo by @ManuBrabo: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 19 December 2016

#Iraq Christian militia fighters from NPU transport four men, allegedly members of IS found inside a tunnel #Mosul #AFP Photo by JM Lopez: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 20 December 2016

This time doth well dispence
With louers long discourse

The last sunset from east #Aleppo was incredibly freezing.. and blue emotions and memories of a land we used to live in once. #AleppoIsDying: image via Zouhir AlShimale @ZouhirAlShimale

#Aleppo just now...: image via Mohammed Al-khatieb @MohAlkhatieb, 19 December 2016

SYRIA - A Syrian girl evacuated from Aleppo, eats upon arriving in the opposition-controlled Khan al-Assal region. By @baraaalhalabi #AFP

#Syrie Le voyage de la peur pour les exilés d' Alep Le récit de notre correspondant @KaramAlmasri25 #AFP

#Syria People wait in a bus for a green light from rebels to cross into a government controlled area #Aleppo #AFP Photo by @omar_hajkadour: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY,

#Syria People wait in a bus for a green light from rebels to cross into a government controlled area #Aleppo #AFP Photo by @omar_hajkadour: image via Aurelia BAILLY@AureliaBAILLY,

SYRIA - A boy evacuated from Aleppo, sits next to bird cages in the opposition-controlled Khan al-Assal region. By @baraaalhalabi #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 December 2016

TURKEY - Women lay flowers outside Russian Consulate in Istanbul in tribute to late Russian ambassador assassinated in Ankara. By @yasinnakgul: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 December 2016

Berlin mayor Michael Mueller, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere stand in silence at the Christmas market in Berlin, Germany one day after a truck ploughed into a crowded Christmas market in the German capital.: photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters, 20 December 2016

GERMANY - People light candles at a makeshift memorial in front of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedaechtniskirche in Berlin. By John MacDougall #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 December 2016

GERMANY - Flowers are placed at the site where a truck crashed into a Christmas market in Berlin. By @tobiasschwarz #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 December 2016

GERMANY - View of the truck that crashed into a christmas market at Gedächtniskirche church in Berlin. By @odd_andersen #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 December 2016

An Afghan officer reacts in front of a burning pile of seized narcotics and alcoholic drinks, in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan: photo by Omar Sobhani/Reuters, 20 December 2016

Flames, smoke and boxes rise after alcoholic drinks are burned in a ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 20, 2016. #APPhoto by @Massoud151: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 20 December 2016

AFGHANISTAN - Afghan government officials and policemen run as a cache of alcohol and drugs burns on outskirts of Kabul. By @shahmarai #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 December 2016

Explota el mercado de pirotecnia de Tultepec, el más seguro de AL; hay al menos 29 muertos: La explosión en el Mercado de San Pablito, en Tultepec, dejó un saldo de al menos 9 muertos y 70 heridos, de acuerdo con la Policía Federal. El mercado era considerado como el más seguro de América Latina por el Instituto Mexiquense de la Pirotecnia: image by José Tolentino/Facebook via Animal Politico, 20 December 2016

INDIA - Indian labourers attempt to free a jeep which became trapped in sand on the site of The Magh Mela in Allahabad. By @sanjaykanojia07: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 December 2016

Indian washerman looks on as he smokes bidi (hand rolled cigarettes) inside his shelter in #Delhi #India:@AFPphoto: image via Chandan Khanna @Chandanphoto, 16 December 2016

Sanjay Shukla, 41, dozes off during his work hours inside a residential society in #Mumbai #Maharashtra @AFPphoto: image via Chandan Khanna @Chandanphoto, 12 December 2016

#India Walking in the #KathputliColony today in New Delhi #AFP Photo by @Chandanphoto: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 20 December 2016

INDIA - A young Indian girl runs down an alley in the Kahputli Colony in New Delhi. By @Chandanphoto #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 20 December 2016

Men indulge in a game of ludo as the day ends in #Delhi @AFPphoto: image via Chandan Khanna @Chandanphoto, 15 December 2016

An Indian man walks inside the praying hall to offer namaz at the Muslim Saint Pir Haji Ali #Mumbai @AFPphoto: image via Chandan Khanna @Chandanphoto, 11 December 2016

An Indian Naga woman waits for her food at a roadside restaurant near#Kohima #Nagaland #India @AFPphoto: image via Chandan Khanna @Chandanphoto, 8 December 2016

India - Members of the Naga tribe look on during the annual Hornbill Festival at Kisama #AFP Photo by @Chandanphoto: image via Chandan Khanna @Chandanphoto, 6 December 2016

India - Members of the Naga tribe look on during the annual Hornbill Festival at Kisama #Nagaland #Hornbill2016 #AFP Photo by @Chandanphoto: image via Chandan Khanna @Chandanphoto, 6 December 2016

#India A young Indian child looks out from the back of an electric rickshaw in New Delhi #AFP Photo by @Chandanphoto: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 1 December 2016

Smog engulfs area home to 460 million citizens as Northern China sees worst air pollution of 2016 - GreenpeaceAir pollution levels in one of China's old steel bastions are double the "crazy bad" / "airpocalypse" level, reaching New Delhi levels: image via Lauri Myllyvirta @laurimyllyvirta, 19 December 2016

Air pollution levels in one of China's old steel bastions are double the "crazy bad" / "airpocalypse" level, reaching New Delhi levels: image via Lauri Myllyvirta @laurimyllyvirta, 19 December 2016

Had both air purifiers in bedroom for the night so kitchen and living room had hazardous levels in the morning: image via Lauri Myllyvirta @laurimyllyvirta, 19 December 2016

Our analysis reveals a tight link between heavy industry output and Beijing region pollution levels. via @energydesk: image via Lauri Myllyvirta @laurimyllyvirta, 16 December 2016

Wall of smog arriving in Beijing yesterday. It seems to be getting worse again: image via Lauri Myllyvirta @laurimyllyvirta, 16 December 2016

People, some wearing masks for protection against air pollution, walk on a pedestrian overhead bridge in Beijing as the capital of China is shrouded by heavy smog Monday, Dec. 19, 2016. Engulfed in choking smog, some northern Chinese cities limited the number of cars on roads and temporarily shut down factories on Monday to cut down pollution during a national "red alert." More than 700 companies stopped production in Beijing and traffic police were restricting drivers by monitoring their license plate numbers, state media reported.: photo by Andy Wong/AP, image via AP Images @AP_Images, 19 December 2016

CHINA - An elderly woman wearing a mask closes her eyes, as she walks at a park in Beijing. By Wang Zhao #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 December 2016

ThomasCampion: Nowwinternightsenlarge

A fallow deer grazes in Richmond Park, London, after a night of heavy frost as the temperature dipped below freezing in the capital on New Years Eve: photo by Ben Stevens /i-Images, 2 January 2015

Nowwinternightsenlarge
The number of their houres;
And clouds their stormes discharge
Upon the ayrie towres.
Let now the chimneys blaze
And cups o'erflow with wine,
Let well-tun'd words amaze
With harmonie diuine.
Now yellow waxen lights
Shall waite on hunny Loue
While youthfull Reuels, Masks, and Courtly sights,
Sleepes leaden spels remoue.

This time doth well dispence
With louers long discourse;
Much speech hath some defence,
Though beauty no remorse.
All doe not all things well;
Some measures comely tread;
Some knotted Ridles tell;
Some Poems smoothly read.
The Summer hath his ioyes,
And Winter his delights;
Though Loue and all his pleasures are but toyes,
They shorten tedious nights.

ThomasCampion (1567-1620): Nowwinternightsenlarge, from The Third and Fourth Booke of Ayeres, 1617

Moorhens wake up as the rising sun begins to burn off overnight frost at the National Trust’s Dunham Massey park in Altrincham, UK: photo by Christopher Furlong, 2 January 2015

Berlin, Germany. Rain drops veil the view of Brandenburg Gate, while passers-by walk across Pariser Platz: photo by Paul Zinken/EPA, 5 January 2015

A cormorant perches on a branchat the National Trust’s Dunham Massey park in Altrincham, UK: photo by Christopher Furlong via the Guardian, 2 January 2015

A black-headed gull (Larus ridibundus) slips on a frozen lake surface at Golden Acre Park, Leeds, UK: photo by Paul Miguel/Rex Features, 2 January 2015

A snowy owl at Gull Point at Presque Isle state park in Erie, Pennsylvania. It was one of two tundra owls spotted by birdwatchers on Monday at Gull Point. The dark markings on this owl suggest it is either an adult female or juvenile: photo byChristopher Millette/AP, 2 January 2015

Manama, Bahrain.Bahraini anti-government protesters holding a national flag take cover from tear gas during clashes: photo by Hasan Jamali/AP, 4 January 2015

Vi Cano sits in front of fire with her cat and her daughter inside her house in #Kohima #Nagaland #India @AFPphoto: image via Chandan Khanna @Chandanphoto, 9 December 2016

Let now the chimneys blaze

Kashmiri fishermen cover their heads and part of their boats with blankets and straw as they wait to catch fish in the waters of the Anchar Lake on a cold day in Srinagar

Kashmiri fishermen cover their heads and part of their boats with blankets and straw as they wait to catch fish in the waters of the Anchar Lake in Srinagar: photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters, 20 December 2016

Indian labourers build road during foggy midnight in #Delhi #India @AFPphoto: image via Chandan Khanna @Chandanphoto, 1 December 2016

↧

Nothing to say (Winding-sheet for a dream)

December 22, 2016, 3:39 am

≫ Next: A huge wave / "The Blackman is the original man": John H. White: Black Chicago, early 1970s

≪ Previous: Now winter nights enlarge

Arrival of 20 buses mostly fighters in west countryside of Aleppo: image via Primo @PrimoAhmad, 21 December 2016

SYRIA - Buses are seen during an evacuation operation of rebel fighters and civilians from eastern Aleppo. By George Ourfalian #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 December 2016

SYRIA - Two men walk in a snow covered street in Maaret al-Numan in the province of Idlib. By Mohamed al-Bakour#AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 December 2016

In west country side of #Aleppo: image via Karam Almasri @KaramAlmasri25, 21 December 2016

SYRIA - Syrians walk in a snow covered street in Maaret al-Numan in the province of Idlib. By Mohamed al-Bakour#AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 December 2016

SYRIA - Syrian pro-government forces walk as snow falls in Aleppo. By George Ourfalian #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 December 2016

Pro regime psychos desecrate graves in Aleppo: image via Abdurahman @bdrhmnhrk, 19 December 2016

This is the condition of the people of #Aleppo still waiting in besieged areas: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 21 December 2016

Still the #Iran|ians disbanding the evacuation operations. The people of E #Aleppo suffering now under a very cold weather.: image via ward furati @wardfurati88, 21 December 2016

this is what happened to civilians trying to leave #Aleppo last night. Stuck for many hours. #StandWithAleppo: image via Primo @PrimoAhmad, 21 December 2016

God bless the @SyriaCivilDef who's working since morning till now to clean the streets in #Idlib and its suburb: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 21 December 2016

Heavy snowfall continues to hinder aid efforts on the ground in #Aleppo and Idlib, via @savechildrenuk: image via AJ+ Verified account @ajplus, 21 December 2016

Refugees camps in the north countryside of #Aleppo... Feel about them: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 21 December 2016

Snow in #Idlib today: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 21 December 2016

Under this snowy weather there are people waiting in east #Aleppo Pray for them People are FREEZING kids might die!! #Pray4Aleppo: image via Zouhir AlShimale @ZouhirAlShimale, 21 December 2016

#Aleppo and Me my house and my shop Revolution Days in Aleppo... Nothing to say .. : image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 21 December 2016

Not only the Civilians have been under siege in E #Aleppo, Also the birds Cats Dogs, And all of them considered by #Russians as #Terrorists: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 21 December 2016

The whole world decide to stand Up and support #Assad to evacuate people from their homeland not stop him Revolutionary family friends #Aleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 20 December 2016

You Smile in front Your Enemy, You make him lose Joy of victory we've been Displaced, but we will come back to #Aleppo inshaallah: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 20 December 2016

Camera and Ak47 one to document and the other to defend #Aleppo today will be Empty of its own People: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 20 December 2016

They've been Forced Displaced from their Lovely City #Aleppo, But their Souls and Their Hearts still there.. We'll be back ..: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 20 December 2016

The First and biggest difference between the ppl pro-Assad and ppl pro-Revolution is the humanity the photo can explain more from #Aleppo: image via Asaad Hanna @AsaadHannaa, 20 December 2016

Last #selfie in #aleppo .. maybe 21 / 12 / 2016: image via Faisal M AlAswad @faisal_alaswad, 21 December 2016

Pilgrimage to the end of the night: image via Primo @PrimoAhmad, 21 December 2016

ungarian Artist Miklos Zoltan Baji performs a shamanic ritual around a bonfire during winter solstice celebrations in Bekescsaba, 200 kms southeast of Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, Dec 21, 2016, on the shortest day of the year. (Peter Lehoczky/MTI via AP)

Hungarian Artist Miklos Zoltan Baji performs a shamanic ritual around a bonfire during winter solstice celebrations in Bekescsaba Hungary: photo by Peter Lehoczky/MTI via AP, 21 December 2016

↧

A huge wave / "The Blackman is the original man": John H. White: Black Chicago, early 1970s

December 23, 2016, 5:52 am

≫ Next: The end of a very long day / Hilton Obenzinger: Waiting for Trump

≪ Previous: Nothing to say (Winding-sheet for a dream)

COLERAINE, NORTHERN IRELAND - DECEMBER 22: A huge wave crashes against Castlerock pier as professional surfer Al Mennie waits on a break in the swell on December 22, 2016 in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. Storm Barbara is expected to cause major travel disruption when it hits northern parts of the UK later with 90mph winds predicted. The Met Office has issued an amber warning with the worst effects of the storm expected on Friday and Saturday. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

A huge wave crashes against Castlerock pier as professional surfer Al Mennie waits on a break in the swell in Coleraine, Northern Ireland: photo by Charles McQuillan, 22 December 2016

SYRIA - Syrians who left the last rebel-held pockets of Aleppo arrive in the opposition-controlled Khan al-Assal region. By @baraaalhalabi: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 22 December 2016

epa05685384 Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) pays last respects at the coffin of killed Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, during a memorial service for Andrey Karlov at the Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow, Russia, 22 December 2016. Russia's ambassador to Turkey, Karlov was assasinated on 19 December during a culutural event at an art gallery in the Turkish capital by Turkish policeman Mevlut Mert Altintas, 22, who had been serving in Ankara's riot police for two years. EPA/ALEXEY NIKOLSKY / SPUTNIK

Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) pays last respects at the coffin of killed Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, during a memorial service at the Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow, Russia: photo by Alexey Nikolsky/Sputnik/EPA, 22 December 2016

I think after what's happened with the #Russian ambassador killed yesterday, No trust between the bodyguards: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtiib, 20 December 2016

Andrei Karlov is carried out of the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Moscow, Russia. Karlov was fatally shot by a Turkish policeman Monday in a gathering in Ankara, Turkey.: photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/pool via AP, 22 December 2016

#Syrians build a snowman, during a storm that brought snow in #Binnish, on the outskirts of #Idlib yesterday #AFP Photo by @omar_hajkadour: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 22 December 2016

IRAQ - Ahmed, who fled from Mosul, poses for a picture at al-Khazer refugee camp near the Kurdish checkpoint of Aski kalak. By JM Lopez #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 December 2016

IRAQ - A wounded boy from Mosul, where a suicide attack killed at least 23 civilians, receives treatment at a hospital in Erbil. By JM Lopezi: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 22 December 2016

SYRIA - Men work at a factory producing wood-burning stoves, known locally as a "sobia" in the rebel-held town of Douma. By @SameerAlDoumy #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 December 2016

#China suffered its sixth day under an oppressive #haze #pollution A man wearing a mask visits the Forbidden City in #Beijing #AFP Wang Zhao: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 21 December 2016

Canary Wharf and the fog around London as seen from the Shard

Fog over the Canary Wharf in London: photo by Charlie Bibby/FT, 22 December 2016

UGANDA - A bodybuilder flexes his muscles as he looks at himself in a mirror at the Nakivubo power house gym in Kampala. By @ikasamani #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 December 2016

YEMEN - A disabled man receives treatment at a clinic for prosthetic limbs and physical rehabilitation, in Sanaa. By Mohammed Huwais #AFP : image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 December 2016

A member of the Santo Tomas brotherhood takes part in the procession in honour of the saint in Chichicastenango municipality, Quiche department, 150 kilometres west of Guatemala City: photo by Johan Ordonez/AFP, 22 December 2016

GUATEMALA - Dance groups perform traditional "El Torito" during procession in honour of Santo Tomas in Chichicastenango. By @johanordonez: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 22 December 2016

A wounded Iraqi child who was injured during the ongoing fighting between Iraqi forces and jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) group in Mosul, receives medical treatment at a hospital in Arbil, the capital of Iraqs autonomous Kurdistan region, on December 19, 2016. The hospital in Arbil is sometimes receiving more than 25-30 new patients a day and the small hospital is struggling to cope, they have no more space, a cheif nurse at the emergency clinic said.

A wounded Iraqi child who was injured during the ongoing fighting between Iraqi forces and jihadists of the Islamic State group in Mosul, receives medical treatment at a hospital in Arbil: photo by Safin Hamed/AFP, 21 December 2016

AFGHANISTAN - A man is seen through a broken glass after Taliban storm Afghan MP's house in Kabul. By @shahmarai #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 22 December 2016

epa05684220 A soldier guards polio vaccination team administering polio vaccination to children during a three-day countrywide vaccination campaign in Peshawar, Pakistan, 21 December 2016. Pakistan is one of the last two countries, along with Afghanistan, where polio is still endemic. Though new polio cases dropped to a nine-year low in 2016, attacks by Islamist militants against health workers and police guarding them remained a challenge for a UN-funded vaccination campaign. EPA/ARSHAD ARBAB

A soldier guards polio vaccination team administering polio vaccination to children during a three-day countrywide vaccination campaign in Peshawar, Pakistan. Though new polio cases dropped to a nine-year low in 2016, attacks by Islamist militants against health workers and police guarding them remained a challenge for a UN-funded vaccination campaign.: photo by Arshad Arbab/EPA, 21 December 2016

A mourner places a candle on December 21, 2016 at a makeshift memorial near the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedaechtniskirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church) in Berlin, close to the site where a truck crashed into a Christmas market two days

A mourner places a candle at a makeshift memorial near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, close to the site where a truck crashed into a Christmas market two days ago: photo by Clemens Bilan/AFP, 21 December 2016

KOSOVO - A woman lights a candle at a makeshift memorial tribute in Prizren after the attack at Berlin Christmas market. By @armend_nimani: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 December 2016

Window cleaners dressed as Santa Claus and a reindeer clean windows at a shopping mall in Tokyo’s Daiba bay area: photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP, 21 December 2016

SYRIA - Girls pose for a selfie at the entrance of a shop decorated for Christmas in Kurdish majority city of Qamishli. By @Delilsouleman: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 22 December 2016

Firefighters work amid the debris left by a huge blast that occured in a fireworks market in Mexico City, killing at least nine people and injuring 70: photo by AFP, 21 December 2016

Children play near houses inundated by floodwaters after heavy rains in the Rangae district of the southern province of Narathiwat on December 21, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / MADAREE TOHLALAMADAREE TOHLALA/AFP/Getty Images

Children play near houses inundated by floodwaters after heavy rains in the Rangae district of the southern province of Narathiwat, Thailand: photo by Madaree Tohlala/AFP, 21 December 2016

THAILAND - Children play near houses inundated by floodwaters after heavy rains in the province of Narathiwat. By Madaree Tohlala #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 December 2016

RAMALLAH - Palestinian mourner reacts after spreading on his face blood of Ahmad al-Kharoub, 19, shot and killed during clashes with Israeli soldiers in Ramallah. By @Abbasmomani: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 December 2016

#Palestinian #blood of Ahmad al-Kharoubi, 19, who was shot and killed during clashes with Israeli soldiers in Ramallah #AFP By @Abbasmomani: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 22 December 2016

SYRIA - Evacuated civilian who is in poor health condition waits on a bus before heading to Homs to receive medical care. By George Ourfalian: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 22 December 2016

"The Blackman is the original man": John H. White: Black Chicago, early 1970s

World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali, A Black Muslim, Attends The Sect's Service To Hear Elijah Muhammad Deliver The Annual Savior's Day Message In Chicago, 03/1974 | by The U.S. National Archives

World heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, a Black Muslim, attends a Black Muslim service to hear Elijah Muhammad deliver the annual Savior's Day message in Chicago: photo by John H. White, March 1974 (US National Archives)

15-0673MBlack Muslim Women Dressed In White Applaud Elijah Muhammad During The Delivery Of His Annual Savior's Day Message In Chicago, 03/1974 | by The U.S. National Archives

Black women dressed in white applaud Elijah Muhammad's speech during the delivery of the annual Savior's Day message in Chicago: photo by John H. White, March 1974 (US National Archives)

15-0673MBlack Muslim Women Dressed In White Applaud Elijah Muhammad During The Delivery Of His Annual Savior's Day Message In Chicago, 03/1974 | by The U.S. National Archives

Black women dressed in white applaud Elijah Muhammad's speech during the delivery of the annual Savior's Day message in Chicago: photo by John H. White, March 1974 (US National Archives)

Religious Fervor is Mirrored on the Face of a Black Muslim Woman, One of Some 10,000 Listening to Elijah Muhammad Deliver His Annual Savior's Day Message In Chicago, 03/1974 | by The U.S. National Archives

Religious fervor is mirrored in the face of a black woman, one of 10,000 people listening as Elijah Muhammad delivers his annual Savior's Day message in Chicago: photo by John H. White, March 1974 (US National Archives)

Isaac Hayes Dancers Perform At The International Amphitheater In Chicago, 10/1973 | by The U.S. National Archives

Isaac Hayes Dancers Perform At The International Amphitheater In Chicago, 10/1973 | by The U.S. National Archives

Isaac Hayes dancers perform at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago: photo by John H. White, October 1973 (US National Archives)

Black Soul Singer Isaac Hayes And His Group Perform At The International Amphitheater In Chicago, 10/1973 | by The U.S. National Archives

Soul singer Isaac Hayes and his group perform at the annual 'black Expo' at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago: photo by John H. White, October 1973 (US National Archives)

Black Soul Singer Johnny Taylor Performs At The International Amphitheater In Chicago, 10/1973 | by The U.S. National Archives

Soul singer Johnny Taylor performs at the annual 'black Expo' at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago: photo by John H. White, October 1973 (US National Archives)

Black Bongo Player Performs At The International Amphitheater In Chicago, 10/1973 | by The U.S. National Archives

A conga player performs at the annual 'black Expo' at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago: photo by John H. White, October 1973 (US National Archives)

A conga player performs at the annual 'black Expo' at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago: photo by John H. White, October 1973 (US National Archives)

A conga player performs at the annual 'black Expo' at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago: photo by John H. White, October 1973 (US National Archives)

An Oakland A's Pitcher Delivers During A Game With The Home Team Chicago Cubs At Wrigley Field, 07/1973 | by The U.S. National Archives

Oakland A's pitcher Vida Blue delivers a pitch against the home team Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park: photo by John H. White, July 1973 (US National Archives)

Closeup Of A Black Mother And Child As They Enjoy A Summer Outing On Chicago's 12th Street Beach On Lake Michigan, 08/1973 | by The U.S. National Archives

A mother and child enjoy a summer outing at Chicago's 12th Street Beach on Lake Michigan: photo by John H. White, August 1973 (US National Archives)

A young black man showing his muscle during a small community program in Chicago on the South Side: photo by John H. White, August 1973 (US National Archives)

Black youngsters performing in a community program on an empty lot at 5440 South Princeton Avenue on Chicago's South Side: photo by John H. White, August 1973 (US National Archives)

Black owned homes in Groveland Parkon Cottage Grove Avenueon Chicago's South Side: photo by John H. White, May 1973 (US National Archives)

A Black Man Who is Jobless Sits on the Windowsill of a Building in a High Crime Area on Chicago's South Side, 07/1973 | by The U.S. National Archives

A black man who is jobless sits on the windowsill of a building in a high crime area on Chicago's South Side: photo by John H. White, July 1973 (US National Archives)July 1973

63rd Street: photo by John H. White, July 1973 (US National Archives)

Empty Housing In The Ghetto On Chicago's South Side Structures Such As This Have Been Systematically Vacated As A Result Of Fires, Vandalism Or Failure By Owners To Provide Basic Tenant Services, 05/1973 | by The U.S. National Archives

Empty housing in the ghetto on Chicago's South Side: photo by John H. White, May 1973 (US National Archives)

Black family count their cash in their apartment in South Side Chicago: photo by John H. White, June 1973 (US National Archives)

Black neighborhood on Chicago's West Side: photo by John H. White, June 1973 (US National Archives)

Black Community Older Housing On Chicago's West Side. This Area In 1973 Had Not Quite Recovered From The Riots And Fires During The Mid And Late 1960's, 06/1973 | by The U.S. National Archives

Black community older housing on Chicago's West Side: photo by John H. White, June 1973 (US National Archives)

South Side Black community In Chicago with small businesses and apartments over the stores: photo by John H. White, June 1973 (US National Archives)

On 47th Street, South Side Chicago: photo by John H. White, June 1973 (US National Archives)

South Side black workers playing checkers on East 35th Street before going to work: photo by John H. White, May 1973 (US National Archives)

Ghetto Street Scene In Chicago On The South Side. The City Census Figures Show A Significant Gap In Economic Security Between Blacks And Whites, 07/1973 | by The U.S. National Archives

On the South Side: photo by John H. White, July 1973 (US National Archives)

Black man operating anewsstand on the West Side: photo by John H. White, June 1973 (US National Archives)

Black woman selling gas filled "Have A Happy Day"balloons on a South Side streetcorner near Sox Park: photo by John H. White, June 1973 (US National Archives)June 1973

Sidewalk merchandise on Chicago's South Side: photo by John H. White, June 1973 (US National Archives)

Graffiti on awall, Chicago: photo by John H. White, May 1973 (US National Archives)

37th And Prairie Streets, 05/1973 | by The U.S. National Archives

37th and Prairie: photo by John H. White, May 1973 (US National Archives)

37th and Prairie: photo by John H. White, May 1973 (US National Archives)

Photos of the African-American Community of Chicago by John H. White (1945-) for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica project (US National Archives)

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The end of a very long day / Hilton Obenzinger: Waiting for Trump

December 24, 2016, 5:06 am

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El Bosque, Albuquerque, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, December 2016

Firemans break.. (EXPLORED) | by Charles in Monochrome

Firemans break. Candid shot of my friend and Ffiestiniog Railway fireman, Will Smith -- enjoying lunch whilst tanks are being filled.: photo by Charles Power, 24 August 2016

Firemans break.. (EXPLORED) | by Charles in Monochrome

Firemans break. Candid shot of my friend and Ffiestiniog Railway fireman, Will Smith -- enjoying lunch whilst tanks are being filled.: photo by Charles Power, 24 August 2016

The end of a very long day.. | by Charles in Monochrome

The end of a very long day. Daniel Jones Blowing down the Earl of Merionth after a very long day.: photo by Charles Power, 28 March 2016

The vaper [Oakland]: photo by efo, 16 December 2016

Jesus in the Snow, Portland | by austin granger

Jesus in the snow, Portland: photo by Austin Granger, 20 December 2016

In a Cemetery, Portland | by austin granger

In a Cemetery, Portland: photo by Austin Granger, 21 December 2016

Elf | by efo

Elf, Fairbanks North Star Borough, United States: photo by efo, 18 December 2016

Just a matter of hours

Just a matter of hours and #Aleppo will be occupied by a foreigners.. without its people.. Our roots were instilled there and always will remain: image via Zouhir AlShimale @ZouhirAlShimale, 22 December 2016

SYRIA - A member of the Syrian regime forces stands amidst destruction in former rebel-held Sukkari district in Aleppo. By George Ourfalian: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 23 December 2016

SYRIA - Syrian soldiers sit by a fire in the former rebel-held Ansari district in Aleppo. By George Ourfalian #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 23 December 2016

#Syria Smoke billows from the former rebel-held district of Bustan al-Qasr during an op. by gov. forces to retake the city #Aleppo @AFPphoto: image via Photojournalism @photojournalink, 23 December 2016

Smoke billows over shelled and destroyed buildings in Aleppo, Syria: photo by Maysun/EPA, October 2012

'I couldn't take anything except dignity': stories of the leaving of Aleppo: Evacuees from the Syrian city tell how life continued through years of bombing – until it was impossible to stay: Emma Graham-Harrison, The Guardian, Friday 23 December 2016

The Aleppo Thaer al-Halabi left behind was a ghost town filled with the shadows of friends lost to war and the shattered dreams of a different Syria.

Still, the parting resembled physical pain. He was born in Aleppo, in a house in the old town with a courtyard shaded by vines, where his family had lived for over a century. He raised a family and built a career there, and then, for four years, gambled everything he had on the possibility of taking down Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.

“When we were forced to leave Aleppo it had already been destroyed completely. You didn’t see a city, only ghosts, in a ghost city,” said the 57-year-old engineer turned opposition politician.

“I am very sad I have left our city, it’s at the centre of our hearts, part of our bodies. But because we need freedom we cannot live there.”

Halabi said he was jailed three times by the government before the war, so when the uprising against Assad first turned into armed rebellion and rebels took half of Aleppo rebels took half of Aleppo, he didn’t think twice about joining them. “We had freedom for four years,” he said.

Aleppo, which was Syria’s cultural and economic hub before the conflict, became a byword for devastation far beyond the country’s borders, after years of brutal air raids to try to oust rebels.

In the early years of the fighting, life in rebel-held areas was not all horror and violence. There was a local council set up to govern, schools still operated. People went to work when they were not severed from their offices by the frontline, or set up new businesses and tried to ignore the war.

“Life went on amid the bombing,” said Sara, a 47-year-old teacher who also stayed in Aleppo until the enclave’s final days. “There were schools, businesses, shops, there were goods and people, entertainment, everything.”

For the young in particular, rebel-held Aleppo offered the wild liberties of an unfiltered web. “On the other side of the city was regular Syrian government that block everything they don’t want,” said Halabi’s son, the activist and journalist Rami Zein.

“On our side of the city it felt like you are in a place open to the world. Before the siege it was a great city, you had everything you need, could bring everything you need from the border [with Turkey], all kinds of trade, everything was there.”

As the war intensified though, death and destruction touched growing numbers of families. Aleppo became notorious for the horror of barrel bombs, dropped from helicopters on civilian areas to spread death and fear.

The footballer Mohammed Khalifa’s sister was among the early victims. The family had moved house to escape heavy shelling in their old neighbourhood, nearer the frontline, where planes could fly over rebel-held areas with virtual impunity.

The barrel bomb that took his sister’s life also seriously injured his daughter, who was raced to Turkey in an ambulance. Khalifa followed more slowly through the border checkposts, and when he reached the hospital a doctor mistakenly told him his daughter had died.

“I raced in to try to see her body,” he said, “and they told me she actually was alive but had serious head injuries. She survived, thank God, and is with me now.”

The bomb also destroyed a small shop they had set up, along with two cars, but despite their losses the family decided not to leave as the bombings intensified and a siege began.

“I wanted to stay in Aleppo because of my commitment to the revolution and its principles; I started that way and won’t change until I finish,” said Khalifa, 30, who said he played with the national team before the war began.

The growing bombardment prompted an exodus to refugee camps and brought those who stayed constant tragedy. “We lost so many people not just to bombs and other weapons, but also because of displacement,” said Sara, who has three children and asked to use a pseudonym to protect relatives still in government-held areas.

Like many civilians in rebel-held zones, she stayed in touch with family, friends and former colleagues in west Aleppo by phone, although Assad’s surveillance state usually made all but the most anodyne conversation impossible.

“We cannot talk about the war because our friend may be in danger, only hello, how are you and a few words, because Assad is watching everything,” said Halabi.

After Russia joined the air war in September 2015, the bombing raids on Aleppo became more intense, with huge bunker buster missiles, white phosphorus and a range of other munitions added to the constant rain of barrel bombs.

“The shelling would not stop, it continued without mercy,” said Halabi. “Just to go to the market, you had to believe you were already dead, so you could have the courage to leave the house. When we got back to the house this was a new life.”

Then the siege began in August, as the government turned to a technique that had helped reclaim other cities: starving and demoralising fighters and the civilians who supported them into submission.

“In every corner of your life you find something missing, like your mobile charge, your laptop charge, even warmth if you are cold, water for showering. You have to use everything carefully and think twice,” said Zein.

They would run short of water because there was no fuel to pump from the wells. Zein felt permanently weak, cold and dirty, and would sleep for up to 15 hours a day, when illness and the temperatures allowed. “When I got out of Aleppo,” he said, “I couldn’t remember the last time I had a shower.”

As government forces closed in, people who had turned down many chances to leave finally decided to flee, fearing imprisonment, torture, death or forced conscription if they came under Assad’s control. Most left in crowded buses with little beyond the clothes on their back.

“Finally we had to get out. I couldn’t take anything except my dignity with me,” said Khalifa. He is now in nearby Idlib province, crammed into the home of a relative with his wife, two children, two brothers and their families.

“At the checkpoints they stopped us, searched us and took stuff from people with us. Our money, our cars, our generator, our house, all of them are left in Aleppo. We came out with nothing. As regards the future I am lost, lost, lost.”

They feel luckier than most of the people evacuated to Idlib, who are struggling for shelter and food in a province covered with snow and still a war zone. The UN has said Idlib may be the next Aleppo, a focus for a new push by forces loyal to Assad.

Some who endured Aleppo’s siege and bombardment say they are prepared to suffer further rather than flee into exile, because while they have lost their homes, they still have their dream of change.

“I am not going to another country, unless in the end they push me out, like they did from Aleppo,” Halabi said. “I will try to stay in my country if I can.”

Pray for the Ummah #Syria #palestine #Burma #kashmir #car #Sudan #Waziristan #Iraq #Egypt #Afghanistan #Nigeria #Yemen: image via Shakirah @arewashams, 22 December 2016

Cat man of #Aleppo new friends in #Idlib. Love wins, kindness wins, tenderness wins #StandWithAleppo: image via Marc Nelson @Marcnelsonart, 22 December 2016

@RedCrescentTR team setting up tents for the #Aleppo evacuees in #Idlib Province although the weather is heavily cold and snowy: image via Dr Kerem KINK @drkerem, 21 December 2016

#Putin today in the funeral of the #Russian ambassador who was killed in #Turkey, My hope is in the man who stands next to Putin ️ Some day he'll do it: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @Ahmad Alkhtiib, 22 December 2016

AFP Picture of the week (17-24 Dec) [Ph Hasim Kilic/Hurriyet/AFP]: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 23 December 2016

In west country side of #Aleppo: image via Karam Almasri @KaramAlmasri25, 21 December 2016

Karam Al-Masri: «Je ne reverrai plus jamais la tombe de ma mère à Alep»: image via RFI @RFI, 23 December 2016

Karam Al-Masri: «Je ne reverrai plus jamais la tombe de ma mère à Alep» par Sami Boukhelifa, RFI, 23-12-2016

Il s’appelle Karam Al-Masri, il est Syrien, il a 25 ans. Son nom ne vous évoque pas grand-chose, mais vous avez certainement déjà vu l’une de ses photos. Depuis 2013, ce jeune Syrien couvre la guerre à Alep pour l’Agence France-Presse. Ses photos ont fait la Une des médias du monde entier. Mais avant cela, sa vie n’a été qu’une succession de malheurs avec notamment la mort de ses parents, tués par le régime de Bachar el-Assad. Karam Al-Masri a également été emprisonné par le groupe Etat islamique. Il y a quelques semaines, il signait ce témoignage émouvant dans lequel il racontait son histoire. Son titre : « Couvrir Alep, la peur au ventre et le ventre vide». Karam a quitté son Alep natal et se trouve désormais dans un petit village non loin d’Idlib. Il livre en exclusivité un témoignage poignant à RFI.

RFI: Karam Al-Masri, lorsqu’on passe tous ses jours durant cinq années à photographier la guerre, qu’est-ce qu’on voit à travers l’objectif ?

Karam Al-Masri : Ce que j’ai pris en photo, c’est une tragédie indescriptible. La misère et la souffrance. Durant les derniers jours lors de l’évacuation des civils d’Alep, cette souffrance a toujours été présente. Une population entière de sans-abri, ils étaient là jetés dans la rue... Lorsque l’armée a pris le contrôle de leurs quartiers, il ne leur restait nulle part où aller. Ils ont dormi dans des boutiques sans chauffage, sans couverture... ils n’avaient rien. Il y avait des femmes, des enfants et des personnes âgées. Et donc ce sont toutes ces images de violence que je voyais à travers mon appareil photo.

Certaines de vos photos ont fait le tour du monde et les Unes de plusieurs journaux partout à travers la planète et même ici en France. Vous pensez qu’elles ont un impact?

C’est vrai, j’ai pris des photos poignantes à Alep, mais les photos les plus fortes de ces quatre ou cinq dernières années ont été prises durant les derniers mois.
Ces photos ont été diffusées partout dans la presse. Parfois, elles créaient des réactions en chaîne extraordinaire, tout le monde en parlait... mais les Etats n’ont pas bougé. Ils n’ont pas été touchés par la souffrance des habitants d’Alep. En fait, ce qu’on avait au final, c’est ce que j’appelle la compassion des « Like ». Les gens passent leur temps à mettre des « j’aime » sur Facebook et Twitter. Voilà, c’est comme ça que les gens ont compati avec la misère des Syriens, mais aucun pays n’a bougé.

Vous en voulez aux gens ? Vous nous en voulez à nous tous, qui sommes restés spectateurs du conflit?

Non. Les populations partout dans le monde ont fait de leur mieux. Ce sont les Etats qui sont restés immobiles. Les peuples du monde entier ont fait part de leur soutien. Des gens de différents pays m’ont appelé. Ils m’ont demandé comment ils pouvaient nous venir en aide. Je sais qu’ils ne peuvent pas faire davantage de toute façon. Je remercie tous ceux à travers la planète qui se sont tenus à nos côtés. Mais encore une fois, ce sont les Etats qui restent immobiles. Ils ferment les yeux sur la réalité.

Les images que vous nous avez montrées de cette guerre sont terribles : la mort, les bombes, les nourrissons sous les décombres... Ce métier, vous avouez l’aimer. Et pourtant, c’est une souffrance quotidienne.

Quand je suis devenu photoreporter et que j’ai commencé à voir cette souffrance, ces carnages et ces blessés de mes propres yeux, j’en devenais malade. La première fois que j’ai vu un jeune homme, avec sa jambe arrachée après une frappe aérienne, je me suis évanoui. Je n’ai réussi à prendre aucune photo ce jour-là. Je me suis écroulé sur le sol. Petit à petit, j’ai fini par trouver une solution. En fait, j’évite d’affronter la souffrance qui m’entoure, j’évite de regarder les blessés de mes propres yeux. Je regarde le monde qui m’entoure à travers mon appareil photo. Cela m’aide beaucoup. Mon appareil photo est comme un mur que je bâtis à chaque fois entre moi et la tragédie d’Alep. Je suis incapable de regarder directement des enfants blessés ou des cadavres. Mon œil est toujours fixé sur mon appareil photo. C’est ma manière à moi de me protéger.

Vous venez de quitter à Alep il y a quatre jours, vous le vivez comme une délivrance ou un déchirement?

Au début, l’idée de quitter Alep était pour moi comme une sortie de prison. Je me disais : « Ca va être la fin de toute cette torture ». Mais une fois dehors, une fois parti d’Alep et arrivé dans la campagne à l’ouest près d’Idlib, j’ai ressenti de la douleur. Moi, je suis originaire d’Alep, je suis né à Alep, mais je ne suis pas le seul fils d’Alep à avoir été contraint à l’exil. Vous ne pouvez même pas imaginer tous les souvenirs que j’ai dans cette ville, tout ce que j’ai laissé derrière moi dans ma maison, dans mon quartier.
Aujourd’hui je souffre, j’ai mal, mon âme est restée à Alep. Ici, je me sens étranger, c’est comme si j’avais quitté la Syrie.

Et pourtant à Alep, les bombardements et les quatre mois de siège ont été insoutenables...

Oui, mais en ce moment, c’est comme si mon corps était sorti d’Alep et mon âme y était restée. C’est vrai, je ne subis plus le siège et la famine. En quittant Alep, je me suis dit : « Je vais pouvoir manger à ma faim. Il y aura tellement de nourriture que je ne saurais pas quoi choisir. Moi qui ai connu la famine, je vais rattraper tout le retard. » Mais en arrivant ici dans le village de Attarab, j’ai eu un coup de déprime. Je ne mange rien. Rien ne me fait envie. Je n’arrive pas à oublier mon quartier, la maison où j’ai vu le jour et où j’ai grandi... tous ces souvenirs que j’ai laissés à Alep. J’espère qu’un jour je pourrais revenir, mais je sais que ce souhait a peu de chance de se réaliser. Je prie pour qu’un jour je puisse revenir.

Sur les réseaux sociaux, un message s’affiche sur votre profil. Vous écrivez : « Si seulement j’avais pu mourir avant tout cela et être oublié ». Vous auriez vraiment souhaité disparaître avant cette guerre?

En fait, j’ai écrit ça parce que jamais je n’aurais imaginé qu’un jour je connaîtrais l’exode, que je serais chassé de ma ville, et que je deviendrais un étranger banni de ma propre maison. Je ne peux plus revenir à Alep pour me recueillir sur la tombe de ma mère, qui a été tuée dans un bombardement. Donc, je suis condamné à laisser tout ça derrière moi sans la possibilité de revenir un jour. Si je pose un pied à Alep, je me fais tout de suite arrêter par le régime. Je suis photographe, j’ai montré au monde entier les crimes du régime. Mais le régime ne comprendra pas que je n’ai fait que mon métier de journaliste. Aussi longtemps que le régime reste en place, aussi longtemps qu’Alep sera contrôlée par des milices, je n’ai aucun moyen de retrouver ma ville. Je l'ai perdue. Et voilà pourquoi j’ai écrit cette phrase : « Si seulement j’avais pu mourir moi aussi dans le bombardement qui a tué ma famille ». C’est toujours mieux que d’être condamné à l’exode, à la souffrance à la tristesse quotidienne.

An older man was evacuated from a rebel-held neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, on Thursday: photo by Karam Al-Masri/Agence France-Presse, 15 December 2016

A bus carried families out of Aleppo on Thursday. The evacuation deal was reached between Russia, which backs the Syrian government, and Turkey, which supports the opposition: photo by Karam Al-Masri/Agence France-Presse, 15 December 2016

Things will be different after Jan. 20th.

Ahmed al-Kharoubi was known for his bravery. He loved his land #Palestine and fought for it. #RIP Ahmed, killed by Israel last night: image via Muhammad Smiry @MuhammadSmiry, 22 December 2016

Great to be in Alabama to pray for #PEOTUS @realDonaldTrump @Mike_Pence, and the future of our nation today. Prayer makes a difference.: image via Franklin Graham Verified account @Franklin_Graham, 17 December 2016

As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th.: tweet via Donald J. Trump @ realDonaldTrump, 23 December 2016

Jamila Retweeted Donald J. Trump

Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump

As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th.

Jamila added,

Epic presidential tweet of #PEOTUS in response to the UN resolution on Israel: tweet via Jamila @JKFagge, 23 December 2016

La résolution pour l’arrêt de la colonisation israélienne adoptée par l’ONU: image via RFI @RFI, 23 December 2016

US abstention allows UN to demand end to Israeli settlements: Donald Trump and Israel had urged Washington to use its veto to stop historic security council resolution: Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem for The Guardian, Friday 23 December 2016 17.39 EST

The United Nations security council has adopted a landmark resolution demanding a halt to all Israeli settlement in the occupied territories after Barack Obama’s administration refused to veto the resolution.

A White House official said Obama had taken the decision to abstain in the absence of any meaningful peace process.

The resolution passed by a 14-0 vote on Friday night. Loud applause was heard in the packed chamber when the US ambassador, Samantha Power, abstained.

All remaining members of the security council, including the UK, voted in support. Egypt, which had drafted the resolution and had been briefly persuaded by Israel to postpone the vote, also backed the move.

Friday’s vote was scheduled at the request of four countries – New Zealand, Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela – who stepped in to push for action a day after Egypt put the draft resolution on hold.

Israel recalled its ambassadors to New Zealand and Senegal in protest on Saturday.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s office said the vote was “a big blow” to Israeli policy and a show of “strong support for the two-state solution”.

The resolution says Israel’s settlements on Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have “no legal validity” and demands a halt to “all Israeli settlement activities,” saying this “is essential for salvaging the two-state solution”.

The resolution reiterated that Israeli settlement was a “flagrant violation” of international law.

The United States vetoed a similar resolution in 2011, which was the sole veto cast by the Obama administration at the security council.

The abstention decision underlined the tension between Obama and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who had made furious efforts to prevent such a move.

A resolution requires nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the United States, France, Russia, Britain or China in order to be adopted. Among those who welcomed the resolution was UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon.

“The secretary general takes this opportunity to encourage Israeli and Palestinian leaders to work with the international community to create a conducive environment for a return to meaningful negotiations,” said his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

Explaining the US abstention, Power said the Israeli settlement “seriously undermines Israel’s security”, adding : “The United States has been sending a message that the settlements must stop privately and publicly for nearly five decades.”

Power said the US did not veto the resolution because the Obama administration believed it reflected the state of affairs regarding settlement and remained consistent with US policy.

“One cannot simultaneously champion expanding Israeli settlements and champion a viable two-state solution that would end the conflict. One had to make a choice between settlements and separation,” Power said.

The US decision to abstain was immediately condemned by Netanyahu’s office as “shameful” which pointedly referred to Israel’s expectation of working more closely with Donald Trump.

“Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the UN and will not abide by its terms,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said. “The Obama administration not only failed to protect Israel against this gang-up at the UN, it colluded with it behind the scenes,.

“Israel looks forward to working with president-elect Trump and with all our friends in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, to negate the harmful effects of this absurd resolution.”

The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, bluntly told the council that the resolution would not have the hoped-for impact of spurring peace efforts.

“By voting yes in favour of this resolution, you have in fact voted no. You voted no to negotiation, you voted no to progress and a chance for better lives for Israelis and Palestinians, and you voted no to the possibility of peace,” Danon told the council.

The vote will, however, be seen as a major defeat for Netanyahu, who has long had a difficult relationship with the Obama administration.

Netanyahu had tried to prevent the vote by appealing to Trump, who will not be sworn in until late January, and to the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatal al-Sisi.

While the resolution is largely symbolic, it will be seen as empowering an increasingly tough UN over Israel and will give pause to international companies who have interests in the occupied territories.

Originally drafted by Egypt, the original version of the resolution had been supposed to go to a vote on Thursday night, but was withdrawn by Sisi under pressure orchestrated by Israel.

Following the vote Trump, tweeted: “As to the UN, things will be different after Jan 20.”

Commenting on Trump’s attempted intervention, a White House official insisted that until Trump’s inauguration on 20 January there was one US president - Obama.

Pro-Israel senators and lobby groups also weighed in following the vote. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), one of the most influential lobby groups, said it was “deeply disturbed by the failure of the Obama administration to exercise its veto to prevent a destructive, one-sided, anti-Israel resolution from being enacted by the United Nations security council”.

It also pointedly thanked Trump for his attempts to intervene: “AIPAC expresses its appreciation to president-elect Trump and the many Democratic and Republican members of Congress who urged a veto of this resolution.”

The United Nations maintains that settlements are illegal, but UN officials have reported a surge in construction over the past months.

About 430,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and a further 200,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians see as the capital of their future state.

The resolution demands that “Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem”.

It states that Israeli settlements have “no legal validity” and are “dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-state solution”.

From Bethlehem to the world "Jesus came with a message of peace now his city suffers oppression" #Christmas #Palestine: image via @PalestinePics, 22 December 2016

Now: Santa in a cloud of Israeli fired tear gas at the Bethlehem Wall. Merry #Christmas and a Happy New Year from #Palestine: image via Yousef Mema @JooGaza, 22 December 2016

Hilton Obenzinger: Waiting for Trump

Burritos to finish the trip | by Treehugger Gimp

Burritos to finish the trip. Los Mariachis Mexican Diner in Red Bluff, CA, right where 5 and 36 meet. Soooo worth the 1.5 hour drive from Shasta City.: photo by Treehugger Gimp, 18 June 2012

Hilton Obenzinger: Waiting for Trump

December 2016

I sit in one of the greasy truck stops on Interstate 5, near Red Bluff, dizzy and scared.
Decades of hope seem suddenly to turn to bullshit.
Dread and rage swirl around the country, but the lunch counter is quiet with snoozing baseball caps tipping into coffee cups.
Fox is on the TV, yet no one needs to watch the news.
They already know the news.
Something bubbles in the kitchen, like death.
Soon we will have to eat those French fries.

On the frozen plains, in howling snow, Indians come to stop the Black Snake.
They stand to block the way, whether the Iron Horse or the Black Snake, waiting as the new president takes his seat.
We all wait.
Perhaps the ghosts will return and not the cavalry.

Tonight the deeper darkness comes, darker than before.
Spies denounce the spying of other spies.
The Kremlin carries the paralyzing kryptonite, as hulking cyber armies gather in the night.
Menacing men rip scarves from the heads of women.
Kids scrawl ugly slogans on school walls.
Burning crosses dance in the eyes of White Nationalists like the sugarplum fairies of the shopping season.
And we wait.

Cops who are honest worry what they may be called to do.
And those who are not touch their holsters, assured that they may impose order and nature’s law at will, and they wait to pursue someone’s happiness because they fear for their lives.
Farm workers, hunching over the entire Sacramento Valley, tear plants up by the roots, and fear for their lives.
Violence has found its season.

Tired truckers stretch out in the rear of their cabs, about a dozen rigs lined up in the dark along the shoulder of the freeway, and they get some shuteye.
I rearrange the eggs and bacon on my plate and wonder what those men think.
Perhaps they believe that everything will be great again when they open their eyes and find themselves back on the road.
They were given a promise.
Perhaps they will really pay off all their credit cards because they work hard and they’re white.

We wait for robot drivers to fly up and down the Central Valley, picking up apricots and dropping off tractor parts, with no need to shit at the truck stops, no need to sip the chicken noodle soup.
And the day the robots begin to drive, the dreaming truckers will sleep in the back seat of their old Chevrolets, their steering wheels taken from their hands, waiting for the promise.

We wait for everything and for nothing.
There is no singularity, no instant wide horizons, no ironic lights, but a grim stupor, as the tycoon casts a long shadow from his golden tower, lumbers to the White House to take possession of one more property, while delirious settlers really do slouch towards Bethlehem.

The Great Man holds court.
His loyal children seek his hand, the great and the rich, the powerful and the ridiculous float up the elevator shaft to meet the wizard king. Generals, CEOS, moral monsters, angry souls, fools of exceptional quality, celebrities, they all rise up to the tower, taken to the penthouse to bend before the greater fool.

We wait.
There is a pervasive sense of dread before the beast takes the oath, before the Republic becomes a wholly owned subsidiary.
Ordinary life goes on, and we wonder.

We must love one another and die.
Our danger is great, and we must love one another or die.
Is it love and die?
Or is it love or die?
Do we have a choice?

What’s on TV?

From #Trumps #twitter to the front pages of #newspapers across the country. #TrumpsAmerica #TheDailyLiberal #The Resistance #NoNukes: image via TheDailyLiberal @DailyLiberal, 23 December 2016

Cozy Diner, Red Bluff, California: photo by Patrick, November 2015

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Waiting for Registration

December 26, 2016, 2:04 am

≫ Next: Good one, Robert (Light from another world)

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PRINT AVAILABLE April 25, 1942 — San Francisco, California. Residents of Japanese ancestry appear for registration prior to evacuation. Evacuees will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration.

Waiting for Registration, San Francisco, 1942: photobyDorothea Lange(US NationalArchives)

May 8, 1942 — Hayward, California. Members of the Mochida family awaiting evacuation bus. Identification tags are used to aid in keeping the family unit intact during all phases of evacuation. Mochida operated a nursery and five greenhouses on a two-acre site in Eden Township. He raised snapdragons and sweet peas. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration.

Waiting for Evacuation, San Francisco, 1942.Members of the Mochida family awaiting evacuation bus. Identification tags are used to aid in keeping the family unit intact during all phases of evacuation. Mochida operated a nursery and five greenhouses on a two-acre site in Eden Township. He raised snapdragons and sweet peas.: photobyDorothea Lange(US NationalArchives)

PRINT AVAILABLE May 6, 1942 — Oakland, California. Kimiko Kitagaki, young evacuee guarding the family baggage prior to departure by bus in one half hour to Tanforan Assembly center. Her father was, until evacuation, in the cleaning and dyeing business.

Guarding the baggage, Oakland, 1942: photo by Dorothea Lange (US National Archives)

PRINT AVAILABLE May 2, 1942 — Byron, California. Third generation of American children of Japanese ancestry in crowd awaiting the arrival of the next bus which will take them from their homes to the Assembly center.

Waiting for the bus, Byron, 1942: photo by Dorothea Lange (US National Archives)

PRINT AVAILABLE April 28, 1942 — Byron, California. Field laborers of Japanese ancestry in front of Wartime Civil Control Administration station where they have come for instructions and assistance in regard to their evacuation due in three days under Civilian Exclusion Order Number 24. This order affects 850 persons in this area. The men are now waiting for the truck which will take them, with the rest of the field crew, back to the large-scale delta ranch.

Waiting for the truck, Byron, 1942: photo by Dorothea Lange (US National Archives)

PRINT AVAILABLE April 20, 1942 — San Francisco, California. Flag of allegiance pledge at Raphael Weill Public School, Geary and Buchanan Streets. Children in families of Japanese ancestry were evacuated with their parents and will be housed for the duration in War Relocation Authority centers where facilities will be provided for them to continue their education.

Pledge of Allgiance, San Francisco, 1942: photobyDorothea Lange(US NationalArchives)

PRINT AVAILABLE July 3, 1942 — Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Street scene of barrack homes at this War Relocation Authority Center. The windstorm has subsided and the dust has settled.

Mount Whitney, Manzanar, 1942: photo by Dorothea Lange (US National Archives)

PRINT AVAILABLE July 2, 1942 — Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Grandfather of Japanese ancestry teaching his little grandson to walk at this War Relocation Authority center for evacuees.

Learning to walk, Manzanar, 1942: photo by Dorothea Lange (US National Archives)

PRINT AVAILABLE July 2, 1942 — Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Little evacuee of Japanese ancestry gets a haircut.

Haircut, Manzanar, 1942: photo by Dorothea Lange (US National Archives)

Tending Guayule plants, Manzanar, 1942: photo by Dorothea Lange (US National Archives)

PRINT AVAILABLE July 1, 1942 — Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Making camouflage nets for the War Department. This is one of several War and Navy Department projects carried on by persons of Japanese ancestry in relocation centers.

Camouflage nets, Manzanar, 1942: photo by Dorothea Lange (US National Archives)

PRINT AVAILABLE May 20, 1942 — Woodland, California. Tenant farmer of Japanese ancestry who has just completed settlement of their affairs and everything is packed ready for evacuation on the following morning to an assembly center.

Affairs settled, Woodland, 1942: photo by Dorothea Lange (US National Archives)

"I Am An American" (East Bay Relocations)

Oakland, California. A large sign reading "I am an American" placed in the window of a store, at 13th and Franklin streets, on December 8, the day after Pearl Harbor. The store was closed following orders to persons of Japanese descent to evacuate from certain West Coast areas. The owner, a University of California graduate, will be housed with hundreds of evacuees in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration of the war.: photo by Dorothea Lange for Department of the Interior/War Relocation Authority, March 1942 (National Archives and Records Administration)

Berkeley, California. Residents of Japanese ancestry are closing out their businesses in preparation for the coming evacuation. They will be moved into War Relocation Authority centers to spend the duration.: photo by Dorothea Lange for Department of the Interior/War Relocation Authority, 19 March 1942 (National Archives and Records Administration)

San Leandro, Alameda County, California. Brand new church -- Pentecostal. Solomon 11:1 "I am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.": photo by Dorothea Lange for Department of Agriculture/Bureau of Agricultural Economics/Division of Economic Information, April 1940 (National Archives and Records Administration)

Newstand, Oakland, California: photo by Dorothea Lange, February 1942 (Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress)

San Leandro, California. Watering young plants on a farm in Alameda County, California, prior to evacuation. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration.: photo by Dorothea Lange for Department of the Interior/War Relocation Authority, 26 April 1942 (National Archives and Records Administration)

Oakland, California. Baggage of evacuees of Japanese ancestry piled on the sidewalk. The Greyhound buses will soon arrive to take this baggage as well as the evacuees to the Tanforan Assembly center under Civilian Exclusion Order Number 28.: photo by Dorothea Lange for Department of the Interior/War Relocation Authority, 6 May 1942 (National Archives and Records Administration)

Oakland, California. Young evacuee of Japanese ancestry guarding the family belongings near the Wartime Civil Control Administration station. In half an hour the evacuation bus will depart for Tanforan Assembly center.: photo by Dorothea Lange for Department of the Interior/War Relocation Authority, 6 May 1942 (National Archives and Records Administration)

Oakland, California. Members of the Japanese Independent Congregational Church attend Easter services prior to evacuation. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry will be housed in War Relocation centers for duration.: photo by Dorothea Lange for Department of the Interior/War Relocation Authority, 5 April 1942 (National Archives and Records Administration)

Hayward, California. A young evacuee looks out the window of the evacuation bus before it starts for Tanforan Assembly center. Evacuees will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration.: photo by Dorothea Lange for Department of Interior/War Relocation Authority, 8 May 1942 (National Archives and Records Administration)

Hayward, California. Farm families of Japanese ancestry are being checked into the evacuation buses which are enroute to the Assembly center. Their identification tags and numbers are inspected before entering the bus by a member of the Wartime Civil Control Administration Control Station staff. Over 400 persons were evacuated from this district on this date.: photo by Dorothea Lange for Department of Interior/War Relocation Authority, 8 May 1942 (National Archives and Records Administration)

↧

Good one, Robert (Light from another world)

December 27, 2016, 1:13 am

≫ Next: Jorge Luis Borges: The possession of yesterday (No paradises that have not been lost) / Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga (el zopilote): Nubes / Clouds

≪ Previous: Waiting for Registration

Container Heaven II, Onehunga, Auckland: photo by bobsan88, 7 February 2016

North Kaipara, NZ: photo by bobsan88, 3 February 2016

untitled-25-3.jpg: photo by bobsan88, 23 February 2016

Napier, NZ: photo by bobsan88, 21 julyy 2016

East Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand: photo by bobsan88, 8 May 2016

Clarks Beach, Franklin, NZ | by bobsan88

Clarks Beach, Franklin, NZ: photo by bobsan88, 1 December 2016

Waiuku, Franklin, NZ: photo by bobsan88, 4 December 2016

Gargaville: photo by bobsan88, 20 October 2016

Savusavu, Fiji: photo by bobsan88, 16 September 2015

Bus Stop, Savusavu, Fiji: photo by bobsan88, 19 September 2015

Thames, Waikato: photo by bobsan88, 5 August 2015

Onehunga, Auckland, New Zealand: photo by bobsan88, 28 June 2015

Glenfield, Auckland, New Zealand: photo by bobsan88, 22 November 2016

Glenfield, Auckland, New Zealand: photo by bobsan88, 22 November 2016

[Untitled]: photo by bobsan88, 11 December 2016

Takanini, South Auckland: photo by bobsan88, 11 December 2016

Huntly, Waikato, New Zealand: photo by bobsan88, 13 December 2016

Anglia, Huntly, Waikato, New Zealand: photo by bobsan88, 12 December 2016

Awhitu Peninsula, Clevedon. | by bobsan88

Huntly, Waikato, New Zealand: photo by bobsan88, 21 December 2016

Ngaruawahia, Waikato, NZ. | by bobsan88

Ngaruwahia, Waikato, New Zealand: photo by bobsan88, 11 December 2016

Ngaruwahia, Waikato, New Zealand: photo by bobsan88, 20 May 2016

[Untitled]: photo by bobsan88, 28 January 2016

Penrose, Auckland: photo by bobsan88, 10 January 2016

Te Aroha, Waikato, New Zealand: photo by bobsan88, 19 May 2016

Skate Park II, Raglan, NZ: photo by bobsan88, 13 October 2016

Matauri Bay, Northland, New Zealand: photo by bobsan88, 19 May 2016

↧

Jorge Luis Borges: The possession of yesterday (No paradises that have not been lost) / Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga (el zopilote): Nubes / Clouds

December 29, 2016, 3:52 am

≫ Next: Moribund Empire Business (The special relationship sleeps with the fishes) / Who ate Harambe? / Austin Granger: In a Cemetery, Portland

≪ Previous: Good one, Robert (Light from another world)

Albuquerque, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, December 2016

Jorge Luis Borges: Posesión de ayer

Sé que he perdido tantas cosas que no podría contarlas y que esas perdiciones, ahora, son lo que es mío. Sé que he perdido el amarillo y el negro y pienso en esos imposibles colores como no piensan los que ven. Mi padre ha muerto y está siempre a mi lado. Cuando quiero escandir versos de Swinburne, lo hago, me dicen, con su voz. Sólo el que ha muerto es nuestro, sólo es nuestro lo que perdimos. llión fue, pero llión perdura en el hexámetro que la plañe. Israel fue cuando era una antigua nostalgia. Todo poema, con el tiempo, es una elegía. Nuestras son las mujeres que nos dejaron, ya no sujetos a la víspera, que es zozobra, y a las alarmas y terrores de la esperanza. No hay otros paraísos que los paraísos perdidos.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986): Posesión de ayer, from Los conjurados (1985)

Bachechi Open Space, Bernalillo County, New Mexico photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, December 2016

Bachechi Open Space, Bernalillo County, New Mexico photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, December 2016

Untitled | by el zopilote

West Mesa, Albuquerque, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, August 2016

Carrizozo, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, September 2016

Bernalillo, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, August 2016

Muhammed Muheisen: Refugee camps in Greece

Daily life in the refugee camps of Greece

A Syrian refugee woman walks back to her shelter carrying bags of food at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016. Over 62,000 refugees and migrants are stranded in Greece after a series of Balkan border closures and a European Union deal with Turkey to stop migrant flows.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

Afghan refugee Setayesh Hassan, 5, sits around a table after eating her lunch at the refugee camp of Oinofyta, about 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Athens, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Afghan refugee Setayesh Hassan, 5, sits around a table after eating her lunch at the refugee camp of Oinofyta, about 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Athens, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

Afghan refugee Ghullam Tahiri, 40, trims his beard at the refugee camp of Oinofyta about 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Athens, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Afghan refugee Ghullam Tahiri, 40, trims his beard at the refugee camp of Oinofyta about 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Athens, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

An Afghan refugee boy walks to attend a class at a makeshift school in the refugee camp of Oinofyta about 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Athens, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

Afghan refugee children gather around two volunteering teachers during a class at a makeshift school in the refugee camp of Oinofyta about 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Athens, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016 (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Tharwat, a 6-year-old Afghan refugee girl stands at the doorway of her family's shelter at the refugee camp of Oinofyta about 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Athens, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Tharwat, a 6-year-old Afghan refugee girl stands at the doorway of her family's shelter at the refugee camp of Oinofyta about 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Athens, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

An Afghan refugee boy looks up while attending a yoga session during a class at a makeshift school in the refugee camp of Oinofyta about 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Athens, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

Afghan refugee children play in a yard at the refugee camp of Oinofyta about 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Athens, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Afghan refugee children play in a yard at the refugee camp of Oinofyta about 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Athens, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

Afghan refugee Nagina Hafizullah, 6, teaches her younger brother Omar, 4, how to ride a scooter near their family's tent at the refugee camp of Oinofyta about 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Athens, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

An Iraqi refugee girl looks outside her family's shelter at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

The laundry of a Syrian refugee family is hung out to dry near their shelter at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

Syrian refugee children hold hands while walking in the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

Syrian refugee children play with a puppy at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Syrian refugee children play with a puppy at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

Refugee Siban Assad, 20 years old, from al-Hasaka, Syria, looks out the window of his shelter while holding his daughters, Ruba, one month, and Maldar, 1, at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

A Syrian refugee child walks between shelters at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A Syrian refugee child walks between shelters at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

Syrian refugee child Alan Jouva, 2, sits in a stroller outside his family's shelter at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

Syrian refugee Raneen Mahmoud, 5, and her younger sister Zainab, 6 months, look at their mother Randa, 30, from their shelter at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Syrian refugee Raneen Mahmoud, 5, and her younger sister Zainab, 6 months, look at their mother Randa, 30, from their shelter at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 December 2016

All our tomorrows

WEST BANK - Israeli security forces detain a Palestinian boy following a demo against expropriation of land by Israel. By Jaafar Ashtiyeh: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 24 December 2016

#Netanyahu to be questioned in two separate criminal probes – report: image via RT Verified account @RTdotcom, 28 December 2016

An Israeli soldier aims his weapon at Palestinian protestors during a demonst. near a separation wall #Bethlehem By Musa Al Shaer @AFPphoto: image via Photojournalism @photojournalink, 27 December 2016

LES COLONIES ISRAELIENNES EN PALESTINE: image via PLANTU @plantu, 26 December 2016

Forget South Africa, #Apartheid is alive and well and thriving in #Israel. #IsraeliSettlements #bbc #Palestine: image via Twelve Monkeys @DaisyAndFamily, 24 December 2016

SYRIA - Youths collect wood from rubble to be used for heating and cooking in the Damascus rebel-held suburb of Zamalka. By @amer_almohibany: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 27 December 2016

Transformation wrought by Assad and Hezbollah militias in Damascus suburb, from a place of the living to Death Valley .. barrel bombs and explosivemissiles in an aggressive campaign to displace residents!: image by Amer Almohibany @amer_almohibany, 27 December 2016

abo hosam seventy year old man living with his wife, go out every morning in this cold in search of food He lost five of his children #syria: image by Amer Almohibany @amer_almohibany, 26 December 2016

Continuous revolution if only the pure in world had a little oxygen, civil defense Mask in place was bombed by Assad regime #syria: image by Amer Almohibany @amer_almohibany, 23 December 2016

JorgeLuis Borges: All our yesterdays

SYRIA - A man cries over the body of his son at makeshift morgue in rebel-held town of Douma following a reported air strike. By @AbdDoumany: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 28 December 2016

Quiero saber de quién es mi pasado.
¿De cuál de los que fui? ¿Del ginebrino
que trazó algún hexámetro latino
que los lustrales años han borrado?
¿Es de aquel niño que buscó en la entera
biblioteca del padre las puntuales
curvaturas del mapa y las ferales
formas que son el tigre y la pantera?
¿O de aquel otro que empujó una puerta
detrás de la que un hombre se moría
para siempre, y besó en el blanco día
la cara que se va y la cara muerta?
Soy los que ya no son. Inútilmente
soy en la tarde esa perdida gente.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986): All our yesterdays (1973/1974), from La rosa profunda (1975)

I need to know who lays claim to my past.
Who, of all those I was? The Geneva boy
Who learned some Latin hexameters with joy,
Lines that the years and decades have erased?
That child who searched his father’s library for
Exact details, the round-cheeked cherub storms
Of the old maps, or else the savage forms
That are the panther and the jaguar?
Or the one who opened a door and looked upon
A man as he lay drawing his last breath,
Leaving forever, and kissed in the white dawn
The face that stiffens away, the face in death?
I am those that are no more. For no good reason
I am, in the evening sun, those vanished persons.

Jorge Luis Borges: All our yesterdays, English translation by Robert Mezey

A wounded Syrian woman from the al-Sukari neighborhood is helped onto the back of a truck as she flees during the ongoing government forces military operation to retake remaining rebel-held areas in the northern embattled city of Aleppo on Dec.14. Shelling and air strikes sent terrified residents running through the streets of Aleppo as a deal to evacuate rebel districts of the city was in danger of falling apart.: photo by George Ourfalian/AFP, 14 December 2016

Smoke is seen billowing in the background on Dec. 14 in a rebel-held neighborhood in the northern city of Aleppo. Deadly clashes erupted in Syria’s Aleppo as a deal for the evacuation of rebel areas was put on hold, leaving thousands of cold and hungry civilians uncertain of their future.: photo by Karam Al-Masri/AFP, 14 December 2016

Syrian residents, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, arrive in Aleppo’s Fardos neighborhood on Dec. 13, after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters.: photo by AFP, 13 December 2016

A Syrian child cooks in the street in a rebel-held area of Aleppo, on Dec.13, during an operation by Syrian government forces to retake the embattled city.: photo by AFP, 13 December 2016

Syrian civilians flee the Sukkari neighborhood towards safer rebel-held areas in southeastern Aleppo, on Dec. 12, during an operation by Syrian government forces to retake the embattled city.: photo by AFP, 12 December 2016

Syrians who were displaced with their families from eastern Aleppo gather at the collective shelter, in the village of Jibreen south of Aleppo, Syria, Dec. 12.: photo by (International Committee for the Red Cross via AP, 12 December 2016

A general view shows Syrian pro-government forces walking in the ancient Umayyad mosque in the old city of Aleppo on Dec. 13, after they captured the area: photo by George Ourfalian/AFP, 13 December 2016

YEMEN - Children attend a class at a school that was damaged in a recent Saudi-led air strike in Taez. By Ahmad Al Basha #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 28 December 2016

INDIA - Schoolchildren dressed as Hindu God Lord Shiva pose for a 'selfie' during an annual school function in Amritsar. By @nanuworld #AFP: image: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 27 December 2016

CHINA - A women poses for wedding photos at the wholesale fruit markets in the Yau Ma Tei district of Hong Kong. By Isaac Lawrence #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department AFPphoto, 27 December 2016

SPAIN - Revellers dressed in mock military garb take part in the "Enfarinats" battle in Ibi. By @JaimeReinaFoto#AFP: image: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 27 December 2016

BULGARIA - A woodcutter rides horses laden with wood during a deforestation near Sofia. By Nikolay Doychinov: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 28 December 2016

#2016YearInReview March 14 GREECE - Refugees try cross a river on their way to Macedonia from a makeshift camp near Idomeni. By @bubulator2 #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 28 December 2016

#2016YearInReview March 11 SYRIA - Men try to pull a man out from under the rubble following a air strike on Aleppo. By @THAER_MOHAMEED #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 28 December 2016

#CarrieFisher who was the iconic @starwars character #princessleia is gone in a galaxy far, far away. @JustinTallis #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 26 December 2016

Des Oryx au sud d’Abu Dhabi (photo Karim Sahib/AFP): image via Gilles Klein @GillesKLEIN, 26 December 2016

PAKISTAN - Indian fishermen look out from a window as they sit in a train after their release from prison, in Karachi. By Asif Hassan #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 26 December 2016

#India - Indian residents sit around a fire to keep warm on a cold foggy morning in Amritsar. @nanuworld #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 24 December 2016

#India Pedestrians walk along the street on a cold foggy morning in New Delhi #AFP Photo by @dofaget: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 8 December 2016

#Pakistan - Pakistani balloon vendors cross a street in heavy fog in Lahore. By Arif Ali #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 24 December 2016

Sea gulls fly at the beach of the Baltic Sea in Timmendorfer Strand, Germany, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016. #APPhoto by Michael Probst: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 27 December 2016

CHINA - A cat stretches on a counter top in a Chinese and western medicine shop in Hong Kong. By @AntAFP #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 26 December 2016

Christmas morning was welcomed by a Winter Wonderland in Oak Glen, California bringing you today's #PhotooftheDay: image via Weather Bug @WeatherBug, 26 December 2016

Frosty sights from tremendous heights… Snowdonia #PhotooftheDay: image via BBC Wales verified account @BBCWales, 27 December 2016

Safewold, England #seaside #PhotoOfTheDay: image via Susan King @Sioux_King, 27 December 2016

↧

Moribund Empire Business (The special relationship sleeps with the fishes) / Who ate Harambe? / Austin Granger: In a Cemetery, Portland

December 30, 2016, 5:21 am

≫ Next: Jorge Luis Borges: Sábados / Saturdays

≪ Previous: Jorge Luis Borges: The possession of yesterday (No paradises that have not been lost) / Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga (el zopilote): Nubes / Clouds

President-elect Donald Trump, center, eats dinner with Mitt Romney, right, and Trump Chief of Staff Reince Priebus at Jean-Georges restaurant, Tuesday, in New York: photo by Evan Vucci/AP, 29 November 2016

Trump

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump votes at PS 59 in New York, New York, U.S. November 8, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump votes at PS 59 in New York: photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters, 8 November 2016

Britain's new Conservative Party leader Theresa May, who will lead Britain into Brexit, speaks to members of the media at The St Stephen's entrance to the Palace of Westminster in London. Theresa May will become the prime minister who leads Britain's into Brexit talks on 13 July 2016: photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas, 11 July 2016

\Prime Minister-in-waiting, Theresa May, reacts to photographers after walking to the wrong car after attending a Cabinet meeting at Downing Street on 12 July 2016 in London: photo by Carl Court, 12 July 2016

THE NATIONAL: The devil is in the detail #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers: image via Neil Henderson @hendopolis, 13 July 2016

Who ate Harambe? Did he have to die for our children's sins?

Great afternoon in Ohio and a great evening in Pennsylvania - departing now. See you tomorrow Virginia!: image via Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump, 1 August 2016

Son is eating inferior fake chicken with a fork and knife: image via Kenny @PhillyCustoms, 1 August 2016

holy shit: image via dan mentos @DanMentos, 1 August 2016

oh my god he ate Harambe: image via Brian Altano @agentbizzle, 1 August 2016

CNN/ORC poll in a four-way race: Hillary #Clinton — 45% Donald #Trump — 37% Gary Johnson — 9% Jill Stein — 5% Harambe — 4%: tweet via Wu_Tang_Financial @Wu_Tang_Finance, 1 August 2016

In presidential polls, how's #Harambe doing?: image via WCPO Verified account @WCPO, 31 July 2016

My love for the lord and savior Harambe will never burn out #Harambe: image via Andrés @Andres301, 28 July 2016

Former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage gestures during an interview with The Associated Press in London, Tuesday. Farage addressed the media on how he met US President-elect Donald Trump last week.: photo by Frank Augstein/AP, 29 November 2016

Nigel Farage, center, leader of the U.K. Independence Party, at Trump Tower in New York: photo by Yana Paskova, 12 November 2016

Ukip leader Nigel Farage reacts at the Leave.EU referendum party at Millbank Tower in London, as results indicate that it looks likely the UK will leave the European Union on 24 June 2016: photo by Geoff Caddick/AFP, 24 June 2016

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 17: UKIP leader Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg MP speak ahead of the Bruges Group press conference on May 17, 2016 in London, England. The event focused on the issues surrounding the European Arrest Warrant and how Britain would be, in the opinion of the speakers, better placed outside of the European Union. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

UKIP leader Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg MP speak ahead of the Bruges Group press conference in London, England. The event focused on the issues surrounding the European Arrest Warrant and how Britain would be, in the opinion of the speakers, better placed outside of the European Union.: photo by Dan Kitwood, 17 May 2016

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves as he arrives at his Turnberry golf course, in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain June 24, 2016. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves as he arrives at his Turnberry golf course, in Turnberry, Scotland Britain: photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters, 24 June 2016

Austin Granger: In a Cemetery

In a Cemetery, Portland: photo by Austin Granger, 26 December 2016

Dead Tree with Rain Clouds, Oregon | by austin granger

Dead Tree with Rain Clouds, Oregon: photo by Austin Granger, 26 December 2016

In a Cemetery, Portland: photo by Austin Granger, 26 December 2016

Dune Grass, Oregon Coast | by austin granger

Dune Grass, Oregon Coast: photo by Austin Granger, 26 December 2016

Dead End, Pacific Beach, Washington | by austin granger

Dead End, Pacific Beach, Washington: photo by Austin Granger, 15 December 2016

Moribund Empire Business

UK -The silhouetted shapes of passengers are seen in the windows on the upper deck of London bus on Blackheath at sunrise. By @JustinTallis: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 29 December 2016

That's Theresa May hiding away there by the back window.

She's riding the city buses in streetlady drag.

Here she's just hoicked up a great smacking wet loogie

and smeared it all over the window

to conceal her presence among The People.

She's been hoping Precedent Drumpf will invite her to the Gold House.

She's pretty sure he'll have appreciated

her scolding of Kerry for taking on Bibi the Bad.

That should help sink

a little more cement

into the special relationship.

Just so long as the great Orange Ronnie

to her simpering Maggie

never susses to this strange catting around of hers

on the buses.

Not good! Not good!

Dying empires ought to stick together!

UK - The sun sets behind the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye in London. By @DSorabji #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 29 December 2016

Golden

Theresa May, at a regatta in Henley, England, on Friday, is the favorite of five candidates seeking to be prime minister: photo by Jonathan Brady/Press Association, via Associated Press, 2 July 2016

Theresa May has distanced the UK from Washington over John Kerry’s condemnation of Israel, in comments that appear to be designed to build bridges with the incoming Trump administration.

Kerry, the outgoing secretary of state, delivered a robust speech this week that criticised Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as the “most rightwing coalition in Israeli history” and warned that the rapid expansion of settlements in the occupied territories meant that “the status quo is leading toward one state and perpetual occupation”.

The prime minister’s spokesman said May thought it was not appropriate to make such strongly worded attacks on the makeup of a government or to focus solely on the issue of Israeli settlements.

“We do not believe that it is appropriate to attack the composition of the democratically elected government of an ally,” he said. “The government believes that negotiations will only succeed when they are conducted between the two parties, supported by the international community.”

Trump, who made stridently pro-Israel comments during the election campaign, responded angrily to the resolution, claiming: “The big loss for Israel in the United Nations will make it much harder to negotiate peace. Too bad, but we will get it done anyway!” Israel reacted furiously to Kerry’s comments, with Netanyahu calling them “skewed”.

May is known to be keen to kindle a close relationship with the Trump White House. The UK’s ambassador, Sir Kim Darroch, has even said he hopes it will emulate the rapport between Margaret Thatcher and her US counterpart Ronald Reagan.

Heather Stewart, The Guardian, Thursday 29 December 2016

British Prime Minister Theresa May addresses sailors on board HMS Ocean during her trip to attend the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Bahrain, on December 6, 2016 in Manama, Bahrain. Prime Minister May is the first British leader and the first woman to attend the annual two-day Gulf Cooperation Council and will attend a dinner with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman on Tuesday, and will also discuss the situation in Yemen and Syria. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

British Prime Minister Theresa May addresses sailors on board HMS Ocean during her trip to attend the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Manama, Bahrain: photo by Carl Court, 6 December 2016

Israelis take pictures of a golden statue depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, 06 December 2016. The statue was installed overnight by Israeli artist Itay Zalait, as a political statement against PM Netanyahu. EPA/ABIR SULTAN

Israelis take pictures of a golden statue depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. The statue was installed overnight by Israeli artist Itay Zalait, as a political statement against PM Netanyahu.: photo by Abir Sultan/EPA, 6 December 2016

British Prime Minister Theresa May is welcomed to the Sri Someshwara Temple on November 8, 2016 in Bangalore, India. Mrs May is in India on a two day trade mission to reconnect the UK with the Commonwealth during her first trip since taking office. Yesterday the Prime Minister met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

British Prime Minister Theresa May is welcomed to the Sri Someshwara Temple in Bangalore, India: photo by Dan Kitwood, 8 November 2016

brushed hand against #DonaldTrump caterpillar's hair, lost all sensation in left arm for 24hrs #fieldworkfail: image via Joe Parker @Pselaphinae, 1 August 2015

↧

Jorge Luis Borges: Sábados / Saturdays

December 31, 2016, 3:10 am

≫ Next: Borges: Einar Tambarskelver / The New Foreboding (Acts of State)

≪ Previous: Moribund Empire Business (The special relationship sleeps with the fishes) / Who ate Harambe? / Austin Granger: In a Cemetery, Portland

#December light in #LA is great. Time flies as the #sun goes down on 2016. #NewYear is here.: image via luis sinco @luissinco, 27 December 2016

Jorge Luis Borges: Sábados

A C.G.

Afuera hay un ocaso, alhaja oscura
engastada en el tiempo,
y una honda ciudad ciega
de hombres que no te vieron.
La tarde calla o canta.
Alguien descrucifica los anhelos
clavados en el piano.
Siempre, la multitud de tu hermosura.

***

A despecho de tu desamor
tu hermosura
prodiga su milagro por el tiempo.
Está en ti la ventura
como la primavera en la hoja nueva.
Ya casi no soy nadie,
soy tan sólo ese anhelo
que se pierde en la tarde.
En ti está la delicia
como está la crueldad en las espadas.

***

Agravando la reja está la noche.
En la sala severa
se buscan como ciegos nuestras dos soledades.
Sobrevive a la tarde
la blancura gloriosa de tu carne.
En nuestro amor hay una pena
que se parece al alma.

***

Tú
que ayer sólo eras toda la hermosura
eres también todo el amor, ahora.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986): Sábados, from Fervor de Buenos Aires (1923)

Sun slips between the clouds to illuminate downtown #losangeles as seen from the #BaldwinHillsScenicOverlook Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016. #DTLA: image via Genaro Molina @GenaroMolina47, 29 December 2016

Saturdays

Outside, a sunset, a dark jewel mounted in time, and there is a city out there, a low blind city of men who never saw you. Evening hushes or sings out. Someone is lifting down from the cross the longings driven into the piano. And always, the multitude of your beauty.

Despite your coldness your beauty scatters its wonders across the years. In you lies fortune, as in the new leaf, spring. Now I am almost no one, I am barely that longing that fades away in the dusk. Pleasure lies in you as cruelty lies in swords.

Night weighs hard on the window grille. In the austere parlor our two blind solitudes grope for each other. The milky whiteness of your flesh outlives the setting sun. There is, in our love, a suffering that comes to resemble the soul.

You who were merely all beauty yesterday today are all love as well.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986): Sábados / Saturdays, translated by Robert Mezey and Richard Barnes

An Indian fisherman rows a boat on the river Brahmaputra in Gauhati, India, Dec. 30, 2016. #APPhoto: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 30 December 2016

ROMANIA - A child wearing bear skins takes a rest during a parade to drive away evil spirits of the past year. By @bubulator2 #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 30 December 2016

Thonburi: photo by Andrew Murr, 25 December 2016

Hey ese. Los Angeles, Ca.: photo by michaelj1998, 15 November 2016

Looking at a car. Los Angeles, Ca.: photo by michaelj1998, 22 December 2016

↧

Borges: Einar Tambarskelver / The New Foreboding (Acts of State)

January 1, 2017, 7:28 am

≫ Next: Jorge Luis Borges: Hengist quiere hombres / Hengist wants men (449 A.D.) / all our revels

≪ Previous: Jorge Luis Borges: Sábados / Saturdays

Dancing Bear, State Fair of Texas, Austin: photo by Lynn Lennon, 1985 (Southern Methodist University, Central University Libraries, DeGolyer Library)

Austin, Texas: photo by gumanow, September 2009, posted 26 January 2010

Duringthe forced evacuationofFinnmark, Byåsenschool wasusedto houseevacueesandas a temporaryreplacementhospital: photo by Ukjent, c. August 1944 (Municipal Archives of Trondheim)

Duringthe forced evacuationofFinnmark, Byåsenschool isusedto houseevacueesandas a temporaryreplacementhospital: photo by Ukjent, c. August 1944 (Municipal Archives of Trondheim)

JorgeLuis Borges: Einar Tambarskelver

                   (Heimskringla, I, 117)

Odín o el rojo Thor o el Cristo Blanco...
Poco importan los nombres y sus dioses;
no hay otra obligación que ser valiente
y Einar lo fue, duro caudillo de hombres.
Era el primer arquero de Noruega
y diestro en el gobierno de la espada
azul y de las naves. De su paso
por el tiempo, nos queda una sentencia
que resplandece en las crestomatías.
La dijo en el clamor de una batalla
en el mar. Ya perdida la jornada,
ya abierto el estribor al abordaje,
un flechazo final quebró su arco.
El rey le preguntó qué se había roto
a sus espaldas y Einar Tambarskelver
dijo: Noruega, rey, entre tus manos.
Siglos después, alguien salvó la historia
en Islandia. Yo ahora la traslado,
tan lejos de esos mares y de ese ánimo.

Einar Tambarskelver

                         (Heimskringla, I, 117)

Odin or red Thor or the White Christ ...
They matter little, the names, the gods behind them;
There is no other duty than to be brave
And Einar, leathery captain of men, was that.
He was foremost among the Norwegian archers
And expert in the handling of the blue
Sword and of ships. Of his trajectory
Through time, there now remains to us one sentence,
Which gives off light in the chrestomathies.
He said it in the wild din of a sea battle.
The lost day's fighting done, the starboard side
Open to boarding, a last shot snapped his bow.
The king asked him what was that that had broken
Behind his back and Einar Tambarskelver
Replied, Norway, king, between your hands.
Centuries later, someone saved the story
In Iceland. And I now transcribe it here,
So distant from those oceans, from that spirit.

**Jorge Luis Borges: Einar Tambarskelver, from La moneda de hierro (1976); English version by Robert Mezey and Richard Barnes**

Norway, Acts of State

Statsakten (Celebration of Government Act at Akershus, marking transition to German supremacy in Norway under the national government of Vidkun Quisling): photographer unknown, 1 February 1942

Statsakten (Celebration of Government Act at Akershus, marking transition to German supremacy in Norway under the national government of Vidkun Quisling): photographer unknown, 1 February 1942 (National Archives of Norway)

Statsakt in Berlin. Empfang Quislings beim Führer. Links Reichskommissar [Josef] Terboven, mitte Reichsminister Fr. Lammers, rechts Reichsleiter Bormann, Gruppenführer [Julius] Schaub und Gruppenführer [Martin] Bormann: photographer unknown, 13 February 1942 (National Archives of Norway)

[Walking up Akersgata in Oslo] Statsakt für Minister Lunde. Fra venstre: General Feuerstein, Generaladmiral Böhm, Quisling, Rediess, Terboven : photographer unknown, 11 January 1941 (National Archives of Norway)

Vidkun Quisling, Josef Terboven, tyske offiserer og Rikshirden): photographer unknown, 1 February 1942 (National Archives of Norway)

Arrested and sentenced to death for treason, Vidun Quisling spends his last days at Akershus Fortress awaiting execution by a firing squad: photographer unknown, October 1945 (National Archives of Norway)

Livestock Market

Changed, changed utterly! | by National Library of Ireland on The Commons

Dublin Livestock Market ("Cowtown"): photo by Robert French, between c.1898 and c. 1902 (Lawrence Photographic Collection, National Library of Ireland)

SYRIA - People search for victims as fire spreads behind them following a reported government airstrike on Douma, Damascus. By @AbdDoumany: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 31 December 2016

Step inside China's hellish, illicit factories Photo: @kevinfrayer: image via WIRED Photo @WIREDPhoto, 20 December 2016

IRAQ - A member of the Iraqi forces looks on from behind a vehicle in Mosul during an ongoing military operation against IS. By @ahmedafp: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 31 December 2016

SAFRICA - A rare male King Cheetah is pictured inside a closed camp at the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre in Hartbeespoort. By @wesselsjohn1: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 31 December 2016

INDONESIA - Balinese children prepare to perform during a New Year celebration in Denpasar. By @sonny_bali #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 31 December 2016

Picture shows #Hizbollah fighters in Alramousah border with the East #Aleppo and cutting the road of the evacuation process: image via IRT @InstRepTeam, 17 December 2016

And I only have eyes for you #Tillerson #Putin @ExxonMobil - #Russia oil giant @Rosneft2012 agreement ceremony @GettyImages: image via Reading the Pictures @ReadingThe Pix, 10 December 2016

#2016InReview Nov 12 MYANMAR - People protecting themselves from fireworks during the Tazaungdaing Lighting Festival. By @ye_aung_thu #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 31 December 2016

#Kashmir Fishermen cover their heads with blankets and straw as they wait in the Anchar Lake, #Srinagar By Danish Ismail @reuterspictures: image via Photojournalism @photojournalink, 30 December 2016

The New Foreboding

Happy new year everyone. #newyear #family #vacation #familytime: image via Donald Trump Jr. @DonaldJTrumpJr, 31 December 2016

The Enemies List is real, all STRONG LEADERS have one. On 1/20 baby MAGA will feast on the blood and bones of dissenters! #MAGA #EnemiesList: tweet via Trumpmerica @Trumpmerica, 31 December 2016

Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don't know what to do. Love!: tweet via Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump, 31 December 2016

66,712 replies111,080 retweets259,291 likes

Reading The Pictures Retweeted Kyle Griffin

Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1

It took Trump and his team 87 minutes to fix the word "unpresidented."

Reading The Pictures added,

#Freudianslip telegraphs #Trump's fixation w elec college, Russ hack implications and own legitimacy #wordpictures @rtraister @JuddLegum: image via Reading the Pictures @ReadingThePix, 17 December 2016

What @IvankaTrump meant by taking an interest in climate change? #avertedeyes #Israel #davidfriedman #settlerschanukah: image via Reading the Pictures @ReadingThePix, 31 December 2016

Reading The Pictures Retweeted New York Post

New York Post@nypost

This picture is worth a thousand words. Kanye West was spotted at Trump Tower

Reading The Pictures added,

Classic misdirection. And it works every time. #Exxon #russianhacking #blindtrustha #perry4energy #ivankalaughing: image via Reading the Pictures @ReadingThePix, 13 December 2016

Brilliant. @volkskrant plays Dutch #NewYear doughnut ritual off worldwide political anxiety to charge 2017 apocalyptic fantasy @reinjanssen:image via Reading the Pictures @ReadingThePix, 31 December 2016

Telling #Trump Secret Service pic Scotland June '16 -- Off the reservation @carloallegri @Reuters @timepictures: image via Reading the Pictures @ReadingThePix, 31 December 2016

Reading The Pictures Retweeted Doug Mills

Doug Mills@dougmillsnyt

.@realDonaldTrump is cheered as he takes his seat at the Army-Navy game in Baltimore, Md #ArmyNavyGameDay#armynavy

Reading The Pictures added,

Triumph of the Shill #armynavy #notnormal #AlexJamesFItz @gastropoda @digby56: image via reading the Pictures @ReadingthePix, 10 December 2016

Reading The Pictures Retweeted Joe Hagan

Joe Hagan@joehagansays

This ad nails everything that is wrong with the media. Fascism as ratings spectacle.

Reading The Pictures added,

As well, still from WH visit reinforces fiction that Trump can listen and Obama really has his ear: image via Reading the Pictures @ReadingThePix, 31 December 2016

Thank You Jesus For Lord President Trump Jae C. Hong/Associated Press: image via Reading the Pictures @ReadingThePix, 14 December 2016

How is viz media responding to #Trump #russianhackers blow up? By illuminating our transition into the dark, clandestine and surreptitious.: image via Reading the Pictures @ReadingThePix, 12 December 2016

America is incapable of understanding how it lost touch with reality without accepting how marketing has become its nature @jaethephotog: image via Reading the Pictures @ReadingThePix, 12 December 2016

The new foreboding @reuterspictures #Trump #LaGuardia: image via Reading the Pictures @ReadingThePix, 12 December 2016

State Fair of Texas: photo by Lynn Lennon, 1985 (Southern Methodist University, Central University Libraries, DeGolyer Library)

Surgery, Portuguese Institute of Oncology, Lisbon. Architect: Hermann Distel. Conception of project: 1938. Period of construction: 1940-1953. Opening: 1954: photo by Estúdio Horácio Novais, 1950(?)-1953 (Biblioteca de Arte / Art Library Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian)

Hospital of Santa Maria, Lisbon. Architect: Hermann Distel. Conception of project: 1938. Period of construction: 1940-1953. Opening: 1954: photo by Estúdio Horácio Novais, 1950(?)-1953 (Biblioteca de Arte / Art Library Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian)

Crowd in Rua do Carmo, Lisbon: photo by Estúdio Horácio Novais, 25 April 1974 (Biblioteca de Arte / Art Library Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian)

Members of the NSB (Dutch national socialist party) and shaven 'kraut girls' are being brought in by members of the Dutch Resistance. Deventer, The Netherlands: photo by Willem van de Poll, 11 April 1945 (Anefo photo collection / Nationaal Archief)

Grande Hotel da Figueira da Foz, Portugal Aechitect: Inácio Peres Fernandes. Opened 1953: photo by Estúdio Horácio Novais, 1950s (Biblioteca de Arte / Art Library Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian)

Factory, Dogtown (St. Louis): photo by chalkdog, 7 September 2013

Utility poles in moonlight, Dogtown (St. Louis): photo by chalkdog, 18 September 2013

Night on the fringes of Dogtown (St. Louis): photo by chalkdog, 1 September 2013

somewhere around here the first bodies maybe found

Factory, River des Peres, Dogtown (St. Louis): photo by chalkdog, 1 September 2013

shinjuku, tokyo: photo by wire_paladinSF, 10 April 2014

↧

Jorge Luis Borges: Hengist quiere hombres / Hengist wants men (449 A.D.) / all our revels

January 2, 2017, 3:37 am

≫ Next: Jorge Luis Borges: Límites (Limits) / Starry sky over Idlib

≪ Previous: Borges: Einar Tambarskelver / The New Foreboding (Acts of State)

¡feliz año nuevo desde albuquerque! | by el zopilote

¡feliz año nuevo desde albuquerque! West Mesa, Albuquerque, New Mexico.: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, December 2016

Jorge Luis Borges: Hengist quiere hombres (449 A.D.)

Hengist quiere hombres.

Acudirán de los confines de arena que se pierden en largos mares,

de chozas llenas de humo, de tierras pobres, de hondos bosques

de lobos, en cuyo centro indefinido está el Mal.

Los labradores dejarán el arado y los pescadores las redes.

Dejarán sus mujeres y sus hijos, porque el hombre sabe que en

cualquier lugar de la noche puede hallarlas y hacerlos.

Hengist el mercenario quiere hombres.

Los quiere para debelar una isla que todavía no se llama Inglaterra.

Le seguirán sumisos y crueles.

Saben que siempre fue el primero en la batalla de hombres.

Saben que una vez olvidó su deber de venganza y que le dieron

una espada desnuda y que la espada hizo su obra.

Atravesarán a remo los mares, sin brújula y sin mástil.

Traerán espadas y broqueles, yelmos con la forma del jabalí,

conjuros para que se multipliquen las mieses, vagas cosmogonías,

fábulas de los hunos y de los godos.

Conquistarán la tierra, pero nunca entrarán en las ciudades que Roma

abandonó, porque son cosas demasiado complejas para su mente

bárbara.

Hengist los quiere para la victoria, para el squeo, para la corrupción

de la carne y para el olvido.

Hengist los quiere (pero no lo sabe) para la fundación del mayor imperio,

para que canten Shakespeare y Whitman, para que dominen el mar

las naves de Nelson, para que Adán y Eva se alejen, tomados de la

mano y silenciosos, del Paraíso que han perdido.

Hengist los quiere (pero no lo sabrá) para que yo trace estas letras.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986): Hengist quiere hombres (449 A.D.), from El oro de los tigres 1972

Twenty Seventeen | by Vincenzo Caniparoli

Twenty Seventeen. First sun of the year. Nesquik pinhole can + RC paper + new years eve "exhaust" wine (+ Vitamin C + soda): photo by Vincenzo Caniparoli, 1 January 2017

Hengist Wants Men (449 A.D.)

Hengist wants men. They will report from sandy borders lost in the vast sea, from smoky hovels, from starving lands, from deep wolf-prowled woods, somewhere in the center of which Evil dwells. The peasants will leave the plough, the fishermen their nets. They will leave their women and children, for men know that anywhere in the night they can find women and make children. Hengist the mercenary wants men. He needs them to subdue an island not yet called England. They will follow him, submissive and cruel. They know he was always the best in the combat of men. They know how once he forgot his code of vengeance and they handed him a naked sword and the sword did its work. They will cross the seas with oars, with neither mast nor compass. They will bring with them swords and bucklers, boar-shaped helmets, spells to fatten the crops, rough creation myths, the tales of the Huns and Goths. They will conquer the earth, but never enter the cities Rome abandoned, things much too complex for the savage mind. Hengist wants them for victories, for rape and plunder, for depravity, for forgetfulness. Hengist wants them (though he doesn't know it) to found the greatest of empires, so that Shakespeare and Whitman may sing, that Nelson's ships may control the seas, that Adam and Eve may leave lost Paradise far behind, hand in hand with wandering steps and slow. Hengist wants them (though he will never know it) so that I may form these letters.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986): Hengist quiere hombres (449 A.D.), from El oro de los tigres 1972, English version by Robert Mezey and Richard Barnes

Vilvoorde, Belgium: photo by Koos Fernhout, 1 March 2006

Hengist wants men, A.D. 449

Hengist wants men.

They will rally from the edges of sand which dissolve into broad seas, from huts filled with smoke, from threadbare landscapes, from deep forests haunted by wolves, in whose vague centre Evil lurks.

The ploughman will abandon the plough and the fisher-men their nets.

They will leave their wives and children, for a man knows that anywhere in the night he can encounter the one and engender the other.

Hengist the mercenary wants men.

He wants them to subdue an island which is not yet called England.

Cowed and vicious, they will follow him.

They know him always to have been the first among men in battle.

They know that once he forgot his vow of vengeance and that they gave him a naked sword and that the naked sword did its work.

They will try their oars against the seas, with neither compass nor mast.

They will bear swords and bucklers, helmets in the likeness of the boar’s head, spells to make the cornfields multiply, vague cosmogonies, legends of the Huns and the Goths.

They will conquer the ground, but never will they enter the cities which Rome abandoned, for these are things too complicated for their primitive minds.

Hengist wants them for the victory, for the pillaging, for the corruption of the flesh and for oblivion.

Hengist wants them (but he does not know it) for the founding of the greatest of empires, for the singing of Shakespeare and Whitman, for Nelson’s ships to rule the sea, for Adam and Eve to be banished, hand in hand and silent, from the Paradise they have lost.

Hengist wants them (but he cannot know it) so that I may form these letters.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986): Hengist quiere hombres (449 A.D.), from El oro de los tigres 1972, English version by Alastair Reid

Powder Toss. Skiakook, Oklahoma.: photo by Wade Harris, 4 November 2016

State Highway 33 | by Photographs By Wade

State Highway 33. Drumright, Oklahoma.: photo by Wade Harris, 24 November 2016

[Untitled, Utah]: photo by Lucas DeShazer, 15 December 2016

Enterprise, Oregon: photo by Lucas DeShazer, 16 December 2016

Albuquerque, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, 1 January 2017

all our revels

Welcome, little sheep... Come in and have a nice rest...: image via @RevolutionSyria, 29 December 2016

#Russian army in #Aleppo city #Syria #Russia: image via Waseem Masalmeh @WaseemMasalmeh, 29 December 2016

Last breath ahead of a ceasefire, #Douma, a little while ago. image via Mohamed Abazeed @AbazidMohamad, 29 December 2016

SYRIA - A boy runs past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the rebel-held area of Daraa. #AFP: image via Mohamed Abazeed @AbazidMohamad, 1 January 2017

IRAQ - Iraqi forces patrol Al-Intisar area in eastern Mosul after recapturing it in an ongoing military operation against IS. By @ahmedafp: image Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 2 January 2016

Revelers gathered on Saturday night to celebrate New Year's Eve in New York's Times Square: image via NYT Photo @nytimesphoto, 1 January 2016

What was it @NickKristof warns of in @nytimes op-ed on day 1 of '17, stenography journalism? #offonrightfoot #PARTYON: image via Reading the Pictures @ReadingThePix, 1 January 2016

Chinese women wearing masks inside a bus in Beijing as the capital of China is blanketed by smog on Friday. China has long had some of the worst air in the world, blamed on its reliance on coal and a surplus of older, less efficient cars. It has set pollution reduction goals, but also has plans to increase coal mining capacity and eased caps on production when faced with rising energy prices. #China #Pollution: photo by Andy Wong/AP; image via AP Images @AP_Images, 30 December 2016

UAE - Men walk their camels across the Liwa desert during the Liwa Moreeb Dune Festival. By @KarimSahibAFP #AFP: image Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 2 January 2016

INDIA - A Kashmiri fisherman casts his net from his boat during a dense fog day on the Dal Lake in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA #AFP: image Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 1 January 2016

Dead Timber in Water | by Photographs By Wade

Dead Timber in Winter. Osage County, Oklahoma.: photo by Wade Harris, 23 November 2016

↧

Jorge Luis Borges: Límites (Limits) / Starry sky over Idlib

January 3, 2017, 2:54 am

≫ Next: Jorge Luis Borges: Una brújula (A Compass)

≪ Previous: Jorge Luis Borges: Hengist quiere hombres / Hengist wants men (449 A.D.) / all our revels

@AmmarAbdullh0 nos regala estas maravillosas imágenes del cielo estrellado de Siria, que cubre como un manto su terrible desolación #Paz: image via Lucia Ballesteros @_luciacarolin, 31 December 2016

Jorge Luis Borges: Límites

De estas calles que ahondan el poniente,
una habrá (no sé cuál) que he recorrido
ya por última vez, indiferente
y sin adivinarlo, sometido

a Quién prefija omnipotentes normas
y una secreta y rígida medida
a las sombras, los sueños y las formas
que destejen y tejen esta vida.

Si para todo hay término y hay tasa
y última vez y nunca más y olvido
¿quién nos dirá de quién, en esta casa,
sin saberlo, nos hemos despedido?

Tras el cristal ya gris la noche cesa
y del alto de libros que una trunca
sombra dilata por la vaga mesa,
alguno habrá que no leeremos nunca.

Hay en el Sur más de un portón gastado
con sus jarrones de mampostería
y tunas, que a mi paso está vedado
como si fuera una litografía.

Para siempre cerraste alguna puerta
y hay un espejo que te aguarda en vano;
la encrucijada te parece abierta
y la vigila, cuadrifronte, Jano.

Hay, entre todas tus memorias, una
que se ha perdido irreparablemente;
no te verán bajar a aquella fuente
ni el blanco sol ni la amarilla luna.

No volverá tu voz a lo que el persa
dijo en su lengua de aves y de rosas,
cuando al ocaso, ante la luz dispersa,
quieras decir inolvidables cosas.

¿Y el incesante Ródano y el lago,
todo ese ayer sobre el cual hoy me inclino?
Tan perdido estará como Cartago
que con fuego y con sal borró el latino.

Creo en el alba oír un atareado
rumor de multitudes que se alejan;
son lo que me ha querido y olvidado;
espacio y tiempo y Borges ya me dejan.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986): Límites, from El otro, el mismo, 1964; English version by Alastair Reid

The city of Idlib used to bustle with people before the Syrian war began in 2011, but now few residents venture outside their homes at night.: photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters, 31 December 2016

Limits

Of all the streets that blur in to the sunset,
There must be one (which, I am not sure)
That I by now have walked for the last time
Without guessing it, the pawn of that Someone

Who fixes in advance omnipotent laws,
Sets up a secret and unwavering scale
for all the shadows, dreams, and forms
Woven into the texture of this life.

If there is a limit to all things and a measure
And a last time and nothing more and forgetfulness,
Who will tell us to whom in this house
We without knowing it have said farewell?

Through the dawning window night withdraws
And among the stacked books which throw
Irregular shadows on the dim table,
There must be one which I will never read.

There is in the South more than one worn gate,
With its cement urns and planted cactus,
Which is already forbidden to my entry,
Inaccessible, as in a lithograph.

There is a door you have closed forever
And some mirror is expecting you in vain;
To you the crossroads seem wide open,
Yet watching you, four-faced, is a Janus.

There is among all your memories one
Which has now been lost beyond recall.
You will not be seen going down to that fountain
Neither by white sun nor by yellow moon.

You will never recapture what the Persian
Said in his language woven with birds and roses,
When, in the sunset, before the light disperses,
You wish to give words to unforgettable things.

And the steadily flowing Rhone and the lake,
All that vast yesterday over which today I bend?
They will be as lost as Carthage,
Scourged by the Romans with fire and salt.

At dawn I seem to hear the turbulent
Murmur of crowds milling and fading away;
They are all I have been loved by, forgotten by;
Space, time, and Borges now are leaving me.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986): Límites, from El otro, el mismo, 1964; English version by Alastair Reid

Syrian and Russian warplanes and helicopters have carried out strikes for months against rebels in Idlib province: photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters, 31 December 2016

A damaged building stands in the town of Binnish, Idlib. The province has been under the control of Syrian rebels since February 2016.: photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters, 31 December 2016

The starry night in #Syria #Idlib @AmmarAbdullh0: image via NaTakallam @NaTakallam, 2 January 2017

A ferris wheel rises from the town of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province, which is located in north-west Syria, bordering Turkey: photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters, 31 December 2016

A digger stands amid the rubble in the rebel-controlled town of Maaret al-Numan. Idlib is just 60km from Aleppo, and has been overwhelmed by Aleppans fleeing the city after more than 100 days of air strikes.: photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters, 31 December 2016

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights monitoring group, Idlib province suffered 11 massacres (the killing of at least five civilians at once) in November. Aleppo suffered 16.: photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters, 31 December 2016

Beauty amidst the horror: The starry night in #Syria – beautiful photos by @AmmarAbdullh0: image via Joe English @JoeEEnglish, 31 December 2016

Aid agencies and human rights groups were concerned that the sieges and barrel bombs would follow Aleppans in Idlib. The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, warned Idlib could become 'the next Aleppo.': photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters, 31 December 2016

A mosque stands in the city of Idlib: photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters, 31 December 2016

Ceasefire, Russian way. 1 day after @UN PR stunt, #Russian jets resume air strikes on schools and civilians across #Syria. "You cease, we fire.": image via Julian Röpcke Verified account @JulianRoepcke, 1 January 2017

Into the mist

IRAQ - Members of Iraqi special forces Counter Terrorism Service clear a building a during an operation against IS in Mosul. By @ahmedafp: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 2 January 2017

Iraqi forces detain a man suspected of belonging to the #IS group in the Al-Intisar area in eastern #Mosul. Photo Ahmad Al-Rubaye: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 2 January 2017

#Germany Members of several Islamic religious communities pray in front of the Turkish embassy in Berlin #AFPPhoto by @odd_andersen: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 2 January 2017

Shell of billboard reads: “Like new, only stronger.” WAPO slideshow: Jewish #settlements in #WestBank @davidvaaknin: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 2 January 2017

The Hollywood sign before repair crews completed their work after pranksters change iconic Hollywood sign to 'Hollyweed' By @Robyn_Beck #AFP: image via AFP Entertainment @AFPceleb, 2 January 2017

CHINA - A building appears through a thick layer of fog in Yangzhou, in eastern Jiangsu. By @AFPphoto: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 2 January 2017

Given face and hands, Shanxi province "Year of the Rooster" sculpture presages lot less crowing than cock fighting: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 2 January 2017

COLOMBIA - FARC guerrilla fighters lay down their weapons to eat at the Alberto Martinez Front 34 encampment in Vegaez. By @RAULARBOLEDA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 2 January 2017

#Colombia #FARC guerrilla fighters at the Front 34 Alberto Martinez encampment in Vegaez on January 1 2017. #AFP Photo by @RAULARBOLEDA: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 2 January 2017

THAILAND - Children paddling through a flooded neighbourhood after heavy rains in southern province of Narathiwat. By Madaree Tohlala #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 2 January 2017

INDIA - Kashmiri boatmen extract sand from river Jehlum on a foggy morning on the outskirts of Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 2 January 2017

#Everton fans shield their eyes from the sun at Goodison Park during the match against #Southampton #efcsou @AFPphoto: image via Paul Ellis @ellophoto, 2 January 2017

Vienna Nights: photo by Michael Hummel, 25 November 2017

Schichten (Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia): photo by Michael Hummel, 1 January 2017

↧

Jorge Luis Borges: Una brújula (A Compass)

January 4, 2017, 1:10 am

≫ Next: Inside the labyrinth: Blood vengeance and the making of an ultranationalist folk hero / Borges: Two tales from inside the labyrinth

≪ Previous: Jorge Luis Borges: Límites (Limits) / Starry sky over Idlib

A migrant's feet peeks out of thermal blankets onboard the former fishing trawler Golfo Azzurro after being rescued along with other migrants, including children and pregnant women, by the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms from a raft that drifted out of control in the central Mediterranean Sea, some 36 nautical miles off the Libyan coast, January 3, 2017. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

A migrant’s feet peek out of thermal blankets onboard the former fishing trawler Golfo Azzurro after being rescued along with other migrants, including children and pregnant women, by the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms from a raft that drifted out of control in the central Mediterranean Sea: photo by Yannis Behrakis/Reuters, 3 January 2016

Jorge Luis Borges: Una brújula

a Esther Zemborain de Torres

Todas las cosas son palabras del
idioma en que Alguien o Algo, noche y día,
escribe esa infinita algarabía
que es la historia del mundo. En su tropel

pasan Cartago y Roma, yo, tú, él,
mi vida que no entiendo, esta agonía
de ser enigma, azar, criptografía
y toda la discordia de Babel.

Detrás del nombre hay lo que no se nombra;
hoy he sentido gravitar su sombra
en esta aguja azul, lúcida y leve,

que hacia el confín de un mar tiende su empeño,
con algo de reloj visto en un sueño
y algo de ave dormida que se mueve.

A Compass

Every single thing becomes a word
in a language that Someone or Something, night and day,
writes down in a never-ending scribble,
which is the history of the world, embracing

Rome, Carthage, you, me, everyone,
my life, which I do not understand, this anguish
of being enigma, accident and puzzle,
and all the discordant languages of Babel.

Behind each name lies that which has no name.
Today I felt its nameless shadow tremble
in the blue clarity of the compass needle,

whose rule extends as far as the far seas,
something like a clock glimpsed in a dream
or a bird that stirs suddenly in its sleep.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986): Una brújula / A compass, from El otro, el mismo, 1964; English version by Alastair Reid

The sister of Elias Wardini, center, a Lebanese man who was killed in the New Year's Eve Istanbul nightclub attack, mourns over her brother's body during his funeral procession at a church, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017. The gunman killed 39 people, most of them foreigners, including three Lebanese citizens, at the Istanbul nightclub. The Islamic State group claimed the attack on Monday, saying a "soldier of the caliphate" had carried out the mass shooting in response to Turkish military operations against IS in northern Syria. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The sister of Elias Wardini, centre, a Lebanese man who was killed in the New Year’s Eve Istanbul nightclub attack, mourns over her brother’s body during his funeral procession at a church, in Beirut, Lebanon: photo by Hussein Malla/AP, 3 January 2017

CHILE - People work to extinguish the flames at a house in Valparaiso as the fire threatens to reach the city's port. By Christian Miranda: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

Nora Villarroel, 59, tries to put out the fire in the remains of her burned house in Valparaiso, Chile, Monday, Jan. 2, 2017. The fire, driven by strong winds, swept through forest land in the hills outside the Chilean port of Valparaiso, destroying dozens of homes and sending a pall of heavy smoke down onto the city.: photo by Luis Hidalgo/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 3 January 2017

Huge wildfire burns homes in Valparaiso, Chile, forcing authorities to evacuate hundreds of people: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 3 January 2017

#Chile - Huge wildfire burns homes in Valparaiso, Chile, forcing authorities to evacuate hundreds of people. By Francisco Venegas: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 3 January 2017

Meerkats stand together at the Opel #Zoo in Kronberg near Frankfurt, #Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017. #APPhoto by Michael Probst: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 3 January 2017

#Hungary - A three-day young giraffe baby is cleaned by its mother in 'Giraffe House' at Zoo of Budapest. By Attila Kisbenedek #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 3 January 2017

An elephant plays with a Christmas tree at the Zoologischer Garten zoo in Berlin: photo by Tobias Schwarz/AFP, 3 January 2017

GERMANY - An elephant plays with a Christmas tree at the Zoologischer Garten zoo in Berlin. By @tobiasschwarz #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

GAZA CITY - A Palestinian boy plays with a puppy at the beach in Gaza City. By @mohmdabed #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

Afghan refugee Rukhsar Sameem, 4, covers her face with a teddy bear at the refugee camp of Oinofyta, 36 miles north of Athens. @Muheisen81: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 3 January 2017

Samah,11, helps her father by salvaging their belongings from their damaged house in Doudyan village in northern Aleppo Governorate

Samah, 11, helps her father by collecting their belongings from their damaged house in Doudyan village, Aleppo: photo by Khalil Ashawi/Reuters, 3 January 2017

#Syria A man walks past posters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on a shop front in #Damascus: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 3 January 2017

Newly recruited Houthi fighters chant slogans as they ride a military vehicle during a gathering in the capital Sanaa to mobilize more fighters to battlefronts to fight pro-government forces in several Yemeni cities, on January 3, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Mohammed HUWAISMOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images

Newly recruited Houthi fighters chant slogans as they ride a military vehicle during a gathering in the capital Sanaa to mobilise more fighters to battlefronts to fight pro-government forces in several Yemeni cities: photo by Mohammed Huwais/AFP, 3 January 2017

\YEMEN - Newly recruited Houthi fighters chant slogans as they ride a military vehicle during a gathering in Sanaa. By Mohammed Huwais #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

IRAQ - Iraqi special forces patrol the Al-Quds neighbourhood after recapturing it from IS during an operation to retake Mosul. By @ahmedafp: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

UAE - A man walks with his camel across the Liwa desert during the Liwa 2017 Moreeb Dune Festival. By @KarimSahibAFP #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

#Afghanistan Women walk through a snowfall in Paghman district some 21kms west of Kabul on January 3 #AFP photo by @kohsar: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 3 January 2017

INDIA - A Kashmiri man walks past a burst water pipe in Kokernag some 100kms south of Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

#India #Kashmir Walkers journey along a snow covered road at Gulmarg, some 55kms north of Srinagar on January 3 #AFP Photo @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 3 January 2017

People exercise among heavy smog in Hefei

People exercise amid heavy smog in Hefei, Anhui province China: photo by Reuters, 3 January 2017

CHINA - A man takes a picture with his phone in Tamar park in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong. By Isaac Lawrence #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

#Palestinians A man walks on the beach as the sun sets over Gaza City on December 31, 2016 #AFP Photo by @mohmdabed: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 3 January 2017

Child guests of a U.S. House member take their seats in the House chamber for the ceremonial first day of the new session of Congress in Washington, U.S. January 3, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Child guests of a U.S. House member take their seats in the House chamber for the ceremonial first day of the new session of Congress in Washington: photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters, 3 January 2017

THAILAND - People walk between platforms at Hua Lampong central train station after the long New Year weekend, in Bangkok. By @The Lilyfish: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

Seagulls fly above Lake Annecy in the town of Annecy, France, 01 January 2017 (issued 03 January). Annecy is a town in the Rhone-Alpes region of southeastern France. It is a popular tourist destination with many castles and cathedrals. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy. EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY

Seagulls fly above Lake Annecy in the town of Annecy, France. Annecy is a town in the Rhone-Alpes region of southeastern France. It is a popular tourist destination with many castles and cathedrals.: photo by Roman Pilipey/EPA, 3 January 2017

↧

Inside the labyrinth: Blood vengeance and the making of an ultranationalist folk hero / Borges: Two tales from inside the labyrinth

January 5, 2017, 7:20 am

≫ Next: Jorge Luis Borges: Ein traum / Passing through the ruins (a series of dreams)

≪ Previous: Jorge Luis Borges: Una brújula (A Compass)

Israeli soldier Elor Azaria, who is charged with manslaughter by the Israeli military, sits to hear his verdict in a military court in Tel Aviv, Israel, January 4, 2017. REUTERS/Heidi Levine/Pool

Israeli soldier Elor Azaria (centre) who is charged with manslaughter by the Israeli military, is comforted by his family as he awaits the verdict inside the military court in Tel Aviv, Israel.: photo by Heidi Levine/Reuters

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has joined calls for an Israeli soldier to be pardoned after being convicted of manslaughter for shooting dead a severely wounded Palestinian attacker in the West Bank city of Hebron last year.

The chief judge [in the case], Col Maya Heller, said Azaria shot Sharif out of revenge. “His motive for shooting was that he felt the terrorist deserved to die.”

Among the pages of commentary in the Israeli media and on social media during the trial, perhaps most bizarre was the decision by Makor Rishon’s Profile magazine to declare Azaria one of its men of the year for “sparking the stormiest argument in Israeli society”, complete with a cover picture of the accused soldier posing with a gun.

Peter Beaumont, The Guardian, 4 January 2016

Reporting from inside Tel Aviv military court: Judge reading verdict of #Hebron shooter Elor #Azaria for 1.5 hours: image via Aron Heller @aronhellerap, 4 January 2017

Israeli soldier's manslaughter conviction divides country

IDF revenge killer Eloy Azaria is embraced by supporters in Tel Aviv military courtroom: photo by AP, 4 January 2016

Israeli soldier's manslaughter conviction divides country: Aron Heller in Tel Aviv, AP, 4 January 2017

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The rare manslaughter conviction Wednesday of an Israeli soldier who fatally shot a badly wounded Palestinian attacker exposed a deepening rift between proponents of the rule of law and a burgeoning nationalist movement.

The military court verdict against Sgt. Elor Azaria marked a victory for commanders seeking to preserve a code of ethics, but it also brought calls for a pardon from prominent hard-line politicians, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who expressed sympathy for the soldier or depicted him as the victim of a detached elite.

In a statement on Facebook, Netanyahu urged the public to "act responsibly" toward the military, Israel's most respected institution.

"We have one army that is the basis for our existence. IDF soldiers are our sons and daughters, and they must remain above all disputes," he said. But making no direct mention of the military court, he said: "I support granting a pardon to Elor Azaria."

With the statement, Netanyahu plunged into a visceral dispute that has deeply divided Israel, where military service is compulsory and support for young soldiers is widespread.

Since the March shooting, the military leadership has come under unprecedented criticism, as members of Netanyahu's coalition accused top generals of abandoning a serviceman on the battlefield. The uproar helped fuel the resignation of Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, who staunchly defended the army from the assault from within.

It is rare for a military court to rule against a soldier over lethal action taken in the field, not only in Israel but also elsewhere in the world. But for a country that claims to have the "most moral army in the world," it had no choice but to come down hard on a soldier that the top brass was convinced had strayed, said Amichai Cohen, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Israeli Democracy Institute think tank.

"If you want the justice system to be taken seriously, you have to punish something like this," he said. "The court can't be influenced by the changing political climate."

Azaria, an army medic, was caught on video by a human rights worker fatally shooting Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, a wounded Palestinian attacker who had stabbed a soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron. Al-Sharif was on the ground, unarmed and virtually motionless, when Azaria fired a single bullet in his head as other soldiers milled about.

The head of the three-judge panel, Col. Maya Heller, broke down Azaria's defense arguments in painstaking detail in delivering the verdict over nearly three hours.

She said there was no evidence to support his conflicting claims that the attacker was either already dead or had posed a threat. She called Azaria's testimony "unreliable," said he could not have "both sides of the stick," and concluded the shooting was "needless."

"We found there was no room to accept his arguments," she said. "His motive for shooting was that he felt the terrorist deserved to die."

That made little difference to Azaria's many supporters.

Outside military headquarters in Tel Aviv, hundreds of his backers held large Israeli flags, banners supporting Donald Trump and others that said "the nation neglected a soldier on the battlefield."

They periodically scuffled with police, and some chanted veiled death threats against the Israeli military chief, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot. The Ynet news site said the judges and prosecutor would receive bodyguards. The army declined to comment.

Netanyahu's evening announcement came hours after other members of his coalition called for Azaria to be pardoned immediately.

"Today, a soldier who killed a terrorist who deserved to die and who had tried to slaughter a soldier was put in handcuffs and convicted like a criminal," said Education Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the pro-settler Jewish Home Party.

The coalition has had disputes with the legal system, trying to delay an order to uproot an illegally built West Banks settlement outpost and seeking to retroactively legalize dozens of other illegal outposts.

Azaria is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 15 and could face up to 20 years in prison, though he is expected to receive less than that. Netanyahu's call for a pardon fueled what will be a heated debate over whether Azaria deserves leniency.

Under the law, only Israel's largely ceremonial president can issue a pardon. President Reuven Rivlin's office said he would decide only after the legal process, including an expected appeal, runs its course.

The heightened tensions were on display in the cramped, stuffy courtroom. The 20-year-old Azaria entered smiling and appeared confident as he was embraced by a few dozen relatives and friends. But his mood quickly dampened as the judge began tearing apart his defense. As the verdict was delivered, he stared gloomily ahead as his supporters clapped sarcastically with some shouting, "Our hero!"

A female relative was kicked out for screaming at the judges, while another woman stormed out, shouting: "Disgusting leftists."

After the judges walked out, Azaria's mother, Oshra, screamed, "You should be ashamed of yourselves." Azaria tried to comfort her as she wailed. Another family member whipped his jacket at a reporter, missing his target and hitting another relative.

The shooting of al-Sharif occurred at the height of what has become a more than yearlong wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence and highlighted the difficulties facing young recruits operating in densely populated areas amid Jewish West Bank settlers, Palestinian civilians and potential attackers.

Azaria's supporters said he fired in self-defense. But his detractors, including senior military commanders, have said his actions were unbecoming of a soldier.

The uproar put the army in a delicate position. The military almost always defends the actions of its troops, but the strong video made the incident impossible to ignore. The army also is wary of becoming politicized, and in several cases, leading generals have feuded with hard-line political leaders.

One of Azaria's most vocal supporters, Cabinet minister Miri Regev, herself a former military spokeswoman, said the verdict could deter young Israelis from serving in combat units for fear of being abandoned.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who had visited Azaria in court in solidarity, tried to temper tensions by saying that while he disagreed with the "difficult" verdict, it must be respected.

"We must keep the army outside every political argument ... and keep it in the widest consensus in Israeli society," he said.

Israeli rights groups have accused the army of failing to prosecute soldiers who commit unnecessary violence against Palestinians.

It was just the second such conviction "in recent years," the army said. The first involved a soldier convicted in the death of a pro-Palestinian British activist in 2004.

"I felt that the court picked up the knife from the ground and stabbed it in the back of all the soldiers," said former legislator Sharon Gal, who is now the Azaria family spokesman.

Palestinians and rights groups praised the verdict, but called it an anomaly, given the many other questionable shootings that have gone untried.

Yusuf Mahmoud, spokesman for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, said the conviction "proved the sincerity of the Palestinian narrative and the lies of the Israeli narrative."

In the labyrinth: Blood vengeance and the making of a folk hero

ISRAEL - Israelis hold a poster in Tel Aviv bearing name of Israeli soldier Azari, who shot dead a wounded Palestinian assailant. Photo by Jack Guez: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 4 January 2017

JERUSALEM - A Palestinian man sits amid rubble of a house that was demolished by Israeli army bulldozers in Beit Hanina. By@gharabli_ahmad: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 4 January 2017

Israeli soldier convicted for revenge killing: image via Electronic Intifada @Intifada, 4 January 2017

#ElorAzaria verdict wrapping up: Beyond reasonable doubt, Azaria shot because he thought the Palestinian deserves to die.: tweet via Molly Hunter @mollymhunter, 4 January 2017

Israeli soldier filmed executing Palestinian convicted of manslaughter, tho evidence showed premeditation; ministers already call for pardon: tweet via David Sheen @davidsheen, 4 January 2017

Azaria still projecting calm with same smirk he has had whole time: tweet via Jonah Jeremy Bob @jeremybob1, 4 January 2017

Poll: 2/3 of Israelis, including Netanyahu and many of his ministers, support pardoning soldier filmed executing Palestinian man; < 1/5 oppose: image via David Sheen @davidsheen, 4 January 2017

Israeli soldier Sgt. Elor Azaria waits with his parents for the verdict inside the military court in Tel Aviv, Israel on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. An Israeli military court is set to deliver the verdict in the case of the soldier tried for manslaughter for the death of a wounded Palestinian attacker. The Israeli military court has convicted the Israeli soldier of manslaughter in the deadly shooting of an incapacitated Palestinian attacker, capping a nine-month saga that has deeply divided the country.: photo by Heidi Levine/ AP, 4 January 2017

Hardline nationalist supporters of army medic Sgt. Elor Azaria shout slogans in front of Israeli border police, outside the Israeli military court in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. Scuffles erupted outside the courtroom between supporters of Azaria, who was convicted of manslaughter in the deadly shooting of an incapacitated Palestinian attacker, and police officers. The verdict, which marks an extremely rare case of an Israeli military court siding against a soldier over lethal action taken in the field.: photo by Oded Ballity/AP, 4 January 2017

An Israeli hardline nationalist supporter of Israeli army medic Sgt. Elor Azaria, wears a t-shirt with a drawing of Rabbi Meir Kahana, who founded extreme right wing Jewish movements, the Jewish Defense League and the ultranationalist Kach political party, outside the Israeli military court in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. Scuffles erupted outside the courtroom between supporters of Azaria, who was convicted of manslaughter in the deadly shooting of an incapacitated Palestinian attacker, and police officers. The verdict, which marks an extremely rare case of an Israeli military court siding against a soldier over lethal action taken in the field.: photo by Oded Ballity/AP, 4 January 2017

A hardline nationalist supporter of army medic Sgt. Elor Azaria shouts slogans in front of Israeli border police, outside the Israeli military court in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. Scuffles erupted outside the courtroom between supporters of Azaria, who was convicted of manslaughter in the deadly shooting of an incapacitated Palestinian attacker, and police officers. The verdict, which marks an extremely rare case of an Israeli military court siding against a soldier over lethal action taken in the field.: photo by Oded Ballity/AP, 4 January 2017

Israeli solider Sgt. Elor Azaria waits with his parents for the verdict inside the military court in Tel Aviv, Israel on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. An Israeli military court is set to deliver the verdict in the case of the soldier tried for manslaughter for the death of a wounded Palestinian attacker.: photo by Heidi Levine/ AP, 4 January 2017

Outside court, supporters of Israeli soldier Elor Azaria chant "Mohammad is dead", hold Trump banner (via @avner87): image via Ben White @benabyad, 4 January 2017

Blood-soaked Netanyahu Supports Pardon for Convicted IOF Terrorist Elor Azaria, who executed a Palestinian on 3/24/16: image via Abbs Winston @AbbsWinston, 4 January 2017

We must assist Israeli soldiers like #Elor Azaria deal w/lawsuits filed by radical left and enemy. #IDF soldiers risk everyday lives for us.: image via Eli Dror @edrormba, 28 November 2016

Activist who filmed #Hebron shooting 'fears for his life' after Israeli soldier convicted #Palestine #Israel: Image via Ma'an News Agency @MaanNewsAgency, 4 January 2017

Now he says the soldier should be pardoned. In March I wrote on why Netanyahu’s defending a murderer caught on video.: image via David Sheen @davidsheen, 4 January 2017

As judge decides fate of Israeli soldier filmed killing a Palestinian man, I can hear my downstairs neighbor chanting: "Death to the Arabs!": tweet via David Sheen @davidsheen, 4 January 2017

Now that the verdict’s been read, the downstairs neighbor has resumed chanting in solidarity with the soldier filmed executing a Palestinian: tweet via David Sheen @davidsheen, 4 January 2017

Azaria conviction for manslaughter and unbecoming conduct shows importance of @btselem's volunteers "armed" with cameras. #ElorAzaria: tweet via Sari Bashi @saribashi, 4 January 2017

These guys are now chanting in English: "Fuck you, fuck you Btselem": tweet via Raf Sanchez @rafsanchez, 4 January 2017

Judge still reading out verdict.... 2 hours and 15 minutes..... #ElorAzaria: tweet via Ruth Marks Eglash @reglash, 4 January 2017

Two Israelis have been arrested so far for inciting violence against judges who convicted #ElorAzaria: tweet via Raf Sanchez @rafsanchez, 4 January 2017

The fact that this Israeli soldier who was filmed executing a Palestinian man has become a folk hero is sickening, but sadly not surprising.: tweet via David Sheen @davidsheen, 4 January 2017

David Sheen retweeted Raf Sanchez @rafsanchez Crowd starting to get nasty but it's more football yob than political extremist
David Sheen added,

I was at court yesterday, but I'm not today, and this is why: Israeli soldier's supporters attack anyone with a camera: tweet via David Sheen @davidsheen, 4 January 2017

Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter in killing of wounded Palestinian assailant in the West Bank: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 4 January 2017

Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter in killing of immobile Palestinian assailant: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 4 January 2017

Israel is waiting to learn the verdict in the divisive case of a young soldier accused of executing a Palestinian: tweet via Raf Sanchez @rafsanchez, 3 January 2017

Israeli soldier convicted for killing wounded Palestinian in Hebron, as angry crowd protests his innocence: image via The Telegraph @Telegraph, 4 January 2017

Asaf Ronel Retweeted Eliyahu Kamisher

Eliyahu Kamisher@Eli_DovBear

Us-Israel relations are strong among the pro-azaria crowd #trumpAsaf Ronel added,

Better photo: image via Asaf Ronel @AsafRonel, 4 January 2017

Raf Sanchez Retweeted Gal Berger גל ברגר

Gal Bergerגל ברגר@galberger

משפט אזריה: משפחת המחבל מחברון בהמתנה דרוכה מול ערוץ 10 לקראת השורה התחתונה של הכרעת הדין

Raf Sanchez added,

Family of the Palestinian man who was killed by #ElorAzaria in Hebron are awaiting the verdict: image via Raf Sanchez @rafsanchez, 4 January 2017

Benezi Gobstein, the head of extremist Lehava group, is among the demonstrators: image via Raf Sanchez @rafsanchez, 4 January 2017

A lot from La Familia, the ultras from Beitar Jerusalem: image via Raf Sanchez @rafsanchez, 4 January 2017

And the inevitable Trump hats: image via Raf Sanchez @rafsanchez, 4 January 2017

Inside the labyrinth: Jorge Luis Borges: La casa de Asterión /The House of Asterion

Classical 7-circuit labyrinth: image by JamesJen, 2009

Y la reina dio a luz un hijo que se llamó Asterión.

Apolodoro, Biblioteca, III, I

Sé que me acusan de soberbia, y tal vez de misantropía, y tal vez de locura. Tales acusaciones (que yo castigaré a su debido tiempo) son irrisorias. Es verdad que no salgo de mi casa, pero también es verdad que sus puertas (cuyo número es infinito*) están abiertas día y noche a los hombres y también a los animales. Que entre el que quiera. No hallará pompas mujeriles aquí ni el bizarro aparato de los palacios, pero sí la quietud y la soledad. Asimismo hallará una casa como no hay otra en la faz de la tierra. (Mienten los que declaran que en Egipto hay una parecida.) Hasta mis detractores admiten que no hay un solo mueble en la casa. Otra especie ridícula es que yo, Asterión, soy un prisionero. ¿Repetiré que no hay una puerta cerrada, añadiré que ho hay una cerradura? Por lo demás, algún atardecer he pisado la calle; si antes de la noche volví, lo hice por el temor que me infundieron las caras de la plebe, caras descoloridas y aplanadas, como la mano abierta. Ya se había puesto el sol, pero el desvalido llanto de un niño y las toscas plegarias de la grey dijeron que me habían reconocido. La gente oraba, huía, se prosternaba; unos se encaramaban al estilóbato del templo de las Hachas, otros juntaban piedras. Alguno, creo, se ocultó bajo el mar. No en vano fue una reina mi madra; no puedo confundirme con el vulgo, aunque mi modestia lo quiera.

El hecho es que soy único. No me interesa lo que un hombre pueda trasmitir a otros hombres; como el filósofo, pienso que nada es comunicable por el arte de la escritura. Las enojosas y triviales minucias no tienen cabida en mi espíritu, que está capacitado para lo grande; jamás he retenido la diferencia entre una letra y otra. Cierta impaciencia generosa no ha consentido que yo aprendiera a leer. A veces lo deploro, porque las noches y los días son largos.

Claro que no me faltan distracciones. Semejante al carnero que va a embestir, corro por las galerías de piedra hasta rodar al suelo, mareado. Me agazapo a la sombra de un aljibe o a la vuelta de un corredor y juego a que me buscan. Hay azoteas desde las que me dejo caer, hasta ensangrentarme. A cualquier hora puedo jugar a estar dormido, con los ojos cerrados y la respiración poderosa. (A veces me duermo realmente, a veces ha cambiado el color del día cuando he abierto los ojos.) Pero de tantos juegos el que prefiero es el de otro Asterión. Finjo que viene a visitarme y que yo le muestro la casa. Con grandes reverencias le digo: Ahora volvemos a la encrucijada anterior o Ahora desembocamos en otro patio o Bien decía yo que te gustaría la canaleta o Ahora verás una cisterna que se llenó de arena o Ya verás cómo el sótano se bifurca. A veces me equivoco y nos reímos buenamente los dos.

No sólo he imaginado eso juegos, también he meditado sobre la casa. Todas las partes de la casa están muchas veces, cualquier lugar es otro lugar. No hay un aljibe, un patio, un abrevadero, un pesebre; son catorce [son infinitos] los pesebres, abrevaderos, patios, aljibes. La casa es del tamaño del mundo; mejor dicho, es el mundo. Sin embargo, a fuerza de fatigar patios con un aljibe y polvorientas galerías de piedra gris, he alcanzado la calle y he visto el templo de las Hachas y el mar. Eso no lo entendí hasta que una visión de la noche me reveló que también son catorce [son infinitos] los mares y los templos. Todo está muchas veces, catorce veces, pero dos cosas hay en el mundo que parecen estar una sola vez: arriba, el intrincado sol; abajo, Asterión. Quizá yo he creado las estrellas y el sol y la enorme casa, pero ya no me acuerdo.

Cada nueve años entran en la casa nueve hombres para que yo los libere de todo mal. Oigo sus pasos o su voz en el fondo de las galerías de piedra y corro alegremente a buscarlos. La ceremonia dura pocos minutos. Uno tras otro caen sin que yo me ensangriente las manos. Donde cayeron, quedan, y los cadáveres ayudan a distinguir una galería de las otras. Ignoro quiénes son, pero sé que uno de ellos profetizó, en la hora de su muerte, que alguna vez llegaría mi redentor. Desde entonces no me duele la soledad, porque sé que vive mi redeentor y al fin se levantará sobre el polvo. Si mi oído alcanzara los rumores del mundo, yo percibiría sus pasos. Ojalá me lleve a un lugar con menos galerías y menos puertas. ¿Cómo será mi redentor?, me pregunto. ¿Será un toro o un hombre? ¿Será tal vez un toro con cara de hombre? ¿O será como yo?

El sol de la mañana reverberó en la espada de bronce. Ya no quedaba ni un vestigio de sangre.

-- ¿Lo creerás, Ariadna? -- dijo Teseo. -- El minotauro apenas se defendió.

_____

* El original dice catorce, pero sobran motives para inferir que en boca de Asterión, ese adjetivo numeral vale por infinitos.

Mosaic with labyrinth and Minotaur, Conímbriga, Portugal: photo by Manuel Anastácio, 2005

And the queen gave birth to a son named Asterion.

Apollodorus, Library, III, I

I know they accuse me of arrogance, perhaps also of misanthropy, perhaps madness too. Such accusations (which I shall castigate in due course) are laughable. It is true that I do not leave my house, but it is also true that its doors (which are infinite* in number) are open day and night to man and animal alike. Anyone who wishes may enter. One will not find feminine extravagance here, nor gallant courtly ritual, just quiet and solitude. Here one will find a house like no other on the face of the Earth. (They who declare that in Egypt exists another similar are lying). Even my detractors admit that there is not a single piece of furniture in the house. Another ridiculous tale claims that I, Asterion, am a prisoner. Need I repeat that there are no closed doors? Should I add that there are no locks? Besides, I did one evening step out onto the street; if I returned home before nightfall, I did so because of the fear that the faces of the hoi polloi, faces discoloured and plain like an open hand, had induced in me. The sun had already set, but the helpless cry of a babe and the coarse supplications of the common herd signalled that I had been recognised. The people prayed, fled and fell prostrate; some climbed up to the stylobate of the temple of Axes, others gathered stones. Someone, I believe, hid himself under the sea. Not in vain was my mother a queen; I cannot mix with the common people, though my modesty does so desire it.

The fact is that I am unique. What a man can pass unto others does not interest me; like the philosopher, I think nothing is communicated by the art of writing.

Annoying and trivial minutiae have no place in my spirit, a spirit which is receptive only to whatsoever is grand. Never have I retained the difference between one letter and another. A certain generous impatience has not consented that I should learn to read. Sometimes I deplore this, for the nights and days are long.

Naturally, I am not without amusement. Like a ram on the charge, I run through the galleries of stone until dizzily I tumble to the ground. I conceal myself in the shadows of a cistern or in the corner of a corridor and pretend that I am being searched for. There are rooftops from which I let myself fall until I bloody myself. At any time I can shut my eyes and pretend that I am asleep, breathing deeply. (Sometimes I really do sleep, sometimes the colour of the day has changed by the time I open my eyes). But of the games I play, the one I prefer is pretending there is another Asterion. I pretend that he has come to visit me and I show him around the house. With great reverence I tell him: Now we return to the previous intersection, or Now we head towards another courtyard, or I knew you would like this drain, or Now you will see a cistern that has filled with sand, or Now you will see how the cellar forks. Sometimes I err and we both laugh heartily.

Not only these games have I imagined; I have also meditated on the house. Each part of the house repeats many times, any particular place is another place.

There is not one cistern, courtyard, drinking fountain, manger; there are fourteen (infinite) mangers, drinking fountains, courtyards, cisterns. The house is the size of the world; better said, it is the world. Nevertheless, by dint of exhausting all the dusty galleries of grey stone and the courtyards with their cisterns, I have reached the street and I have seen the temple of Axes and the sea. This I did not understand until a night vision revealed to me that there are also fourteen (infinite) seas and temples. Everything exists many times over, fourteen times, but there are two things in the world that seem to exist only once; above, the intricate Sun; below, Asterion. Perhaps I have created the stars and the Sun and the enormous house, but I do not remember anymore.

Nine men enter the house every nine years so that I may deliver them from all evil. I hear their footsteps or their voices in the depths of the galleries of stone and I run with joy in search of them. The ceremony lasts a few minutes. One after another, they fall to the ground without my having to bloody my hands. Where they fall, they remain, and the cadavers help to distinguish one gallery from another. I know not who they are, but I do know that one of them prophesied, at the moment of his death, that someday my redeemer would come. Since then, the solitude does not pain me because I know that my redeemer lives, and in the end he will rise above the dust. If I could hear all the rumblings of the world, I would detect the sound of his footsteps. Let it be that he take me to a place with fewer galleries and fewer doors.

I wonder: what will my redeemer be like? Will he be a bull or a man? Will he be perhaps a bull with the face of a man? Or will he be like me?

The morning Sun was reflected in the sword of bronze. No trace of blood remained.

“Would you believe it, Ariadne?” said Theseus. “The minotaur hardly put up a fight.”

_____

* The original says fourteen, but there is ample reason to infer that in Asterion’s eyes, this adjectival numeral is equal to infinite.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Veneto_0006.jpg

Ritratto di Gentiluomo (Portrait of a Gentleman): Bartolomeo Veneto (1470-1531) (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; image by Laura Pagnotta, in Bartolomeo Veneto: Opera completa, 1997)

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986): La casa de Asterión / The House of Asterion, 1947, from El Aleph, 1949; English version by Antonios

Inside the labyrinth: Jose Luis Borges: El hilo de la fábula /The thread of the story

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Theseus_deeds_BM_E_84.JPG

Theseus' cycle of deeds: centre: dragging the Minotaur from the Labyrinth: Kodros painter, Attic red-figured kylix, c. 440-430 BC, found at Vulci; image by Twospoonfuls, 2008 (British Museum)

El hilo que la mano de Ariadne dejó en la mano de Teseo (en la otra estaba la espada) para que éste se ahondara en el laberinto y descubriera el centro, el hombre con cabeza de toro o, como quiere Dante, el toro con cabeza de hombre, y le diera muerte y pudiera, ya ejecutada la proeza, destejer las redes de piedra y volver a ella, a su amor.

Las cosas ocurrieron así. Teseo no podía saber que del otro lado del laberinto estaba el otro laberinto, el de tiempo, y que en algún lugar prefijado estaba Medea.

El hilo se ha perdido; el laberinto se ha perdido también. Ahora ni siquiera sabemos si nos rodea un laberinto, un secreto cosmos, o un caos azaroso. Nuestro hermoso deber es imaginar que hay un laberinto y un hilo. Nunca daremos con el hilo; acaso lo encontramos y lo perdemos en un acto de fe, en una cadencia, en el sueño, en las palabras que se llaman filosofía o en la mera y sencilla felicidad.

Cnossos, 1984

Jose Luis Borges in the Palace of King Minos, Knossos, 1984: photo courtesy Archivo Maria Kodama, Fundación J.L. Borges

The thread was placed by the hand of Ariadne in the hand of Theseus (in the other was his sword) so that this might permit him to penetrate the labyrinth and discover at its centre the man with the head of a bull, or, as Dante would have it, the bull with the head of a man, bring death to this creature, and if the labour was performed correctly, thus unravel the secrets of the networks of stone, and return again to her, his love.

But things happen as they happen. Theseus could not have known that on the other side of the labyrinth was another labyrinth, that of time, and that beyond there, in some prefigured place, waited Medea.

The thread has been lost; the labyrinth has been lost also. Now, we no longer even know whether these corridors that encircle us are those of a labyrinth, a secret cosmos, or a chaos of pure chance. Our beautiful duty is to imagine that there exists a labyrinth and a thread. We might never come across the thread; or we might stumble upon it unexpectedly and then lose it again in an act of faith, in the rhythm of a line, in a dream, in the sort of words that are called philosophy or in a moment of mere and simple happiness.

Theseus and the Minotaur: Attic black-figure pot, 6th c. BC.: image by Darsie, 2005

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Theseus_Minotaur_BM_Vase_E84.jpg

Theseus dragging the Minotaur from the Labyrinth: Kodros painter, Attic red-figured kylix, c. 440-430 BC, found at Vulci (British Museum; image by Marie-Lan Nguyen, 2007)

Jose Luis Borges: El hilo de la fábula /The thread of the story, from Los conjurados, 1985; English version by TC

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