Friday, July 17, 2020

Iron Curtain: The absurdity of border protection

Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can - there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.
-Sarah Cardwell


The Language Issue

I place my hope on the water
in this little boat
of the language, the way a body might put
an infant

in a basket of intertwined
iris leaves,
its underside proofed
with bitumen and pitch,

then set the whole thing down amidst
the sedge
and bulrushes by the edge
of a river

only to have it borne hither and thither,
not knowing where it might end up;
in the lap, perhaps,
of some Pharaoh’s daughter.
.

by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
from Pharao's Daughter
Wake Forest University Press, 1988
translated from Irish by Medbh McGuckian


The absurdity of border protection

Closing borders never really works. The Great Wall of China eventually crumbled and in modern times there were always trickles through the Iron Curtain (incorporating the Berlin Wall) until the trickles became an outbreak.Continue reading 


'Thirteenth constellation' rewrites the stars


Washington Post – “…Snopes, which delves into everything from bizarre urban legends to intricate government policies, has been overwhelmed with so many covid-19-related questions that the website can’t keep up. The company has done something that seems counterintuitive: It has scaled back operations by publishing fewer stories. There have been no furloughs or layoffs; but Snopes is encouraging employees, whose lives have been turned upside down by the pandemic, to take time off if needed. It’s a predicament other fact-checkers and journalists are facing: As the novel coronavirus has swept the globe, so has misinformation about the virus. The World Health Organization has referred to the abundance of articles, commentary and social media postings about this one topic — some accurate, some not — as an “infodemic” which “makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it.”


US President Donald Trump signs Hong Kong Autonomy Act, and ends the city’s preferential trade status SCMP

Chinese media calls for ‘pain’ over UK Huawei ban as Trump claims creditGuardian

China vows retaliation against US over Hong Kong sanctions Al Jazeera

New York Times to move Hong Kong staff to Seoul over press freedom fearsBBC

Trump on UK’s Huawei ban: ‘I did this myself’ Reuters

US tech groups resist Hong Kong data-sharing proposal FT

 

India Asks Chinese E-Commerce Platforms for “Country Of Origin” Addition Jing Dail



 


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