30 Aug, 2023
In various blogs, I mentioned the various names of a Supreme Being, like Ahura Mazda, Allah, God, Jupiter, Odin, Shiva, Yahweh and Zeus. Recently, I wondered: if there’s just 1 God then why has God so many names?? The ultimate answer may well be in Mahatma Gandhi's message below. Scientists have never found any culture without evidence of...
31 Jul, 2023
Recently, a Kenyan acquaintance posted the following: "Alone is not always loneliness. Alone is getting to find myself. [..]" In my view, she meant solitude. Hence, I replied by stating: "Solitude and loneliness are two very different concepts, despite being alone in both." She agreed. Several days later, I noticed a quote by Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), a...
27 Jul, 2023
Last Sunday's blog, Panic in Beijing and its original Bloomberg article, made me realize that there is a difference between business and politics that is easily overlooked. Unlike businessmen, politicians are not allowed to make serious errors, especially in countries like China. Despite that seeing is believing, (communist) ideology is (much) stronger than seeing....
24 Jul, 2023
When a friendship or a relationship is over, a new type of relation may emerge: the frenemy. Sometimes, it may still look like the friendship - or relationship - it once was. Usually, indifference is leading. The former is a micro example. China and Russia are a macro example; see my 2019 blog. "Frenemy" (also spelled "frienemy") is an oxymoron and...
22 Jun, 2023
My question is: when can one apply this principle? Is it even possible to apply this principle on nations, like China vs USA, or China vs Russia? It seems that this principle prefers a micro rather than a macro view, like the 2016 choice between H. Clinton and Trump (eg. my 2016 blog, Politico). Most likely, evil requires a simple, one-dimensional view. Example:...
8 Jun, 2023
Until recently, I didn't appreciate this topic. In my view, it was a hobby horse (Dutch: stokpaardje) of the liberal-left. Today, my perspective is shifting following its drivers, being: (i) increasing life expectancy or demographics, (ii) being irrelevant to society, (iii) declining religion, and (iv) urbanisation. In many countries, the average age of the...
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