A MONUMENT TO CHRISTIANITY IN THE CONGO
There are two Congos in Africa. The better known is the former Belgian Congo, once known as Zaire, now DR Congo (for Democratic Republic), also called Kinshasa Congo after its capital.
The lesser known is the former French Congo, now Republic of Congo, or Brazzaville Congo after its capital. Brazzaville is on the north side of a widening of the Congo River known as the Stanley Pool, while right across from it on the south side is Kinshasa.
It is in Brazzaville that you will find this magnificent monument to Christianity, the Cathedral of Sainte-Anne, with its roof covered in gleaming green-turquoise tiles, huge copper doors, and soaring arched interior bathed in sunlight. The people of Brazzaville are joyously Christian, attending 5pm Mass dressed in their most colorful finery. You’ll see Christianity truly come to life here. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #174 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
IS XI JINPING BECOMING THE JOE BIDEN OF CHINA?
[Few scholars know Chicom China better than Willy Wo-Lap Lam. There is a lot to think about here – please consider reading it attentively-JW.]
After emerging as China’s “leader for life” and filling top party organs such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and the Politburo with members of his own faction, paramount leader Xi Jinping has been relentlessly buffeted by what he refers to as “high waves and dangerous winds” in his effort to keep the ship of state afloat (Radio Free Asia, May 30).
However, whether the supreme leader and his newly minted Politburo can acquit themselves of handling these challenges remains dubious.
The horrendous rain and flooding of Typhoon Doksuri (杜苏芮) earlier this month (August 2023) that have hit Hebei Province and Beijing itself, which resulted in the displacement of some 1 million people and an undisclosed number of deaths, has again illustrated the questionable governance ability of the Xi Jinping administration.
And Xi—who is General Secretary of the CCP and commander-in-chief—has neither visited the sites of devastation nor spelled out measures to help flood victims re-establish their livelihoods. He has instead gone to the nearby seaside resort of Beidaihe to chair a series of informal policy-making sessions with other Politburo members and top advisors (Australian Broadcasting Corp Chinese, August 10; Radio Free Asia, August 4).
Sounds just like Joe Biden and the horrific fire in Maui, doesn’t it? The comparisons go far deeper.
THE GREAT CHINA-AMERICAN ABYSS
What if American companies simply ignored Chinese copyrights and patents, and stole Chinese ideas, inventions, and intellectual property, as they pleased and with impunity?
How would Beijing respond if American biotech company warehouses were discovered in rural China with unsecured vials of deadly viruses and pathogens?
These “what-ifs” could be expanded endlessly. But they reflect well enough the great asymmetry in the bizarre Chinese-American relationship.
Obviously, China would not tolerate America treating it as it does the Americans. Why then does the imbalance continue?
BUYI KIDS AT THE LUOPING FLOWER FIELDS
The Buyi are the indigenous people of Luoping in northeast Yunnan, having lived here for many thousands of years. A peaceful agricultural people, for some 2,000 years they’ve been growing what we call rapeseed for vegetable oil. (Actually, we call it canola oil as “rapeseed” has unfortunate connotaions.)
Their multilevel terraces of bright yellow rapeseed flowers blooming in early spring (February-March here) – the Luoping Flower Fields – are world wonders of natural art.
They are marvelously friendly and hospitable – watch out for drinking rice wine with them, though, it’s seriously strong! These two Buyi kids exemplify what a joy they are to be with amidst their astounding fields of beauty. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #276 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
WILL INDONESIA SAVE ISLAM?
[This Monday’s Archive was originally published in TTP on October 26, 2006. Indonesia is an enormous country – it’s as far from the western tip of Sumatra to the border with Papua New Guines as it is from London, England to Kabul, Afghanistan. In addition to being a “Nutshell History,” what it says almost 17 years ago turns out quite prescient. In this week’s The Economist is Indonesia Wants to Export Moderate Islam, which so leads from this Archive it follows below. Note that the Indonesian organization that is the focus of both articles, Nahdatul Ulama, has formed an international alliance called the Center for Shared Civilizational Values, in cooperation with its Liberty For All Foundation (Libforall.org).
TTP, October 26, 2006
There are 245 million folks in Indonesia. 88% of them, or 215 million, are Moslem, comprising the largest Moslem population on earth. Just 8% of Indonesians are Christian, 2% are Hindu, and only 1% are Buddhist.
Yet the most famous landmark of Indonesia – the archaeological wonder of Borobudur – is Buddhist. In fact, it is the world’s largest Buddhist monument. Indonesia’s most famous tourist destination and most famous culture is the island of Bali. The people of Bali are not Moslem. They are Hindu.
Indonesia used to be Buddhist and Hindu, and is a long way from Arabia. How did this place become Moslem?
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – A GLACIER IN THE GOBI
June 2002, the Vulture’s Mouth Glacier. In the deepest heart of the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, south of the Flaming Cliffs where Roy Chapman Andrews discovered dinosaur eggs in the 1920s, there is a naked spine of mountains called the Gurvan Saihan. In the Gurvan Saihan there is a deep gorge called Yol Alyn, the Vulture’s Mouth. And in the Vulture’s Mouth, there is a glacier.
It is not a big glacier, the continual ice buildup of a stream that never melts even in the heat of the Gobi summer. Yet it is a glacier nonetheless, thick enough for my son Jackson and I to walk on for more than a mile. The Vulture’s Mouth Glacier is just one of a multitude of extraordinary experiences Mongolia has to offer the explorer. Are you up for exploring it with me this summer of 2024? (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #90 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FASCISM IS FASCISM
HALF-FULL REPORT 08/18/23
Sure is different today, isn’t it? 10 days ago (8/08), an unknown country singer uploaded a song on YouTube that got 5 million views in 3 days, going completely viral and hailed as “the blue collar political anthem”cri de coeur of bitterness and hopelessness in America now…
If you read through Skye’s Links yesterday (8/17), you’ll see why the very last thing we need now is resignation and hopelessness in the face of woke fascism.
But before we discuss this, I’d to make an announcement. Tomorrow, Saturday August 19, is Skye’s 80th birthday. Every week, he works his considerable brains out letting you know what recent events are useful to learn about. You might consider, then, telling him on the Forum how much you appreciate this, and wish him a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SKYE!!
To Skye!
AFRICAN FLATDOGS
Here in Zambia and elsewhere in Africa, crocodiles are nicknamed “Flatdogs.” You can see why. They spend much of their lives lying flat on the mud bank of a pond or river. Yet when on the hunt they can attack with astounding speed and surprise, leaping unseen from muddy water upon an unsuspecting target twenty feet away in an instant. This happened to a young boy fishing along the Luangwa River near our encampment just days ago. Africa is unforgiving of the unwary. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #142 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 08/17/23
The Fourth Turning becomes ever more dangerous. Jonathan Turley discusses the UChicago Project on Security & Threats survey finding many Americans are embracing violence as an option for political change. 30 million Americans say that violence is justified to prevent Trump from being re-elected, and 18 million say that violence is justified to help Trump be re-elected. The biggest difference between them? The former don’t believe in having guns, while the latter most certainly do.
To the 'Crats, everything that Trump did after the 2020 election is a criminal conspiracy. It’s truly mind-boggling what they accuse him of as criminal. This is TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome, on stilts and steroids. Read these quotes from the GA indictment to see:
To the 'Crats, everything that Trump did after the 2020 election is a criminal conspiracy. It’s truly mind-boggling what they accuse him of as criminal. This is TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome, on stilts and steroids. Read these quotes from the GA indictment to see: