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548 lines
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<title>25 April, 2022</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Grim Journey of the Accused Brooklyn Subway Shooter</strong> - Frank James, the man charged with carrying out the Sunset Park attack, appears to have inhabited a world of conspiracy theories, grievance, and mental illness. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-grim-journey-of-the-accused-brooklyn-subway-shooter">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Siege of Chernihiv</strong> - For more than a month, the Russian military pummelled residents with bombing raids and missile fire, turning a locked-in Ukrainian city into an urban death trap. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-siege-of-chernihiv">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Case for an Immediate Energy Embargo on Russia</strong> - An aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky argues that halting the purchase of oil and gas is the surest way to stop Vladimir Putin’s military machine. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-case-for-an-immediate-energy-embargo-on-russia">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>After a COVID Expert Struggled to Obtain New Treatments for His Parents, He Tweeted a Road Map</strong> - Older, disabled, and chronically ill Americans who could benefit from novel therapeutics are scrambling to find them easily. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/after-a-covid-expert-struggled-to-obtain-new-treatments-for-his-%20parents-he-tweeted-a-road-map">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Ordinary Americans Resettling Migrants Fleeing War</strong> - After Trump eviscerated the refugee-resettlement system, the government was unprepared for Afghans displaced by their country’s collapse. A new program lets civilians step up to help. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/the-ordinary-americans-resettling-migrants-fleeing-war">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Hollywood’s hot new trend: Parents who say they’re sorry</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Evelyn stands in between her daughter, Joy, and forces who would like to kill her, as her
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husband Waymond also looks on." src="https://cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/thumbor/y4ERv9DRoaplIMesX69EK6XfZTo=/188x0:1303x836/1310x983/cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70789628/eeaao.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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In <em>Everything Everywhere All at Once</em>, a mother and daughter attempt to improve their relationship across the multiverse. | Courtesy of A24
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Everything Everywhere All at Once and Turning Red are part of a burgeoning subgenre: the millennial parental apology fantasy.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d3QvXP">
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<strong>Spoilers for </strong><em><strong>Everything Everywhere All at Once</strong></em><strong> follow.</strong>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tfS1Ro">
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Jobu Tupaki, the main villain of the film <em>Everything Everywhere All at Once</em>, has seen <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23024945/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-multiverse-explained-quantum-physicist">the vast and infinite multiverse</a>. She has experienced countless lives. Unimpressed with what she’s seen, she has constructed an enormous bagel that is seemingly capable of destroying everything, everywhere, all at once. (This movie is very weird.)
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0GvONB">
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The other characters within the film wonder what Jobu (played wonderfully by Stephanie Hsu) is searching for, but the answer will likely suggest itself to the audience from the moment we hear the character’s origin story. Jobu used to be from a place the film refers to as the “Alpha Universe.” She was a girl named Joy (or, in the film’s parlance, “Alpha Joy”), and her mother, Alpha Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), broke Alpha Joy’s brain in pursuit of the endless possibilities inherent in the multiverse.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gkftmm">
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It’s a metaphor for parental abuse that isn’t even a metaphor. Turning your child into a science experiment to further your own ambitions is a deeply, horrifically abusive thing to do, and Jobu’s spreading of that pain outward from herself is an evocative depiction of how cycles of abuse perpetuate themselves.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WVtQtA">
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The movie takes place across many, many universes, however, and our protagonist and point-of-view character is a different Evelyn, one who isn’t a brilliant scientist but, instead, a frustrated Chinese immigrant who owns a laundromat in the Los Angeles area and is facing a tax audit.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="caTPhH">
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She isn’t abusive to her Joy, but she isn’t a good mom by any means. She’s way too critical, and she’s deeply uncomfortable with Joy’s long-term relationship with another woman. Yet these are offenses, the film argues, that could be overcome with a sincere apology and attempt to do better. Maybe. As such, Jobu meeting protagonist Evelyn will hopefully allow both to find some way to move forward together and forget the past. Maybe.
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</p>
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<aside id="susVQT">
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<div>
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</div>
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</aside>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tEQvmg">
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<em>Everything Everywhere</em> falls into a suddenly popular subgenre of film I call the “millennial parental apology fantasy,” alongside a host of other movies, most of them animated. (See also: Pixar’s <em>Turning Red</em>, <em>Encanto</em>, and <em>The Mitchells vs. the Machines</em>, among others — and that’s just in the last 12 months.) Instead of telling the time-honored story of a child learning just how much their parent has sacrificed for them, these stories tell its mirror image.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HK2JZW">
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Instead, they are stories where the <em>parent</em> has to realize how badly they’ve treated their child. The ability to heal intergenerational trauma lies at least in part with that parent, and as the film wraps up, they take real steps to doing so, usually as the child realizes that the trauma did not originate with their parent but much further up the family tree. Better able to understand each other, the parent and child end the film with a better relationship.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j1eaET">
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<em>Everything Everywhere</em> takes that basic storytelling framework and stretches it to its absolute breaking point. In the process, it becomes likely the best example of this burgeoning subgenre, and one that points to the limitations of parental apology fantasy stories to talk about the actual damage intergenerational trauma can do to people. And all along, the movie understands that the fantasy of a parent who understands and accepts you as you are isn’t just a fantasy for the child. It’s one for the parent too.
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</p>
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<h3 id="xVohVQ">
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The millennial parental apology fantasy, defined
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X5XKDN">
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For an example of how stories about toxic parent-child relationships are usually told, let’s look at a different millennial film text, 2017’s Greta Gerwig film <em>Lady Bird</em>. In that movie, Lady Bird struggles to get her mother to understand and accept her. Lady Bird is weird and artsy, and she wants desperately to go to NYU, something her family likely cannot afford.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m86ukj">
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Across the arc of the film, Lady Bird’s mom takes a couple of small steps toward her daughter, and she writes a lovely letter about how much she loves her child. But the dramatic climax of the film rests with Lady Bird, now living in New York, realizing just how much her mother did, indeed, love and support her, just in her own, incredibly critical, way. Lady Bird calls her mother and leaves a message that she ends by calling herself “Christine,” the name her parents gave her at birth, rather than Lady Bird, a name her mother only grudgingly called her.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fTQ1ay">
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In <em>Lady Bird</em>, both characters have to find ways to better appreciate each other, but the weight of the story rests, ultimately, on Lady Bird giving more ground to her mother than her mother gives to her.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="knf6UX">
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The millennial parental apology fantasy looks at this whole scenario through a radically different lens, one where the parent is more to blame than the child. The parent has to realize the need to take their child as they are; the child usually has to realize that their parent’s horrible treatment of them is rooted in something bad their parent experienced.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ccOK9g">
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Though we’ve seen several other parental apologies in movies these last few years, the climax of <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22981394/turning-red-reviews-
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controversy-reactions-parents"><em>Turning Red</em></a>, which came out a couple of weeks before <em>Everything Everywhere All at Once</em>, fits this new subgenre to a T. In it, our hero is a 13-year-old girl named Mei, who discovers that her family has been cursed. Upon reaching puberty, all the women in it metamorphose into a giant red panda when they are feeling emotions too intensely. And the start of puberty is not a time known for carefully modulated emotions. Mei discovers that she doesn’t terribly <em>want</em> to modulate her emotions. She likes being the panda, and it’s her life, right? She should get to do what she wants with it. Her mother disagrees.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="Mei cringes as her mom pages through her doodle notebook." src="https://cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/thumbor/T_36e89ezW5lpO3ydFSZrwbbaGc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23409565/turningredmeimom.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Disney/Pixar</cite></figure></li>
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</ul>
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<figcaption>
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Mei’s mom discovers her notebook full of drawings of a cute boy in <em>Turning Red</em>.
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</figcaption>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0DOOkl">
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Like <em>Everything Everywhere All at Once</em>, <em>Turning Red</em> is an immigrant story. Mei’s mother Ming is the daughter of Chinese-Canadian immigrants, and the dramatic crux of the film involves Mei realizing that her mother has been repressing even greater emotions than Mei has. In the name of pleasing her own mother, Ming tamped down her own red panda, which is the size of an enormous kaiju. Yet the end of the film features Ming realizing that if Mei wishes to keep her panda around, she should be allowed, even if that’s not the right choice for Ming. Mother and daughter understand each other just a little bit better.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xHME48">
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Stories about parents realizing they’ve failed their children and should apologize before it’s too late were not invented in the last couple of years. One of my favorite examples, for instance, is the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osgpM2BEXuI">1952 film <em>The Holly and the Ivy</em></a>, in which a reverend realizes over a family Christmas celebration that his grown children are terrified to tell him about their problems because they’re worried he’ll be disappointed in them. He becomes aware of the ways in which he has hurt them, and he comes to them to make amends, rather than the reverse.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m9aZPB">
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What defines this recent crop of films, I would argue, is their focus on how the basic tropes of this story intersect with identity, particularly when it comes to the immigrant experience and queer identities, and their focus on the ways trauma, toxicity, and abuse cycle through generations. The fantasy here is not just that a parent will apologize to their child (though that is key) but also that said apology will snap the cycle of abuse so it no longer perpetuates itself. And that’s a fantasy that has appeal to the parent <em>and</em> the child.
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</p>
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<h3 id="ozcEto">
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What good is an apology anyway?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="26NpMZ">
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One question I have about these recent releases is: Why now? What is suddenly prompting millennial filmmakers to tackle this subject, in incredibly similar ways? And considering the production cycles for these movies, it would be impossible for them to have influenced each other. They were all being made simultaneously.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g2YnAj">
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The easy answer is that plenty of millennials are now having children of their own, and having children of your own is a natural time to start thinking about the way your parents raised you. And in an era when the internet and pop culture have widely disseminated knowledge about, say, the nature and weight of intergenerational trauma, it’s much easier than it once was to look into your own family history and see the ways your parents were impacted by their parents and so on.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IuG25h">
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These movies also serve as reminders of how good parenting can easily curdle into recalcitrance if parents aren’t careful. The ways in which one watches out for a toddler become overbearing when watching out for a teenager, but it’s hard for any parent to make that shift in how they see their child. And what’s more, every parent screws up in one way or another, and it’s hard for anyone to admit when they’ve screwed up. Once you add the burden of a parent-child relationship onto that natural, stubborn inclination, bad things can follow.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nCpP2d">
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The aspects involving identity are also important to the recent rise of this subgenre. Queer millennials especially have lived through a rapid shift in social acceptance where queer identities have become much more common in the mainstream, when the opposite was true when we were born. And often, our parents haven’t been as good at making that shift as we might have liked, which has led to conflict. So many of these stories involve queer characters for a reason: Coming out as queer is one of the times when parental acceptance is most desired and most likely not to be offered.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="The Mitchell family tries to outrun the
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machines in their trusty station wagon." src="https://cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/thumbor/QFoMRE7Zi0zvDpT3NEINPU6BqD4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23409540/mitchellsmachines.jpg"/> <cite>Netflix</cite>
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<figcaption>
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<em>The Mitchells vs. the Machines</em> is a madcap road movie with a queer woman hero.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5qYPQJ">
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Even when stories about queer characters seem to feature accepting parents, the subtext can tell a different story. <em>The Mitchells vs. the Machines</em> features a queer woman who has a girlfriend by the film’s end as its hero, a rarity in animated films aimed at families. Ostensibly, the father she struggles to win the acceptance of is totally fine with her attraction to women; his issue is that she’s a would-be filmmaker and a weirdo iconoclast. “Artsy, weirdo iconoclast” is subtextually coded as a queer character, especially in family films (numerous queer women have found solace in <em>Turning Red</em>’s artsy weirdo Mei, for instance), the film’s use of subtext to beef up its queer text, without turning the dad into an outright homophobe, ends up being a neat way for the film to have its “struggles queer kids face” cake while quietly eating it under the table where many cishet people won’t notice.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6SDfs0">
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When I describe this subgenre as a “fantasy,” I worry that it suggests that the very idea of parents apologizing to their kids is fantastical or that all of these stories take place in heightened realities where the rules of science fiction or fantasy are the norm. Instead, I think the fantasy inherent to this genre stems from these stories’ argument that an apology will eventually clear up any degree of parental toxicity. Stories, after all, require some sort of dramatic climax, and in the parental apology fantasy, the emotional climax usually involves that very apology. But in a movie, the story ends shortly after the climax. Not so in reality. And in reality, there are many sins that can’t be so easily solved with an apology.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5YmIAP">
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What I love about <em>Everything Everywhere</em> is how it understands the seductive power and the ultimate emptiness of the fantasy of the apology that fixes everything. It situates the bad behavior of Evelyn on a continuum going all the way from “struggling to accept her daughter as gay” to “destroying her daughter’s mind in the name of science.” One of these two things is worse than the other, but the emotional effect on the child is incredibly devastating either way. And if an apology wouldn’t be enough to fix severe parental abuse, then maybe it won’t be enough to fix seemingly less serious sins as well.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3FDniA">
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The final scene of <em>Everything Everywhere All at Once</em> involves an Evelyn and a Joy who have seen all the multiverse has to offer and chosen to be versions of themselves with very prosaic concerns, because those versions of themselves might be able to move past the worst of what they have done to each other (or, rather, the worst of what Evelyn has done to Joy). Yet as Evelyn attempts to go about her life, the chaos and noise of the multiverse crowds into her mental space. She’s seen the worst she is capable of, and she cannot entirely shut it out. And there is at least one version of herself who was incredibly abusive to her daughter.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KiDfdu">
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<em>Everything Everywhere All at Once</em> is the only movie listed here told from the point of view of the parent, not the child. And that turns out to be the key decision that gives the film an added boost. For as much as Jobu Tupaki might be searching the multiverse for a mom who’s only a little bit shitty, Evelyn is searching herself for a way to make it up to Joy with the minimum amount of work. As the movie ends, she’s accepted Joy’s girlfriend, but she remains overly critical of both younger women.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I90gIy">
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Evelyn can’t shut out the chaos of the multiverse because she is always trapped with the worst things she has been and has done. The fantasy of an apology that will forgive all sins is something the child wants, sure, but it’s something their parent wants even more. And such a thing is impossible to find, no matter how many universes you look for it in.
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>The bloody, fantastical The Northman refuses to be modern</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="A man’s face, up close. He looks dirty and his hair is long and ragged." src="https://cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/thumbor/nV9At4Kfeg2fOlX29uBjRyzNuE0=/192x0:1344x864/1310x983/cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70789588/northmancover.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Alexander Skarsgård in <em>The Northman</em>. | Courtesy of Focus Features
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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That’s why it’s great.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mi4Rk3">
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In the 12th century or thereabouts, a fellow we know today as Saxo Grammaticus sat down to write a history of Denmark, a chronicle of its mythology, history, and conquests. I doubt he knew that his work would inspire generations of adaptations. But, as fate would have it, two of his 16 books told a rollicking tale of Amleth, grandson of a king. Amleth’s father was murdered by his brother, Amleth’s uncle, who then married Amleth’s mother. Amleth feigned madness to escape his uncle’s sword, but eventually, he took his revenge.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TXDrLe">
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Historians believe Saxo Grammaticus’s account of Amleth was itself an adaptation, based on older Icelandic poems. But it would be far from the final retelling of the tale. Most famously, a few centuries later, an English playwright used Amleth’s tale as the inspiration for the story of a Danish prince who avenged his own father’s death at the hand of his uncle-cum-stepfather. He titled it <em>The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark</em>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZfZzS6">
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And now — in a time when medieval legends seem to be increasingly sparking filmmakers’ imaginations — <em>The Northman</em>, a bone-crunching Viking epic from detail-obsessed director <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/10/15/20914097/robert-eggers-lighthouse-
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interview-witch">Robert Eggers</a>, is based on Amleth’s legend as well. (To put it another way: if you feel while watching <em>The Northman</em> like you’re watching a Shakespeare adaptation, you are wrong, but only kind of.)
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</p></li>
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</ul>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt="A Viking, half-naked and covered in blood, stands in the midst of a village." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/EMeHpwnO12u4Zbk6Z-AmnqqTtSA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23407003/northman.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Focus Features</cite></p>
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<figcaption>
|
||
Skarsgård in <em>The Northman.</em>
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qd8I7x">
|
||
A recent <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/04/04/robert-eggerss-historical-visions-go-mainstream">New Yorker profile</a> delves into the meticulous research that Eggers — who was similarly attentive to historical accuracy in his earlier features, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/2/19/11059008/the-witch-review-scary"><em>The Witch</em></a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/5/21/18632743/the-lighthouse-review-robert-pattinson-willem-dafoe-eggers-
|
||
cannes"><em>The Lighthouse</em></a> — engaged in to make <em>The Northman</em>. It stars an extremely ripped Alexander Skarsgård as Amleth alongside Ethan Hawke, Nicole Kidman, Anya Taylor-Joy, Claes Bang, Willem Dafoe, and Björk. Eggers, who co-wrote the film with the Icelandic poet Sjón, had historians of Icelandic and Viking history on speed-dial throughout production. The filmmakers integrated archaeological discoveries and ancient symbology into the film; they recreated the past so carefully that, as the New Yorker put it, this “might be the most accurate Viking movie ever made.” It’s far more intricate than your average layperson, or even your above-average layperson, would probably be able to recognize, even upon a dozen rewatches.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZA6rDO">
|
||
But for all its production-related fidelity to the era — at least as much as is possible for a story that takes place shortly before 930 AD, when Iceland’s parliament was established — <em>The Northman</em>’s story is more of a loose adaptation. That mixing and morphing of old stories, giving mythic characters new characteristics, is something Eggers enjoys; <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/10/15/20914097/robert-eggers-lighthouse-interview-witch">when I talked to him about <em>The Lighthouse</em> in 2019</a>, he noted that “the classical authors did that all the time.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3qa2Ur">
|
||
So <em>The Northman</em>’s Amleth has a life quite different from the one in Saxo Grammaticus’s tale. He is a boy prince recently initiated by his father (Hawke) and their witch-priest (Dafoe) into his royal responsibilities, who sees his uncle Fjölnir (Bang) kill his father and carry away his mother, Queen Gudrún (Kidman). He flees the scene, and an adviser tells the new King Fjölnir that Amleth has drowned. Amleth vows to avenge his father, save his mother, and kill Fjölnir, and his vow turns to a kind of mantra as he grows to adulthood.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F4dlM5">
|
||
As a man, Amleth is a roving Viking, pillaging and murdering his way across Europe, when he catches wind that Fjölnir and Amleth’s family now live in Iceland, Fjölnir having lost his kingdom. Amleth poses as a slave, joining a group of captured Slavs in order to get close to his hated uncle. Among them is a seer (Taylor-Joy); the two plot to take his revenge, fully aware that his fate, to avenge his father no matter the cost, is always lurking.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wzdEkC">
|
||
So in <em>The Northman</em> there is feigning, but not of madness. There are many more twists and turns in Saxo Grammaticus’s account than in the film, including sojourns in England and Scotland and many brushes with death, but there’s no sign of <em>The Northman</em>’s seer. And in the film’s more straightforward telling, fate has other tricks up its sleeve, particularly in the case of Gudrún. <em>The Northman</em>, set in a world where dreams, supernatural forces, and magic are as real as mud and blood, emphasizes within Amleth’s story the Vikings’ deep-seated belief in the inescapability of fate. The core remains familiar, a tale of treachery and bravery and villainy, but this is a new spin on a very old story.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gSlKhc">
|
||
That isn’t to say it’s a modern spin. Thank goodness.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt="Alexander Skarsgard and Anya Taylor-Joy in The Northman." src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/thumbor/MYhAsI6kHgVfyDmK9Ego19sgbZI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23407006/anya.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Focus Features</cite></p>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Fate comes for us all.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vpts9U">
|
||
Amleth is not a modern man dropped into the Vikings’ world; he doesn’t really think or act like us. There’s no sense here of defending his individual honor. Though he talks of reclaiming what’s been taken from him, it’s his sense of being woven into a broader history, a history that needs straightening out, that drives him. He’s the rightful king, but not of some great nation-state; he stands to gain very little if he regains that position. And the few things that seem to make him happy, like his love, are of very little consequence to him in the face of fate. He’s fascinating, but you don’t really want to emulate him. <em>Braveheart</em> this is not.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VSX9wC">
|
||
His choices make little sense to us. They aren’t really supposed to. He isn’t chasing fame or glory or salvation or some kind of patriotic duty, in the manner of the tales of heroism Hollywood movies often tell. His incantation-like drive to avenge, save, and kill turns out to be built on shaky foundations. And in the end, it all feels a little futile. He’s just on the path set out for him by the inexorable will of fate, a force that’s more like gravity than anything we’ve seen.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1pHvJR">
|
||
That means that, among recent films set in medieval eras, <em>The Northman</em> is a lot closer to the weird, spooky, somewhat inexplicable <em>The Green Knight</em> than <em>The Last Duel</em>, which is populated by people who seem like they’re basically us but really regressive and mean. It also makes it a bit more inscrutable and a lot less “satisfying,” if we measure film- watching satisfaction in terms of catharsis. We modern moviegoers want a swell of triumph, even if our hero dies.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AATTrt">
|
||
The marketing team for <em>The Northman </em>seems to know this, spinning up a trailer that makes it feel more like a chilly, wet <em>Gladiator</em> than what it really is: something very weird and gnarly and bombastic and explosive. The <a href="https://preview.redd.it/h8u1lcf3ap681.jpg?auto=webp&s=f6b122ca52d4533399e5fd714352fab935b631eb">poster’s tagline</a> is “Conquer Your Fate,” which is exactly what Amleth doesn’t do. He doesn’t even think he can do it. He is a hero, of a sort, and a tragic one. We’re still telling his story.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sMWZAM">
|
||
If you can extract a modern message from <em>The Northman</em> — that “toxic masculinity” has been destroying men for literal eons, that women have been granted limited agency to push back — it’s really not the point of this retelling of Saxo Grammaticus’s already retold tale. Eggers recreated, with obsessive accuracy, the world of the medievals in order to lower us into a myth that feels primordial and strange, as if it’s tapping into something in the back of our minds that we’ve always known but half forgotten. Today we assume we have agency, that we’re the captains of our own ships. But thousands of years ago, the assumption was different. They might have known something we don’t.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p2VD5O">
|
||
The Northman <em>is playing in theaters.</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8dFvAg">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is fracturing the delicate peace in the Arctic</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/thumbor/Vu0VrAtYFnNISP8-jTDLrWh_0II=/119x0:2819x2025/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70789514/GettyImages_1235114294.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
The Russian “50 Years of Victory” nuclear-powered icebreaker is seen at the North Pole on August 18, 2021. | Ekaterina Anisimova/AFP via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The Arctic was once an oasis of international cooperation. Russia’s invasion brought it to a halt.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HSRhnY">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JnJCtV">
|
||
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is rippling throughout the world, and some of the strongest waves are crashing in the far north.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zOSosf">
|
||
There, Russia’s aggression has led to the suspension of the Arctic Council, the main international forum for cooperation in the Arctic, which Russia, awkwardly, was <a href="https://oaarchive.arctic-
|
||
council.org/bitstream/handle/11374/2646/%d0%90%d1%80%d0%ba%d1%82%d0%b8%d0%ba%d0%b0%20%d0%bf%d1%80%d0%b8%d0%be%d1%80%d0%b8%d1%82%d0%b5%d1%82%d1%8b_%d0%b0%d0%bd%d0%b3%d0%bb_21.06.2021.pdf?sequence=11&isAllowed=y">slated to chair</a> until 2023.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UFy4C4">
|
||
For decades, the Arctic in general — and the council in particular — was something of an oasis from tense and raucous international relations, working on trade, environmental, and scientific issues while carefully eschewing security concerns. The council continued to operate after Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, for instance.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UIcBBs">
|
||
But the latest invasion was a bridge too far, posing “grave impediments to international cooperation,” according to a <a href="https://www.state.gov/joint-statement-on-arctic-council-cooperation-
|
||
following-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/">joint statement</a> from the other seven Arctic Council members in March.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TGnGAC">
|
||
That’s left what had been a unified group of nations adrift in a critical time for the Arctic: Climate change is quickly altering the Arctic landscape, creating new economic opportunities, more headaches for infrastructure on land, and new friction points between countries. The confluence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and climate change stand to alter balance of trade and security in the Arctic irrevocably, and a region that once avoided the troubles of the rest of the world is now being confronted by them.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="sYWTaR">
|
||
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fractured the delicate peace in the Arctic
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZViv3v">
|
||
Despite the recent tensions, countries in the far north have long aspired for “<a href="https://www.thearcticinstitute.org/regional-order-arctic-negotiated-exceptionalism/">Arctic exceptionalism</a>,” the idea that the region would remain immune from political wrangling and conflicts brewing in other parts of the world.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zXLhr3">
|
||
“The Soviet Union is in favor of a radical lowering of the level of military confrontation in the region,” said Soviet leader <a href="https://www.thearcticinstitute.org/regional-order-
|
||
arctic-negotiated-exceptionalism/">Mikhail Gorbachev in a speech in 1987</a>. “Let the North of the globe, the Arctic, become a zone of peace. Let the North Pole be a pole of peace.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="49ISDS">
|
||
Since then, Arctic exceptionalism has largely held, with countries in the region trying to work together and overlook their differences in other areas. In 1996, Arctic nations founded the Arctic Council. Until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it was composed of eight states: Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. The council also includes six permanent groups representing Indigenous people in the Arctic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n8usXD">
|
||
Over the years, the group established agreements on scientific research, protecting fisheries, conducting search and rescue operations, developing environmental rules, and defending the rights of Indigenous people. The council, however, explicitly does not deal with military issues.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l9283d">
|
||
Countries have also pursued their own economic interests in the Arctic outside of the council. Russia, the country with the longest Arctic coastline, has vastly expanded its footprint in the Arctic in recent decades, building roads, airports, power plants, and <a href="https://www.arctictoday.com/russias-
|
||
newest-nuclear-powered-icebreaker-arrives-in-murmansk/">nuclear-powered ice breakers</a>, leaning into fossil fuel extraction to boost its economy. Oil and gas provide <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211115-climate-
|
||
change-can-russia-leave-fossil-fuels-behind">40 percent of Russia’s federal budget</a> and account for 60 percent of its exports. Overall, it generates about 20 percent of its gross domestic product above the Arctic Circle, mainly from oil and gas, but also from <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/3/29/vladimir-putin-visits-arctic-to-reaffirm-
|
||
russias-claim">mining minerals and metals</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R9AZay">
|
||
“Russia is hell-bent on developing Arctic oil and gas resources because it has no other choice,” said <a href="https://www.thearcticinstitute.org/experts/malte-
|
||
humpert/">Malte Humpert</a>, founder and a senior fellow at the Arctic Institute think tank. “Purely from a logistical and technical aspect, what Russia has achieved in the Arctic is really, really impressive.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="CAY329">
|
||
<div class="volume-video" id="volume-placement-332">
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y2rBP7">
|
||
Russia is establishing new shipping routes through the Arctic as well. And to protect all this economic development, Russia’s expanded its military presence in the region, with new bases, hardware, and troops. It’s also conducting <a href="https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/07/russias-most-powerful-bombers-are-training-for-war-in-the-arctic/">long-range bomber flights</a>. “Over the next 30 years, the Arctic will be critical for Russian economic survival,” according to a <a href="https://api.army.mil/e2/c/downloads/2021/03/15/9944046e/regaining-arctic-dominance-us-army-in-the-
|
||
arctic-19-january-2021-unclassified.pdf">2021 US Army strategic plan</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SutU4c">
|
||
“The question has always been, where do legitimate security interests end and where does militarization of the Arctic begin?” Humpert said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bkjwyi">
|
||
That question makes some other countries uneasy, particularly given that they have stakes in the Arctic too. China has become a major customer for Russian fuels from the Arctic and is now the second-largest shipper in the region. The US Army report said that Russia and China could “seek to use military and economic power to gain and maintain access to the region at the expense of US interests.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ia7tYX">
|
||
Russian militarization, and its invasion, have spurred other countries to step up their military activities in the region. NATO forces are now <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-calls-increased-nato-military-activity-arctic-worrying-warns-
|
||
unintended-2022-04-17/">conducting exercises in the Arctic</a>, which Russia has warned could lead to “unintended incidents.” The US has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/27/us/army-alaska-arctic-russia.html">deployed F-35 fighter jets to Alaska</a> and is conducting its own drills in the area.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="Hgjuyv">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3DTQtF">
|
||
At the moment, all that’s happened are drills. But having so much military might in a place that was supposed to be “a zone of peace,” has some experts concerned. “We’re basically back to the Cold War in terms of level of activity,” said <a href="https://poli.ucalgary.ca/profiles/robert-huebert">Robert Huebert</a>, an associate professor of political science at the University of Calgary.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hk7Sfs">
|
||
The Arctic Council was never meant to delve into military matters. But the hope was that the cooperation it fostered in other areas would minimize the chances of aggression. However, the invasion may end up excluding Russia from the Arctic Council for good, according to Huebert.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BHbpcR">
|
||
For one thing, Russian President Vladimir Putin is looking to build a <a href="https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2022/02/russia-and-china-deepen-cooperation-arctic">new polar organization with China</a>. “If in fact he’s successful in doing this, I don’t see how the Russians can be brought back,” Huebert said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BQ1FD2">
|
||
Sweden and Finland are also <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/12/europe/putin-finland-sweden-nato-backfire-cmd-intl/index.html">considering joining NATO</a>, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as a result of Russia’s invasion. That could become a permanent wedge between Arctic nations. The prospect of NATO expanding its membership was a big reason <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/23/22948534/russia-ukraine-war-putin-explosions-invasion-explained">why Russia invaded Ukraine</a> to begin with. “The moment Finland and Sweden join NATO, I just don’t ever see the Russians coming back to the Arctic Council,” Huebert said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/thumbor/knWDe3eqAGmPxGBeRJS6hWwZkiw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23410257/AP21138030656605.jpg"/> <cite>Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP</cite></p>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Russian officers talk to each other at a base called the “Arctic Trefoil” on the island of Alexandra Land, Russia, on May 17, 2021. Once a desolate home mostly to polar bears, Russia’s northernmost military outpost is bristling with missiles and radar and its extended runway can handle all types of aircraft, including nuclear-capable strategic bombers.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<h3 id="w6ccUm">
|
||
Climate change is creating new opportunities and flashpoints in the Arctic
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EJS0hc">
|
||
The Arctic itself is rapidly changing. It’s warming more than twice as fast as the global average, reshaping the icy ocean and the lands around it. Arctic sea ice is <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-
|
||
and-environment/2017/12/12/16767152/arctic-sea-ice-extent-chart">declining at its fastest rate in 1,500 years</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MVrlWI">
|
||
But while the Arctic is warming quickly, the effects are not equal across the region. “One of the things that climate change has really illustrated is that there’s more than one Arctic,” Huebert said. Rising temperatures play out differently depending on whether it’s on Alaskan permafrost, Finnish tundra, or Greenland’s ice sheet. Even within the Arctic, some places are heating up more than others.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZgAPqz">
|
||
Since 1900, the Arctic has warmed on average by <a href="https://www.axios.com/arctic-ocean-atlantic-warming-climate-
|
||
study-e0aaaba3-3f2f-4202-8350-acaa36c2787a.html">2 degrees Celsius</a>, 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, fueled by the heat- trapping gasses from burning fossil fuels. That’s playing out several key ways.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HruoTO">
|
||
<a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/featured-images/warming-waters-shift-fish-communities-northward-arctic">Fish stocks are moving further north</a> as species like cod and redfish seek cold refuge from warming oceans. Many Arctic nations count on fishing, but right now, there is a <a href="https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2021/06/central-
|
||
arctic-ocean-fishing-moratorium-comes-
|
||
effect#:~:text=An%20international%20agreement%20banning%20commercial,countries%2C%20plus%20the%20European%20Union.">moratorium on fishing in the Arctic</a> for at least 15 years. After that, the waters could become a lot more crowded than they are now: “I think the boats will follow eventually if that moratorium is lifted,” said <a href="https://jsis.washington.edu/canada/people/mia-moy-bennett/">Mia Bennett</a>, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Washington.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ewQlEx">
|
||
Shipping has already become easier. Arctic sea ice is not just <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/arctic-sea-ice/">retreating to record lows</a>, but the ice that remains is also often thinner, allowing icebreakers to more readily guide vessels through frigid waters. In 2016, the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/2908883/crystal-serenitys-journey-through-northwest-passage-draws-excitement-climate-
|
||
change-fears/"><em>Crystal Serenity</em></a> became the first cruise ship to transit the Northwest Passage. Warming is also facilitating <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-23/arctic-oil-and-gas-exploration-is-booming-
|
||
despite-climate-fears">offshore oil and gas drilling</a> in the Arctic. The <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3049/fs2008-3049.pdf">US Geological Survey</a> estimated the Arctic holds 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30 percent of undiscovered natural gas.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IOcQeD">
|
||
But warming is also making life more difficult in other ways. “It’s actually getting much trickier on land to build stable terrestrial infrastructure,” Bennett said. Higher temperatures means the permafrost isn’t so permanent. The softer ground is causing roads to buckle and buildings to list. The Pentagon recently warned that <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2022/04/17/climate-change-damaging-us-military-bases-in-the-
|
||
arctic-report-warns/">US military installations</a> in the Arctic are being damaged by the effects of warming. Onshore drillers have even had to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/19/oil-alaska-arctic-global-heating-
|
||
local-cooling">chill the ground under their rigs</a> in order to stabilize them and continue drilling.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EGLeUL">
|
||
Shorter and warmer winters mean the ground doesn’t harden back up as much and rivers don’t freeze over, making it more difficult to maintain ice roads to bring in supplies. Wildfires have also <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/7/24/17607722/wildfires-greece-sweden-arctic-circle-heat-wave">ignited in the Arctic Circle</a> as climate change has fueled heat waves and extended fire seasons.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3jWz9r">
|
||
Russia has faced some of the worst of it. Massive wildfires in Siberia blanketed the country in smoke in recent years. The fires this year are already spreading at an <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/04/20/public-outrage-mounts-as-siberia-forest-
|
||
fires-spread-at-unprecedented-rate-a77419">unprecedented rate</a>. On June 20, 2020, the Russian town of <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arctic-record-siberia-100-degree-heat-climate-change-alarm-bells-un/">Verkhoyansk</a> recorded a temperature of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest temperature ever recorded north of the Arctic Circle.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b6Iz91">
|
||
“All this is largely connected to the climate change — both global and in our country,” <a href="https://tass.com/society/1323113">Putin said in August</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="AV7xkc">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter- tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
A very early start of 2022 wildfire season in Russia, with massive fires raging across vast spaces of Western, Central, Southern and Eastern Siberia. Video below is from Omsk region, Western Siberia <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wildfires2022Russia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#wildfires2022Russia</a> <a href="https://t.co/QYj8o5XQOI">pic.twitter.com/QYj8o5XQOI</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">— The Siberian Times (<span class="citation" data-cites="siberian_times">@siberian_times</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/siberian_times/status/1516454999085109249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2022</a></p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MlgHeu">
|
||
While climate change is an omnipresent factor in the Arctic, Huebert cautioned that it’s not necessarily the “cause” of many of the recent developments in the region. Russia has faced strong economic pressure to exploit more of its natural resources and would likely be expanding its footprint even if the Arctic hadn’t warmed. And despite the changes in the climate seen so far, the Arctic remains a difficult place to work and live. “It’s being definitely facilitated by climate change, it’s making it easier, but it’s not making it easy,” Huebert said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="edz1F0">
|
||
Still, climate change is acting as an accelerant for activity in the region. Those activities, particularly fossil fuel extraction, in turn are speeding up the transformation of the Arctic. And all this new bustle in a once frigid and desolate part of the world, coupled with climate change, could then spark more conflict.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="epyynm">
|
||
The future of the Arctic is on thin ice
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F23hJb">
|
||
Intelligence agencies are now trying to anticipate future disruptions in the Arctic and have identified some potential ignition points.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JgYcW6">
|
||
“We assess that Arctic and non-Arctic states almost certainly will increase their competitive activities as the region becomes more accessible because of warming temperatures and reduced ice,” reads an October 2021 report from the <a href="https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/NIE_Climate_Change_and_National_Security.pdf">National Intelligence Council</a>. “Competition will be largely economic but the risk of miscalculation will increase modestly by 2040 as commercial and military activity grows and opportunities are more contested.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iWMboy">
|
||
One looming concern is how countries will claim territory in the newly revealed Arctic ocean. Countries currently control the water stretching 200 nautical miles from their shorelines as exclusive economic zones.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9cTPGI">
|
||
Claims beyond that maritime border depend on the boundaries of the <a href="https://www.thearcticinstitute.org/continental-shelf-claims-
|
||
arctic-infographic/">continental shelf</a>, where a country’s land mass extends out underwater before dropping off into the deep ocean. Arctic nations have been mapping their shelves underwater with tools like probes and submarines to establish their claims. However, some claims overlap, particularly between Canada, Russia, and Denmark, and with the suspension of the Arctic Council, they may not get resolved.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="Map
|
||
showing Arctic continental shelf claims" src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/thumbor/R84-In0QHJgiV5eSSxnlKONEACY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23409940/Screen_Shot_2022_04_22_at_3.22.05_PM.png"/> <cite>Tolpa Studios/Arctic Institute</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Canada, Denmark, and Russia have overlapping continental shelf claims in the Arctic
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yKIrxC">
|
||
“That simply will be postponed,” Huebert said. If more than one country tries to claim these disputed regions, that could ignite a political — or even military — conflagration.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E5gmIM">
|
||
Friction<strong> </strong>may also build up around shipping. Russia is aiming to expand its shipping capacity to <a href="https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2021/07/moscows-big-plan-trans-arctic-
|
||
shipping-2000-percent-growth-10-years">80 million tons per year</a> by 2024, up from just over 1 million tons today. “[T]he decreasing amount of sea ice will lead to new routes opening in the future and may become an area of contention as Arctic nations attempt to exert control over key sea lanes,” the US Army report warned.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1rBy3i">
|
||
And while Russia’s oil and gas could get hit with sanctions from Europe, it will likely still have plenty of other buyers, namely India and China. Mining and drilling can cost <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=4650">50 to 100 percent more in the Arctic</a> than they cost at lower latitudes, but with global fuel prices rising, there’s ample demand, so maritime traffic will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g0Cn7c">
|
||
On the US side, some are pushing for the country to establish a stronger diplomatic presence in the region, particularly as tensions rise.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1VcpCm">
|
||
“I have directly asked President Joe Biden to consider expanding America’s Arctic leadership across the executive branch, within both the State and Defense Departments, on the National Security Council and beyond,” wrote Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski last year in the <a href="https://afsa.org/arctic-exceptionalism">Foreign Service Journal</a>. “The United States is one of the only Arctic countries without an Arctic ambassador — a diplomatic post that even many non-Arctic countries have.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hstxvt">
|
||
Efforts to address climate change stand to suffer the greatest effects of Arctic instability. As the fastest warming region, it’s a critical area for scientific research. Changes in the Arctic can alter weather patterns around the world. And the <a href="https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/arctic-
|
||
meteorology/arctic-people.html">4 million people living in the Arctic Circle</a> are on the front lines of some of the most radical shifts in ecosystems, from animal extinctions to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK562756/">emerging diseases</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DuY5Hv">
|
||
Without collaboration at the North Pole, the world loses a window into a region with consequences for the whole planet, according to Humpert. “If we cannot cooperate in the Arctic with regards to climate change and the challenges that brings, then where can we?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia stripped of hosting figure skating Grand Prix event</strong> - Russia’s military ally Belarus has also been widely excluded</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL 2022 | If we need to make changes, we will do that: Jayawardene after MI's repeated batting failures</strong> - Skipper Rohit Sharma has also not not been at his best while veteran Kieron Pollard has also under delivered</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith cleared of racism allegations</strong> - Smith, current head coach Mark Boucher and former skipper AB de Villiers, among others were accused of engaging in racial discrimination</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL 2022: KL Rahul fined Rs 24 lakh for second over rate offence</strong> - It was Rahul's second over rate offence of the season. He was fined Rs 12 lakh for the first offence.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tough Road ahead for CSK, PBKS</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Congress to constitute action group for 2024 elections, hold ‘Chintan Shivir’ in Udaipur</strong> - The Congress has been struggling to evolve its strategy for upcoming general and Assembly elections</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I&B Ministry gets blocked 16 more YouTube news channels</strong> - The action has been taken using emergency powers under the IT Rules.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Colombo’s pain could be south Indian ports’ gain</strong> - Shipping firms should be enticed quickly, tapping into the concerns of exporters and importers, say experts</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Zoo keeping</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Watch | People in Kerala recreate Mammootty’s ‘chambiko’ moment</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>French election result: Macron defeats Le Pen and vows to unite divided France</strong> - He triumphs over his far-right rival and becomes the first president to win re-election in 20 years.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>French election 2022: What happened on the night?</strong> - Jubilant supporters greet Macron at the Eiffel Tower, while there’s disappointment for those with Le Pen.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: US wants to see a weakened Russia</strong> - US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said he hoped to see the Russian military depleted in Ukraine.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Janez Jansa: Slovenia votes out pro-Trump populist</strong> - Janez Jansa was defeated by the Freedom Movement, a new liberal party launched just four months ago.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>‘Milestone’ as Covid-19 cases in Irish hospitals fall below 500</strong> - Minister of Health Stephen Donnelly says all of the data is “trending in the right direction”.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Portable monitors tested—which puny panels are worth it?</strong> - We tested three monitors across different price ranges to see what stands out. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1841912">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Shanghai’s plan to reboot the supply chain will hit workers the hardest</strong> - Workers may end up trading being locked down at home for locked down at work. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1849961">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The weekend’s best deals: Google Nest devices, Nintendo gift cards, and more</strong> - Dealmaster also has 1TB microSD cards, Roombas, and Apple’s MacBook Pro. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1849957">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hackers are exploiting 0-days more than ever</strong> - Mandiant and Google both reported a spike in 0-day bugs in 2021. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1850040">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Drones have transformed blood delivery in Rwanda</strong> - A new analysis shows how using drones for delivery is faster than driving. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1849973">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>2 prostitutes standing on a corner.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
2 prostitutes standing on the corner and one of them says “we gonna make a lot of money tonight i can smell the dick in the air”…and the second one replied “sorry i burped”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Sun_G0d_Nika"> /u/Sun_G0d_Nika </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ubazwe/2_prostitutes_standing_on_a_corner/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ubazwe/2_prostitutes_standing_on_a_corner/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>A married couple went to the hospital to have their baby delivered.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Upon their arrival, the doctor said he had invented a new machine that would transfer a portion of the mother’s labor pain to the father. He asked if they were willing to try it out. They were both very much in favor of it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The doctor set the pain transfer to 10% for starters, explaining that even 10% was probably more pain than the father had ever experienced before. But as the labor progressed, the husband felt fine and asked the doctor to go ahead and kick it up a notch. The doctor then adjusted the machine to 20% pain transfer. The husband was still feeling fine.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The doctor checked the husband’s blood pressure and was amazed at how well he was doing. At this point they decided to try for 50%. The husband continued to feel quite well. Since the pain transfer was obviously helping out the wife considerably, the husband encouraged the doctor to transfer ALL the pain to him. The wife delivered a healthy baby with virtually no pain. She and her husband were ecstatic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
When they got home, the mailman was dead on the porch.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/AnimePrimeMinister"> /u/AnimePrimeMinister </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ubgyqp/a_married_couple_went_to_the_hospital_to_have/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ubgyqp/a_married_couple_went_to_the_hospital_to_have/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Grandpa tells his grandson, “All you kids do these days is play video games.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“When I was your age”, he continued, “my buddies and I went to Paris; we went to the Moulin Rouge and I fucked a dancer on stage, we didn’t pay for our drinks all night and when the bartender complained we pissed on him”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The grandson thinks his grandfather is right. He goes to Paris and the Moulin Rouge with his friends. He comes back three days later with a broken arm and covered in bruises.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The grandfather asks “What the hell happened to you?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The grandson says “I did just like you did. I went to the Moulin Rouge with my friends; I tried to fuck a dancer on stage and piss on the bartender - but they beat the shit out of me and stole all the cash in my wallet!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The grandfather asks “Well who the hell did you go with boy?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The grandson says “My friends from school, who did you go with?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The grandfather says “Well… the 2nd SS Panzer Division”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MudakMudakov"> /u/MudakMudakov </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/uawnk8/grandpa_tells_his_grandson_all_you_kids_do_these/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/uawnk8/grandpa_tells_his_grandson_all_you_kids_do_these/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>I’m American, and I’m sick of people saying America is “the stupidest country in the world”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Personally, I think Europe is the stupidest country in the world
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON
|
||
-->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MEforgotUSERNAME"> /u/MEforgotUSERNAME </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ub1njr/im_american_and_im_sick_of_people_saying_america/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ub1njr/im_american_and_im_sick_of_people_saying_america/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>A lady comes home from her doctors appointment grinning from ear to ear</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Her husband asks, “Why are you so happy?” The wife says, “The doctor told me that for a forty-five year old woman, I have the breasts of a eighteen year old.” “Oh yeah?” quipped her husband, “What did he say about your forty-five year old ass?” She said, “Your name never came up in the conversation.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON
|
||
-->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Prudent_Ratio1827"> /u/Prudent_Ratio1827 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ub93c2/a_lady_comes_home_from_her_doctors_appointment/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ub93c2/a_lady_comes_home_from_her_doctors_appointment/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
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