Issue 16
World
Rail Force One. Ukrainian Trains that haul presidents, prime ministers, and other diplomats from Poland to Kyiv.
Gulf Stream
- At its weakest in 1,600 years. Slowed by over 16%. This popular article discussed the consequences if it shuts down. There are tons of academic papers on this. Years of them. Source.
Europe
From Eva: Interesting story from Eva about Nazi monuments, Swiss Nazi sympathizers, and historical amnesia. All very engaging. Thanks Eva for the seed that starts the thread!
- Nazi monument at Swiss cemetery sparks controversy: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65099516
- She also mentioned Swiss Nazi Gold which prompted me to do as little research as possible and check Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_gold
- A little more digging on my favorite non-fiction site, PBS, turns up this, which looks like an excellent Frontline that is now on my watch list:
- The Sinister Face of ‘Neutrality’: The Role of Swiss Financial Institutions in the Plunder of European Jewry: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/nazis/readings/sinister.html
Venice:
I love Venice. I’ve been several times and will go back several times more. Just don’t go when the cruise ships are visiting (eg. go in the winter). Nothing better than getting lost in the alley’s of Venice. But Venice has been historically at risk from a sinking city, high tides, and even more at risk from climate change. Luckily there was an engineering intervention and it actually works.
- https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/01/world/europe/venice-mose-flooding.html
- There’s a really excellent NOVA with the details on this project: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/saving-venice/
Ukraine War
Since I barely, and luckily, missed the Vietnam War I’ve been interested in military history and activity. It started by exploring some early Vietnam War books by vets, like DAU by Ed Dodge (Dau means pain), and Chicken Hawk by Robert Mason a first-hand account of a chopper pilot. I wanted to see what I had just missed. Horrible, but fascinating. From there, all kinds of military histories interested me. I think battlefield maps are fascinating. So, the current war in Ukraine comes up as a topic here. Particularly the geography of it.
- Interactive current map of the state of the war, updated daily: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/36a7f6a6f5a9448496de641cf64bd375
- Interactive timelapse story map, updated monthly: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/733fe90805894bfc8562d90b106aa895
- Source and written assessment: https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-april-6-2023
Crimea
- Interesting article and maps about trenching Crimea.