Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 26th Birthday, Lucas Norton!
We have spent some time with Lucas, Rebecca, and their family today, but before we get to that part of our story; let’s cover all of our adventures since our last report.
We had fun at Naomi’s with her parents and our best friends from dinnertime through to our co-ed naps. The teens in the house did most of the cooking for dinner and the clean-up after we enjoyed that meal once Liz got home from the salon. She had a busy day thanks to the big wedding of the weekend; and appreciated the break from the house work once she was home. We – the teens – went on to help with the evening entertainment that included some live music; we all watched a movie; and then the parents in the house went to bed while the teens watched a second movie and enjoyed the bonus teen chat and co-ed cuddle time that was worth the trade-off with less sleep.
Our Sunday began at dawn with Tai Chi in the back yard; we did the cooking and cleaning for breakfast; and then we had fun at church with the service and Sunday school. Rain moved into the area late this morning, so we got a bit damp on the walk home from church and got a ride from mom to the lab after lunch. Ehlana and I spent the afternoon playing in her lab or my archives, and we used some time phasing to get more done today, but we also needed to be home early-enough to get ready for the late buffet at the Inn and Lucas’ birthday dinner party. He had it there so that the Stone family could get in on the fun; and we went along with Naomi and Aiden to help Sophia and Aaron with next-gen kid control. We got to spend some time with Cassie and Michael too, since they helped with those same kids and have Luke and Clarissa with them for the night too; so we had a blast with both the babysitting and the awesome food. We weren’t really in on the roasting for Lucas, but his family and friends were happy to take care of that without our help; so they all had fun too.
We came home from the Inn when Cassie and Michael took their overnight guests home and Lucas and Rebecca were set free for their kid-free night. Dad had his weekend work done already before dinner, but Ehlana and I did some charity work with Mom in the office and she did a Magi lesson with us too before we came upstairs for bath or Jacuzzi time. A time phase helped with getting all of that work done too, so we’re tired; but it isn’t too-late for some quality down time too before we get back to our academic adventures in the morning. We do want to get all of the sleep we can, though, so let’s wrap this up with the world news of the weekend.
First up, let’s mention a defense pact deal that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have announced and that may have been sped up after the Israeli attack on Qatar against the Hamas negotiators. This deal could definitely be a sign of changing politics in the region; since it appears that Saudi Arabia is no-longer confident in the security deal it has had with the United States. In addition to this new pact with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia has begun diversifying its’ military weapons – including buying missiles from China, and since Pakistan and China have good relations; it doesn’t take much to see where these new deals could lead. There are stories about other new diplomacy with other Middle East countries after that attack on Qatar; so Saudi Arabia is far from the only country in the region getting nervous over Israel’s ongoing expansion of fighting in the region with no regard for the sovereignty of their neighbors.
Sticking with the news from that region, Canada and Australia have joined the ranks of the countries recognizing Palestine as a State, and while that might be considered good news; it means nothing if Israel is still allowed to continue their genocide of the Palestinian people. Their attacks on Gaza are continuing; the people there are starving; and there is no excuse for the rest of the world to stand by and allow it to happen. Protests are growing against Israel around the world, but until the leaders force an end to the atrocities; the Israeli armed forces will continue to get away with their crimes.
The hypocrisy of the western leaders in particular is stunning when you compare their reactions to Gaza and the plight of the Palestinians to their never-ending outrage to the Ukraine war and the big, bad Russians. The top news from that conflict is the latest round of claims of Russian airspace violations. Last week, it was drone attacks on Poland that didn’t cause any damage and wasn’t an attack at all, and now this weekend; we have Estonia claiming airspace violations due to a flight of Russian fighter jets over international waters near one of their Baltic islands – a flight that occurs regularly between Russian air bases in the region. Add in threats from Lithuania to have NATO start shooting down Russian jets and it seems as though those little Baltic countries really want to start World War Three. That just proves to us that their leaders are insane, since it would be their own countries that would be among the first to be decimated by expanding the Ukraine conflict into the rest of Europe – assuming that they didn’t just instigate a nuclear war that would destroy everything.
We’re sure that there are political reasons for these claims of provocations; and that has everything to do with how the fighting is actually going on in Ukraine. The western claims continue to be that Russia is losing and can’t hold on much longer – the same claim that has been made for more than three years now; and the only proof offered is that Russia isn’t rapidly gaining ground in Ukraine. That’s true, but then our leaders either don’t understand or pretend not to know what Russia is actually doing in the conflict – destroying the Ukrainian armed forces. News flash – they don’t want to gain more territory; since it is far more effective to destroy an army by controlling the battlefield. They are quite happy to stay in the same places; draw Ukrainian troops into cauldrons; and then wipe them out or wait them out until they have no choice but to surrender. The Ukrainian army is shrinking a bit every day; they can’t replace the troops they are losing to death, injury, capture, and desertion; and it is only a matter of time before they hit some level when they can’t defend all of the front lines anymore and collapse. We don’t know what Russia will do after that, but suspect that their plan might be to move as far west as the Dnieper River and maybe to Odessa and along the sea coast to land-lock Ukraine and then leave what is left of Ukraine to either remain as a country or be absorbed by their neighbors.
Whatever happens with Ukraine from here, let’s get back to the point that the western leaders are hypocrites – not to mention that Russia did have ample provocation to join the fight for the Russians in the Donbas region. Both of these conflicts could have been avoided. In Ukraine, all it would have taken was for their leaders and the west to abide by the Minsk accords instead of never implementing them at all and fighting the civil war in the Donbas region. The war in Gaza wouldn’t have happened if Israel had only treated the Palestinians with respect instead of basically turning Gaza and the West Bank into open-air prisons and keeping their people on the edge of starvation for decades. The plan for a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine has been around for more than fifty years now, but Israel’s leaders have fought it every step of the way; and the atrocities they’ve perpetrated since the late nineteen-forties are far-worse than anything the Palestinians have done in retaliation. Both sides bear responsibility for past horrors, but most of the current problems lie at the feet of Israel’s leaders and armed forces while the majority of the Palestinians are innocent victims.
That’s enough ranting for tonight. We’re ready to crash and nap now; so we will!
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
