They concluded in a meta-analysis published this week in the journalPersonality and Social Psychologythat time spent relaxing (resting, going to the cinema, reading, going to restaurants, and so on) is just as important as working or participating in enriching activities like learning a language or practising a sport.

People who were able to fully relax during leisure activities tended tohave a higher sense of wellbeing, and were less likely to suffer from depression and anxiety.

The study authors say the scientific literature on the subject has largely been targeted at examining how we can achieve our goals most efficiently.

It's time for a rethink, says Katharina Bernecker, researcher in motivational psychology at the University of Zurich.

The pursuit of hedonic and long-term goals needn't be in conflict with one another. Our research shows that both are important and can complement each other in achieving wellbeing and good health. It is important to find the right balance in everyday life.

This topic particularly resonates in the current moment, when many people across the world are working from home. Thinking of the work you still need to do can lead to more distracting thoughts at home, making you less able to rest, adds Bernecker.

So what can you do to enjoy your free time and relax without feeling guilty? While more research is needed, the study suggested a few possibilities. Carving out specific moments for idle or leisure time and setting time limits in order to more completely separate them from other activities is a start towards allowing ourselves real enjoyment without guilt.

View original post here:

Why researchers are encouraging us to embrace hedonism - TimesLIVE

All-inclusive resorts remain a favorite of Caribbean travelers, and maybe even more so in the current age of travel: once you arrive safely at your resort you can just stay put, with all meals, entertainment and activities provided on-site a self-contained experience that, right now is often better both for travelers and for local communities. And adults-only resorts offer that extra degree of privacy and seclusion.

Here are more than 20 adults-only all-inclusive resorts you can visit right now, from Cancun to Jamaica to Saint Lucia. (Weve included reference to the appropriate entry requirements for each destination mentioned).

Jamaica (Travel requirements)

Couples Resorts: All four Couples resorts in Jamaica are currently welcoming guests, including those from the U.S. That includes Couples Tower Isle and Couples San Souci in Ocho Rios, and Couples Negril and Couples Swept Away in Negril.

Sandals Resorts: The Sandals chain of all-inclusive, adults-only resorts has opened three of its six properties in Jamaica: Sandals Montego Bay, Sandals Royal Caribbean (also in Montego Bay), and Sandals Negril. Sandals Ochi is currently scheduled to reopen on Sept. 1, while visitors will have to wait until at least Oct. 1 to visit Sandals South Coast and Oct. 8 to stay at Sandals Royal Plantation.

Sunset at the Palms: This boutique all-inclusive resort in Negril is ideal for social distancing with its standalone treehouse accommodations, expansive gardens for outdoor relaxation, and private beach club.

Hedonism II: The worlds most (in)famous clothing-optional resort is better than ever with newly renovated rooms and public areas, and while some might understandably balk at jumping into a hot tub with a bunch of naked strangers in the midst of a pandemic, Hedo is adhering to the social-distancing, mask, and other COVID-19 rules just like other Jamaican resorts.

Read the rest here:

From Cancun to Jamaica, Adults-Only Resorts That Are Open Right Now - Caribbean Journal

The next instalment in Geoff Dyer's A-Z of travel: a festival that has no merchandise, showers or litter

B can only be for Black Rock City, home of the annual Burning Man festival (which, like everything else, is not happening this year). I first went in 1999 when very few Europeans made the trip to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

My girlfriend and I were hoping for a week-long desert rave; we came back as raving evangelists for a festival where nothing was for sale, where there was no main stage (no featured acts of any kind, in fact), no showers and, at the end, no litter (unlike Glastonbury which, despite its Eden-in-Albion mythos, always wound up looking like a New-Age rubbish dump in the process of formation).

So what was there? Everything! But that everything was made up entirely of what the festival-goers brought to the party, as gifts. Since the majority of those people were from the Bay Area, it was also a glimpse of a technological frontier. Every night the temporary city was lit up like a glimpse of a possible future.

Ditto its citizens in amazing El Wire costumes that turned them into pulsing neon, sci-fi figures. Our own personal lights consisted of a dozen glow-sticks between us. We were hopelessly ill-prepared in some ways and, in others, we were in our element along with everything else it was a desert rave, after all.

Between that first expedition and 2005 I missed just two years. I then stopped going until 2018. During that 13-year intermission I had no regrets. Wherever I happened to be while the festival was in progress I was happy to find places where, in exchange for money, someone provided food and lovely clean shelter. These places are called restaurants and hotels.

I returned in 2018 for multiple reasons, not the least of which was the death, in April, of co-founder Larry Harvey. Harvey was that distinctly American type, the can-do visionary. Given the life-changing impact of the festival on so many people, his avoidance of any kind of cult of personality was a considerable achievement in itself. Still, the fact of his passing meant that 2018 was bound to be an emotionally charged year. And so it proved.

I knew that the festival had grown and grown (from a population of about 25,000 in 1999 to 70,000) and had heard (from people, naturally, whod never been) that it had become too commercial. Well, it was certainly bigger but in some ways it was better than ever and the core values remained intact: radical self-reliance, no retail, no spectators, leave no trace.

Yes, there were lots more people but, in the scorching expanse of the desert, it never felt crowded except in circumstances where one wanted it to feel crowded: at some of the huge sound systems, for example. The single greatest improvement was in the art, much of which was way more beautiful and inventive than any of the inflated dross served up by the respected likes of Anish Kapoor in the past 10 years. In all sorts of ways, in fact,

Burning Man has become probably the most culturally influential gathering on the planet its just that even people who feel the effects of that influence do not know where it has come from. And how about the lights? Well, think of how your bike lights have improved in the same period and youll get a sense, in miniature, of how Burning Man now sets the darkness reeling in ways that were inconceivable even by its own unimaginably high standards in 1999.

Remember also that any changes that have occurred at Burning Man have unfolded in the sublime emptiness of a desert which has remained unchanged for millions of years. That combination of the transient and eternal is crucial.

As had happened on previous occasions I spent as much time in 2018 moved to tears by the profundity of the experience as I did either weeping with laughter or just blissed-out by hedonism and pleasure. The brief interlude, when the Mans arms were raised shortly before the Burn on Saturday, offered a vision of all the religion I am ever going to need in this life (which is also, of course, the only life).

There is nowhere that I am more pleased to have gone, nothing that I am happier to have done. So my return to Black Rock was the opposite of disillusioning. On the contrary, I believed again, absolutely. But I knew, absolutely, that I would never be going back again.

Read more:

Ill always feel in my element at this neon-lit rave in the Nevada desert - Telegraph.co.uk

My forced stay in Europe after March shows in Paris, courtesy of COVID-19 pandemic, has over time become a blessing in disguise. After the exile in London, I joined my parents who have a house in a small town on the Adriatic coast. Given that the member states of the European Union opened relatively quickly and efficiently, this gave me space to explore Europe, but also my own country, Croatia. I deeply believe that some good needs to be found in every evil so I, like many of my colleagues, for the first time in a while really knocked hard on my reset button.

Last week, I took my two-year-old godson, codenamed Dennis The Menace, and decided to explore a region of Croatia I hadnt visited in a good number of years. My mission was to re-explore Istria and its city Rovinj that stands like a pearl of the richest region on the border with Italy and Slovenia. You dont go to a city like Rovinj if you want noisy nightclubs and parties that require a significant dose of ibuprofen the day after. Rovinj, like a good part of Istria, is a city to enjoy. Im talking about the good, old hedonistic enjoyment that is, unfortunately, dying out in the Mediterranean. The dolce vita from legendary Italian films with the allure of it all created by legendary Fellini and his many contemporaries is hard to find today.

The Mediterranean as it once was is an endangered species. The Cote dAzur has been taken over by megalomaniac yachts and thousands of influencers while my once favorite destinations like Capri and Portofino have gone wild with prices over the last decade. The goal of this research mission of mine was not to find the most elite destination but the one that is the most original and therefore unique. The essence of hedonism is not crazy parties and glamorous outings, but above all enjoying the seemingly simplest needs: food and drink. In this sense, Rovinj has proven to be an ideal solution because you can experience the real Istria thanks to breathtaking gourmet adventures. Thats what I decided to do during my extended weekend. Given the anxiety about the future of the fashion world and the chronic desire for fashion shows that did not take place, my best solution was to enjoy Istria while babysitting a rather wild but adorable toddler.

The choice for my home away from home fell on Grand Hotel Park Rovinj for several reasons; first of all, its a unique luxury hotel that was opened only a year ago and has imposed itself as the ultimate destination for one of a kind carefree enjoyment. There is also an unforgettable view of Rovinj, which offers one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world.

Another very important factor were the pools that served me as a real training ground for my godson. Grand Hotel Park consists of as many as three pools, of which the most impressive for the Instagram universe is infinite with a view of the city center, while the best for kids swimming lessons is the smallest one with a depth of only 45 cm.

Rovinj is located on the west coast of Istria and was first mentioned in the 7th century with the assumption that it originated in the period from 3rd to the 5th century. It is a town that lives by the sea, so almost every household has its own small boat that it uses for fishing or tourism.

The view of Rovinj looks like a postcard image from the 50s or 60s, so it irresistibly resembles a true dolce vita movie set.

The area of the town market is located in the very center of Rovinj, and all the fruits and vegetables come from small family farms. In addition to the classic offer typical of small Mediterranean places, you can also find homemade liqueurs, numerous honey versions and many truffle products for which Istria is famous. Actually, in Istria there is something called the Bermuda truffle triangle between cities of Pazin, Buje, and Buzet. Without a doubt, there you can find the best truffles in this part of Europe.

Although such scenes in Rovinj are common, it is actually unique to see them because as you pass through the center you witness distinctive forms of shipbuilding and repair of old wooden boats whose secrets are passed down from generation to generation.

There is only one thing better than the morning smell of the sea that can wake you up on the hotel balcony: numerous autochthonous plants that are carefully planted on almost all levels of Grand Hotel Park. We woke up every morning to the scents of lavender and rosemary. All this contributes to the overall experience where all your senses are constantly conquered.

Istria is world-famous for its Malvasia wine. It is a typical variety of white wine for the Mediterranean, which has sweet, seductive notes with a refreshing effect all day (and night) long. But my full attention was on the Hugo cocktail which consists of prosecco, elderflower syrup, soda water, and mint leaves. Hugo became my regular partner-in-crime during my stay in Rovinj.

Now time for food porn! After a whole series of tastings, I chose the dishes that won me over with their simplicity and innovation. On the second day of the visit, as an appetizer at the Bitinada restaurant, I chose tuna tartar with a touch of honey, served with berries. And it was divine! The restaurant itself is located near the ACI Marina overlooking Rovinj.

For the main course, the choice fell on seared sesame rolled tuna loin with cauliflower mousse. Basically these are simple ingredients but the trick is that they have to be local and fresh.

Brasserie Adriatic in the very center of old Rovinj thrilled me with a traditional handmade pasta called pljukanci served with shrimps, truffles, and asparagus. The highlight of the evening was definitely the sea bass fillet with celery cream, capers, and malvasia wine sauce. Once again, these are exclusively local ingredients while the dishes are literally prepared in front of you.

First evening was reserved for a haute cuisine experience at the Cap Aureo Signature restaurant. In this case, it is a religious experience for all who enjoy the magic of food. The set of four signature dishes lasted a full two hours while each dish was accompanied by a different wine. We started with year-old pickled beetroot with homemade yogurt.

There are chips and there are haute cuisine chips. This was one epic course. Basically crispy aged potato skin with sea fennel pesto as a dipping sauce!

Shopping is a kind of professional deformation of all of us who are actively involved in fashion and although during holidays we promise ourselves that we will ignore the shops, it never works for us. Lungomare Plaza is a danger zone even for those who avoid shopping. In this carefully designed area of stores, you can find everything: from Isabel Marant to Ralph Lauren from Zimmermann to Audemars Piquet. However, my favorite has become The Park Concept Store, which offers rare perfumes, designer clothes, and lifestyle brands such as Marshall and Dr. Dre.

Perhaps the greatest surprise was my rediscovery of the perfumes from the Roman house Profvmvm Roma. This is not a well-known brand, but rather carefully created niche perfumes that are not easy to come across. My favorite is definitely Dambrosia. It smells like the elixir of pear, almond, fig, and sandalwood.

What is great about the whole concept of Lungomare Plaza is the mix of Croatian designer brands with world-famous names. There are two Croatian brands that should definitely be singled out. Sheriff & Cherry is a playful brand that has already conquered the international market. It is about materials, fabrics, and shapes that immediately evoke a feeling of carelessness unique to holidays think, terry cloth, animal prints, loose silhouettes, color blocking, and symbols of navigation.

The second is the Croatian pret-a-porter brand AMarie, which is adorned with sophisticated but romantic minimalism. I highly admire the proportions and fluidity of the materials that make the whole design almost timeless.

P.S. The great thing about Croatia is that US citizens just have to show a negative COVID test not older than 48 hours (starting from the time of taking the swab until arrival at the border crossing). Which means there is no nightmare of mandatory 14 days isolation.

ADDRESS BOOK:

Grand Hotel Park Rovinj

Smareglijeva ulica 1A, 52210, Rovinj, Croatia

Rovinj Green Market

Ulica Giueseppe Garibaldi, 52210, Rovinj, Croatia

Bitinada Resturant

Setaliste Vijeca Europe 1 2, 52210, Rovinj, Croatia

Brasserie Adriatic

Obala Pina Budicina 16, 52210, Rovinj, Croatia

Cap Aureo Signature Restaurant

Grand Hotel Park Rovinj

Lungomare Plaza

Setaliste Vijeca Europe, 52210, Rovinj, Croatia

Grota Bar

Valdibora bb, 52210, Rovinj

Mediterraneo Bar

Ulica Sv. Kriza 24, 52210, Rovinj

Excerpt from:

Finding Home Away From Home In The City of Rovinj, Croatia - vmagazine.com

In psychology, prevailing opinion holds that self-discipline helps us prioritise our long-term objectives over momentary pleasures.

Planning for the future and setting long-term goals helps us to gain self-confidence and make progress in life, which usually leads to more happiness.

These are important parameters of emotional well-being, except when they become a source of anxiety.

Researchers at the Universities of Zurich, Switzerland, and Radboud, The Netherlands, created a questionnaire to measure respondents capacity for hedonism, or their ability to focus on their immediate needs and enjoy short-term pleasures, to examine how this related to their well-being.

They concluded in a meta-analysis published in late July (2020) in the journal Personality and Social Psychology that time spent relaxing (resting, going to the cinema, reading, going to restaurants etc) is just as important as working or participating in enriching activities like learning a language or practising a sport.

People who were able to fully relax during leisure activities tended to have a higher sense of wellbeing, and were less likely to suffer from depression and anxiety.

The study authors say the scientific literature on the subject has largely been targeted at examining how we can achieve our goals most efficiently.

Its time for a rethink, says University of Zurich motivational psychology researcher Katharina Bernecker.

The pursuit of hedonic and long-term goals neednt be in conflict with one another.

Our research shows that both are important and can complement each other in achieving wellbeing and good health.

It is important to find the right balance in everyday life.

This topic particularly resonates in the current moment, when many people across the world are working from home.

Thinking of the work you still need to do can lead to more distracting thoughts at home, making you less able to rest, adds Bernecker.

So what can you do to enjoy your free time and relax without feeling guilty?

While more research is needed, the study suggested a few possibilities.

Carving out specific moments for idle or leisure time and setting time limits in order to more completely separate them from other activities is a start towards allowing ourselves real enjoyment without guilt. AFP Relaxnews

Read more here:

Feel the need to be on the go all the time? Here's permission to relax - The Star Online

Opposite the demonstrators who are pleading with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to vacate his residence immediately, there is often a small counter-demonstration: a group of supporters, mainly activists from the Jerusalem Likud branch, who usually number only a few dozen. They wave Israeli flags, rain down a shower of Mahal (Likud) ballots, and sing songs of praise to the first lady.

Totally absent from these demonstrations is a group that was a key factor in Netanyahus rise, and is now choosing to sit on the fence because this may turn out to be his downfall: Religious Zionism and the ideological right are simply not to be found on Balfour Street.

Where are the right-wing masses who knew how to fill Rabin Square when they cared to? Where is the countrys most skilled, effective apparatus for organizing demonstrations? Where are the masses who voted for the Netanyahu camp three times? These are the smallest right-wing demonstrations ever. Its true that counting demonstrators is so 2011, but something is happening at Balfour. To be more precise, something isnt happening.

The kippa wearers have always turned out to demonstrate for ideas and values, not for a specific person. The same is true of both Elor Azaria and Netanyahu. Admirer Dr. Avishay Ben Haim claimed at the start of Netanyahus trial that the entire right is sitting in the dock with him. But in the test of the street, the kippa wearers are not in the dock. Who in the religious Zionist movement can identify with Netayahus affairs? With the hedonism, the consignments of lavish gifts, the dubious financial transactions, the shady deals whose only purpose is to trample rivals and obtain favorable media coverage?

The Netanyahus hedonism doesnt prevent the right-wing mainstream from voting for Likud again and again. Many Israelis dont consider his relationships with the media or with certain billionaires a criminal matter, are pleased with his performance and identify with his criticism of the media. But its a long way from that to a sick and blind personality cult.

The mass abandonment is only a symptom of the sense of disgust percolating in the ideological right with the behavior of Netanyahu, his advisers and his admirers. Its not only his botched handling of the coronavirus, its also the realization that Netanyahu is willing to risk the welfare of the public and the country for the sake of his own, and that Likud under his leadership is sometimes run like a chaotic kindergarten, playing recklessly with the idea of a fourth election.

Netanyahus hubris towards his electorate is gradually coming to haunt him. Maybe breaking every possible promise, giving half of the government to the other camp in return for preserving his rule, and subordinating the interests of the right for the sake of his battles and those of his family do have an effect after all.

When Netanyahu is ready to move heaven and earth in the Knesset so that Labors Merav Michaeli will appoint judges and not, God forbid, Yaminas Ayelet Shaked, that filters down. When Netanyahu gets an opportunity to influence media outlets (Case 4000), and decides to defame Naftali Bennetts wife and his father, or undermines the handling of the coronavirus crisis as long as Bennett doesnt get credit, its clear theres a difference between the right and Bibi-ism.

Its too early to say how this will affect the next election. Netanyahu is still a world-renowned expert at attracting the votes of religious Zionists. MKs like Bennett and Yoaz Hendel will have to be very smart to succeed where they have had difficulties until now. But Netanyahus winning card in 2015 was the clear media mobilization against him. The atmosphere of one last push and hes out helped innumerable right-wingers to swallow their disgust and cast an anti-media protest ballot. Five years later, the media is the same media and the mobilization is the same mobilization but does the combination of all the circumstances mean that this time it will be different?

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Where are the religious Zionists in defense of Netanyahu? - Haaretz.com

Ruins of the Bologna station west wing after the bombing. Beppe Briguglio, Patrizia Pulga, Medardo Pedrini, Marco Vaccari http://www.stragi.it/ CC BY-SA 3.0

On the sweltering morning of August 2, 1980, a powerful explosion blew apart the central train station in Bologna, Italy, killing 85 people and wounding 200 more. To this day, it is uncertain exactly who is behind the deadliest terrorist attack in modern Italian history. It is clear that right-wing extremists including neo-fascists, Italian secret service agents and rogue outlaw Freemasons carried out the attack. What is less clear is whether, or to what extent, the bombing was part of a clandestine, Europe-wide right-wing state terror operation.

Years of Lead

The period from the late 1960s through the 1980s was one of social and political turmoil in Italy known as the anni di piombo, or years of lead. Terrorism from both the far right and far left was commonplace during these deadly decades, in which some 12,000 attacks claimed hundreds of lives. Until Bologna, the most infamous of these was the kidnapping and murder of former prime minister Aldo Moro by the communist Red Brigades in 1978.

Bologna, capital of the prosperous Emilia-Romagna region in northeastern Italy, was and remains a hotbed of political activity. Home to the worlds oldest university, the city is known by locals as Bologna la dotta, or Bologna the Learned. It is also called Bologna la rossa, or Bologna the Red, as the city has long been a stronghold of the Communist Party. Home to some of the worlds finest food and wine and brimming with cultural treasures, the city has been described as the perfect combination of hedonism and communism.

Still, there was bloodshed in Bologna during those Years of Lead. After police shot and killed Francesco Lorusso, a 24-year-old far-left militant, on March 11, 1977, the city erupted in street clashes that lasted for days. The Italian government sent armored combat vehicles into the university quarter and other hot spots to quash what Francesco Cossiga, the interior minister, called guerrilla warfare.

On June 27, 1980, Itavia Flight 870, a DC-9 passenger jet en route from Bologna to Palermo in Sicily, crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea near the island of Ustica, killing all 81 passengers and crew on board. Like the Bologna station bombing, the cause and the culprit behind the disaster remain shrouded in much mystery. At the time, Prime Minister Francesco Cossiga said the plane was accidentally shot down by French fighter jets engaged in a dogfight with Libyan warplanes over the Mediterranean Sea. However, a 1994 report concluded that a terrorist bomb had brought down the plane. This solved nothing, for in 2013 Italys top criminal court affirmed the stray missile theory. Regardless of who is responsible for the Ustica massacre, the tragedy weighed heavily on Bolognas public consciousness during the summer of 1980, the nadir of the Years of Lead.

Ticking Time Bomb

It was sun, sand and sea, not death and destruction, that were on the minds of many of the thousands of travelers who packed into Bolognas main train station, the Stazione di Bologna Centrale, on that hot morning of August 2, 1980. Summer holidays were just beginning and many of the travelers that day were students on their way to the Adriatic seashore. As the temperature soared, the air-conditioned second-class waiting room quickly filled to capacity. No one noticed the suitcase someone slipped into the crowded room, right up against a load-bearing wall to maximize death and destruction. No one knew that packed inside were 23 kilograms (50 pounds) of military-grade explosives timed to go off at 10:25 am.

Tonino Braccia was a 19-year-old policeman waiting for a train to Rome, where he was to attend his cousins wedding. It was a really beautiful day, he recalled. Scorching hot. Braccia said he was feeling really good that morning, as his commander had granted him three days special leave to travel to the capital. I was smoking a cigarette and I went into the waiting room but there wasnt anywhere to sit, it was completely full, he told the BBC. So I leaned against the door and looked outside.

Bloodbath

Malcolm Quantrill, a 44-year-old university professor from London, had just reached the ticket window in the booking hall when he suddenly saw a flash of yellow light. I did not hear any explosion, just the crash of masonry falling and the sound of breaking glass as the ticket window disintegrated, he said.

Braccia doesnt remember the explosion either. I have tried and tried to remember the moment of the explosion but I really cant remember anything, even the noise, he said. Probably because I was too near it just two meters away. The next thing he remembers is waking up under a train as water from a firefighters hose dripped down on his face. Most of his clothes had been blown off.

I heard people screaming and shouting, recalled Braccia. There were people running. An acrid smell. My mouth tasted bitter and horrible. There was smelly dust everywhere. Everything was yellow. Blood was pouring out of my mouth, my eyes, my ears, my nose. He would lose one of his eyes, as well as the use of one of his arms. He is also partially deaf. The young policeman would spend two weeks in an induced coma and undergo 24 operations over the coming years.

Giuseppe Rosa, a bus driver parked outside the station, will never forget the blast. Rosa said he heard an enormous bang and then part of the roof lifted into the air and fell down on itself. A massive, gaping hole had been blown in the center of the station, the twisted steel girders a testament to the sheer power of the bomb. Rubble was strewn about. From the chaos Quantrill, the British professor, emerged, shocked and disoriented. There was blood all over me. Everyone was running, shouting and screaming.

Amid the smoldering debris, weeping rescue workers collected blasted bodies and bits of bodies. Bologna residents joined travelers in offering first aid to injured victims and in digging dead and wounded people from the rubble. Buses, taxis and private cars rushed victims to hospital.

The bombing of Bologna Centrale the strage di Bologna to Italians remains the most devastating terrorist attack in Italian history. In the history of modern terror attacks up to that time, only the 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem by Zionist militants led by future Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin killed more people. The final death toll in Bologna was 85, with 200 others injured. The youngest to die that day was a 3-year-old girl. The oldest victim was 86 years old.

Strategy of Tension

At first, Italian government and police officials attributed to blast to an accidental explosion, perhaps of an old boiler. Authorities soon received calls from people on both the far right and far left claiming responsibility for the attack. However, it was soon apparent that this was no communist plot. Rather, it was the result of not-so-secret collusion between state officials, fascist terrorists and agents provocateurs, the notorious strategia della tensione, or Strategy of Tension. This unholy alliance of shadowy right-wing forces including corrupt politicians, secret service officers, fascist militants, clergymen and rogue Freemasons would stop at nothing to keep communists from power.

The Strategy of Tension, under which violence and chaos were encouraged rather than suppressed, was ultimately meant to terrorize Italians into voting for the oligarchic Christian Democrats instead of the Italian Communist Party (PCI). The policy was backed by the United States, which had a decades-long history of meddling in Italian politics. The Central Intelligence Agency funneled tens of millions of dollars to anti-communist parties to influence the outcome of numerous Italian elections beginning in the late 1940s. The CIA also engaged in forgery and other disinformation in a bid to discredit the popular PCI.

The Bologna massacre happened just three hours before a court in the city started the trial of a group of right-wing terrorists, including the notorious fascist Mario Tuti, for the August 4, 1974 bombing of the Italicus Express train from Rome to Brenner, an attack that killed 12 innocent people. Investigators quickly zeroed in on militant fascists, attributing the Bologna bombing to the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei (NAR), a neo-fascist terrorist group led by 21-year-old Francesca Mambro and her future husband Valerio Fioravanti, who was 22 at the time. The Bologna prosecutor issued 28 arrest warrants for members of NAR and Terza Posizione, another far-right group.

Terror on Trial

Trials began in March 1987. Prosecutors asserted the terrorists were hoping to spark a revolt that would end with Italy returning to fascist dictatorship, under which it had been ruled as recently as 35 years earlier. Among the defendants were fascist financier Licio Gelli, who once served as a liaison between Rome and Nazi Germany and who was grand master of the banned P2 Masonic Lodge, Pietro Musumeci, a former army general and deputy director of military secret service who was a leading member of P2 and two former professional footballers. It was a veritable Whos Who of the Italian far right.

In July 1988, four people Mambro, Fioravanti, Massimiliano Fachini and Sergio Picciafuoco were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Two others were acquitted. However, the four murder convictions were overturned on appeal in 1992. A new trial began the following year; all of the defendants were again sentenced to life behind bars, except for Fachini, who was acquitted. Lesser sentences for crimes including forming an armed gang, subversive association, obstruction and defamation were also handed down to many of the defendants.

Mambro, who was paroled in 2013, maintains her innocence to this day, although she and Fioravanti have accepted moral responsibility for NAR terror attacks. Speaking about the Bologna bombing in a 1997 interview, she said she remembers the day perfectly.

I heard about it on the news and I thought, what kind of people could do a thing like that? Mambro said. So wanton. So indiscriminate. I wanted to cry.

Operation Gladio?

In 1984, convicted fascist Vincenzo Vinciguerra testified to Italian investigators that he had been recruited for a 1972 car bombing in Peteano as part of Operation Gladio Latin for sword which was launched by the Italian secret service in the 1950s as a stay-behind guerrilla resistance operation in the event of a Soviet invasion or communist takeover of NATO countries. There exists in Italy a secret force parallel to the armed forces, composed of civilians and military men, in an anti-Soviet capacity, to organize a resistance on Italian soil against a Russian army, Vinciguerra testified. Lacking a Soviet military invasion, which might not happen, [they] took up the task, on NATOs behalf, of preventing a slip to the left in the political balance of the country. This they did, with the assistance of the official secret services and the political and military forces.

Vinciguerras testimony is corroborated by other prominent Italian officials. Gen. Vito Miceli, former head of military intelligence, testified that the incriminated organization was formed under a secret agreement with the United States and within the framework of NATO. Former defense minister Paulo Taviani told a magistrate that during his time in office, the Italian secret services were bossed and financed by CIA agents, while Giandelio Maletti, a former secret service general, said the CIA gave its tacit approval to a series of bombings in Italy in the 1970s to sow instability and keep communists from taking power. Former secret service chief Gen. Gerardo Serravalle said that as Gladio evolved into a terrorist operation, representatives of the CIA were always present at meetings, although the Americans did not have voting rights. Serravalle also said that Gladio agents trained a British military base. A parliamentary terrorism committee also revealed that the US funded a training base for stay behind operators in Germany.

Although the CIA denied involvement in Gladio, one of the agencys former directors, William Colby, detailed in his memoir how the CIA was involved in stay-behind operations in Scandinavian countries. Declassified CIA documents also prove that the US helped set up German stay-behind networks, which involved former Nazis including two SS colonels, Hans Rues and Walter Kopp, who the agency described as an unreconstructed Nazi.

Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti publicly acknowledged the existence of Gladio in 1990. The Christian Democrat said that 127 weapons caches had been dismantled and claimed that Gladio was not involved in any of the bombings during the Years of Lead. Andreotti also said that in 1964 Italys military had joined the Allied Clandestine Committee, which was created seven years earlier by the US, France, Belgium and Greece, and was in charge of directing Gladio operations. That same year the European Parliament condemned NATO and the US for their role in Gladio terrorism and for jeopardizing the democratic structures of European nations.

Agonizing Uncertainty

While it cannot be said with any great certainty that the Bologna bombing was a Gladio operation, the attacks certainly bears the hallmarks of Operation Gladio. Explosives experts determined that the blast was caused by retrieved military explosives of the same sort used in the 1972 Peteano car bombing. On the 20th anniversary of the bombing, Andreotti gave an interview in which he said that there were forces in what would today be called the deep state who would stop at nothing to defeat communism. In the Italian secret services, and in parallel apparatus, there was a conviction that they were involved in a Holy War, that they had been given a sacred mission, the former prime minister said. And that anything that passed as anti-communist was legitimate and praiseworthy.

Forty years later, the terror trail of August 2, 1980 refuses to go cold. In January 2020, Gilberto Cavallini, a 67-year-old former NAR member, was convicted of providing logistical support for the bombing and sentenced to life in prison. Many of those accused or convicted in connection with the massacre maintain their innocence, and Bologna and the world are no closer to knowing for sure who is behind the attack.

For some victims, the uncertainty is agonizing. I cant accept that they took my life away from me, said Braccia, the former policeman. I had such a zest for life and they destroyed it. We dont know the truth, and that is the difficulty. We want the truth. Who really did this?

There is a clock on the wall outside the main entrance to Bologna Centrale. It is permanently stopped at 10:25. Like the unrepaired blast crater and memorial wall in the station hall, it is an eternal reminder of the horrors of that infernal August morning 40 years ago, and of questions that may never be fully answered.

Link:

The Bologna Massacre, the 'Strategy of Tension' and Operation Gladio - CounterPunch

Have you asked yourself What year is this? How is this happening? Its impossible. You struggle to make sense of it all and the more you see how the sausage gets made in America, the less appetite you have for it.

Im gonna go out on a limb.

Im a geek so I see metaphors in popular culture.

A majority of Americans for the first time, are starting to realize the truth. Born into bondage in a prison you cant see or touch until rudely awakened by the perfect storm of the global pandemic, economic tailspin, and abuse of power overseen by an inept despot who let the cat out of the bag.

The predicament we find ourselves in today in the grip of a fatal error that threatens to crash the entire system unless something intervenes to stop it is much like the predicament of the films.

And, that film holds the key to a better future.

The Film:

The premise that the real world was actually a future dystopian nightmare where human beings were merely replaceable batteries to support a system that they were totally dependent upon. While 95% of humanity lived oblivious to their servitude within an artificial construct of the titular Matrix.

Our Reality:

Today, we all support and are totally dependent upon a hyper-capitalist system, fueled by rampant consumerism, for-profit prisons and war, governed by an elite that holds the very people that support their unchecked hedonism in utter disdain.

The Film:

Very few knew the truth. Those were Morpheus and the Zionists waring against the machine system. But, those freedom fighters were themselves also duped into thinking their actions were outside the system. When in fact, the resistance was only another layer of control for humanity.

Our Reality:

I see a stark parallel.

The sleeping masses, the resistance all operating by design as the 1% continue to pull everyones strings.

Much like the machine overlords within the fictional world of The Matrix. Imwary of all these victories because they are all cosmetic changes.

Another MLK boulevard in an over-policed black community does nothing to address Kings Poor Peoples March that was to kick off the economic changes that his nonviolent marches did to usher in the political changes he championed before King was silenced by an assassins bullet.

I ask you, how does retiring Aunt Jemima or Uncle Bens troubling archaic black stereotypical imaging address the MASSIVE systemic headwinds of White Supremacy black and brown Americans face on a daily basis?

Its VERY easy for the corporate lobby to pat itself on the back for meager acquiescence.

-Painting Black Lives Matter on Fifth Ave. outside Trump Tower.

-Pulling down Confederate statuary.

-Changing the racist names of Football teams that should have been erased years ago.

For example. When Vanity Fair can trumpet they have the first Black Photographer in their history?

Folks can applaud, and representation does indeed mater.

What about the CEO?

The Editorial Staff?

Is their ANY black woman on their masthead?

It feels like wining without an actual prize. These are distractions, light without heat.

Only providing the illusion of progress without the cost of tangible progressive movement to dismantle The System.

The Film:

Neo meets Morpheus, who offers him a choice between two pills; red to reveal the truth about the Matrix, and blue to return him to his former life.- This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill: the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill: you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

After Neo swallows the red pill, his reality falls apart, and he awakens in a liquid-filled pod among countless others attached to an elaborate electrical system.

He is retrieved and brought aboard Morpheuss hovercraft, the Nebuchadnezzar. In a former iteration of the Matrix, the machines wished to impose a perfect world on humans in an attempt to keep people content, so that they would remain completely submissive to machines, both consciously and subconsciously, but humans were not easy to make content.

Our Reality:

As in the Matrix, most people are so dependent upon the current system, they will fight to defend it. And depending upon your political views, both left and right claim they are the truth-tellers.

In the film as in life, people are their own agents of deceit, and so in order for them to know the truth, they must choose to openly pursue truth. Complicated by the fact that bias is rampant among media and most consumers dont take the time to source what they intake or repeat.

Red pill has become a popular phrase among cyberculture and signifies a free-thinking attitude, and a waking up from a normal life of sloth and ignorance.

Red pills prefer the truth, no matter how gritty and painful it may be.

A decade ago, truthiness and fact-checker ratings like Four Pinocchios and Pants on Fire werent part of the political vernacular.

Disagreements over policy have always existedbut disagreements over basic facts have not.

Cognitive ease actually plays a huge role in our everyday lives.

The more you hear it, the easier it is for your brain to accept. This echo chamber is self-perpetuating.

It explains why the partisan divide about basic science is a chasm.

Because Trump wants it this way. He works the refs and reaps the reward of the doubt.

If 1% drop in GDP is a recession.6.5% drop in GDP The Great Recession and a15% drop in GDP in 1929 The Great Depression. Whats 33% drop in GDP if not a Fatal Error?

One of the best examples of cognitive ease exploitation is Trumps propaganda surrounding masks.

Its well documented how blatantly misleading The President was about the severity and or response to containing the epidemic while we had the chance.

The politicization of basic science has made many conservatives resistant to new thinking about the current severity of the pandemic.

Having been told its like the flu reinforced by the phenomenon of cognitive ease and political polarization of masks, has many ignoring basic science and medical recommendations to wear masks and social distance.

As you read this, that COVID burns throughout 33 states unchecked is a direct consequence of Trumps failure.

MAGA purists who repeatedly emphasize Trumps views about our current dilemma, like FOX NEWS helped morphed his dwindling followers from right-wing Trump apologists into by all intents and purposes a militant death cult.

Determined to thwart any common sense methods just to own the libs.

The Film:

In the end,The Matrix is rebooted, and the Architect encounters the Oracle in a park.

They agree that the peace will last as long as it can and that those humans who so desire it will be offered the opportunity to leave the Matrix.

When questioned about Neos fate, the Oracle tells Sati that she thinks they will see Neo again as Sati reveals she created a beautiful sunrise over the horizon in Neos honor.

Seraph, the Oracles Guardian, asks the Oracle if she knew this would happen. She replies that she did not know, but she believed.

Our Reality:

Real systemic change will be traumatic for the oppressed, more so for the oppressors.

Since its apparent even the smallest act of self-preservation and stopping the spread of disease masks and social distancing cause the privileged to lash out in irrational public displays.

Meanwhile, most people at the bottom and the middle are hungry for REAL change.

No more so than the essential workers or disposable batteries depending on if you are among the elite.

A total of 25 states have statutes preempting local minimum wage laws. To date, 12 cities and counties in six states (Alabama, Iowa, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, and Wisconsin) have approved local minimum wage laws only to see them invalidated by state statute, harming hundreds of thousands of workers in the process, many of whom face high levels of poverty.

If you get paid $15 dollars an hour 40 hours a week thats $600 before taxes. I hear complaints about folks staying on unemployment. Perhaps if folks were paid a living wage theyd go back to work?

Remember, these are the people who are now seen as #essentialworkers the heroes who cannot work from home like you or I can.

Many of these heroes cant afford to shop at the shops and businesses they work for and dont have health insurance in a pandemic? Thats a travesty of the highest order. The wheels come off if they dont show up.

Its attainable clearly today when so much we thought were essentials turn out to be luxuries, and whats essential is invisible to the eye.

When the federal government allows a deadly virus to burn through the country unchecked but can mobilize secret police to terrorize the populace to protect buildings? We clearly see the agenda of those who weve trusted to ensure our safety.

The Elite are empty, corrupt, without wisdom, leadership, compassion, or self-sacrifice for the greater good. The least of us, everyday people are our societal lifelines.

So why do we need the Elites?

Throughout the first film, Morpheus (played by Laurence Fishburne) is trying to change Neos (Keanu Reeves) limiting beliefs about the Matrix and himself being The One The Oracle told Neo Being The One is like being in love, no one can tell you youre in love, youve got to feel it .Balls to Bones.

There will be plenty who will scoff at the idea that there is even a problem to be solved furthermore creating a better America by telling the truth about history and scraping the lies we tell ourselves about The American Dream.

Dismantling White Supremacy and employing new ideas for systemic change.

Apologizing for Slavery (we never officially have as a nation) and paying reparations to the descendants of American Slavery.

Admitting the truth about entrenched class inequities and the impediment poverty places on real economic growth for the majority of people inAmerican society.

Theres no shortage of Good Trouble we can get into this instant.

Rep. John Lewis called for beyond the grave on his New York Times Op-Ed published the day of his funeral.

I reckon John Lewis was our Morpheus.

The demands of The Movement For Black Lives isnt outrageous by any means. These demands help everyone, not only Black people. I dare say its the way toward a more perfect union.

The Elites are visibly shaken, increasingly desperate and will never be more vulnerable.

Take a look at an Axios HBO interview with Trump. A new low. Frost/Nixon mixed with This Is Spinal Tap. We must act to benefit everyday people. All of us, the disposables. I believe now that we find ourselves with our collective backs against the wall, we can work together to make real, societal change this time around instead of just talking about it.

Most will say, Nobodys ever done this before! My answer- Thats why itll work coppertop!

***

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'The Matrix Has You...' - The Good Men Project

Peter Kavanagh flew to Copenhagen from his home in Brighton for a long weekend in May 2014. I went to a street party for the Eurovision song contest and then discovered there was an afterparty going on, he says. He made his way to Freetown Christiania, an area of the city that was taken over by hippies in the 1960s and now exists as an international commune. I was really excited, as its somewhere Ive always wanted to go.

The party was in full swing when he spotted Franck Thierry across the room. Franck was living in Copenhagen at the time, and had been attending another house party with friends before the club night. He spoke to me in a French accent, and I went weak at the knees, laughs Peter. Franck noticed his partners dancing. I loved Peters whole look. We spent the next three hours chatting.

As the sun began to rise, Franck invited Peter back to his home in Copenhagen. I was sitting on the back of his bike and got my own personal tour of Christiania, says Peter. It was so romantic. As well as the instant attraction, the pair had plenty in common. We both realised we loved gardening, so we chatted about that for ages, says Franck. He didnt go back to his Airbnb until the very end of the weekend.

As soon as Peter left for the airport, Franck made plans to come and visit him in Brighton. When I landed in Gatwick, he texted me to say he was coming the next weekend. I was really excited as otherwise getting home could have been a real downer.

When Franck arrived, he fell in love with Brighton. We had this incredible weekend together. The sun was shining the whole time. At the time, Franck was working as a freelance massage therapist, while Peter had flexible hours as the owner of a hairdressing salon. It meant they could see each other regularly throughout the summer. I think the cheap flights from easyJet played a big part in our relationship, jokes Franck.

After several months of fun and hedonism, they started finding it harder to say goodbye at the end of their weekends together. In the autumn, Franck moved to Brighton. I am originally French, but had been living in Copenhagen for 34 years, he says. It was quite a drastic move and I think some of my clients thought I was mad. He has never regretted it. The couple found an allotment together and Franck began working in Peters salon. All the clients love it when Franck is in charge of doing the hair washing because of his massage skills, says Peter.

After splitting from his first civil partner after a few years (Denmark was the first country in the world to legalise civil partnerships, in 1989) and losing his second to Aids in the 90s, Franck had no plans to marry again. Peter changed my mind, though he laughs. He insisted.

The couple got married in Brighton in August 2016, carrying flowers theyd picked from their allotment. There were just a few friends there. We both wore our gardening clothes, as its what we always wear, says Peter. They are now happily settled with their dog. During lockdown, they spent all their time gardening and have now managed to reopen their hairdressing salon.

Franck always gives me confidence, says Peter. Hes so attentive, charming and romantic. Hes also really sexy. Franck says they bonded through music and a shared philosophy on life. He believes they also have a rare spiritual connection. Sometimes you just really understand someone. Im old enough to know that doesnt happen very often. I think our personalities complement each other well.

Peter jokes that Franck tells him to calm down quite a lot, but agrees their differences balance each other out. From that first night when we were cycling through Copenhagen at sunrise there was something special. Were really lucky to have found each other.

Want to share your story? Tell us a little about you, your partner and how you got together by filling in the form here.

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How we met: 'He spoke to me in a French accent, and I went weak at the knees' - The Guardian

The COVID-19 pandemic will ensure summer 2020 is a washout for most. With international travel restrictions limiting holidays abroad, many people in the UK have opted to stay somewhere closer to home. As a result, there have been remarkable increases in the number of visitors to beaches across the UK. Thousands flocked to a beach in Bournemouth on a single day in June, causing the local council to declare a major incident.

But far greater disruptions to our summer holidays lie ahead. About half of all tourism takes place in coastal areas, but with global warming set to raise sea levels by somewhere around two metres over the next 80 years, how will our relationship with the coast change?

Will we commemorate the old coastal boundaries with forlorn sojourns above the sunken land? Will we recreate the beach in the heart of our cities? Or will we preserve the drowned coast as a nature reserve a quiet memorial to what was lost?

We imagined three different versions of what a beach holiday might look like as climate change eclipses the coastline we once knew.

Sea level rise may seem a distant threat, but resorts and other tourism operators are already considering how they can stay near the coast and operate above the water. On the Caribbean island of Barbuda, resort huts have been built on stilts.

The aim is to keep tourism viable in the same place it has thrived for decades, while minimising damage from higher water levels.

Seasteading is one answer to this conundrum. The idea to build settlements on platforms at sea originated with the hope of creating more sustainable and equal societies away from land. The technology is still being developed, while researchers consider the engineering, legal and business implications.

New research suggests that coastal flooding could threaten up to 20% of global GDP by 2100, with much of it tied to the tourism industry. Tourism could instead become a new source of income for seasteads. Given the dwindling coastal space for tourists, creating new spaces out at sea might be a way to meet the problem of sea level rise head on.

The urban beach is a concept thats growing in popularity worldwide. It involves creating sandy areas in towns and cities by importing sand onto concrete. There may also be artificial pools and fairground rides. Each one has different features. There are family-friendly options, and those catered to adults, with cocktail bars or restaurants.

The opportunities for hedonism are still there, but instead of travelling miles to enjoy it, its right on your doorstep. Less travel means less carbon emissions, and urban beaches might help ease pressure on the real coast.

Perhaps the most famous urban beach is the Paris Plage. Since its opening in 2002, Parisians and summer tourists have been able to lounge under palm trees on the banks of the river Seine. It cost over two million Euros to create and has since been extended due to its popularity.

The Nottingham Riviera is an attempt to recreate this success in the UK. The landlocked beach in the middle of the city has sand and water, amusement arcades and beach bars.

The urban beach is becoming an industry in itself, with companies specialising in fake beaches that can be built as seasonal fixtures or permanent areas. If reaching the coast becomes too arduous in the future, these examples could provide everything needed for a seaside experience without the sea.

Perhaps the most pragmatic solution is to accept nature taking its course and relinquish control as rising seas reshape the terrain. Allowing the new coastline to rewild could create millions of acres of new wetlands habitats that are very good at storing carbon and that have deteriorated by about 50% since 1900.

Examples from Hong Kong, Spain, and Wallasea Island in the UK demonstrate how turning heavily managed coastal areas into new habitats can create new opportunities for wildlife and people.

Read more: Rising seas: to keep humans safe, let nature shape the coast

So does the Mexican island, Mayakoba. Its unique mangrove forests were damaged and polluted by the building of numerous hotel chains on the seafront, but today, only 10% of these hotels remain on the coast.

The local community abandoned their high-density model of tourism and protected the dunes and mangroves, which were being eroded by excessive development. New canal networks were dug to create an estuary, attracting birds and amphibians. This new wetland was designated as a nature reserve and visitors arrived to enjoy a new kind of tourist experience.

Visitor capacity and beach activities were reduced to ensure sensitive coastal environments could remain protected. But allowing the sea back into reclaimed coastal territory allowed a more sustainable model of tourism to flourish one which could be replicated elsewhere as sea levels rise.

But before that can happen, our views of the coast must change. Humans once saw land and sea as a continuation of one another, rather than two discrete entities. Reviving this concept could allow us to navigate a future in which once certain borders have blurred beyond recognition.

Original post:

Sea level rise: three visions of a future summer holiday at the coast - The Conversation UK