Remembering the Ides of March (and why)

 Today is the 15th of March, day of the Ides of March, the anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar. I commemorate it every year on this blog, sometimes humorously, sometimes not. This year, I want to place this commemoration in a special light. I think the Ides of March taught us two very important lessons: 1)even the most powerful man in the world is vulnerable, if he made himself enough enemies and 2)we must be wary about the power vacuum created in the aftermaths of a coup d'état. Caesar's enemies succeeded murdering him, but it was Caesar's heirs that took power eventually. Nowadays, with the rather volatile situation we are living, I think we need to keep this in mind. So yes. Beware the Ides of March all right.

Le prix d'une conscience

Bon je ne veux déprimer personne sur la guerre en Ukraine et sur l'agression russe, mais j'ai lu cet article d'opinion dans la grosse Presse, intitulé L'Occident doit intervenir militairement. Par Rémi Landry, lieutenant-colonel des Forces armées canadiennes à la retraite. Rien que ça. Sans dire qu'il a raison (je ne suis vraiment pas un expert), je trouve que ses arguments ont de la valeur. Et il y a une voix désagréable qui me dit qu'on ne va pas toujours en guerre quand on le veut, quand on est prêt, quand c'est le moment opportun. Parfois on doit le faire. Même si les conséquences peuvent être catastrophiques. Il suffit que l'alternative soit pire encore. Et c'est ça qui m'a agacé avec le texte: sans trouver ses arguments infaillibles, ils sont quand même très solides. Des fois, le prix d'une conscience peut être très élevé. Phoque.

War and a Prima Donna

In the turmoil surrounding the Russian invasionn of Ukraine, you might have not noticed this piece of news. It took me a while to comment on it, but I thought it was important that I do, being an opera afficionado. Anyway, so Russian soprano Anna Netrebko will not be performing for the Metropolitan Opera because of her refusal to condemn her country's actions. From what I understand, she will not be performing for the time being. And I don't know what you think of it, but I'm glad and I think the Met took the right decision. I know of Netrebko's status in the operatic world, but I have not been following her career and she is not my favourite soprano. In fact, she'd ranks fairly low on my list, if I had a list. Something about her voice. But whatever her skills as an artist, I never liked how in the past she showed no reservation about backing up Putin as if she was a friend of his regime. I know it is difficult for an artist to be the citizen of a country ran by a despot, I know Putin is not the kind of person you want to cross. But she could have been discreet in the past instead of showing support for his warmongering. She did not. Also, her post on Facebook regarding the whole affair, trying to dismiss it as personal political opinions that should remain private, was nothing short of disgusting. She came off very much like the prima donna she is. Arrogant, capricious, self-entitled and self-centered. She may be a great artist, but she proved to be a very small person.

One word about Ukraine

So Putin and Russia are at war with Ukraine. I am not a specialist of international relations, war or geopolitics anywhere, let alone in that oart of the world. And I try to keep this blog cheerful and positive as much as I can. But yes, I try to follow the news, although it depresses me. And it can strike pretty close to home, in a way: one of my colleagues is Polish and now living in Poland and I know they are very worried that the conflict may end up touching them. As in: they might have to make a run for it. She already packed one suitcase of essentials. Absolutely chilling.