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MJ Goes Looking for What She Doesn't Want to Find



Has she gone too far?




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Does the Withdrawal of Capacity Help?

As industry prices fall, and companies’ fortunes decline with the resultant squeeze on their margins, some companies, especially the leaders, seek to withdraw capacity from the market.  The leading companies expect the capacity withdrawal to do two things: redress the imbalance between capacity and demand; and raise prices to more attractive levels because of this better balance.  In practice, the withdrawal of capacity often fails to achieve either of these objectives.

Whenever a leader in an industry reduces its capacity to force price increases, it must consider how competitors will respond.  In many, if not most, cases low-cost competitors expand their capacity to make up for the withdrawal of capacity by the industry leaders.  The end result often is even more capacity available in a marketplace and the same or lower prices available for the industry leaders.

After several quarters of improving profits, the airline industry is again slipping into hostile market conditions as rising fuel prices reduce margins and force higher prices.  Higher prices limit demand growth.  In response to the margin squeeze these tougher times bring to the industry, the industry leaders are restricting the growth in their capacity and, in some cases, reducing the capacity they offer in the domestic U.S. market.  The problem is that several of the industry followers are not going along.

United Continental Holdings and AMR Corporation’s American Airlines have both posted losses for the most recent quarter.  Both of these industry leaders plan to reduce their domestic capacity as a result.  They will be reducing seats available flying into and out of selected domestic markets. 

The pattern of leaders reducing capacity and followers adding it seems to be holding in the current airline industry.  Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Alaska Air Group derive most of their revenues in the domestic U.S. market.  Each of these companies reported profits in the most recent quarter.  This profitability of the three follower airline competitors indicates that their costs are lower than are the costs of the two legacy airlines that have reported losses, United Continental and American Airlines.  Southwest plans to increase its capacity by 5% to 6% in 2011.  JetBlue plans to add 6% to 8% this year, while Alaska Air plans to grow its capacity by 9%. 

The industry followers are able to add capacity in the face of capacity withdrawal by their larger industry-leading competitors because they have these lower costs.  The lower costs enable the follower companies to make a profit while their larger competitors suffer losses.  In the long run, the only way that the industry-leading competitors will be able to stop the expansion of these follower competitors will be to match or beat their lower cost structures





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What does it mean to "wane philosophical"?

"To what extent is science a strong-link problem?", Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week, 10/30/2024 [emphasis added]: Here’s a fascinating and worrying news story in Science: a top US researcher apparently falsified a lot of images (at least) in papers that helped get experimental drugs on the market — papers that were published in top […]



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Why does Jupiter spin so fast?

The gas giant is the Solar System's largest planet. Here's why it's also the fastest-spinning planet.




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Does Jupiter protect Earth from asteroids and comets?

Jupiter has often been thought to protect the inner Solar System from asteroids and comets, but new research has shown that the giant planet may actually increase the risk of an impact.




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Why NASA does space science and not the private sector

With all the advances in private space exploration, why do taxpayers still pay for space science missions?




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Why the “habitable zone” doesn’t always mean habitable

The habitable zone is a useful concept in astrobiology, but it can sometimes paint an over-simplified picture of planetary habitability.




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does this suck

Today on Married To The Sea: does this suck


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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One Item Doesn't Quite Fit Here

When I need to replace a swing on my swing set, I don't often come to the conclusion that a helicopter chassis would be better suited for the task, but hey, I'm not everybody I guess.





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Doesn't Matter Had Sex




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How Does Google+ Social Signals Effect Websites and Posting’s?

Okay, recently there has been some discussion surrounding the Google Authorship and Publisher topic. So I figured what a great time to cover another article for the topic since it has been part of an update being done for some websites I am working on. First off, there has been some more talk about the […]




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SabersPro Vader lightsaber review: "An elegant replica that doesn't come cheap"

Is this ode to the Dark Lord of the Sith most impressive or does it choke on its own aspirations?




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She’s cute, but what if she would say: “Quantum Mechanics doesn’t make sense to me intuitively.”?

This is one of those portraits generated by Midjourney, not that of a real person.Like many people I’m impressed with the facility of Midjourney to create portraits of photogenic people. But how attractive or engaging would a person Iike this seem to be to you if you are someone, as I am, who struggled to...




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When your cat does this...




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Old age doesn’t come alone a case study on the impact of the ageing population on a Scottish local authority’s care at home service.

This research was undertaken by Stuart Fordyce as part of an MSc in Integrated Service Improvement (Health and Social Care) at the University of Edinburgh. It considers the impact of a rapidly ageing population on a Scottish local authority and its attempt to shift the focus to a more contemporary service provision. The aim is to explore what factors are inhibiting the effectiveness of enablement. Using a case study approach the research explored whether: (i) enablement is wholly effective in addressing the increase in current service demands; (ii) the approach adopted by the local authority is undermined as services are now over extended and are attempting to address competing objectives, and; (iii) the paradigmatic change across the sector in the future will materialise if organisations cannot create the capacity and infrastructure to enable change to occur




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‘I’ve been thinking’: How does completing life story work affect people with dementia?

This is a paper produced as part of the PROP2 (Practitioner Research: Outcomes and Partnership) programme, a partnership between the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) at the University of Edinburgh and IRISS that was about health and social care in Scotland. This paper was written by iain Houston from Alzeimer Scotland who participated in the PROP2 programme. What this research paper explores: An explorative case study investigating how completing a life story project affected a person with dementia.




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TV Doesn’t Have Space For Fatness

Television distorts, mocks and marginalizes fat people. Fat characters are reduced to caricatures whose stories and identities aren’t developed and don’t matter. In one study by Tzoutzou et al., all 36 compliments about appearance given to women were for thin women. Not one positive message was included for a woman of an average or overweight […]





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What does the art of carbon-free gardening mean?

Outwardly, gardens look like sustainable spaces that help absorb excess carbon from the atmosphere. While this might be true, not all gardens help reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide. Some gardens contribute to carbon pollution. Unfortunately, most gardeners are not even aware that their gardens are a source of carbon and other greenhouse gas pollutants. Even so, it is possible to attain a net-zero garden and in some cases, create a carbon sink in your garden. [...]




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We'll Just Hope Joseph Doesn't Turn Up On The Same Day...!

Don't be such a shlemiel, Jacob! Stripes is just FINE already, and the Rabbi says you can wear that coat to the synagogue!





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Does Machine Quilting Enhance Quilts that are otherwise Hand-Sewn?

Oh dear, I'm sorry to have neglected posting here for so long. Although many suitable topics and photos have passed through my mind and camera, there just hasn't seemed to be a nice chunk of time available for putting it all together. Today is the day to begin again!

Inspired by Alice, by Marilyn Lidstrom Larson of Willow City, ND (detail of border)

For the past two months, it's been all about quilts and quilting for me, with beading taking a bit of a back seat for a while. My quilt and travel buddy, Lunnette, and I flew to Ontario, California for The Road to California, which is a ginormous quilt show with more than 1,000 quilts on exhibition and over 200 vendors. We gawked (and spent all of our allotted budget) for 3 whole days, barely noticing our fatigue and sore footies.

There are several intriguing subjects to cover, inspired by our experiences there. Today's post is about traditional applique and machine quilting.

Inspired by Alice, by Marilyn Lidstrom Larson of Willow City, ND
photo credit (for this photo only): Road 2 CA

Inspired by Alice, by Marilyn Lidstrom Larson, detail showing back

Inspired by Alice, by Marilyn Lidstrom Larson, detail of center

Inspired by Alice, by Marilyn Lidstrom Larson, detail of center quilting
Inspired by Alice, shown in the photos above, won the first prize of $1,000 in the Traditional, Wall, Applique category of the main (judged) exhibit! Take a moment to study the pictures, click on them to enlarge them, notice the way the applique and machine quilting compliment each other. Also think about what this might have looked like if the maker, Marilyn Lidstrom Larson, had hand-quilted her work the way Alice, her grandmother (and inspiration for the central portion of the quilt), would have done. I love this quilt, totally love it, and believe it deserved the award it received.

At the same time, it saddens me that in all the juried/judged shows I've seen (and entered) recently, there is no category specifically for hand sewn quilts... quilts which are hand-pieced, hand-appliqued, hand-embroidered, and/or hand-embellished, and finished with hand-quilting. Nope, hand-sewn quilts are judged right along with machine-sewn quilts. In my observation, machine-quilted pieces are the ones that win almost all the prizes, even in the traditional categories. Why is that? Is hand-quilting considered passe, a thing of our grandmothers' time? Is it because machine-quilting has more pizzazz in the viewers' and makers' eyes? Is it because the machine manufacturers are huge financial supporters of these shows and providers of much of the prize money? Is it because the machine manufacturers run the training programs for judges?

OK, let's look into this subject a bit more. Later, I'll tackle the subject of the influence of the machine manufacturers. For now let's consider this question:

Does machine-quilting enhance quilts that are otherwise hand-sewn?

Interestingly, at Road to California this year, there was a small exhibit of hand-sewn quilt tops, made long ago (most of them in the early 1900s) that were not quilted or layered with back and batting by the maker. These tops were given to modern machine quilters to finish, and the results were displayed. Studying them gave me a greater perspective on the above question.

I found myself looking at them through the imagined eyes of the original maker. Would she have been pleased with the finished quilt?  As you look at some of the quilts below (and in a few cases, detail shots), ask yourself, if you had hand-sewn the top, would you have liked the way it looks today? Does the machine quilting enhance the work of the original maker? I've numbered the quilts (in no particular order), so you can respond (regarding specific quilts) in the comments if you wish. As always, you can click on the photos to enlarge them.
#1 - Vintage Top with Modern Machine Quilting

#1 - Vintage Top with Modern Machine Quilting, detail

#2 - Vintage Top with Modern Machine Quilting

#3 - Vintage Top with Modern Machine Quilting

#3 - Vintage Top with Modern Machine Quilting, detail

#3 - Vintage Top with Modern Machine Quilting, detail

#4 - Vintage Top with Modern Machine Quilting

#5 - Vintage Top with Modern Machine Quilting

#5 - Vintage Top with Modern Machine Quilting, detail
What do you think of these? Which tops are enhanced by the machine quilting? Are there any that don't look right to you? If so, why not?

Since there is quite a difference looking at the photos as opposed to seeing the actual quits, my responses to these questions might be different than yours. To my eyes, #1 offers a believable connection and balance between the quilting and the original applique or piecing. It felt like the original maker would have done something very similar, only by hand.

I didn't want the quilting to overpower the original as it does in #3 and #5. Both of these were so stiff from the dense quilting, that it would be like sleeping under a piece of cardboard. Both of them made me feel disjointed. The lovely charm and grace of the original work seemed lost. I'm not sure why, but the background color created by machine quilting with colored thread in #5 seems almost weird... maybe because it's such an unlikely choice for the period.

Number 4 has the look of a chenille bedspread, both pretty and more-or-less "of the period." It works for me, even though the quilting is dense. The same is true for #2.

More from Road to California coming soon...





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How Much Does Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Cost? Price Tips

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a medical treatment that involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized environment. This unique treatment method has shown effectiveness in healing various conditions, from complex wound healing to treating decompression sickness in divers. HBOT works on the principle of increasing oxygen concentration in the body, which can enhance the body’s ... Read more

The post How Much Does Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Cost? Price Tips appeared first on Star Two.




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Cannabis doesn’t enhance performance. So why is it banned in elite sports?

Here’s how cannabis use became prohibited—and the science of its biological, psychological, and social effects.




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Removing CO2 from the Atmosphere: Where Does It Go?

To combat climate change, scientists are working to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.




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What Does 5G Really Mean?

The next generation of wireless communication technology is much more advanced, but it requires a lot of new infrastructure.




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What are ‘gate lice’ and how does American Airlines plan to control them?

Passengers who bug airline staff by breaking boarding protocol will be met with an alarm




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Does Oman Have A Specific Digital Nomad Visa Program?

Oman, otherwise officially known as the Sultanate of Oman, is within the southeastern portion of the Arabian Peninsula. The country is surrounded by two sea bodies including the Arabian Sea in the southeast and the Sea of Oman in the northeastern portion. A larger body of water, the Indian Ocean, is also near Oman in the southeastern area like the Arabian Sea. Americans, Canadians, and other digital nomads from various countries can easily assimilate as digital nomads since English is a widely used language besides the official language, Arabic. While there is no digital nomad visa program in Oman, you can opt to apply for an employment visa. If you are a digital nomad, you will have to apply for various eVisas depending on where you are going, such as an eVisa Ethiopia. How To Apply for An Employment Visa in Oman Applying for an employment visa in Oman takes six steps with an overall turnaround time of up to 9 weeks long depending on individual processing time. The first step is the initiation process where you have to contact Fakhoury Global Immigration and send in the appropriate documents to start applying for the employment visa. This initial step only takes about 24-72 hours. The second step involves filling out the labor permit application and waiting for that to be approved within 3 to 4 weeks. For step 3, you must fill out the employment visa application and provide the mandated documents. Take everything to the closest Royal Oman Police location for full processing within 1 week to a month. The fourth step involves entering Oman where you can begin your digital nomad endeavors once this happens. For step 5, you need to have a health exam at one of the entity’s supported clinics. You will need a chest X-ray, blood tests to be sure you don’t have any bad diseases, as well as pee and poop samples for a full health profile. The final step is applying for and receiving a residential ID card from the Directorates General of Civil Status. The Benefits of Being A Digital Nomad In Oman Your day can be filled with exploring what Oman has to offer in between getting your work done on your laptop. You can have breakfast at Tr.Eat Cafe and get your work done with nearby free Wi-Fi. Then, you can take a break and explore the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in the afternoon before grabbing dinner at Theatrum Restaurant. Plan your itinerary in Oman around your work schedule so that you can still have fun where you are temporarily living while getting your work done. Locating yourself in Muscat would be your best bet as it is the most popular part of Oman with the most free Wi-Fi spots so you can have a variety of places to work. Work can get boring if you are working in the same place every day. Instead of purchasing expensive home Internet, you can plan your day to be located near free Wi-Fi spots to get your work done. No Internet access at home can help you to stay connected to yourself with non-tech activities like reading a book or embarking on a hobby before you go back to being a digital nomad exploring Oman the next day. Where Can I Get Free Wi-Fi in Oman? According to WiFi Map, the top 5 places with free Wi-Fi in Oman are Muscat, Seeb, Salalah, Sohar, and Matrah. Muscat is the most popular region of Oman with free Wi-Fi spots, featuring 2,883 locations to connect with your laptop to complete your workload. When you first enter Muscat or another popular region in Oman with Wi-Fi spots, you can download WiFi Map to your smartphone so you are informed of all the nearby spots where you can get connected. Local hotels, cafes, restaurants, and other businesses could have free Wi-Fi for their patrons. Maybe you want to explore a part of Oman that you have not seen yet. Book a few days at a local hotel and you can utilize the free Wi-Fi there. Whenever you stop at a cafe or restaurant for a meal, you can get some work done after eating before you go to your next destination. Become A Digital Nomad in Oman Today! Oman has so much to offer such as opera houses, mosques, delightful eateries, and forts like the Jibreen Castle. Wadi Bani Khalid is a desert retreat with a mountainous landscape and clear green waters for swimming. When you have to stay connected to work, you can stop by one of the most popular Wi-Fi spots in Muscat. When you want to explore Oman’s attractions and eateries, you can put away your work and enjoy life. Being a digital nomad in Oman can change your life so start the employment visa process today! Author Bio: Cathy Slater is an experienced content writer. She is associated with many renowned travel blogs as a guest author where she shares her valuable travel tips with the audience.

The post Does Oman Have A Specific Digital Nomad Visa Program? appeared first on Geeky Traveller.




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What is the UK Covid inquiry and how does it work?

The next public hearings will consider how the pandemic affected healthcare systems across the UK.




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What does Norris need to do to catch and beat Verstappen?

BBC Sport analyses the Formula 1 title battle including the factors that may help Lando Norris overhaul Max Verstappen.




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Watch: What does a Trump win mean for these Americans?

Voters across the US have their say on the re-election of Donald Trump.




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Trade, aid, security: What does Trump's win mean for Africa?

During his first stint critics accused him of dismissing Africa, so what will happen under Trump 2.0?




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How does BBC report on big stories about itself?

Following news that Gary Lineker will leave Match of the Day at the end of the season, how does the BBC cover stories about itself?




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Henry Ford Does AI

Back in August, I cavalierly said that AI couldn’t design a car if it hadn’t seen one first, and I alluded to Henry Ford’s apocryphal statement “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” I’m not backing down on any of that, but the history of technology is always […]




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Music really does sound better when you're high, scientists report

Neuroscientists have confirmed what every stoner already knows: music sounds better when you're high on weed. In a paper titled "Exploring the interaction between cannabis, hearing, and music," researchers from Toronto Metropolitan University reported results from a study in which participants "reported significantly greater hearing sensitivity and levels of state absorption while high compared to sober." — Read the rest

The post Music really does sound better when you're high, scientists report appeared first on Boing Boing.




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Why technology does not make easy wars

Why technology does not make easy wars Interview LJefferson 28 November 2022

Stephanie Carvin explains why technology does not overcome the challenges of war.

The invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated that many of the assumptions held about the role of technology in contemporary warfare are flawed. The lesson that technology cannot overcome the challenges of warfare is one that the West has also yet to learn, despite a series of failed interventions since the end of the Cold War.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Isabel Muttreja sat down with Stephanie Carvin to talk about her contribution to the September 2022 issue of International Affairs on ‘how not to war’. They discuss the US’ over-reliance on technology and why ‘easy wars’ become ‘forever wars.’

You argue in your article that the US overly relies on technology in war. When did this start?

I don’t necessarily think the US is exceptional. I think all states have tried in some ways to use technologies. One of the key arguments in the article is that the US is an enlightenment country, and part of the enlightenment is a belief in rationality and science and that you can better things through the application of science.

The idea is that if you have perfect information, you are going to be able to dominate the battlefield, and that’s proven itself to be false.

I think that there is this particular scientific approach or embracing of technology, in the American and in fact larger Western tradition on technology as a way to save lives. There is a strange humanitarian impulse that often underlies this use of technology.

We are seeing a quest to try and get perfect information. The idea is that if you have perfect information, you are going to be able to dominate the battlefield, and that’s proven itself to be false. I’m not even sure you can ever get perfect information.

But it underlines this modern approach, that if you can have all the information that’s out there, crunch it into some kind of algorithm, that you can then target discriminately, proportionately, reduce the level of casualties, and reduce the level of unnecessary damage. And that’s a kind of liberal tradition. You are trying to have your cake and eat it too.

You talk about the US being an ultimately liberal state, but they have been involved in a lot of wars over the last 10–20 years. Is that a contradiction?

I hope it is. But I think it goes back to the enlightenment nature of the United States, which is that the US sees itself as a shining city on a hill that has to protect itself at all costs. Liberals abhor tyranny, and they abhor unnecessary deaths. But I think that the idea is that if you threaten us, we see ourselves as embodying these values, therefore, we have to protect ourselves.

There’s a tendency to not really recognize the kind of insurgencies that we’ve seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, or even Vietnam, as war. We don’t really see that as a kind of armed conflict, even though, arguably, that has been the dominant mode of conflict for some time. They even used to call it ‘military operations other than warfare’. We tend to still think of war as great power competition or as the Second World War.

The West has struggled to culturally understand the way other people fight. And that’s when the laws of war conventions have broken down.

My first book was on prisoners of war in the American tradition. What often determined the treatment of people as prisoners of war was if the United States recognized their form of warfare. There’s a racial element here too that I don’t want to dismiss.

So, for example, the US war in the Philippines at the start of the 20th century: They went in, won a very quick victory over the Spanish and effectively took over the Philippines. And then they had a long insurgency for two years with the native Filipinos who didn’t want US domination. While they gave the Spanish all the prisoner of war rights, they didn’t give them to the Filipinos.

This is because they recognized the form of conflict that the Spanish engaged in, but the Indigenous way of warfare was not recognized. The West has struggled to culturally understand the way other people fight. And that’s when the laws of war conventions have broken down between, say, the United States, the West, and other states.

You talk in your article about the US entering ‘easy wars’ and ending up with ‘forever wars’ – what does this mean?

There’s an allure to this high-tech version of warfare, that it can solve a lot of problems, but it’s an illusion. It is ultimately a bit of a false promise.

The idea that machines are going to replace humans is fundamentally untrue. We are seeing this to a certain extent right now, even in the Russia/Ukraine war. This is very much a battle of machines and soldiers. One of the themes of this issue of International Affairs is hubris. The idea that things that appear to be quick wins often tend to be long-term losses. And that’s exactly what this article is talking about.

‘Forever wars’ is not my favourite term, but it’s this concept that what was promised to be an easy war, a high technology-driven conflict, where you can go in, use some surgically precise weapons, take care of the problem, eliminate your opponent and then extract yourself from a situation, has actually turned into a quagmire.

There’s an allure to this high-tech version of warfare, that it can solve a lot of problems, but it’s an illusion.

The limits of technology become apparent within a few months as well as the fact of the messy business of state-building, or the fact that insurgencies and political movements don’t just disintegrate at the show of some high-tech, sophisticated weaponry. It just tends to mean that these wars do go on for a long time, and you have to eventually extricate yourself, but there’s no clean way to do this. We saw this of course with Afghanistan, and to a large extent Iraq.

We get distracted by the shiny object. We see this promise, we see this vision of a kind of warfare that for some may have great appeal.  There are new super weapons, whether it be cyber information warfare or artificial intelligence. Everyone wants to be ahead of the curve, right?

Are these lessons on technology and ‘easy wars’ applicable to other countries?

I think what we’ve learned about the Russian military is that there’s a lot more at the heart of it. Part of the problem Russia is experiencing is that its capabilities were not what it thought they were. It’s clear that Vladimir Putin was enamoured with a lot of the ideas, like that the Russian military was increasingly high-tech and that they had these hypersonic missiles.

They also had very powerful cyber weapons amongst other things. Putin, too, seems to have been caught up in this idea that he could have had a 72-hour special military operation, which would have taken Kyiv. Clearly, that hasn’t happened. Once again, we see the underestimation of the human factor.




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Sinwar’s death does not make Hamas–Fatah reconciliation more likely, whoever his successor may be

Sinwar’s death does not make Hamas–Fatah reconciliation more likely, whoever his successor may be Expert comment jon.wallace

The killing may aid Hamas recruitment – but it will not make agreement with Fatah any easier to achieve.

Western political leaders were quick to argue that Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on 17 October presented an opportunity for a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of Israeli hostages.

US President Joe Biden immediately called on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seize the moment to negotiate, now that Israel has achieved one of its war aims.

However, that ‘moment’ has already passed. Israel’s military assault on Gaza has intensified since Sinwar was killed, leading UN Peace Process Co-ordinator Tor Wennesland to say that ‘nowhere is safe in Gaza’. It is abundantly clear Netanyahu is intent on further degrading Hamas, resetting a new ‘power balance’ and carving out a buffer zone, no matter the cost in Palestinian lives or Israeli hostages. 

But there are other implications of Sinwar’s assassination beyond the zero-sum analysis of will there or won’t there be a ceasefire.

Hamas’s ability to fight

At present, everyone has an opinion on how Sinwar’s killing will affect Hamas and its ability to resist and respond to Israel’s military. His death will have been a major blow – symbolically, operationally, and psychologically. Hamas has been downgraded and its capacity to respond compromised.

But it will recover, regenerate and retaliate in time – and Sinwar’s death will have been no surprise to Palestinians in Gaza or elsewhere. Hamas is accustomed to seeing its leaders assassinated. Since its formation in 1987, it has been ‘decapitated’ many times, only to continue with its mission to ‘liberate Palestine’.

Hamas’s portrayal of Sinwar dying in his fatigues, head wrapped in a keffiyeh and resisting until the end will persuade many young Palestinians that he died as a martyr serving the Palestinian cause. Many will be inspired to join and fortify the ranks of Hamas as a result.

The IDF’s release of drone footage showing Sinwar’s last moments will have done nothing to undermine his credibility. 

On the contrary, it will serve as a rallying call to disaffected and disenfranchised young Palestinians horrified by Israel’s bombing of civilian targets in Gaza and disaffected with Fatah’s inability to prevent Israeli settler expansion and violence in the West Bank.

Reconciliation

Some hope that if Sinwar is replaced by a more ‘moderate’ leader, his killing may smooth the path to Hamas–Fatah reconciliation – and that this could provide a foundation for a patchwork political solution when Israel and Gaza arrive at the ‘day after.’  

Prospective new Hamas leaders such as Khaled al Meshaal and Khalil al-Hayya are based in Qatar (and) their ability to influence events on the ground in Gaza will be limited.

But the idea that a downgraded and ‘leaderless’ Hamas will be susceptible to international pressure to reconcile with Fatah is divorced from reality.  

Prospective new Hamas leaders such as Khaled al Meshaal and Khalil al-Hayya are based in Qatar. 

They may be more pliable to external pressure to reconcile with Fatah in search of a political outcome, but their ability to influence events on the ground in Gaza will be limited. That was demonstrated by the Sinwar-orchestrated attacks on 7 October 2023, which took place without the blessing of the exiled leadership in Doha.

Hamas has long gone to ground in Gaza and become far more decentralized than it was before 7 October. It is now more typical of an insurgency, where Hamas cadres exercise a great degree of operational autonomy.

In other words, the disconnect between Hamas in Gaza and its political leadership in Qatar has only grown wider since this round of conflict started.

International efforts

That will undermine international efforts made by Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China, Russia and others to bring about a reconciliation. Moscow and Beijing already hosted reconciliation talks in February and April early this year but made no progress in closing the chasm between the two parties. Saudi Arabia has also hosted talks.

The three Arab states, none of which have so far commented publicly on Sinwar’s killing, will likely view his death as an opportunity to bolster the political wing of Hamas – backing it with pledges of political, diplomatic and financial support.

Hamas’s military wing is not about to concede ground and reconcile with Fatah.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt will have next to no influence over the succession process, but Qatar’s long-established relationship with the political wing of Hamas affords it leverage over the organization, albeit limited. They may be able to strengthen the hand of those based in Doha by promising to work harder at securing a ceasefire, guaranteeing the provision of humanitarian relief, and working towards a political solution.




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Independent Thinking: What does Donald Trump’s re-election mean for the world?

Independent Thinking: What does Donald Trump’s re-election mean for the world? Audio john.pollock

Edward Luce, Leslie Vinjamuri and Gerald Seib join the podcast this week to discuss Donald Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris in the US presidential election.

On this episode

Donald Trump has decisively defeated Kamala Harris in the US presidential election. What does his return to the White House mean for America and the world? 

Bronwen Maddox is joined by Edward Luce, the FT’s North America editor, Gerald Seib, the former Washington bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal and Leslie Vinjamuri, the head of our US and Americas programme.

About Independent Thinking

Independent Thinking is a weekly international affairs podcast hosted by our director Bronwen Maddox, in conversation with leading policymakers, journalists, and Chatham House experts providing insight on the latest international issues.

More ways to listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify.




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Chatham House Forum: Does Religion Incite Violence?




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How Far Does the European Union’s Influence Extend?




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The Climate Briefing: Episode 1 - What Does Success Look Like At COP26?




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Marked reduction in bile acid synthesis in cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylase-deficient mice does not lead to diminished tissue cholesterol turnover or to hypercholesterolemia

Margrit Schwarz
Sep 1, 1998; 39:1833-1843
Articles




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What does sustainable agriculture mean?

What does sustainable agriculture mean? 24 May 2022 — 5:30PM TO 6:30PM Anonymous (not verified) 11 May 2022 Chatham House and Online

Experts compare and contrast visions of ‘sustainable’ agriculture.

There is growing and unprecedented recognition of the adverse effects of food systems on global warming, air and water pollution, biodiversity, soil, and managing the emergence and spread of infectious diseases. At the same time, concern is rising over the role of climate change itself in compromising food security, supply-chain resilience and food price spikes.

Against this backdrop, the need for agriculture to become more ‘sustainable’ is clear. However, there is little consensus over what that means in practice. To address this, Chatham House is launching a new research paper comparing and contrasting the two most commonly articulated versions of ‘sustainable agriculture’.

The first focuses on sparing land for nature and increasing the productivity of agricultural land while minimizing environmental impacts. The second involves scaling up nature-friendly farming while emphasizing demand-side changes to reduce the overall pressure on land.

  • How can we understand the arguments in support of either version and the assumptions and ideologies which underpin them?

  • What are the implications of promoting one version of agriculture over the other

  • How can policy transform agriculture and food systems?

  • What should civil society support as ‘sustainable’ choices?




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Twenty Years After Hong Kong Handover, Does ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Still Work?

Twenty Years After Hong Kong Handover, Does ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Still Work? Expert comment sysadmin 28 June 2017

This unique constitutional framework can endure – if Hong Kong society can reconcile its different visions of the future.

Golden Bauhinia Square prepares for the anniversary commemorations. Photo: Getty Images.

Twenty years after the handover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese sovereignty, the ‘one country, two systems’ arrangement – the main aim of which was to guarantee the continuity of Hong Kong’s open society and way of life – can be said to have worked well. Street protests remain a regular feature of Hong Kong’s political culture. Freedom of information and expression are alive and well. Hong Kong retains its ‘capitalist way of life’, its legal system based on common law and independent judiciary, and its status as an international financial centre. As a result the city remains one of the most open economies across Asia, with robust institutions and transparency which are hard to find anywhere else in the region.

Yet the 79-day ‘occupy’ protests of autumn 2014 showed that something is not quite right in the city of Hong Kong.

The protests themselves had a number of causes. Partly they reflected socioeconomic concerns, especially the rise in income inequality and lack of affordable housing. These might have been dealt with to some extent by better governance over the years, but they are also a feature of many societies in the current phase of globalization – a case, perhaps, of too much ‘capitalist way of life’.

Politically, the desire expressed by many in 2014 was for a form of ‘genuine universal suffrage’ for the selection of Hong Kong’s chief executive which went beyond a provision of Hong Kong’s mini constitution, the Basic Law, that candidates should be put forward by a ‘nominating committee’. It was on this point that the possibility of constitutional reform foundered in 2015, leaving Hong Kong no further ahead in its ‘gradual progress’ towards democracy.

But this episode also brought to the surface the tension between different visions for Hong Kong’s future. In particular, many in Hong Kong are still uncomfortable with the ‘one country’ part of the deal, rejected by some (especially young people) in the ways that they conceptualize Hong Kong identity – according to one recent survey, as little as 3.1% of Hong Kong youths identify themselves as ‘Chinese’. These issues are likely to constrain political development for some time to come.

At their sharpest, some of these visions are for some form of self-determination, or even independence, for Hong Kong. This is not just anathema to the national authorities in Beijing, but contradicts a basic tenet of Hong Kong’s handover in 1997, the return to Chinese sovereignty. This is not just something on which Beijing will never compromise, but will seek to challenge.

It is this which explains the sense in Hong Kong that the central government has been looking to become politically more involved since 2014. But the challenge of influencing Hong Kong society is great, and other than strengthening relations with the establishment camp, Beijing has not been able to tighten its grip. If anything, the centre of gravity of Hong Kong politics has continued to drift away from Beijing, not towards it.

How this will play out remains to be seen. Some amelioration of social tensions could help. But the fundamental divergence in visions of Hong Kong’s future will not be resolved so easily.

Looking forward therefore, the key to the continued success of ‘one country, two systems’ lies in Hong Kong society. If mainstream acceptance of the compromises involved can return, then this unique constitutional framework can still work for years to come.




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Does He Have It?: Sensitivity, Specificity, and COVID-19 Testing




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What challenges does the new president of Somalia face?

What challenges does the new president of Somalia face? Explainer Video aboudiaf.drupal 28 June 2022

Ahmed Soliman examines the challenges the new president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud faces in his first 100 days as president.

Key issues for the new administration are a deteriorating situation with regards to drought as close to half the population are facing food insecurity due to a fourth failed rainy season.

Combined with an inflation rate above ten per cent, many Somalis are at risk of famine and starvation. Many areas of the country are affected from the pastoralist regions to those which house IDP camps around the capital city and other towns, all being exacerbated by the war in Ukraine as Somalia was importing much of its wheat imports from Ukraine and Russia.




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Problem Notes for SAS®9 - 66505: The OBS= option does not generate a limit clause when you use SAS/ACCESS Interface to PostgreSQL to access a Yellowbrick database

When you use SAS/ACCESS Interface to PostgreSQL to query a Yellowbrick database, the SAS OBS= option is not generating a limit clause on the query that is passed to the database. Click the