NEW YORK, Jun 25 2024 (IPS) – In Part 1, I outlined how our shared existence is challenged not only by simultaneous crisis, but also by the notions – and realities – of perceived ‘holy wars’. I point out that ‘holy wars’ are not only perceptions within, or of, monotheistic faith traditions, but actually enacted by members of diverse belief systems.

I note how these ‘holy war’ dynamics are part of the vicious cycle of polarisation and sorrowful lack of social cohesion in most societies, while also coexisting with an increasing realisation amongst several decision-making entities (governmental, non-governmental and intergovernmental) of how important religions have been, and continue to be.

Religious institutions, religious leaders and religious (or faith based) organisations, are indeed the original social service providers, community mediators, social norm upholders and changemakers, and actually, historically, also the original human rights’ defenders.

I emphasize how the toxic mix with narrow political interests (might that be tautological?) means that in the minds of some who hold decision making positions, and/or have access to arms, and/or control laws and their implementation, and/or impact on beliefs, behaviours and attitudes through unparalleled pulpits (or all of the above), ‘holy war’, is justified.

In the age of ‘holy wars’, we are called upon to understand that part of our social disconnect resulting in the polarisation and significant weaking of our civil societies, may well be furthered by the manner in the current interest in and on religion.

Elsewhere I have argued that appreciating the ‘good’ powers of religious institutions and leaders, and the remarkable reach of religious social services and positive changemakers, is necessary, but by no means enough.

In fact, seeking to emphasize, support and identify the religious as the panacea, is harmful – in the same ways that marginalising the religious as evil, anti-human rights, unhealthy, misogynist, unnecessary, parochial, etc. has been, and remains, harmful, to the very same fabric of the civil societies we all uphold.

It is not all about good religion or bad religion. Rather, it could be about how to generate, nurture, protect, and yes, honour, civil societies.

Neither our governments (including even the elected ones), nor our religious institutions (including those which have survived centuries) nor our corporations (including those with the highest ranking of CSR and ESG) can, alone, change the dramatic junction of our collective human and planetary realities.

The late Wangari Mathai, a Kenyan woman environmental activist who won the Nobel Peace prize in 2004, demonstrated remarkable foresight when she highlighted the interconnectedness of our challenges, thus: “[I]n a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy and peace.”

We need to begin to investigate what it will take to identify, understand, and activate, a poetics of solidarity. The Oxford Reference explains that “poetics are the general principles of poetry or of literature in general, or the theoretical study of these principles. As a body of theory, poetics is concerned with the distinctive features of poetry (or literature as a whole), with its languages, forms, genres, and modes of composition.”

If we use the term ‘poetics’ to refer to solidarity, not merely as an aspect of literature and/or theory, but as lived realities, what are the “languages, forms, genres and modes of existence” that this would entail? In the following paragraphs, I do not propose definitive answers. I merely share some thoughts to engender and provoke each of us, to reflect – and to engage.

A poetics of solidarity needs to have as a premise of its existence, an understanding that working ‘alone’ to solve the problems which impact all – whether as a lone multifaceted institution, the United Nations, corporation(s), religion/religious or multi-religious entity, secular NGO or umbrellas of NGOs, judicial actor(s) or bodies, cultural agents or entities, financial or military behemoths, etc., is clearly not enough.

We have landed here in these very challenging spaces and times, even as so many have laboured for so long in almost all domains of human existence, and even after many movements of solidarity succeeded in overcoming and righting and fighting the good fight. Yet, here we are.

A poetics of solidarity needs to hold accountable all our ways of thinking and doing, so far. I am not implying, by any means, that we have all failed. Rather, we all stand on the shoulders of many who have given their lives to make this a better world for all. We must acknowledge that loud and clear and take responsibility for what many are doing, and have done, that contributes to our shared existence.

This alone would be unlike many leaders who take office and make a point of undermining, or worst still, undoing, all that was done before them or by their predecessors. Or those who hold offices and invest so much in decrying, complaining, unravelling, and withering critiques of those trying to work alongside. Or those who claim to be part of a team, but cannot and will not support one another when things get tough.

A poetics of solidary demands that we put our money, and other resources, including activating our so-called values – where our mouths are. It is not good enough to speak about human rights, and/or the glory of our respective faiths and/or “interfaith peacemaking”, or even building edifices to such ‘co-existence’, when we do not contribute to the efforts of those who fight for these rights.

It is hard to justify killing, maiming, criminalising, imprisoning and in other ways, silencing, those who ask for their rights, and struggle for the rights of others. It is also hard to justify those who pretend to fight for the rights of others, when the going is good, and are silent or notably absent, when the going is tough.

What if, rather than undermine, constantly critique, systematically oppose, complain, or even just remaining silent (and hide behind claims that the particular issue at hand is not their business or endeavour), when we see our fellow humans give – what if we praise, give thanks, reach out to share a kind word, and better still, ask how we can help…? What if we give of the ‘little’ we have? Don’t all our faiths say that? You think this sounds too simple?

Did Einstein not say at some point something like the only difference between stupidity and genius, is that genius has its limits, and that everything should be made as simple as possible – but not simpler? Kindness, praise, and giving of what we value, to those we would normally not (want to) see or deign to appreciate, giving to those who speak and work and live differently – but aim for the collective good, is not simple. It is genius. Working together with those who may bear a different institutional flag, rather than seeking to create or consolidate your own, is also genius.

A poetics of solidarity may require us to acknowledge that solidarity is fundamentally about how we relate to one another, with kindness, empathy and willingness to serve – in words and deeds. But it is also to humbly realise that even as some of us try our best to relate and to “support”, “empower”, “engender”, or “enable”, we may well end up hurting one another, and/or even damage parts of our environment that some of us, including future generations, will need, to just survive.

When it comes to the poetics of solidarity in the age of ‘holy wars’, we cannot afford to now see anything ‘religious’ as a saviour, or the only source of our interrelated salvation. Nor can we afford to ignore the religious realms altogether, thinking we know our welfare best, or keep the religious at bay. Instead, we need to take responsibility for the fact that our faiths – including our faith in human rights – demand us to be accountable for ourselves, one another, and our planet.

What we need is a poetics of solidarity which does no harm – but this may well mean sacrificing something dear to us. We have lived – and still do – in an age where we think it is possible to have it all. Perhaps we may just have to come to terms with the fact that we each, and all, need to let go of something valuable to us – and to give, in service, instead.

All our institutions, groups, communities and our individual selves, bear a responsibility. Our long-established religious institutions, faith-based and interfaith initiatives in their mushrooming multitudes, need to be held accountable to what we give of our most valuable, to those who are not religious, those who come from different religions or religious organisations, and especially, to those who uphold all human rights for all peoples at all times.

Secular rights’ bearers and duty holders too, need to take responsibility for how we marginalise even as we ‘advocate’, how we maim as we seek to ‘protect’, and how we silence as we vocalise the ‘like-minded’. We speak of alliances and partnerships, but we walk, and work, in silos, seeking our own profit(s).

A poetics of solidarity may well be about cultivating and deliberately working alongside those we dislike, and giving the best of what we have, and of whom we are.

Professor Azza Karam is President and CEO of Lead Integrity; an affiliate with the Ansari Institute of Religion and Global Affairs at Notre Dame University; and a member of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism.

IPS UN Bureau

The post The Age of Holy War & Poetics of Solidarity – (Part 2) appeared first on Good News!.

By Azza Karam

NEW YORK, Jun 24 2024 (IPS) – “Holy War” is how the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church referred to the Russian war on the Ukraine, and indeed, on “the West”¹ . “Holy War”, aka “jihad” is a foundational principle of “the Base” or “al-Qaeda”, which has grown into a non-state hydra with too many names and atrocities to list here (but if you are curious, one of the hydra faces is ISIS).

In a recent opinion piece published in Foreign Policy, columnist Caroline de Gruyter noted that “Israel and Palestine Are Now in a Religious War”, in her attempt to argue why the Middle East conflict has been getting increasingly brutal, and increasingly hard to solve.

The intersection between holiness and war is even more nuanced in Zvi Bar’el’s Opinion piece in Haaretz, when he notes that “the war in Gaza is no longer about revenge for the murder of 1,200 Israelis or the hostages.

If they all die, along with hundreds of more soldiers, the price would still be justified for the Jewish Jihad waging a war for Gaza’s resettlement” [emphasis added]. Hamas’ own name –the acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Islamic Resistance Movement) – needs no elaboration. Neither does Lebanon’s Hizbullah (Party of God).

In India, a report by the Indian Citizens and Lawyers Initiative (in April of 2023), entitled “Routes of Wrath: Weaponising Religious Processions”, notes

Indian history is rife with instances of religious processions that led to communal strife, riots, inexcusable violence, arson, destruction of property and the tragic deaths of innocent residents of the riot-hit areas. There have been horrific riots and bloodletting caused by other factors too, most prominently the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984 and the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, but no cause of interfaith riots has been as recurrent and widespread as the religious procession. This is as true of pre-Independence India as during the 75 years since we became a free nation…Post-Independence, we have faced numerous communal riots in diverse parts of India, under different political regimes, and the vast majority of these have been caused by the deliberate choice of communally-sensitive routes by processionists, and the pusillanimity of the Police in dealing with such demands, or even their collusion and connivance in licencing such routes.²

Already back in August of 1988, in an article entitled “Holy War Against India”, explicitly speaks of “Sikh terrorism” in the Punjab, noting that it “took about a thousand lives in 1987 and more than a thousand in the first five months of 1988.

If it continues at the present rate, Sikh terrorism in the Punjab will have cost more lives in two years than the IRA campaign in Northern Ireland has cost in twenty.” ³ Speaking of Northern Ireland, the marching season remains a flashpoint among Catholics and Protestants.

Politicised religion, or religionised politics – whence religious discourse is part of political verbiage, tactics, expedient alliances, sometimes informing foreign policy priorities, occasionally used to justify conflict – are not new phenomena. In fact, they may well be one of the oldest features of politics, governance – and warmaking.

The Crusades against Muslim expansion in the 11th century were recognized as a “holy war” or a bellum sacrum, by later writers in the 17th century. The early modern wars against the Ottoman Empire were seen as a seamless continuation of this conflict by contemporaries. Religion and politics are the oldest bedfellows known to humankind.

What is relatively new, is that after the 100-year war in Europe, and the subsequent moves towards secularisation or the so-called ‘separation of Church and State’ (again, really only in parts of Europe), provided a false sense of the dominance of secular governance in modern times.

Yet, even in the citadels of secular Western Europe, a relationship binding Church and State always existed, for the religious institutions and their affiliated social structures, remain critical social service providers – and humanitarian actors – till today. A reality now understood to be relevant in all parts of our world.

Nevertheless, what we are seeing today is a resurgence of religious politics, and the politics of religion, in almost all corners of the world. Before the Russian Orthodox Church proclaimed its “holy war” narrative, the reference to religion and politics almost always focused on Muslim-majority contexts, specifically on Iran, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.

Other realities would often go unnoticed, or somehow deemed as ‘odd’ or one-time phenomena – for instance the fact that the 2016 US elections delivered a Trump administration with full and public backing by a significant part of the Evangelical movement (many of whom are backing a potential comeback of him now); or the fact that related Evangelical counterparts backed Bolsenaro’s rise to power in Brazil; or the fact that religious arguments against abortion remain a key US electoral feature for decades; or the fact that a number of right-leaning anti-immigrant political discourses and blatant white supremacist politics have religious backing in parts of Europe and Latin America.

Was it perhaps that since these took place in ‘white’ and Christian-majority polities, somehow set these aside from being factored as part of the global resurgence of religious politics?

Whatever the case may be, it is time to smell that particularly strong brew of coffee, now. And as we do so, we are also obliged to note that it is no coincidence that this ‘brew’ is taking place at a time of remarkable social and political polarisation in many societies.

Indeed. we speak of multiple and simultaneous crisis (e.g. climate change, catastrophic governance, wars, famines, rampant inequalities, soaring human displacement, nuclear fears, systemic racism, rising multiple violence, drug wars, proliferation of arms and weapons, misogyny, etc.) and we also acknowledge the wilting multilateral influence to confront these. But as we acknowledge these, we must also recognise that social cohesion is a lasting and tragic victim.

Some governmental, non-governmental and intergovernmental entities have turned to religion(s) as a possible panacea. Religious leaders are being convened in multiple capitals (at significant cost) in almost all corners of the world.

Regularly touting the peacefulness and the unparalleled supremacy of their respective moral standpoints. Religious NGOs are being sought out, supported and partnered with more regularly to help address multiple crisis – especially humanitarian, educational, public health, sanitation, and child-focused efforts.

Interfaith initiatives are competing among each other, and with other secular ones, for grants from governments and philanthropists in the United States, Europe, Africa, many parts of Asia (with the notable exception of China), and the Middle East. Engaging, or partnering with religious entities is the new normal.

But just as the largely secular efforts we lived through (and some of us served for decades) in the 1960s to the 1990s, did not realise a brave new world, religious ones, on their own, cannot do so either. Especially not with the kind of historical baggage and contemporary narratives of holy war, we are living with now.

It is time we re-consider, re-engage and re-envision a poetics of solidarity rooted an abiding adherence to (and re-education about) all human rights for all peoples at all times. What would that entail?

¹ https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/88aug/obrien.htm
² Connor O’Brian, https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/routes-of-wrath-report-2023-2-465217.pdf
³ Connor O’Brian, https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/routes-of-wrath-report-2023-2-465217.pdf

Part 2 follows.

Dr. Azza Karam is President and CEO of Lead Integrity; a Professor and Affiliate with the Ansari Institute of Religion and Global Affairs at Notre Dame University; and a member of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism.

IPS UN Bureau

The post The Age of Holy War & Poetics of Solidarity – (Part 1) appeared first on Good News!.

from 2014 with the Mulan Drummers from China creating a Peace Sign with their drums, very special. We are all one, OM.

Ukrainian Benefit at the Actor’s Temple Monday March 21, 2022

Not Exactly Sun Tzu: Russian Military Blunderings & the Global Democratic Deficit

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Mulan, Drumming in the design of a Peace Sign “Classic Good News” 09/14/14

Lastly, please join us to Pause the World for Peace. Call us at 212 647 1212. Go to www.peacedayparty.org to volunteer or donate. WE APPRECIATE YOU AS WE KNOW EVERYONE ON OUR NEWSLETTER IS ALL ABOUT PEACE & LOVE.

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“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting” – Sun Tzu

Security Council votes on draft resolution on Ukraine, 25 February 2022. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten

NEW YORK, Feb 28 2022 (IPS) – Russian President and former intelligence officer Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has been at the helm of power since 1999, promoting jingoistic nationalism to keep his hold on power and creating a democratic deficit on the home front.

In a long list of extrajudicial crimes under the aegis of Mr. Putin, it is alleged that critics and potential rivals generally meet an untimely demise – ranging from helicopter crashes (e.g., LTG Alexander Lebed), murdered in elevators (e.g., in the high profile case of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya), falling out of windows (e.g., former third secretary of Russia’s delegation to the United Nations in Vienna found at the bottom of the Russian Embassy in Berlin) to Polonium poisoning (e.g., Alexander Litvinenko) or getting incarcerated on trumped up charges like Russian opposition leader Alexie Navalny.

A throwback to Soviet totalitarian times Mr. Putin is a vocal proponent of ongoing hybrid militarized ‘foreign policy’ aggressions that aim to reclaim Russia’s sphere of influence in former Soviet Republics, as well as further afield, primarily in the continent of Africa.

Kremlin-controlled Spetsnaz mercenaries from the Wagner Group, who it is alleged hold Russian diplomatic passports, conduct military spearhead operations on behalf of the Kremlin and maintain bureaus in all 55 member states of the African Union – for more details see: https://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/world/russia/vagner.htm.

The antecedents of this hybrid militarized ‘foreign policy’ stratagem follow a trajectory that begins in Chechnya with the Second Battle of Grozny from 25 December 1999 to 6 February 2000 during the premiership of Mr. Putin – where the world’s democratic powers were silent witnesses to the devastation of a city of almost 400,000, which led to a pratically halving of the population through an exodus of internally displaced persons.

In 2003, the United Nations called Grozny “the most destroyed city on earth”. It could be speculated that at the time democratic Western powers were largely silent given that the Chechens were perceived as Islamist terrorists.

After ‘success’ in Chechnya, in November 2007 Mr. Putin next withdrew Russia’s participation in the 1990 Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, which limited the deployment of heavy military equipment across Europe. It enabled Mr. Putin and the Kremlin to thereafter experiment with a hybrid militarized ‘foreign policy’ adventure in the 5-day, 2008 August War in Georgia.

Russian troops invaded and established control over the occupied Tskhinvali region (now called South Ossetia) and Abkhazia constituting over 20% of Georgian territory – for more details see: https://www.csis.org/analysis/russias-hybrid-aggression-against-georgia-use-local-and-external-tools. Once again, the world’s democratic powers were little more than passive bystanders.

While the world’s leading democratic powers stayed silent, a timeline of notable hybrid militarized ‘foreign policy’ aggressions orchestrated by Mr. Putin and the Kremlin, demonstrating their global reach in Europe and Africa, includes:

• Invasion and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in southern Ukraine (February-March 2014) – successful.
• Invasion and occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine (March-November 2014) – successful.
(NB: Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries made their first overseas combat appearance in the Donbas region in 2014).
• Military intervention in Syria to support President Assad and winning the civil war for the regime (in September 2015-2019) – successful.
• Military intervention in the Libyan civil war in support of renegade eastern Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar by Kremlin-controlled Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group (April 2019-October 2020) – failure.
(NB: followed by smaller, inconclusive Wagner Group interventions in Mozambique, Sudan, and the Central African Republic). For details see: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58009514
• Invasion of Ukraine (February 24, 2022) – ongoing – with Mr. Putin and the Kremlin looking at long-term occupation and subjugation of the Ukrainian people in a carefully orchestrated military campaign that was planned for at least 8-10 years.
(NB: in the case of Ukraine, Mr. Putin and the Kremlin orchestrated a non-stop war of attrition in the Donbas and Crimea since February 2014, and the Wagner Group has been redeployed in Ukraine in February 2022 after withdrawing mercenaries from Africa).
Since November 2007 the slippery slope towards a global democratic deficit – attempting to prove that might is right – was taking shape and gathering momentum, harbingers of the return of authoritarianism, imperialism, and possibly totalitarianism.

A democratic deficit occurs when seemingly democratic governments fail to fulfill the principles of democratic governance for the benefit of their citizenry. When that happens in many countries worldwide it becomes a global democratic deficit with the rise to power of authoritarian and antidemocratic political leaders as in the case of Russia, North Korea, China, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan under the Taliban, and most recently in West Africa – Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea.

All countries are susceptible, including countries like Brazil, and the United States of America, as was the case during the Trump presidency from 2016-2020.

The biggest fear of authoritarians of the ilk of Mr. Putin is that the common people will be able to exercise their democratic rights through free and fair elections, and popular protests to repudiate the egregious corruption and misgovernance of political leaders, as was the case in Ukraine when pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych abandoned his country and fled in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.

A similar fate was reversed in Belarus with the illegitimate reinstatement of Mr. Alexander Lukashenko, and its tacit occupation in plain sight by the Russian military in January-February 2022.

To the thus-far silent democratic powers it must strongly be pointed out that parallels can be drawn to Mr. Putin’s extrajudicial hybrid military ‘foreign policy’ actions to what Pastor Martin Niemöller said about crimes against humanity during the Nazi reign of terror under Adolf Hitler:

First, they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
— Martin Niemöller

Having noted the above in all its gory detail, it must be pointed out to Mr. Putin and the Kremlin that their perceived ‘successful’ hybrid militarized ‘foreign policy’ blunderings will only further weaken Russia’s economic and political standing in the 21 Century – especially once draconian long-term sanctions start to bite with alacrity, and deeply.

It all depends on the sleeping giant of democratic world powers waking up, uniting in common purpose, and responding to an existential threat to peace, security, and democracy. Sun Tzu was right all along Mr. Putin – “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting”.

Dr Purnaka L. de Silva is Adjunct Professor UN Studies (M.A. Program) at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, and Director, Institute of Strategic Studies and Democracy (ISSD) Malta.

Twitter @IPSNewsUNBureau

Instagram @ipsnewsunbureau

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Listen to “Ukrainian Church Choir, Service, Metropolitan Opera Singing Ukrainian Anthem, Andre Rois Performing Ukrainian Song with Ukrainian and Russia” on Spreaker.

Metropolitan Opera singing National Anthem if the Ukraine…
Listen to “Ukrainian Church Choir, Service, Metropolitan Opera Singing Ukrainian Anthem, Andre Rois Performing Ukrainian Song with Ukrainian and Russia” on Spreaker.

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Listen to “Interview with Tatyana Mezhentseva – 11-year-old Russian “vocal wonder” in BIRDLAND during Jim Caruso’s Cast Party.” on Spreaker.
Listen to “Performance of Tatyana Mezhentseva – 11-year-old Russian “vocal wonder” in BIRDLAND during Jim Caruso’s Cast Party” on Spreaker.
Listen to “What is Peace for Tatyana Mezhentseva?” on Spreaker.
Listen to “What is Good News for Tatyana Mezhentseva?” on Spreaker.

WHEN: 8 pm TONIGHT!!!!!

WHO:

International pop star 11-year-old Russian vocal wonder/seasoned songwriter and performing artist and winner of many entertainment TV competitions.

Tatyana Mezhentseva

https://youtu.be/a7N7d25xh8k

WHAT:

Special open mic performance tonight during Jim Caruso’s Cast Party which is held at the world famous jazz venue

THIS IS HER FIRST VISIT TO THE USA!!!!

BIRDLAND

315 West 44th Street

NYC

(bet Eighth and Ninth Avenues)

(212)-581-3080

Time: 8-9 pm

Contact:

Tatyana’s representatives

Sandra Trim-DaCosta (917) 833-2693

Diaz Mussalimov (757) 773-9243

About Tatyana:

Tatyana Mezhentseva is a young Russian singer, who participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2019.

She was born in Moscow in 2009. From the early ages she was engaged in creative work: at the age of four she started to do vocal and compose songs. She is also good at playing the piano.

The singer is sure that for success it is necessary to study a lot and train hard. She has a desire to develop further and to try something new. That is why, at the age of 7 she decided to do aerial gymnastics, which, as Tanya admits, gives her the ability to fly. Today she performs at the creative association of air gymnasts Art Area Project.

CREATIVE WAY AND ACHIEVEMENTS

She studied vocals under Mikhail Grebenshikov’s guidance at the Alla Pugacheva variety workshop. Alla Borisovna noted that Tanya is very beautiful: shining blond curls distinguish her among young artists.

Later she became a student of the Igor Krutoy Academy. She also worked with A-TEENS label.

At the age of eight Tanya made her television debut — together with Dina Garipova (Eurovision Song Contest 2013 finalist, winner of the TV show The Voice on Channel 1 in 2012) — she performed the song Fifth Element on the Christmas Song of the Year (NTV). Since then, she has regularly performed and appeared at prestigious events, such as QUARTIRNIC TEENS, a concert on the occasion of Eurovision, etc. In the summer of 2019, she was nominated for the Fashion People Awards.

JUNIOUR EUROVISON

In 2019, Tatiana had the honor of representing Russia at the international contest Junior Eurovision, which was held in Poland on November 24.

Tatyana met a Tuvan singer Denberel Oorzhak (winner of the contest You are super! on NTV) in Crimea during the contest New Wave for children. The young talents recorded the song Time for us, which was co-authored by Tatiana herself.

The qualifying competition wasn’t easy. The jury consisted of Russian pop stars, producers, former contestants of Junior Eurovision. The result was significantly influenced by the online voting. Tanya and Denberel managed to outrun their competitors and win the right to represent their country in the contest in Poland.

Igor Krutoy admitted, “Tanya and Danberel have a good song, I like it. It has emotions and it is written well to show their vocal skills. Moreover, it is easy to remember”.

Philip Kirkorov wished them luck, “You’re talented and you look great!”

Alexey Golubev, a famous director, producer and video maker, put on a competition number, as well as made a video Time for us.

To take part in one of the most prestigious international competitions is a great success at the beginning of your professional career. Tanya is not upset that she did not manage to win it — she treats the failures quite easily. At the Junior Eurovision Song Contest she gained a lot of experience, which is so necessary for young artist. But Tanya is not going to stop on reached: she continues to develop her talent and brings new ideas to life. She dreams to star in movies, work with Sting, her icon and, of course, take part in Eurovision.

Recently Tanya released a single Molodi, which was not only loved by her audience, but also found support from a new listener. The song is rapidly gaining popularity in social networks and in the media environment.

Interesting facts about Tania:

1. A contestant in Children’s Eurovision Song Contest 2019

2. A piano player

3. The main sport is aerial gymnastics

4. Favorite flowers are lilies of the valley

5. Does dancing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and horseback riding

6. Has three dogs, a cat, chameleon, lizard and others

7. Has two brothers and a sister

8. Her family is a fan of Spartak football club

9. Amulet is a fluffy toy horse

10. Knows English and learns French

11. Before performing on stage puts a coin from the time of Catherine I in her shoes.

12. Fond of diving, chess, fine art and modeling

13. Loves Madonna, Zemfira, Zaz, Lady Gaga and Moralniy Kodex band.

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Find My smashwords Books: Body Destiny and From Renata with Love at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/douglassmyth

Everyone knew Olga was a princess, even if one of her own devising. Princess Olga is her fictional memoir. Olga, beginning at age 97, dreams of her childhood in Port of Spain, untangling a family mystery of political intrigue: why her Venezuelan family, living in luxury, fled Trinidad for Harlem in 1924.

Olga was named, she claimed, in 1913, by and for a real Russian Princess:Princess Olga, sister of the reigning Tsar Nicholas. Olga, a babe in arms, was onboard ship going from Margarita, Venezuela to Port of Spain in the Crown Colony of Trinidad.

Port of Spain was where Olga first learned her power as Princess.

Except when she is ushered out of bed, or to the dining room table, Olga, beginning at age 97, dreams back to her childhood in Port of Spain. Her family was intimately connected to the Venezuelan regime; her uncle was its Consul General in Trinidad; her father worked for the dictatorship in the gold fields of Amazonas and most of his brothers worked for the regime, as well. In her dreams, she untangles a mystery of political intrigue and why her family fled Trinidad. She discovers the important part she played, causing her family, living in luxury, to abandon Port of Spain for Harlem in 1924.

She then dreams of her arrival in New York, and of her eventual triumph in her new country: a scholarship to Mount Holyoke, marriage into an old literary family, (Hawthorne and Smyth) but, until she receives a steamer trunk full of cash, she is still connected to the regime in Venezuela.

Princess Olga: Uncovering My Headstrong Mother’s Venezuelan Connection was published on December 8, 2017.

Hardback and paperback copies are available and may be ordered at all book retail venues, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. E-books are also available.

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Géza von Habsburg-Lothringen studied at the Universities of Fribourg and Bern (Switzerland), Munich and Florence and has a Ph.D. in History of Art and Archeology. He was Chairman of Christie’s in Switzerland and in Europe for 18 years; taught at the New York School of Design; at the Bard Graduate Center for the Decorative Art; at New York University; and lectured for a decade at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He published 15 books on the History of Collecting, Russian Art and Fabergé, and organized five international exhibitions attracting over 2 million visitors.

At present he serves as Visiting Professor at Shijitsu University, Okayama (Japan); Fabergé Guest Curator at the Virginia Museum of Art, where he wrote the catalogue of its collection of Russian Art and organized the exhibition “Fabergé Revealed”; and Curatorial Director of the Fabergé Company. As President of the International Friends of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, he speaks regularly on Habsburg family history, artistic patronage and collecting.

He is President of the International Friends of the Budapest Museum of Applied Art; Advisory Board Member of the Hermitage Foundation; of the Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg; and Board Member of the Friends of Dresden.

He forms part of the International Council of Museums (ICOM); American Association of Museums (AAM); Appraisers Association of America, New York (AAA); American Association of Jewelry Historians; of the The British Society of Jewellery Historians; and is member of the Vetting Committees of The European Fine Arts Fair (TEFAF) in Maastricht; The American International Fine Arts Fair (AIFAF) in Palm Beach; and The International Fine Art & Antique Dealer’s Show in New York.

CURRICULUM VITAE
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
VIRGINIA FINE ARTS MUSEUM, RICHMOND, FABERGÉ GUEST CURATOR 2010-present
FABERGÉ USA, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR 1994-2007; CURATORIAL DIRECTOR 2007-present
FABERGÉ ARTS FOUNDATION, CURATOR, DIRECTOR 1991-1994
HABSBURG FINE ART INTERNATIONAL AUCTIONEERS, CHAIRMAN GENEVA AND NEW YORK 1987-1991
CHRISTIE, MANSON & WOODS AUCTIONEERS, CHAIRMAN (SWITZERLAND) 1968-1984; CHAIRMAN (EUROPE) 1980-1984.

EXHIBITIONS CURATED (SELECTION)
KUNSTHALLE, MUNICH, 2003: Fabergé und Cartier, Rivalen am Zarenhof
VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF FINE ART, RICHMOND, 2001: Fabergé Revealed
METROPOLIAN MUSEUM, NEW YORK; FINE ARTS MUSEUMS OF SAN FRANCISCO; RICHMOND, VA; NEW ORLEANS, LA; CLEVELAND, OH, 1996/7: Fabergé in America
STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM, ST. PETERSBURG; MUSÉE DES ARTS DÉCORATIFS, PARIS;
V&A MUSEUM, LONDON, 1993/94: Fabergé, Imperial Court Jeweler
KUNSTHALLE, MUNICH 1986: Fabergé Hofjuwelier der Zaren

BOOKS PUBLISHED (SELECTION)
“Fabergé Revealed”, Richmond Museum Press 2011
“Fabergé. Treasures of Imperial Russia”, The Link of Times Foundation, Moscow 2004 (Russian/English)
“Fabergé/Cartier. Rivalen am Zarenhof”, Hirmer Verlag, Munich 2003 (German)
“Princely Treasures”, Vendome Press, New York 1997 (English, French, German and Italian editions)
“Fabergé in America”, San Francisco Museum of Fine Art, 1996
“Fabergé. Imperial Jeweller” (co-authored with Dr. Marina Lopato), Zwemmer, London 1993 (Russian, French, English)

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