#diplomacy
“Detritus is a citizen of Ankh-Morpork and my sergeant,” said Vimes.
“However, he is a troll. Perhaps in the interests of diplomacy you could write a short–”
“DoIneed a pisspot?”
“A passport…no, Your Grace.”
“Then he doesn’t either.”
“Nevertheless, Your Grace–”
“There is nonevertheless.”
“But it may not be advisable to–”
“There’s no advisable either.”
A few other guards had drifted over. Vimes was aware of watching eyes.
“He could be ejected by force,” said Inigo.
“Nowthere’san experiment I wouldn’t want to miss,” said Vimes.
Detritus made a rumbling noise. “I don’t mind goin’ back if–”
“Shut up, Sergeant. You’re a free troll. That’s an order.”
Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant
Only four countries in the world recognise the Georgian breakaway region Abkhazia: Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Nauru. Nauru is also the only country that recognises both Abkhazia and Kosovo.
Eugenie Anderson
Eugenie Anderson was born in 1909 in Adair, Iowa. In 1949, Anderson was appointed US Ambassador to Denmark, becoming the first woman in American history to hold the post of ambassador. She remained in this position until 1953. During her tenure, Anderson convinced Denmark to become more actively involved in NATO, and signed the Treaty of Commerce and Friendshipbetween the two nations.In 1962, she was appointed American Minister to Bulgaria, a post she held until 1964.
Eugenie Anderson died in 1997 at the age of 87.
“You can’t care about problems of every single country in the world!”
Beside the fact I’m human and I naturally wish everyone would get what I’m lucky to have, I’ll tell you why I do care.
I have friends in Ukraine. None of them have left or plan to do so. It’s their home and even though at least one of them has relocated, talking people out of returning home because it’s not safe, knowing damn well how it feels to miss your home, if it’s in the middle of a whirlwind or not, is not something I got prepared for. So I understand.
I have friends in southeast Asia. I would argue about how the palm oil is bad with anyone but them. Because they know. They do. But at the same time, they know that we have been going down this environmentally bad path for too long and cutting it off would make many of their fellow citizens fall into extreme poverty, the economy would fall apart and it’d be mainly the ordinary people who would suffer. So I understand.
I have friends in the US who are genuinely afraid of the prolife movements and feel sad when they hear how much we learn in our schools. The “stupid Americans” stereotype has made us mock the wrong people, those who became victims to the insufficient education system. So I understand.
I have friends in southeastern Europe. I have a friend in Azerbaijan. I have friends that are children of emigrants, that want to study abroad but don’t have finances, friends that are forced into some religion, friends that have never felt plight in their country, yet they’re not happy. Friends that are being told by ignorant people that they don’t understand their own history.
So I understand. I have opened my heart to people who are different from me, yet very similar and we talk a lot.
Before I met them, I had no idea what the world is like, that it’s so full of problems that get pushed aside. That we’d rather complain about how our problems are what we should focus on the most when some are dying for their ethnicity, religion, can’t find a job because of something their leader did and they speak against, are dependent on the brands we all know and love quite literally with their lives.
I decided to take the time to understand them. Because to understand is to love and to love is to understand.