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Extracts from Global Conflict Tracker Last updated March 25, 2022 Armed conflict in eastern Ukraine erupted in early 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Crimea... One month later, in March 2014, Russian troops took control of Ukraine’s Crimea region... Armed conflict in the region quickly broke out between Russian-backed forces and the Ukrainian military... Beginning in February 2015, France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine attempted to kickstart negotiations and broker a cessation in violence through the Minsk Accords... In April 2016, NATO announced that the alliance would deploy four battalions to Eastern Europe, rotating troops through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland to deter possible future Russian aggression elsewhere in Europe, particularly in the Baltics... In September 2017, the United States also deployed two U.S. Army tank brigades to Poland to further bolster NATO’s presence in the region... In January 2018, the United States imposed new sanctions on twenty-one individuals–including a number of Russian officials–and nine companies linked to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has been the target of thousands of cyberattacks... In October 2021, Russia began moving troops and military equipment near its border with Ukraine, reigniting concerns over a potential invasion... By December, more than one hundred thousand Russian troops were in place near the Russia-Ukraine border and U.S. intelligence officials warned that Russia may be planning an invasion for early 2022. In mid-December 2021, Russia’s foreign ministry issued a set of demands calling for the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to cease any military activity in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, to commit against further NATO expansion toward Russia, and to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO in the future. The United States and other NATO allies rejected these demands and warned Russia they would impose severe economic sanctions if Russia invaded Ukraine... Since Russia launched a full-scale military invasion into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, fighting has caused over nine hundred civilian deaths and pushed millions of Ukrainians to flee to neighboring countries—the majority of whom have arrived in Poland, a NATO country where U.S. troops are preparing to offer assistance to refugees. cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-ukraine Sunday challenge - Blue and yellow

The Sunday Challenge = Lamp

The sunday challenge = what or who are you thankful for in your life ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm thankful for being a father I always enjoy seeing children in their natural behaviour Every new generation brings a change of the guards, it shows how relative life is In case you wonder where the image was taken you can have a look at: my latest video Some explanation about this scene: This season national TV program “Het Klokhuis” intended to pay attention to the ecological footprint. The city of Eindhoven’s yearly ligthfestival “Glow” thereafter decided to depict the footprint on a scale during the festival in November. At location Ketelhuisplein artist Hugo Vrijdag is going to colour the whole floor and surrounding buildings with flowers on Friday. From the inside, the surrounding buildings and the windows of these houses colour green as well. One wide green valley. This is how Hugo Vrijdag visualizes The Dutch Footprint. A piece of light art of 5 hectares. Because that is the surface every Dutchman claims with our lifestyle. Distributed over the world population we can use a maximum of 1.6 hectares. During GLOW 2021 are going to project that ambition, literally. On the Ketelhuisplein, Hugo Vrijdag colours the entire floor and surrounding buildings with flowers. The surrounding buildings and the windows of these houses also turn green from the inside. A big green valley. Artist Hugo Vrijdag visualizes the Dutch Footprint. A light artwork of 5 hectares. Because that is the surface that every Dutch person with our current lifestyle claims. Divided over the world population, we can use a maximum of 1.6 hectares. During GLOW 2021 we project that ambition; literal. Het Klokhuis will be recording this project at GLOW to visualize the size of the current Dutch footprint. The TV program will use the images for its series devoted to the theme. The Dutch footprint extends beyond the projection on Ketelhuisplein. The project started weeks before GLOW, in which more than 60 primary schools from Eindhoven took part. At school, the children drew and painted flowers, plants and insects. These works of art were digitized and processed into the projection on the Ketelhuisplein.

For The Sunday Challenge: what or who are you thankful for in your life This week's theme is particularly difficult for me. I am an atheist of Jewish origin, philosophically sceptical and culturally deeply connected to the natural elements having grown up with a healer magical grandmother who in other times would certainly have been accused of witchcraft. I do not understand the notions of gratitude and forgiveness. For me, gratitude is punctual, it comes from an act, it is not a state. Forgiveness for me does not exist: I have a limit of understanding and acceptance, if it is exceeded the return can only come from time and forgetting, never from a voluntary act which for me would be hypocritical. I am alive because I was brought into the world (and abandonned by my genitors), everything I can have is the fruit of my personal effort and of the experiences, help and teachings of a lifetime.There are people like my grandmother who gave me the oportunity to progress, to become a better person but I have very few pictures and it would not be actual ones anyhow. There are books I learnt a lot from too, but which to choose? No idea... I try to be the best I can be, to learn from my mistakes and have the humility to admit them and my shortcomings. I try to live in peace, run away from conflicts, look for nature... but nature is there, is it necessary to feel gratitude? Didn't think I would give myself away so much here... and all because I don't know how to accomplish the theme... so I photographed what gives me peace, knowing that no barrier or chain can stop my thoughts and my ability to dream. Maybe I should be thankful to this... but who should I say thanks to ?

Jede Menge Sterne

Contribution for The Sunday Challenge # 487 : opposites, in a minimalist style. www. www.bassins-lumieres

Taken on August 18th, 2019.

✎ Rework edited with Glitch Lab and Snapseed Android applications. ➽ Original image taken on September 2011 and published at ipernity on January 2015.

Saturday Self-Challenge (3 Aug 2019) Shallow Depth of Field