QUARTAVEL

  "Look, let's be honest, the European Union was formed in order to screw the United States". Donald Trump The Donald Trump "America First" doctrine has consistently been viewed by many analysts and European leaders as a significant challenge to the foundations of transatlantic cooperation and, by extension, to the EU's unity and influence. This approach is not about a direct, military-style assault on the EU, but rather a strategic and economic one that seeks to re-evaluate and reshape global relationships to prioritize U.S. national interests above all else. The core of Trump's policy is a transactional, bilateral approach that contrasts sharply with the multilateral, rules-based international order that the EU champions. A central element of this approach has been the use of tariffs. The Trump administration has long viewed trade deficits as a sign of economic weakness and unfair practices by other nations. This has led to the imposition of ...

  She is the dust and the sky, a Montana cowgirl with a heart as wild as the wind. Sunlight filtered slantingly through the dust motes dancing in the barn, illuminating the worn leather of a saddle hanging from a stand. The air smelled of hay, horsepower, and the faint, sweet scent of mugwort carried on the breeze. No traffic lights, horns, a noisy crowd, the sounds of the city. Only sunrises and sunsets, the lowing of cattle, and the silence of strong hands. Lily rose before the sun, a quick breakfast of coffee and scrambled eggs and bacon or sausage, fried potatoes or baked potatoes, beans, and whole wheat bread or homemade biscuits. Then she put on faded jeans and a worn flannel shirt, the cold air nipping at her cheeks as she headed to the barn. She was always with her horse, a trusty chestnut named Maverick, whose deep brown eyes reflected enormous challenges overcome. Life on the ranch in Montana was an endless list of things to do. There were fences to repair, calves t...

  “All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.”   Lev Tolstoy, Anna Karenina   Russian President Vladimir Putin used a series of statements to justify the invasion of Ukraine. He claimed he was protecting Russian-speakers from an alleged "genocide" and that the goal was to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine. These statements mask a clear ambition for territorial expansion to challenge the post-Cold War order. Putin invoked a sense of historical resentment and national humiliation over the "greatest geopolitical tragedy" of the 20th century: the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent expansion of NATO into the former Soviet bloc.   Ahead of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, many Western nations were similarly hesitant to directly confront Russia, largely due to economic dependence on Russian energy and a general reluctance to engage in a major conflict. This perceived lack of resolve, particularly after R...

  In a reality far more complex and wondrous than reason alone can contain, man, through reason, arranges his ordered tiles on the carpet of life, which GOD promptly disarranges. Kant had erected the austere edifice of Reason against the unpredictable tides of love, a cold and glittering citadel, a meticulously ordered garden. Before the tribunal of the categorical imperative, love would have been condemned to become a mere duty, almost a guiding light. But love between two souls is a burning fire, an unstoppable frenzy, a feverish passion, a leap of irrational passion, a chaotic wave that overwhelms everything. Nietzsche, the philosopher of the hammer and the noon, would have placed love in the box of the will to power. But even the will to power collapses before the Will of GOD. Job lacked the will to power; only God pulled him out of trouble. Job 42:10. Love is a vital force, almost a creative impulse: When you love, you don't think; you are. You don't calculate; you c...