There was some discussion around the Patio about how to handle the second Dia de la Muertos. As you now, holidays that last longer than a single day present unique challenges. The ‘Day of the Dead” is one of our imported holidays. This one has its roots in Mexico and is a blend of Meso-american rituals celebrated each year from 31 October to 02 November. We prefer to keep things deconflicted to the degree possible. November 1-2 is All Souls Day. According to tradition, the gates of heaven open at midnight on Halloween and the spirits of children can rejoin their families for 24 hours. The spirits of adults can do the same on November 2, so we are by no means done with this holiday.

So we have that to deal with this morning, plus the rise of the Global South. We have two land wars in progress this morning, the old one in Ukraine and the new one in the Gaza Strip. Both of those are in the Global North, but the political plate tectonics is causing some unusual bumping and grinding in the equator. As a general term, the ‘Global South’ has evolving nuance. Back in 1964, you could say the First World started at the Equator and proceeded north to the Pole. The ‘Developing World’ went south to Antarctica from the ring around the middle.

There is more, of course. We periodically swap names around to keep us sharp. There is an exercise in that process happening now. A half-century ago, the Global South was known as the Group of 77 by the United Nations. Today, that term refers to the roughly 130 nations that comprise the roughly 130 nations of Latin America, the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe. South and East Asia, with Africa, rounds things out nicely.

For the moment, let’s put China aside. It is part of the Global South, of course, even if it is actually mostly north of the invisible line. The ‘Belt and Road’ plugs into one side and goes both north and south of the equator. There is an enthusiastic commitment to modernizing the PRC military establishment. This week, 43 aircraft and seven surface warships were deployed from the mainland to the big island that General Chiang Kai-Shek managed to hang on to in 1948.

There will be more with all this. There is talk that Beijing is confronting a real estate melt-down similar to the one that cut short Japan’s global rise, 1986-91. There may be something similar in progress right now in China. So, we have hot conflicts in Europe, the Gaza strip, and possibly across the Taiwan Strait.

We only arrived in this particular place because a few groups of people seemed to think it would work out nicely. It is certainly going to work out. These things traditionally do, don’t they?

Copyright 2023 Vic Socotra
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