Today, Serbia seems the MOST democratic country in Europe: the student list movement has changed the entire political landscape of the country, the Balkans, and the potential of democracy across Europe and much of the world. By engaging in direct democracy, spread across every community in the entire country, listening, hearing, engaging with people, young and old, horizontally with local civic assemblies, across all municipalities and neighbourhoods, demanding thorough political accountability. Could this be a "New Democracy Wave"? @d_pavlovic @IVejvoda @BIRNSrbija But what about the rest of the world, increasingly autocratic? Here are some thoughts: youtube.com/watch?v=QBoEPrEH…

And Palestine, sharply deteriorating, and dwindling, under the expansionist ethnic cleansing and worse, at the expense of Israel and its violations of UN Security Council resolutions, ICJ advisories, international humanitarian law and in defiance of its own democratic secular and religious opposition, as per the Berkovits letter of protest against the Netanyahu régime (17 June 2026). Even Israel's high level of HDI has begun to decline, presumably after the Netanyahu -induced devastation following the outrageous Hamas terrorist attacks of 7 October. The new government that an electoral defeat can inflict on the Netanyahu régime and its extremists, must work to repair the region, heal humanity on all sides, and heal the world in the process. @RGrynspan @Lana_Nusseibeh @rafaelmgrossi @UN_PGA @DDiallo_ardn @AminaJMohammed @IrishMissionUN @HMcEntee @HelenClarkNZ @Haaretz @jaredkushner @SEPeaceMissions @UNDPPA @UNSCO_MEPP @DeCrooAlexander @UNDP

And the RUBS: Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and Serbia

See the impact on human development index (HDI) on your country of interest, the historic trend, the generally downward dip after the Covid19 pandemic, and the slowing down globally, and in some cases, declining indices. See the global median, and compare to your country. Here's a few examples; Ireland, stable; China, progressing; USA stagnant. (Source: UNDP) hdr.undp.org/data-center/hum…

Another dictator down! Serbia’s corrupt autocrat #Vuciċ concedes defeat. At long last, a prospect of return to liberty, human rights, real reform, and accelerated integration to EU! A better Balkans! An old cartoon by the late Serbian cartoonist Corax, animated. 🇷🇸🙏🎶🥂🙏 @OnlineDanas @n1srbija @novars @RMcGreevy1301 @pass_blue @ClancyReports @vangelofreebird @anneapplebaum @TimothyDSnyder @inna_berezkina

Never has the future of humanity held such promise – nor such risk, at this precise epochal moment of the Anthropocene, when we have finally achieved a truly world civilisation. We've made huge progress - but exhausting our planetary ecosystems, and putting our peoples in existential peril. In brief, almost a third of the world’ s countries are in conflict, affecting nearly half of humanity. Hear about why we need to ACT NOW. youtube.com/watch?v=OXKzPKCu…

Marking UN Day, 24 October 2026: @secgen @Fillipo_Grandi @Villepin @ClaudeMalhuret @FareedZakaria @ShonaMurray_ @amanpour Never has the future of humanity held such promise – nor such risk, at this precise epochal moment of the Anthropocene, when we have finally achieved a truly world civilisation. We've made huge progress - but exhausting our planetary ecosystems, and putting our peoples in existential peril. In brief, almost a third of the world’ s countries are in conflict, affecting nearly half of humanity. Hear about why we need to ACT NOW. youtube.com/watch?v=OXKzPKCu… @NizamiGanjaviIC @Independent_ie @IrishMissionUN @IrishTimes @Pontifex @_WAAS_ @ClubdeMadrid @InterActCouncil @wef @CWWLeaders @washingtonpost @nytimes @PatKennyNT @rtenews @HMcEntee @iiea @davidmcw @RMcGreevy1301

81 years on, we mark tomorrow UN Day, 24 October: Time to revamp the UN with a new SecGen: unadvocacy.net

Excellent letter to the P5 veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council by two colleagues, both distinguished former Under-Secretaries-General and Special Representatives of the Secretary-General, Victor ANGELO (Portugal @vangelofreebird ) and Sukehiro HASEGAWA (Japan), participants in the UN Advocacy Community, which launches its "Blue Book" recommendations to re-vitalise the UN, for the consideration and hopeful implementation of the next UN Secretary-General, whoever s/he may be, this Saturday, UN Day 24 Oct. 2026. We call for an existential transformational shift to a people-centred United Nations. But first, the P5 must agree wisely on the best candidate for the world, for all of us, and our future generations, as these two authors urge. victorangelo1.substack.com/p…? @TheEconomist @FT @NewstalkFM @guardian @RMcGreevy1301 @ShonaMurray_ @EavanMurray @ClancyReports @FareedZakaria @amanpour @FoxNews @rtenews @TheElders @NizamiGanjaviIC @InterActCouncil @CWWLeaders @Jerusalem_Post @haaretzcom

Caesar is turning in his grave

About time the UK stood strong on this, not least given its partial and ill-judged Balfour Declaration of 1917, and its poorly-performed former League of Nations mandate. British misrule and mismanaged decolonisation left a legacy of broken divided territories/countries behind, from North America and Ireland to Palestine, Raj India, Cyprus, Rhodesia to apartheid South Africa

7 October: Online at 7.15pm (Dublin and London) today: facebook.com/events/21737817…

This is the latest appeal to the pertinent high authorities of the EU and its member states to ACT NOW to demand action to halt further deterioration of the prospects for a two-state solution for #Israel🇮🇱 & 🇵🇸#Palestine, with explicit measures demanded. Read & share! See also: euformeramb.eu/index.html

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) is the United Nations specialised agency that promotes and protects intellectual property (IP) worldwide. Switzerland ranks first globally in the WIPO Global Innovation Index 2026. Top 10 Innovative Economies (2026) 1. Switzerland 2. Sweden 3. United States 4. Republic of Korea 5. Singapore 6. United Kingdom 7. Netherlands 8. Finland 9. Denmark 10. China Special Theme: Entitled "Powering Entrepreneurs at the Frontier of Science," the 2026 report focuses on deep-science ventures turning early research into scalable industries. Global R&D: Total worldwide research and development expenditure is estimated to reach $3.4 trillion. Venture Capital: Artificial intelligence companies continue to dominate venture capital investments. Top Clusters: The Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou area leads the world's top 100 science and technology innovation clusters. 🇮🇪 >>>> Ireland's Performance National Rank: Ireland ranks 19th among the 139 featured economies in the 2026 index. Local Cluster: Dublin is ranked 72nd globally in the top 100 science and technology innovation cluster rankings. @ShonaMurray_ @Ireland2026eu @IrishCollegeLVN @NewstalkFM @rtenews @Independent_ie @IrishTimes

The Art & Music of Francis M. O'Donnell youtu.be/Qqkz_Ku8B-I?si=Bbr6… via @YouTube