Pascal Bollon

Tagged: politicalcrisis

Cup of Sorrow, Blood Cup, Nicholas II Coronation Cup, Khodynka Cup of Sorrows

Nicholas II Cup of Sorrows

Buried under layers of dust, lace and velvet, something glints briefly. A gilded ceramic cup, with Cyrillic script, a double-headed eagle, angular motif, and a tantalising date, 1896. It’s Nicholas the Second’s Coronation Cup. Also called Khodynka Cup of Sorrows. Or the Blood Cup. A memento of a society broken and cast...

political scandals

Who? Me?

This post took me a surprisingly long time to write. It was not the difficulty of the subject or the lack of inspiration. Not even existential boredom. On the contrary. The reason was that raw material never stopped flowing. A flood of information. Political scandals come slushing down the hill...

I Have… No Dream

Many Universal Threats, But Where Is the Universal Vision? We stopped voting. We actively avoid news. We don’t read. Don’t we care anymore? Maybe. Unlikely though. It could possibly be just a matter of era. A generational mood. Despondent, blasé times. When we don’t blame the leadership, we blame the tools. The...

Afghanistan, graveyard of accountability

Kabul falls in days. The leader flees. The world shrugs. No-one felt locally accountable enough to defend what was built.
Power without personal accountability ultimately leads to the illusion of a democratic state.
With great power comes …no responsibility.