Repressive Russia

Times of Malta carried the following headline on February 17: ‘Moscow cracks down on demonstrators leaving flowers and candles at (Alexei Navalny’s) memorial sites’.

The repression in paranoid Vladimir Putin’s Russia is reminiscent of the repression under paranoid Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584).

In a letter, dated March 3, 1568, to Queen Elizabeth I of England (who had signed a treaty of alliance with Ivan), Sigismund Augustus, King of Poland, referred to Russia as “the hereditary foe of all free nations”.

In another letter, dated December 6, 1569, to Elizabeth, Sigismund wrote: “Your Majesty cannot be ignorant how great the cruelty is of the said enemy [Ivan], what tyranny he useth on his subjects, and in what servile sort they be under him” (Benson Bobrick, Fearful Majesty: The Life and Reign of Ivan the Terrible).

John Guillaumier – St Julian’s

Vladimir Putin (right) and Ivan the Terrible. Photos: AFP/Shutterstock.com

Uterine environment

Moviment Graffitti is to be admired for its efforts towards a safe, clean and healthy environment for us.

Unfortunately, these efforts are missing when it comes to the provision of a safe uterine environment where human lives are growing.

Carmel Sciberras – Naxxar

Poetry in vision

Leonardo da Vinci jotted in his notebooks: “Il dipintore disputa e gareggia colla natura”, the painter challenges and competes with nature.

Those who believe this applies only to painting, not photography, should look at Daniel Cilia’s photography in his latest book Iċ-Ċittadella (text by Godwin Vella).

Daniel outperforms nature and captures its poetry in vision.

What an artist!

Philip Farrugia Randon – St Julian’s