Vladimir Putin Places His Trust in the Bottom-Feeders of Humanity

Today, I read an absurd news story. According to it, fifteen Finns attended a meeting held in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the end of September, under the name "Peace, Nature, and Cooperation in the Baltic Sea and Arctic Regions."

There, they demanded that the escalation of the war in Ukraine "must be stopped immediately and that Western countries should cease arms deliveries to Ukraine." Additionally, they called for Russia to be allowed to participate in next year's "Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe" summit.

In a declaration crafted at the meeting, they stated that "peace will be achieved through diplomacy, cooperation, cross-border actions, active involvement of the diaspora, and a feminist agenda that emphasizes protection, meaningful participation, and prevention at all stages of conflict." In other words, they were spreading Russia’s dishonest propaganda.

It’s unfortunate that fifteen of the signatories are Finns, including, among others, the chair of the Finnish Communist Party (Liisa Taskinen) as well as two representatives of the Finnish Women for Peace movement (Ulla Klötzer and Lea Launokari).

Neither of these movements has any notable support, and I can’t recall ever hearing of any of the people mentioned above. I also don’t recognize the names of any of the other Finnish attendees, and the list does not include Finland’s most well-known Putin supporter, Johan Bäckman, who recently obtained Russian citizenship – and will hopefully be sent to the Ukrainian front as cannon fodder.

In other words, the gathering consisted of a group of traitors whose foolishness is being exploited by Russia’s dictator, Vladimir Putin. Perhaps the most telling aspect of this news is what it reveals about the situation of Russia and Putin, as it’s difficult to imagine that anything but desperation would drive the self-made tsar to rely on such bottom-feeders of humanity.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Highlights of the BRICS Meeting in Kazan, Russia
Vladimir Putin is Leading Russia into an Economic Ruin
The Social Democrats of Germany Supporting Putin

Wolfs affect nature conservation

King Friedrich II of Prussia has been said to have stated in 1789 that "dog is a man's best friend". That may or may not be true, but there is no question that dogs are beloved companions of an extremely high number of people, both men and women.  

But actually, dogs are not a real species but only domesticated wolfs. And the latter ones are definitely not beloved animals, but baddies of children´s fairy tales and hated risks of farmed animals in countryside. Only in urban areas you can find people, who wish the number of these beasts to be increased as an important part of natural biodiversity.  

Therefore it was interesting to read about a research, which analyzed the effect of wolf´s return to the voting behavior in Germany, where the sustained environmental conservation has allowed this large carnivore to make a comeback during the recent years. 

This development has been applauded by conservationists, but not by local residents living in the countryside. Therefore researchers collected data on wolf attacks on livestock and popularity of different German parties. As a result, they observed that wolf attacks were accompanied by a significant rise in far-right voting whereas the Green party suffered electoral losses. 

In other words, increasing the number of wolfs - and thus losses of livestock due to this wild predator - may ultimately lead to a reduction in the popularity of policies intended to restore the environment. And therefore it may prevent the success of efforts to keep sustainable sizes of wolf populations in Europe.

Wolf is also an issue in the Finnish countryside. We have right now a pack of animals that include hybrids between wolfs and dogs. Those are considered as harmful alien organisms, and should thus be removed. 

Accordingly, a permission to shoot them was applied, but hybrids were not executed as environmentalists appealed to a court to save them. That act definitely did not increase the popularity of wolf´s protection in the area, and may lead to a growth in the popularity of parties that are most skeptical to big investments in nature conservation efforts urged by the European union. A reflection hardly lauded by the environmentalists of the country.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
90 years ago in Germany
Leaders infected by a parasite
A new justification is needed for environmental activists

Leaders infected by a parasite

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasitic protozoan that causes toxoplasmosis, which in humans is associated with a variety of neuropsychiatric and behavioral conditions. The parasite is capable of infecting virtually all warm-blooded animals,  but may undergo sexual reproduction only in felids (cats and its relatives). 

The parasite has been shown to increase rodents' chances of being preyed upon by felids by altering their behavior. As a consequence, rats that do not avoid cat habitations and are therefore more likely to become cat prey.

The famous Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, USA, has a diverse carnivore community including gray wolves and cougars, intermediate and definitive hosts of the parasite, respectively. In a newly published investigation it was shown, that wolf territory overlap with areas of high cougar density was an important predictor of infection. 

In addition, wolves hosting the parasite were more likely to make high-risk decisions such as dispersing and becoming a pack leader, both factors critical to individual fitness and wolf vital rates. The change was considerable as the reported data showed that infected wolves were 11 times more likely than uninfected ones to leave their birth family to start a new pack, and 46 times more likely to become pack leaders - often the only wolves in the pack that breed.

The study did not provide data how this this behavioral modification of wolfs resulted in the parasite breeding in cougars, but according to the authors it is probable that the toxoplasmosis would create a feedback loop that increases spatial overlap and disease transmission between wolves and cougars. 

Taken together, the above described results show an example of unexpectedly complicated relationship between a parasite with its two hosts. The obvious question arising is the effect of toxoplasmosis on the behavior of humans. 

After all, it is very common. For example in the United States, approximately 11% of people have been infected, while in some areas of the world this is more than 60%. The infection rate in Finland is ca. 15%. 

Despite this, there is no scientific information about the parasite´s behavioral effect on infected humans. However, after reading the article linked above I would definitely be happy to see some research on the topic. 

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Microbes manipulate their hosts (In Finnish, but can be read in English by Google translator)
World oceans are filled with previously unknown viruses
Seeing sex developed novel cultures

Soil subsides under cities, but every cloud has a silver lining

In a recent scientific publication it was noticed that in most of the coastal cities around the world part of the land is subsiding even more quickly than a sea level is rising. Therefore it can be expected that these cities will be challenged by flooding much sooner than the current sea level rise models predict. 

The problem is most serious in South, Southeast, and East Asia, but the phenomenon is also observed in North America, Europe, Africa, and Australia. The main driving force for this subsidence is groundwater extraction.

I live in Finland, and here the soil - including that under the coastal towns - is rising due to a return from a subsidence that occurred during the last ice age. The problem, however, will also affect our life, as the Baltic sea is connected to other seas via Danish straits, and the land there is subsidizing even without human contribution. 

The outcome of this development will be higher rate of water change between the Baltic sea and Oceans. It will have the following two consequences. 

First. The sea water will become more salty than today, which probably affects also the fauna and flora of the unique brackish water ecosystem along our coasts. And as the level of the Baltic sea uniqueness - i.e. exceptional salinity - will be reduced, it will become even more receiving for all kinds of alien species dispersed by human actions, especially via ballast waters from ships sailing between different geographical areas.

This will worsen the biodiversity problem, which already now is considerable. According to this report, around 140 non-indigenous species or new species with unknown origin have been recorded in the Baltic Sea. And as easily understood, the situation cannot be fixed as eradication of non-indigenous species is not a viable management option for a whole sea.  

Second. The deep waters of Baltic sea are largely suffering of hypoxia, i.e. lack of oxygen. Its ultimate cause is an excess nutrient loading from human activities and in summertime its effects are visible as algal blooms. These blooms sink to the bottom and overuse the available oxygen, which leads to mortality of bottom-living organisms, and ultimately creates dead zones.

The situation is partially regenerative, as in some years more salty water from Oceans enter to the Baltic sea, and due to its heaviness compared to the brackish water, sink down to the bottoms. There it pushes the oxygen-free bottom water upwards and reoxidizes the deep sea basins. 

Now, if water change via the Danish straits increases due to the climatic change and land subsidence, also the area of deep basins suffering from hypoxia will reduce. That will ultimately lead to decrease in algal blooms, which currently considerably reduce the recreational value of the marine nature along the coasts of Finland and other Baltic sea countries. 

Taken together, the sea level rise expected due to the predicted climate change and land subsidence, as well as other human actions, can be expected to have negative effects to the nature of the Baltic sea, but  probably increase the recreational value of the sea to humans. 

For such a situation, we have a proverb in Finnish: "ei niin pahaa, ettei jotain hyvääkin". That means "not so bad, that there would not be something good", or to express that with an English proverb: "every cloud has a silver lining".

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Measurements of arctic temperatures and sea ice area agree with each other
World Resources Institute had an arrogant demand