SARAJEVO: AT THE CROSSROADS OF THE WORLDS

July 22, 2022    General Theory    6 min
Journeys / Sarajevo

The experience of Sarajevo lies in the hazard of the questions asked and the answers received in the surroundings I found myself in. The very same is also true for how we go through life. The following narratives on Sarajevo are the resulting outcome - my mere impressions with a little bit of context from the past to make the present more comprehensible.

Continue Reading   
WAR IN UKRAINE: KREMLIN'S PLAYBOOK FOR DUMMIES

March 16, 2022    Current Affairs    10 min
War / Ukraine / Russia

I will not expose the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, its total illegitimacy and brutality. I will not debunk the pseudo-argument on NATO expansion as the culprit (think again), nor will I remind how the West was « greedy and delusional » (they were and, to a certain extent, still are). There is no reason a single Russian soldier should have ever crossed the border and stepped onto Ukrainian soil. Period. The rest is the devastating spiral of war and synergies or both intended and unintended consequences, and it will only get worse. Rather, I will make a humble effort to assemble, in a concise manner, a tiny part of the Kremlin’s Playbook. One shall be wary of getting into the traps of what has been assiduously developed and refined over decades by con liberators.

Continue Reading   
DECODING LITHUANIA: A TINY COUNTRY WITH REMINISCENCES OF GREATNESS

March 11, 2021    Current Affairs    5 min
History / Lithuania / Politics

To my humble understanding, Lithuania and most notably Lithuanians can be comprehended through two major pillars: (1) a long history of statehood or the « myth » of the ancient Baltic tribe, arguably speaking the oldest surviving indo-European language - the very last pagans of Europe - who once ruled the largest medieval European state stretching all the way from the Baltic to the Black Sea and (2) collective trauma unleashed by 50 years of Soviet occupation, worse still, exacerbated by international ignorance and attempts to shake off the shackles of the homo sovieticus.

Continue Reading   
TAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS SCHEDULER

December 21, 2020    Data    3 min
Python / Data

If there is one non-negotiable time of the year, it is Christmas. Yet, this piece is not about moral know-alls, nor about the global circumstances we find ourselves in. Instead, it may serve as both (1) a potential tool to plan your so-much-craved future getaways and (2) a trick to extract and save data at regular intervals from open sources without lifting a finger, ou presque.

Continue Reading   
RANDOM PARISIAN RIDES OR HIDALGO.PY

November 01, 2020    Data    3 min
Paris / Python

The aim of this piece is two-fold: (1) to provide you with a glimpse into the unbearable Parisian on-road conduct and (2) to show you how open bike data can be exploited to code some cool, yet as some would argue, useless stuff.

Continue Reading   
LIVING WITHOUT THE GENERAL THEORY

September 10, 2020    General Theory    4 min
Econ 101 / Philosophy

Quantifying complex human interactions, converting mechanisms of the society into equations, filling models with data, perhaps all disposable information, and ultimately deriving causalities, and of utmost importance - factual wisdom - it was all assumed to establish « The General Theory ».

Continue Reading   
ELECTIONS IN BELARUS: 97% TO MAKE THE REALM CRUMBLE

July 26, 2020    Current Affairs    3 min
Politics / Belarus

For an outsider, Belarus remains as silent and little-known as if its dense ancient forests - the ones that once kept the Golden Horde away - were still covering up what is going on behind the scenes. Suck lack of interest is profoundly unjustified. Against all odds, political dynamics are radically shifting in « Europe’s last dictatorship », perhaps for the very first time since a quarter of a century as the country heads towards a presidential election on August 9th.

Continue Reading