CAJ:Curious aspects regarding the 'Svalbard Global Seed Vault'

The 'Svalbard Global Seed Vault' is an ambitious project to store seeds from all over the world. It is situated in the Norwegian city of Svalbard, one of the most remote towns in the world. As far as financing goes, it is primarily supplied by the ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’. Other sponsors include the US agribusiness giant Du Pont/Pioneer hi-Bred and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Regarding the dimensions of the bank, it will store 3 millions of different crops of the global flora. The walls used for the bank will be one-metre thick and supported by massive steel. The main aim of the project is to preserve the global seed diversity for the future and save it from all calamities the world could  possibly be confronted with one day. This is why Svalbard is also referred to as the ‘doomsday seed bank’.

A closer look at what seems so entirely inspired by nobel motifs, however, will reveal some curious facts about the bank. The real beneficiaries of such seeds banks are namely scientists and large plant breeders as Monsanto and DuPont. The Monsanto shares the world patent rights for Genetic Use Restriction Technology with the US Government. This technology works with special seeds that commit suicide once they are harvested. As a consequence, farmers are forced to buy new seeds each year and therefore steadily earn Monsanto a fortune. The control of private seed companies is likely to grow even more due to such seed banks.

Another interesting fact involves the aforementioned Rockefeller Foundation. Ever since the early twentieth century, it has been interested in eugenics. Actually the Rockelfeller Foundation was a great supporter of the Ayran Master Race of the Nazis and their striving for the perfection of the human race. Hitler’s researchers have taken genetic engineering a long way. A company, which now seems to have rediscovered its fascination for genetic perfection in the Svalbard Global seed Vault somehow does not lack a certain macabre note.

After all and despite critical notes, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault should in first place still be seen as the result of a high reputation of the nature and the flora surrounding us. 

Diary of the bloody civil war in Syria

Silence fills Aleppo, a Syrian city, perched on a tiny mountain near the desert. The strong afternoon sun heats up the stone and the residuals of the abandoned ruins that used to be houses of happy families. Every now and then, the silence is interrupted by sequences of gunfire audible in the distance. Within a few days, the once so peaceful city has turned into a place of violence and hopelessness. The atrocities of the syrian civil war have invaded the city and caused thousands of victims. Many people were forced to leave their homes behind. In the middle of all this, a boy limps over traces of broken glass and scrap metal. He wears no shoes. Shorts and a ripped shirt barely hide the scarves and blood all over his body. His soft small face is covered with dust and his big black eyes are filled with tears. The kid is nine-year old Ashid. He, just as many other children has become an orphan ever since his parents were killed in a bomb attack on their house.

Description of the boy with the toy hand grenade

The black-and-white photograph of the boy with the toy hand grenade was probably taken in a park during daytime. A few people can be discerned in the background. The shadow of a tree falls on the small and delicate figure of a young boy, wearing a patterned shirt and dark shorts. He has suspenders of which one side has slipped down his left shoulder. In his right hand he firmly holds a toy hand grenade. His fragile legs seem to disappear to the thick socks in his shoes. He slightly leans his head to his left side and despite the colorless picture one might guess his blond hair. The expression on his face seems awkwardly tense. His lips are pinched and he is starring with wide-open eyes. The rest of his body, especially his left hand looks cramped and nervous as well. The boy’s knees are covered with dirt. He appears desperate and lonely standing on the asphalt amid the park.