Highlights of the week of July 24-30
The European Union demands that countries tighten the rules for granting citizenship for investment, the world awaits the beginning of "peak oil" and the British complain on social networks in anger at the TV provocation.
Citizenship shouldn't be easy
The European Commission has made a sensational statement. It is calling on countries that offer citizenship for investment in their economy to tighten the requirements for such procedures.
This applies to both EU member states and other countries, especially those that have a visa-free agreement with the European Union. The main reason is to increase security in the region.
The general requirements are:
- Perform due diligence on candidates. Candidates must be vetted by reputable unaffiliated firms from the US, EU, or UK.
- Mandatory interviews for all candidates. Both in-person and online interviews through trusted channels and platforms are acceptable.
- Hand delivery of documents. It is no longer possible to send a passport or certificate of registration (residence permit) via a postbox.
- Raising the lower investment threshold: a minimum of $200,000 (per applicant) in donations and a minimum of $400,000 for real estate investments.
- Monitoring of funds. In particular, this would prohibit investments through intermediaries. Only direct payments from the person to the government.
- Cancellation of all advertising campaigns informing about the possibility of obtaining a passport and the benefits of visa-free travel to the EU.
The changes are expected. The EU wants to slow down the flow of migrants from countries that have a visa-free travel zone and offers to "buy" a passport in a special way.
Steaks made from human flesh have shocked Britain
Earlier this week, Britain's Channel 4 aired a new documentary by Gregg Wallace in which he decided to taste a steak made from artificially grown human flesh.
The program showed how samples are grown from donor tissue, analyzed the taste of the resulting meat, and even featured an integrated advertising campaign.
A lot of British people felt an attack of nausea. They took to social media to stop the terrible and amoral show. Only a few saw a hypertrophied interpretation of Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal".
The satirical TV show demonstrated how deeply society was involved in despair and a low standard of living, that even a program of this format and with this content could be accepted as authentic. In addition, this 'meat show' revealed another important aspect of modern documentary programs — their superficiality and frequent avoidance of controversial facts.
The world will reject oil
Energy experts are predicting the coming of "peak oil," a phenomenon in which humankind will reach the maximum amount of daily production that is possible, after which it will begin to decline.
The concept has been around for decades. It remains a rather alarming prospect. Now, however, it is not the production of the fuel, but the demand for it that may be reaching "peak oil".
Recent studies show that within the next few decades, humanity will begin to reduce its consumption of fossil fuels and begin to prefer renewable energy.
This fits well with the desire of countries to slow climate change. But to meet the 1.5°C target, new mines, and gas fields must be stopped now. And so far, that seems more utopian than realistic.
