Egyik 19

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Magyarország
2019. XII. 28.  Az első, ami el fog tűnni, az az európai hatékonyság – mondta Maróth professzor, Széchenyi-díjas, Corvin-lánccal kitüntetett orientalista, egyetemi tanár, a Magyar Tudományos Akadémia volt alelnöke, a Pázmány Péter Katolikus Egyetem alapító dékánja, az Eötvös Loránd Kutatási Hálózat Irányító Testületének elnöke a kontinensen tapasztalható lakosságcseréről. Arról is beszélt, hogy a muzulmán pártok elsősorban a baloldali pártok olvasztótégelyévé válnak majd, A lakosság cseréjével a politikai ideológia is változni fog. A jelen körülmények között az iszlám követőinek most az az érdeke, hogy a baloldali pártokat támogassa, mert az ő segítségükkel tudnak beépülni Európába. De ha ez megtörténik, akkor a baloldali ideológia olyan halálos ellensége lesz, mint amilyen a tradicionális konzervatív ideológiának sosem volt. A konzervatív és a baloldali ideológiának ugyanis közös európai gyökere van, de az iszlámmal nem fogják megérteni egymást. Az iszonyatos tolerancia bizonyos dolgokkal szemben – így például az LMBT-ideológia – egészen biztosan első helyen repülni fog. A kereszténység a hittérítést egykor a csodák felemlegetésével végezte, míg az iszlám karddal, tehát erőszakosan. Az nem verseny, ha egy állig felfegyverzett embert beengedünk a ketrecharcba egy védtelennel szemben küzdeni. Az egyik legnagyobb veszély, hogy Európa elveszíti kulturális identitását, a keresztény alapokon álló kulturális identitást. A kereszténység Róma terméke, a rómaiságtól az emberek szabadulni szeretnének. Beszélhetünk római örökségről, keresztény örökségről, a kettő gyakorlatilag ugyanaz. A rómaiságban a sztoikus etika volt fontos, amelynek lényege a kötelességteljesítés; ennek jegyében nevelik például mind a mai napig az európai hadseregben a katonákat. A nem európai kultúrában mást jelent, feltéve, ha ismeri ezt a szót. Az iszlámban nem ismerik azt, hogy kötelesség; vannak kötelező cselekedetek, vallási parancsok, ilyen a napi ötszöri ima. Náluk mást jelentenek a vallási parancsok, mint nálunk a lelkiismereti kötelesség. Nem európai multikulturalizmusra, hanem magyar nemzettudatra van szükség. Mi, magyarok ugyanis a magyar kultúrán keresztül illeszkedünk be a világba és Európába. (Forrás: PestiSrácok)

2019. XII. 21.  765 fellelt, önkényuralmi rendszerre emlékeztető kommunista közterületnév Magyarországon - honlap (Forrás: MagyarPatrióták): https://tinyurl.com/trdoywo

Balcans
23.12.2019  Europe’s is a history of final solutions, of one “monumental historical crime” after another. There is no place for Muslims in that history either. Today there are few things left that would help to prove how Ottoman Muslims were not only physically removed from the Balkans, but have also been removed from the narrative and wiped from history. The genocidal attack on the Bosniaks was in fact a Third Balkan War, most significantly in the way that a majority population was reduced to a minority through a combination of measures that involved mass murder, deportation, pillaging and mass rape. As with the two previous Balkan Wars, it also involved the systematic killing of officials, town and village leaders; all in all, the elite. In addition, the paramilitaries of the 1990s continued the work of the “komitajis” when dispensing with civilians, women and children. Along with the practice of sieges, there was also widespread participation of the populace. The final goal was “de-Turkification.” In the same vein, Mladic stood on the square in Srebrenica in July 1995 and vowed an act of revenge against “the Turks.” But the slow-motion genocide against Ottoman Muslims spanning the 19th and beginning of the 20th century was disturbingly modern. The description of the fallout of the siege of Edirne, for example, (from McCarthy’s book, “Death and Exile: The Ethnic Cleansing of the Ottoman Muslims, 1821-1922”) reads very much like the reports coming from Srebrenica in 1995: “It is a manhunt, a hunt for the Turks, with all the refinements of cruelty. Day and night the machine guns rattle – these are the executions.” By the end of the Balkan Wars in 1913, 62 percent of the Muslim population living in the Ottoman Empire in Europe was gone. The crime committed against them is not only celebrated in the history of several states that emerged in its place, but has a central place in the narrative of “national liberation.” When the Serbian elites set out to destroy Yugoslavia in the 1990s, they drew on a “repertoire of contention” informed by a successful history of executing genocidal policies against Balkan Muslims. They knew the words the European elites would understand and they were correct in assuming that “the Turk” still occupied an important place in the imagination of European political class. (Source: AnadoluAgency)

Germany
25. 12. 2019.  Germany's federal police chief said a lack of pre-deportation facilities is hampering the deportation of rejected asylum seekers and illegal foreigners to third-countries. For the 248,000 foreigners required to be deported, there are just 577 deportation centers for them to be held and processed before leaving the country. 119,000 of those have been granted a stay of deportation as local authorities see a reason why they cannot currently be removed from the country. From January to October 2019, authorities registered a total of 20,996 deportations, 1,000 less than in the same period last year. Fewer people entered Germany illegally overall: a total of 32,945 people in 2019 compared with 38,580 last year. More than 150,000 claims were from first-time applicants in 2018. (Source: DeutcheWelle)

Luxembourg
12. 12. 2019  Luxembourg has issued six residence permits to foreign investors over the past two years, all but one to Chinese nationals, even as the European Union seeks to impose stricter rules on such golden visas. The Grand Duchy is one of 20 EU countries issuing permits to foreign investors, who can stay if they invest half a million euros or more into a company in Luxembourg or use the money to set up a new business. (Source: LuxTimes)

Romania
12/25/19  What is clear about the revolution is how and where it all started: On December 15, 1989, locals gathered in the western city of Timișoara to form a human chain around the home of Tőkés -  a popular pastor and ethnic Hungarian who had been a vocal critic of Ceaușescu and was set to be reassigned. By the next day, the protest had transformed into a broader movement against communism itself, leading to clashes with security forces. A military crackdown against protesters saw 66 people killed and more than 300 wounded, according to some estimates. But the violence wasn't enough to stop the protests. Thousands of people began to take to the streets, leading the military to withdraw while Ceaușescu was on a trip to Iran. As discontent continued to grow, Ceaușescu organized a rally in Bucharest on December 21 to show he still had people’s support, but his words were met with boos and protest chants. By the next day, he and his wife were forced to flee the capital in a helicopter after protesters forced their way into the Communist Party building where the couple had sought refuge. They were later arrested, put on a show trial and executed. But despite the fall of the Ceaușescus and the withdrawal of the military, shots continued to be fired in the streets of Bucharest at civilians in the days after. In the chaotic days that followed Ceaușescu’s ouster in what is now known as the Romanian Revolution, more civilians were shot and killed than during Ceaușescu’s military crackdown on protesters during the days before. And no one has a clear answer as to why or by whom. Long the subject of scholarly debate and conspiracy theories, these questions are now being picked apart in an ongoing trial of leading members of the revolution - the most violent among countries that emerged from behind the Iron Curtain. According to some estimates, 1,100 people died and more than 3,000 were seriously injured. A group of anti-communist activists and actors took over, among them Iliescu, who had been close to the Ceaușescus, and who ultimately served as president for 11 years. Iliescu blamed the shootings on alleged terrorists, who he claimed were former members of the so-called Securitate and loyalists of the Ceaușescus, though their identities were never established. The gunfire didn’t stop until December 28. The misinformation Iliescu and his collaborators are accused of spreading also laid the foundation for the show trial and summary execution of Ceaușescus, according to the indictment. In 2014, military prosecutors dropped a broad case looking into the events of the revolution, arguing that no one could be held responsible because there was a vacuum of power before Iliescu had established himself. In 2016, Romania’s deputy general prosecutor decided to reopen the case, saying that the prior arguments for dropping it were not convincing and that the military prosecutors hadn’t focused on establishing what exactly happened. Iliescu, now 89, was charged this past April for crimes against humanity. Three other men who were part of the group that took power, including a deputy prime minister and the commander of the air force, were also indicted. Some 5,000 people have been asked to appear as witnesses in the trial, which began at the end of November. The names of some 3,500 people were called during the first day, but only 600 showed up. (Source: Politico)

Russia
December 26, 2019  The work Soviet construction battalions were engaged in 40 years ago will now be continued by Russian stroibats now and in the future. The Russian government is now developing the rules governing the operation of the military-construction companies Putin created by decree two months ago. The units will be deployed not only to build military installations but also economically strategic facilities, especially in distant regions where it is difficult and expensive to attract labor. For high tech jobs, professional soldiers will be used; for most others, draftees. Among the first places the latter are likely to be deployed will be on the construction of the second branch of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. In Soviet times, commanders often sent soldiers from non-Russian and especially Muslim regions to such battalions in order to keep them out of the regular army where it was felt they would undermine unit cohesion. (Source: WindowEurasia2Blogspot)

24. 12. 2019  Speaking to military top brass in Moscow today, Russian President Putin described as "sheer nonsense" a recent resolution from the European Parliament arguing that the 1939 non-aggression pact between Adolf Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union helped pave the way for World War II to break out. Putin said that the European Parliament's resolution was trying to eradicate the memory of the Soviet contribution to Allied victory. Russia often feels its contributions in World War II, accounting for well over half of Germany's military losses at a cost of almost 30 million Soviet lives, are underplayed or marginalized by other Allied powers. Poland, meanwhile, sees itself as betrayed on almost all sides at both the start and then the end of the war, when it became part of the Soviet sphere of influence. Its nationalist PiS government has been pushing through contentious laws making it illegal to suggest that any Polish people collaborated with the Nazis, despite broad historical consensus that the Nazis found at least some collaborators wherever they went. "Essentially they colluded with Hitler," Putin said, citing what he claimed were excerpts from the diary of Poland's ambassador, that the diplomat had promised to erect a statue in Hitler's honor to thank Germany for removing Jews from the country. "A bastard, an anti-Semitic pig, you cannot put it any other way," Putin said. "He expressed full solidarity with Hitler in his anti-Semitic views." (Source: DeutcheWelle)

Vatikán
2019. XII. 24.  Ferenc pápa elfogadta dr. Jakubinyi érsek lemondását a Gyulafehérvári Római Katolikus Érsekség éléről és kinevezte utódát mons. Kovács, a Kultúra Pápai Tanácsának irodavezetője, Márton szentté avatási ügyének posztulátora személyében. A döntést Márton püspöki kinevezésének 81. évfordulóján hozta nyilvánosságra a Szentszék. Mons. Kovács 1968. július 21-én született Kézdivásárhelyen. Szülővárosában érettségizett. 1987-ben kezdte meg teológiai tanulmányait Gyulafehérváron, majd 1990-ben Rómában a Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum növendékeként folytatta a Gregoriana és a Lateráni Pápai Egyetemeken. 1993. július 3-án a gyulafehérvári főegyházmegye számára szentelte pappá szülővárosában Bálint érsek. Római tanulmányait egyházjogi doktorátussal 1996-ban fejezte be. Ezt követően egy évig Marosvásárhelyen a Keresztelő Szent János-plébánián segédlelkészként tevékenykedett. 1997 augusztusában visszatért Rómába, azóta a Kultúra Pápai Tanácsának (a Vatikán kulturális minisztériumának) szolgálatában áll, 2004 óta irodavezetői minőségben. 2000 júliusától pápai káplán. 2012 februárjától Márton szentté avatási ügyének posztulátora, számos, több nyelven megjelent Mártonról szóló kiadvány szerkesztője, posztulátori minőségében idén 17. alkalommal szervezett Márton-zarándoklatot a püspök életének hazai helyszínein, negyedik alkalommal vezetett zarándoklatot Doberdóba, a katona Márton nyomdokain. Emellett a Kléruskongregáció és a Rota Romana Bíróság munkatársa. 2019. november 25-én kinevezést kapott a Hittani Kongregáció azon bizottságába, amely a házasságok hit javára történő felbontásának eljárásait vizsgálja ki. Tudományos cikkei külföldi és belföldi folyóiratokban jelentek meg, a Kultúra Pápai Tanácsa által kiadott Cultura e Fede folyóirat felelős igazgatója. (Forrás: RomKat)

European Parliament
25th December 2019  In a text officially adopted last week the European Parliament has called on the government of China to close ‘re-education camps’ for Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region. MEPs expressed serious concern over the incarceration of more than a million Xinjiang Uyghurs and ethnic Kazakhs in the camps; and urged the Chinese government to end the practice of detaining residents without trial It strongly condemns the sending of hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and ethnic Kazakhs to political ‘re-education camps’ on the basis of a system of predictive policing, including for having travelled abroad or being adjudged too religiously devout; and calls on the Chinese authorities in Xinjiang to provide information about the locations and medical conditions of those detained. It called on the Council of the EU to implement targeted sanctions and asset freezing for culpable Chinese officials. The European Parliament’s resolution went on to demand that the Chinese government ‘put an immediate end to the practice of arbitrary detention without charge, trial or conviction for a criminal offence of members of the Uyghur and Kazakh minorities, to close all camps and detention centres, and to immediately and unconditionally release those detained; emphasises that any kind of detention, when applied in violation of fundamental international laws, that persecution against specific persons or groups on ethnic, cultural or religious grounds, and that other inhumane acts causing great suffering or serious injury, when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on any civilian population, are unacceptable in the light of the international legal framework’. (Source: governmenteuropa)

Cameroon
28 December 2019  For many years the conflict mostly remained taboo. President Hollande in 2015 became his country's first head of state to speak of "a repression" of Cameroonian nationalists leading to "tragic episodes". The Cameroonian war of independence was a "dirty war" waged by French colonial troops. Cameroon on January 1 marks its 60th anniversary of independence -  the first of 17 African countries that became free from their colonial masters in 1960. The troops were looking for independence fighters - members of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC), a nationalist movement established in 1948 that faced repression first by the French and later by Cameroonian soldiers. French authorities labeled the UPC "communist" and cracked down on them from 1955, driving the movement underground. Its charismatic founder Nyobe was killed by French troops. His body was dragged around and displayed so that everybody saw the corpse of a man who was considered immortal. To prevent traditional rites from being held, he was put in a block of cement and buried without a coffin. Between 1955 and 1964, tens of thousands of people, including civilians as well as UPC members, were killed. In Bafoussam, a roundabout is known as the "crossroads of the guerrillas," for it was where the decapitated heads of nationalists were placed on show. The regime's methods ranged from the arrest and arbitrary imprisonment of any Cameroonian suspected of 'rebellion' to systematic torture, with extrajudicial summary executions. (Source: AFP)

Niger
2019. X. 5.  Kettős tévedésben. Rövidfilm migránsokról /video/ (Forrás: Index): https://tinyurl.com/txo2kwb

Nigeria
December 27, 2019  isis-aligned jihadists have released a video claiming to show the execution of 11 blindfolded Christian men in Nigeria. isis said they were “captured in the past weeks” in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state. (Source: TheNewYorkPost)

Somalia
28.12.2019  Almost 80 people were killed and many more wounded in a suicide truck bomb attack on a security checkpoint in the Somali capital Mogadishu. The attack took place at the junction called Ex-Control Afgoye in a southwestern suburb of the capital during morning rush hour. 36 wounded are being treated in Erdogan Hospital, and nine injured are in surgery. The 200-bed hospital, named after Turkey’s president, was built by the state-run Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) and inaugurated in 2015, is run by Turkey’s Health Ministry and over half funded by Turkey. Turkey has strong ties with Somalia, and since 2011, TIKA has taken part in over 150 projects in the Horn of Africa country. (Source: AnadoluAgency)

West Africa
December 21, 2019  Eight west African countries today agreed to change the name of their common currency to Eco and severed the CFA franc’s links to former colonial ruler France. The CFA franc was initially pegged to the French franc and has been linked to the euro for about two decades. Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo currently use the currency. All the countries are former French colonies with the exception of Guinea-Bissau. The arrangement guarantees unlimited convertibility of CFA francs into euros and facilitates inter-zone transfers. CFA notes and coins are printed and minted at a Bank of France facility in the southern town of Chamalieres. The CFA franc’s value was moored to the euro after its introduction two decades ago, at a fixed rate of 655.96 CFA francs to one euro. The Bank of France holds half of the currency’s total reserves, but France does not make money on its deposits stewardship, annually paying a ceiling interest rate of 0.75 percent to member states. The arrangement guarantees unlimited convertibility of CFA francs into euros and facilitates inter-zone transfers. Economists say they understand the thinking behind the currency plan but believe it is unrealistic and could even be dangerous for the region’s economies which are dominated by one single country, Nigeria, which accounts for two-thirds of the region’s economic output. (Source: France24)

China
(31 December 2019)  Huawei in Europe. In the year 2000, it took its first steps into Europe by opening a Research and Development Centre in Sweden. In 2018, Huawei has supported 170 000 jobs across Europe and has paid over 5.6 billion euros in taxes. Throughout 2019, it became clear that Huawei is very well placed to help Europe achieve Digital Sovereignty which refers to decision-making independent of political pressure from other world regions and players. Europe needs to take back that control by creating true European competitors and partnering with global tech leaders to create genuine alternatives to the US companies who currently seek to control the world’s digital destiny. These principles have contributed to interconnected, global markets for which 5G is designed. Without it, Europe would find it difficult to achieve other goals, too, such as its “European Green Deal”. Many of the technologies are actually developed by the researchers and scientists in Europe. (Source: EurActiv)

Gulf of Oman
December 25, 2019 The first such trilateral exercise. Iran’s armed forces will hold a joint, four-day naval exercise with Russia and China in the northern part of the Indian Ocean. The drill starts in December 29. The joint maneuvers will extend as far as the Gulf of Oman. The drill is seen as a response to recent U.S. maneuvers with its regional ally Saudi Arabia, in which China also participated. In 2017, Iran conducted a joint naval exercise with China near the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, a passageway for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea. (Source: NavyTime)

Turkey
December 30, 2019  Turkey has arrested 100 suspected members of islamic state in raids across the country. More than 40 Iraqis, around 20 Syrians and a Moroccan were among those detained across six provinces in recent days. It announced 20 arrests in Istanbul last week. (Source: AFP)

30 December 2019  'Libya was lost along with the Twelve Islands'. To those who pay heed to Western tutelage, who turn a blind eye to the alliance forged between Greece, Southern Cyprus, Israel and even Egypt in the Mediterranean. Back in 1878, look at how the civilized (!) Western representatives closest to us made their way toward Libya from Germany through Italy. Look at how they paved the way for Italy to occupy Libya after France and Britain occupied Tunisia and Egypt respectively in 1881 and 1882. Think of how that era’s strong Austro-Hungarian empire annexing the Ottomans’ western territories in Bosnia and Herzegovina gave Italy license to do the same in the south. As Italy occupied Libya at the first opportunity, you will realize in amazement that the sound of the blow it dealt the Ottoman empire came first from the Mediterranean's (now Aegean) twelve islands, then from the Balkans. The issue of Libya is not a matter of passion, expansion, a lust for power, or individual heroism. It is an existential issue and a matter of state politics. The Libya issue is key to maintaining a presence in the Mediterranean, to be sure-footed in the South and the West, and to protect Northern Cyprus, which has been a national cause for half a century. For this reason, it is the region itself that we should always keep an eye on. Libya, which found itself the target of terror due to its wealth of resources, and whose legitimate government is being threatened, is a matter of life and death. With this in mind, the Turkish parliament must green-light the deployment of Turkish troops in Libyan territories in order to establish peace. (Source: YeniSafak)

December 26, 2019 Turkey will support Tripoli against Arab-backed Haftar, says Erdoğan. He would present the bill to deploy troops to Libya when parliament re-opens in January. Turkey signed an accord with Libya's internationally recognised government last month that seeks to create an exclusive economic zone from Turkey's southern Mediterranean shore to Libya's northeast coast. (Source: yenisafak)

Dec 25, 2019  In a television interview this month, President Erdogan said if the U.S. punishes Turkey for its purchase of a Russian air-defense system, then, “if necessary, we may close Incirlik and Kureci,” installations where the U.S. keeps nuclear weapons and operates critical radar. President Trump has had to contend with angry U.S. lawmakers, who have voted through a string of bills aimed at punishing Turkey. Mr. Trump in mid-November hosted his Turkish counterpart at the White House, calling him a “very good friend.” This month, however, he signed a defense bill that included sanctions against Turkey, notably blocking delivery of U.S. fighter jets ordered by Turkey. The main bone of contention is Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 system, which the Pentagon views as a security threat to NATO. The U.S. has suspended deliveries of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Turkey and excluded Turkish aerospace companies from a contract to supply fuselage and other parts, saying Russia could use the system’s radar to spy on and assess the stealthy aircraft’s capabilities. The S-400 air-defense system was tested at the Turkish Air Force's Murdet Air Base in November against U.S.-made F-16 jets in late November, and it said it might order Russian combat aircraft if the F-35 delivery ban wasn’t lifted. Turkey, which is already coordinating with Russia in northern Syria, is now also seeking to cooperate with Russia in war-torn Libya. (Source: TheWallStreetJournal)

United States
Dec 23  Former Epstein colleague and friend, Hoffenberg confirms that Epstein was indeed a top-level agent for the Israeli Mossad, as first confirmed in the best-selling book Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales. They interacted from ’87 through ’96. Hoffenberg famously worked as Epstein’s business partner at the ill-fated Towers Financial Group in the 1990s. He is the former chairman of Towers Financial Corporation, a debt collection agency, that he used in a Ponzi scheme. He was the owner of the New York Post. The firm collapsed in 1993, and in 1995 Hoffenberg pleaded guilty to bilking investors out of $475 million. The SEC considered his financial crimes as “one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history” prior to Madoff’s crimes a decade later. In 1993, the business collapsed as a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme was exposed. Hoffenberg pleaded guilty and went to prison in 1995, but Epstein got off scot-free. During his work with Epstein, Hoffenberg says, he had a front-row seat to the espionage work that brought Epstein into close contact with foreign agents from Saudi Arabia, Israel, Russia and more. He was needed by the CIA or the FBI for intelligence, because he was manipulating the American intelligence for the overseas organizations: MI6, the Israeli’s, and the Saudi’s. That’s what he was doing. They were afraid of the exposure that he brought to the table for what he did with Prince Andrew, MI6, the Israeli’s, and the Saudi’s. (Source: medium)

December 23, 2019  ARPA and its counterparts - the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy - are responsible for conducting some of the most innovative and bizarre projects in the government’s $140 billion research portfolio. Last year, DARPA announced it would invest some $2 billion in bringing about the so-called “third wave” of artificial intelligence, systems capable of reasoning and human-like communication. In March, the agency started exploring ways to improve how AI systems like Siri and Alexa teach themselves language. DARPA also wants AI tools to assess their own expertise and inform their operators know when they don’t know something. Through the MicroBRAIN program, the agency is examining the brains of “very small flying insects” to get inspiration for more energy efficient AI designs. The agency is funding research to teach computers to automatically detect errors in deepfakes and other manipulated media. DARPA is not limited to satellite-repair robots, automated underground mapping technologies and computers powered by biological processes. A program, called Space-based Machine Automated Recognition Technique, essentially looks to use AI to monitor all human activity around the globe in real-time, to titch together and analyze satellite images and footage collected from planes, drones and other aircraft. In May IARPA agency started recruiting teams to help train algorithms to follow people as they move through video surveillance networks. Combine this capability with long-range biometric identification systems - a technology IARPA also began exploring in 2019. (Source: NextGov)

Space
December 26, 2019  The star Betelgeuse comprises the shoulder of the constellation Orion, and its abrupt change in brightness hints that it may be on the brink of death. Once among the ten brightest stars in the sky, Betelgeuse has grown progressively dimmer since October, dropping out of even the top 20. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant about 700 times as wide as the Sun. The giant is a variable star, meaning it regularly experiences dips in brightness. It's recent bout of faintness could be part of this regular cycle. Before Betelgeuse blips out for good, it will explode in a supernova - a violent stellar cataclysm that could outshine the Moon and make it visible even in daylight. When massive stars like Betelgeuse start to sound their death knells, their brightness is thought to ebb and flow more erratically as they eject enormous amounts of mass that can obscure their light. Betelgeuse is eventually going to go supernova -  and, because of its distance from us, perhaps it already has. At 600 light-years away, Betelgeuse’s light takes 600 years to reach us. Perhaps the star blew its top in medieval times, and we have yet to see witness the aftermath. (Source: SmithsonianMagazine)

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