For 440 years, mass has been said on December 25 for Catholics, it’s Christmas! So stipulates the Gregorian calendar. For the Orthodox, on the other hand – in Ukraine, Russia or elsewhere – Christmas is January 7, as confirmed by the Julian calendar. Nevertheless, “ to stand out from the Russian Orthodox (…) more and more Ukrainians are breaking with the tradition of January 7 and choosing the date of December 25 », signals Le Figaro. ” This year, more and more Ukrainian believers want to celebrate Christmas at the same time as Paris, Berlin or London and not Moscow », Explains this newspaper. In the cold and often in the dark. Merry Christmas to them.
Ukraine, the French want a negotiated solution
Precisely, support for Ukraine, how far? In the conflict between France and Russia, the vast majority of French people want a negotiated solution. According to an Ifop poll for The Sunday newspaper“ the French adhere to this idea of supporting “at the same time” the idea of negotiation and unfailing support for Ukraine. But without having any illusions in the short term, notice The JDD, only one in five French people believing in a possible end to the conflict by the end of 2023 “.
And, indeed, this survey indicates that 7 out of 10 French people want France and the European Union to “ seek first to achieve a negotiated solution between Ukraine and Russia, while continuing to provide significant military assistance to the Ukrainians “, against 3 out of 10 who believe that France and the European Union ” continue to provide significant military aid to Ukraine to enable that country to defeat Russia militarily », Reports The Sunday newspaper.
Which weekly also points out that in the United States, the latest opinion poll conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, reveals ” that only 48% of Americans now support maintaining aid to Ukraine “for as long as necessary”, whatever the cost to the United States budget. This is ten points less than last July. And there are only 33% of Republican voters left to consider this option. », points again The JDD.
The left-wing Savonarola
On the front page this week as well, the new obscurantists “. They used to come from religious movements and they were more right-wing. Now it’s the other way around. “ A new obscurantism is developing on the left », notes The Express. Which weekly dedicates its Christmas issue to these “ new obscurantists ” of which “ the fundamental error “, according to this magazine, is ” confusing science and morality, and wanting to abolish everything that, in nature, seems to oppose their progressive credo “.
In the inventory of attacks on biology » drawn up for The Express by the American biologist Jerry Coyne, we find in particular “ denial of biological sex ” the ” put on the same level ” of the “ indigenous knowledge » and of modern science judged « colonialist without omitting the ideology of blank page “according to which human beings are only” the product of their environment and not of their genes “. What lead this professor emeritus of the University of Chicago, reputed to be center left, to judge “ disturbing “attacks on science” coming from the left “.
Because if, according to him, creationism “ virtually disappeared from universities », Jerry Coyne explains to The Express conversely, “ attacks on science from the left take place inside the education system “. But what is taught today – or not taught – in schools “ will have a great influence on our knowledge in the future “, he warns in The Express. Stunning!
Harmony in Patagonia
Stroll, to conclude, in the national parks of Chile. The weekly The Obs invites us to discover the seventeen national parks located in Patagonia, extreme south of Chile, ” where dozens of species reclaim territories devastated by man “. Here is Darwin’s rhea (an ostrich, only smaller); here is the condor (a vulture, bigger); here is the huemul (a deer, bigger).
At the origin of the project, an American couple, Doug and Kris Tomkins, who, after having made their fortune in the business world, reinvested everything in the purchase and rehabilitation of land necessary for the reintroduction of these endangered species. . Land that they then donated to the Chilean state. Doug died seven years ago, but Kris, his wife, continued the work.
And the results are there. On the spot, The Obs found a ” small miracle in the process of happening in this true lung of nature that is now southern Chile. Christmas spirit, where are you? Not at the North Pole, no, in Patagonia…