<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/">
    <channel>
        <title>Paramendra Bhagat</title>
        <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat</link>
        <description>Son of God (Jesus come back as promised) https://twitter.com/paramendra</description>
        <lastBuildDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 01:40:39 GMT</lastBuildDate>
        <docs>https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html</docs>
        <generator>https://github.com/jpmonette/feed</generator>
        <language>en</language>
        <image>
            <title>Paramendra Bhagat</title>
            <url>https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/0380187fb46e13958165d10017f43a3cfeaf1e36f556c9f8c378df04a1b5b1ee.jpg</url>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat</link>
        </image>
        <copyright>All rights reserved</copyright>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Amazon Was Web 1]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/amazon-was-web-1</link>
            <guid>keB2QMY8NDzvGAi3kV9r</guid>
            <pubDate>Fri, 15 Jul 2022 19:36:30 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Amazon was a bookstore. But it was not Barnes & Noble digitized. You still got physical books in the mail. What was amazing was the largeness of the offering that simply was not possible in any physical store. This was new. Amazon was launched at a time when you had to be patient and a photo would download. Now Amazon is an everything store. It even sells movies. In fact, it has become a behemoth to disrupt. Web 3 wants to disrupt Amazon, and Google, and Facebook, and Microsoft, and Apple. Ye...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Amazon was a bookstore. But it was not Barnes &amp; Noble digitized. You still got physical books in the mail. What was amazing was the largeness of the offering that simply was not possible in any physical store. This was new.</p><p>Amazon was launched at a time when you had to be patient and a photo would download.</p><p>Now Amazon is an everything store. It even sells movies. In fact, it has become a behemoth to disrupt. Web 3 wants to disrupt Amazon, and Google, and Facebook, and Microsoft, and Apple. Yes, Web 3 can disrupt hardware too.</p><p>But I use Amazon as a metaphor. Web 3 is not about giving JP Morgan digital wings. The “hurricane” Jamie Dimon sees on the horizon is not the Great Depression 2.0. It is Web 3. JP Morgan is Barnes &amp; Noble.</p><p>Media is plentiful today. Anybody who wants to can create media. It is so easy that we don’t fully appreciate it.</p><p>These were early days, and Jeff Bezos, smart guy, came up with an amazing idea. We need knee pads, he said. No, Jeff, what we need is a desk, the person with him said.</p><p>Web 3 will democratize money. By 2030 we will be amazed. Like, really, you wanted to borrow 300 dollars to buy a buffalo and you could not? Like how was that even possible?</p><p>We will end up with financial services that are hard to even imagine right now. Face the fact that when Instagram was launched, it was revolutionary. It’s just a photo-sharing app. No big deal.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/6db9b74ffa5966116a2595418f8fe4e79de61a3459a7ccb80105bbd847e3f09b.png" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x4Ae4278d797D1095E918d4Ce500E2326Ee31CD4E">crowdfund://0x4Ae4278d797D1095E918d4Ce500E2326Ee31CD4E?features=overview,backers</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
            <enclosure url="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/bff6309950d58a742fc6ad12a10d83bdd35e377bd605fa75082769db61cd2dfc.png" length="0" type="image/png"/>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[This Has Gone Too Far]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/this-has-gone-too-far</link>
            <guid>ICTA5wwNii9jYvvwpNQk</guid>
            <pubDate>Tue, 12 Jul 2022 00:40:29 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[https://twitter.com/leelinau/status/1546643559801147393 https://www1.nyc.gov/site/em/about/press-releases/20220711_pr-nycem-releases-nuclear-preparedness-psa.page https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/so-theres-been-a-nuclear-attack-new-psa-despite-low-likelihood-of-nyc-strike/3768986/The idea of militarily pushing out the Russian forces from Donbas and Crimea is not the best approach. The political approach has to be first and foremost. The US and the West must talk to powers that do talk to Putin...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/leelinau/status/1546643559801147393">https://twitter.com/leelinau/status/1546643559801147393</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://www1.nyc.gov/site/em/about/press-releases/20220711_pr-nycem-releases-nuclear-preparedness-psa.page">https://www1.nyc.gov/site/em/about/press-releases/20220711_pr-nycem-releases-nuclear-preparedness-psa.page</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/so-theres-been-a-nuclear-attack-new-psa-despite-low-likelihood-of-nyc-strike/3768986/">https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/so-theres-been-a-nuclear-attack-new-psa-despite-low-likelihood-of-nyc-strike/3768986/</a></p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/e5a37545fa6fd35d065319f01f615dd9377e10a5ef53752aef3824f72adb239d.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p>The idea of militarily pushing out the Russian forces from Donbas and Crimea is not the best approach. The political approach has to be first and foremost.</p><p>The US and the West must talk to powers that do talk to Putin, namely China, India, Indonesia, and many others. When India and China came to blows up in the Himalayas, Russia got involved and helped deescalate.</p><p>Now it is India’s turn to do the same for Russia and the United States. Modi and Jaishankar must step in and help deescalate the situation.</p><p>I think the middle ground here is that Russia agrees to pull out, and Ukraine agrees to an internationally organized referendum for Donbas, Luhansk, and Crimea.</p><p>If Putin is talking to nobody, he is more likely to end up in the madman situation where he contemplates a suicidal nuclear attack.</p><p>Nothing is worth a nuclear attack and counterattack. That whole scenario has to be unthinkable.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/8fab9ed061d8133f8bb75a1643f6c03366e64f280a94d0339887a2d8034ac8b3.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
            <enclosure url="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/483b88bfe2f1a938cdc901a4e71322f20814b32f07262bbdc891a6c5498f7690.png" length="0" type="image/png"/>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Building Credit History For Everybody]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/building-credit-history-for-everybody</link>
            <guid>04U6nht3Vz2DSqL0V337</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 10 Jul 2022 22:42:33 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[One amazing thing Alibaba did was it built credit histories for the average Chinese consumer who had no credit history at all in the American sense of the term, and that was not going to change anytime soon. Alibaba used a person’s e-commerce activities on its very website to vouch for their creditworthiness. And it has worked like magic. I want to take that spirit to the lowest income brackets on the planet. And I also want to build credit histories for people who might have social capital a...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>One amazing thing Alibaba did was it built credit histories for the average Chinese consumer who had no credit history at all in the American sense of the term, and that was not going to change anytime soon. Alibaba used a person’s e-commerce activities on its very website to vouch for their creditworthiness. And it has worked like magic.</p><p>I want to take that spirit to the lowest income brackets on the planet. And I also want to build credit histories for people who might have social capital and no other capital at all. And I have ways to do that without any e-commerce involved, although I am not opposed to e-commerce. It is going to be akin to turning fog into drinking water in the Sahara.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/Flower_Power_67/status/1544775450777554945">https://twitter.com/Flower_Power_67/status/1544775450777554945</a></p><p>I think you could give a one-year paid holiday to 70% of the bureaucrats, police officers, and soldiers (some might argue and 100% of the politicians) in a country like my native Nepal and dismiss them subsequently, and most of them will get jobs that pay double in the private sector. My company would want to provide an e-Estonia for countries like Nepal. For 10% of the cost, you will get 100 times better government services. All you have to do is agree to switch.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/crowdfunds/0x4Ae4278d797D1095E918d4Ce500E2326Ee31CD4E">My revenue</a> is going to come from the US government which makes it rain for the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/Qf7igYYqjAli56jtIIYW-e3g8shDVvpe5xU2_rKo_cY">defense contractors</a>. My revenue is also going to come from countries like my native Nepal.</p><p>And I am going to do Kiva times a million, P2P, ordinary person to ordinary person. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/I9cHFgRmfKDaXx-aB-eak96bLuer5wrFyz1WMfUYe-I">Velocity</a> can be magic: money at the speed of light.</p><p>Building credit histories for the people who are officially the most creditworthy people, dollar for dollar, should be easy peezy squeezy.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/5163cd46e4749041bd4942ac0959d982cb40a6f2f71e4b8f9c2cec60d2e07eaa.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/LittleChurchNYC/status/1546101931000467463">https://twitter.com/LittleChurchNYC/status/1546101931000467463</a></p><div data-type="youtube" videoId="x95dVuV9f2I">
      <div class="youtube-player" data-id="x95dVuV9f2I" style="background-image: url('https://i.ytimg.com/vi/x95dVuV9f2I/hqdefault.jpg'); background-size: cover; background-position: center">
        <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x95dVuV9f2I">
          <img src="{{DOMAIN}}/editor/youtube/play.png" class="play"/>
        </a>
      </div></div>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
            <enclosure url="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/a9d8bb9daa4219879f6a798e4442f1e48581db8c9949ea2002542f14ac4e32ed.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg"/>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[A Next-Generation Social Network]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/a-next-generation-social-network</link>
            <guid>Ox7DL67gwno8EwRK375N</guid>
            <pubDate>Sat, 09 Jul 2022 17:50:08 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[No, not a Facebook killer. That is not what I have in mind. Facebook does not need help. https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1545819887746093062 I did democracy movement work for Nepal before Facebook. I admired what Facebook and Twitter did for Egypt, but then they did not step in to help build the institutions of democracy in the aftermath. The iPhone could not have been built a decade before it was. Web 3 makes possible what I have in mind. I want to approach the US government like defen...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>No, not a Facebook killer. That is not what I have in mind. Facebook does not need help.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1545819887746093062">https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1545819887746093062</a></p><p>I did democracy movement work for Nepal before Facebook. I admired what Facebook and Twitter did for Egypt, but then they did not step in to help build the institutions of democracy in the aftermath.</p><p>The iPhone could not have been built a decade before it was.</p><p>Web 3 makes possible what I have in mind. I want to approach the US government like defense contractors do. I want your money. For the price of a fighter jet, I will build the digital tools that will topple Putin. It will also give America a constituent assembly, but you can’t be complaining about that. I don’t think there is another way to rescue democracy in America.</p><p>The same tools will break up the CCP in China. There is no other way to take China back to a 10% growth rate, fully powered by clean energy.</p><p>The same tools will go to the Gulf. The Islamic world used to be at the cutting edge of math and science. It can go back there. But not with the fossil monarchies.</p><p>For the price of a fighter jet, I could raise this first million from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/pwKUHJAgH58vbSCZ6TVeyuemgdqBXxTf6g9Rjttzm4M">Afore</a> and then not raise any other round. Go to the people. Go IPO.</p><p>I mean business.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/39287b4a8d52ebd1f9930982f51af4739ff8a0217c0412c603efd68ea6db145f.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1545778894355288069">https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1545778894355288069</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
            <enclosure url="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/eb5d486e140681779828b983506c624a887e44a221a8dc281a9e8151be62ed29.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg"/>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[The Boldest Of Them All: Afore]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/the-boldest-of-them-all-afore</link>
            <guid>1LghcsoMv35k7LmzogCt</guid>
            <pubDate>Fri, 08 Jul 2022 18:28:27 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[To go from Zero To One is where the action is. A rocket does not start as a drone, or a helicopter, it starts as a rocket. A rocket pre-launch is still a rocket. It just is not moving yet. But the motion is all there, bottled up, just waiting to come out. Afore gets it. Afore has polished it. It leads in the only space that really matters. Not for the faint of heart to get geography agnostic. Afore has a standard sheet. And so you can trust. The details are not an art in the hand of the negot...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div data-type="youtube" videoId="tBzNa2578UY">
      <div class="youtube-player" data-id="tBzNa2578UY" style="background-image: url('https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tBzNa2578UY/hqdefault.jpg'); background-size: cover; background-position: center">
        <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBzNa2578UY">
          <img src="{{DOMAIN}}/editor/youtube/play.png" class="play"/>
        </a>
      </div></div><p>To go from Zero To One is where the action is. A rocket does not start as a drone, or a helicopter, it starts as a rocket. A rocket pre-launch is still a rocket. It just is not moving yet. But the motion is all there, bottled up, just waiting to come out.</p><p>Afore gets it. Afore has polished it. It leads in the only space that really matters.</p><p>Not for the faint of heart to get geography agnostic. Afore has a standard sheet. And so you can trust. The details are not an art in the hand of the negotiator. That negotiation is porridge.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/9ab994102f26416b5441d80031d44685d3d1cfff69b19c048002b10ddb50a3d6.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/853bd2e8b2af7d78bf7f2c617827ed47b6ece4f0ebb84705eb872111fe11424b.png" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/AforeVC/status/1521852210451124224">https://twitter.com/AforeVC/status/1521852210451124224</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/AforeVC/status/1541835390306222080">https://twitter.com/AforeVC/status/1541835390306222080</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://avc.com/2016/09/team-and-strategy/">Fred Wilson</a> once said the most outstanding Founder CEOs in his portfolio are all “difficult” people. It is because they are the nose of the rocket. The nose has heat.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1545415155999068160">https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1545415155999068160</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1545467326375628801">https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1545467326375628801</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/pnYWs2qkE2ADe1_wNGLSBs1QONJyVrf-zj7bnKE8QwY">https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/pnYWs2qkE2ADe1_wNGLSBs1QONJyVrf-zj7bnKE8QwY</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/I9cHFgRmfKDaXx-aB-eak96bLuer5wrFyz1WMfUYe-I">https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/I9cHFgRmfKDaXx-aB-eak96bLuer5wrFyz1WMfUYe-I</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1545474122083438596">https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1545474122083438596</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
            <enclosure url="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/29e348ac8e273cdf17bde83dc2f2850dbb54a6f8195c3daf6362de145dabbb56.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg"/>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[A Rising Tide To Lift All Boats]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/a-rising-tide-to-lift-all-boats</link>
            <guid>Ap4o1Lq5040xJvC79YC8</guid>
            <pubDate>Thu, 07 Jul 2022 19:42:59 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Yesterday I formally applied for a 1M raise with Afore. I saw a Jack tweet a few days ago. I sent him a DM. He messaged me back. I attended a Zoom call (also attended by many others) yesterday. One tweet that did not even mention Afore by name started this. I will beat Elon Musk to a trillion-dollar valuation for any company he might start today and I am putting this statement on the chain. And I have no space plans, although I plenty admire the idea of internet on every point on earth. That ...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yesterday I formally applied for a 1M raise with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://medium.com/afore/afore-is-tripling-down-on-pre-seed-d18f831f3651">Afore</a>. I saw a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/jackmmcclelland">Jack</a> tweet a few days ago. I sent him a DM. He messaged me back. I attended a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://www.netizen.page/2022/07/afore-capital.html">Zoom call</a> (also attended by many others) yesterday. One tweet that did not even mention Afore by name started this.</p><p>I will beat Elon Musk to a trillion-dollar valuation for any company he might start today and I am putting this statement on the chain. And I have <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/et1ugarygXrqY8fWLvIfR8z1qTWuTtRlLOwcfwLhqGw">no space</a> plans, although I plenty admire the idea of internet on every point on earth. That is just infrastructure.</p><p>You are the most respectful of all funds, I have said to Afore a few different times. They get it. I hope they raise 10 times more and fund that many more. It is high time for geography agnostic.</p><p>I see too much tinkering. I come to it from the other end. I think Web 3 is about tackling and solving the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/xCBjVeA4QwVKN67uN3w2OjRqZXdn_TB2x5fXqy4e8-Q">biggest problems</a> on the planet. I start with the challenges.</p><p>I am going to sculpt the equity structure. I firmly believe no one needs to be a billionaire, including me. I don’t feel like I am particularly wanting of anything much, and that is before the raise. The best things in life are all free.</p><p>The foundation associated with the company will start out by owning 10% of the company. And I hope there is plenty of forking along the way. So if the Founder CEO exceeds 999 million in net worth because the company shares are doing well, I think there ought to be forking. You keep your voting power if you are actively running the company. But the money ought to go to the Foundation to tackle the most acute challenges faced by humanity.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/garyvaynerchuk_if-you-think-about-business-like-a-computer-activity-6932299181193625600-pTRR/">Corporate culture</a> is your operating system. I want to stand out in that department, enough to be able to export the OS.</p><p>The Age of Abundance that is upon us was promised in the scriptures thousands of years ago. Doing good is still what matters the most. You have to do right by other people.</p><p>Prosperity is a bonus. It is not the primary thing. If you can treat people well, you can have prosperity.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/db5bd752ddfb2465a9fee378c77c91a5a0df1c693f7afe508f70ae1067b73699.png" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p>My first push is going to be to topple Putin. And I approach the topic with great empathy. You can not hope to make peace without it. For example, I do realize Putin has managed to smash the post-World War II world order. A new one will have to be built from scratch. And it will have to be built on the one person one vote principle, globally applied.</p><p>The same push will also provide fuel for the cause of political reform in China. I think the only way for China to go back to a 10% growth rate would be for the CCP to be broken up like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/09/att-breakup-spinoff.asp">AT&amp;T</a>.</p><p>Saudi Arabia has the option to create something between an absolute monarchy and a purely constitutional monarchy: a directly elected Prime Minister who perhaps works with a reigning monarch.</p><p>Russia is an intellectual superpower. It is a tragedy it is not a 10 trillion dollar economy. A democratic, federal, vibrant Russia will prove NATO irrelevant.</p><p>I did the democracy work for Nepal before Facebook. But then we also lived just fine before bicycles and computers. The digital tools I will build to put at the service of Russia’s democracy movement will also allow me to take e-Estonia to countries like Nepal. For 10% of your current cost, I will give you 100 times better services. Pay me. That will be the proposition.</p><p>I understand the US policy is not to bring forth regime change in Russia. But the 100M I intend to ask the US government for (that will allow me to skip Series A fundraising and go straight to IPO) will be no different from the ask of the very many defense contractors. You don’t use every weapon you pay to build.</p><p>Or perhaps I will simply crowdfund it.</p><p>I want to solve basic identity for everybody, starting with those in the lowest income brackets. I want to be the most innovating when it comes to helping build non-traditional credit histories for that same crowd.</p><p>The idea is to do good. And build a company in the process. The idea is not to live large. The idea is to touch lives.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/379c204ecf4173b7328f22d95e43a79b1ce3200e523b35ebb1b6cb2e9fe462df.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/AforeVC/status/1521852210451124224">https://twitter.com/AforeVC/status/1521852210451124224</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Crypto Is About Velocity]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/crypto-is-about-velocity</link>
            <guid>ZWKXMackW7f0nPDqrjtk</guid>
            <pubDate>Tue, 05 Jul 2022 19:25:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The New York Times is still here and it is my favorite newspaper. But Web 1 set out to displace the New York Times around 1994. It largely succeeded. There are rich social media. People and places from various segments of my life spread out over geographies manage to inform me about what’s going on, and all that news is not coming to me via the New York Times. Most people are not trying to become influencers with mass followings. A few dozen followers might be enough. Too much is too much. I ...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div data-type="youtube" videoId="CUpwLhZh66A">
      <div class="youtube-player" data-id="CUpwLhZh66A" style="background-image: url('https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CUpwLhZh66A/hqdefault.jpg'); background-size: cover; background-position: center">
        <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUpwLhZh66A">
          <img src="{{DOMAIN}}/editor/youtube/play.png" class="play"/>
        </a>
      </div></div><p>The New York Times is still here and it is my favorite newspaper. But Web 1 set out to displace the New York Times around <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape">1994</a>. It largely succeeded. There are rich social media. People and places from various segments of my life spread out over geographies manage to inform me about what’s going on, and all that news is not coming to me via the New York Times. Most people are not trying to become influencers with mass followings. A few dozen followers might be enough. Too much is too much.</p><p>I suspect the dollar might still be there when crypto is in full bloom say by 2030. But the crypto’s value has to come from somewhere. And that value comes from fiat. That much-derided fiat in the crypto world. You still need to go buy milk. I still prefer to read my books in hard copy. Cash might still be king, though more a constitutional monarch like in several European countries.</p><p>NFT is not a scam. It is about finally valuing creativity. You don’t have to code. You can simply create art. And you will get paid. I think that is a beautiful thing. But NFT is not just about making a watercolor and then scanning it. Mostly it will be about creating new forms of art not even possible before. When photos don’t cost you any money, look at all the photography you do that you did not do when you had to pay for every print.</p><p>I attended a Twitter Space a few weeks ago, and someone boasted of a 70-person all-remote orchestra. That richness was not possible before. NFT art is like going from watercolors to movies. It is a different experience.</p><p>When you translate a dollar into crypto, and then move that dollar at great velocity, you might create a million dollars in new wealth in a minute. And the original dollar is still sitting there. That is where the Age Of Abundance comes from. And it needs to happen bottom-up. We need to take digital identity and super easy bank accounts to everybody but everybody. And give them “free” money. Because crypto velocity will make that “free” money inflation-free. The money will need to move. And the dollar a day people will move it. They are the most creditworthy people on the planet. You just have not scooped them yet. By free money I mean easy credit. Super easy credit.</p><p>I suspect Benjamin will still. be around, and I don’t mind at all.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/696cdc7c2acfe67faf89870f5a6b09fa46bfb66ddfdf5b5b3f67f9baf5f8e7f9.webp" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x4Ae4278d797D1095E918d4Ce500E2326Ee31CD4E">crowdfund://0x4Ae4278d797D1095E918d4Ce500E2326Ee31CD4E?features=overview,backers</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[To Seek Only A Military Solution Is Dangerous]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/to-seek-only-a-military-solution-is-dangerous</link>
            <guid>nWRgUit5PCPoiZtnzJS2</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 26 Jun 2022 15:17:57 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[In eastern Ukraine, to seek only a military solution is dangerous. I admire the work of military strategists, intelligence officials, and governments who have stepped into supplying the needed hardware. Most of all I admire the brave men and women of the Ukrainian military who make the ultimate sacrifice daily. But we can never lose sight of the larger purpose and the higher ground. Ultimately this is about peace, liberty, and justice. Eisenhower warned of the “military-industrial complex.” H...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In eastern Ukraine, to seek only a military solution is dangerous. I admire the work of military strategists, intelligence officials, and governments who have stepped into supplying the needed hardware. Most of all I admire the brave men and women of the Ukrainian military who make the ultimate sacrifice daily. But we can never lose sight of the larger purpose and the higher ground. Ultimately this is about peace, liberty, and justice.</p><p>Eisenhower warned of the “military-industrial complex.” He was talking about the people who made trillions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those same people see a trillion-dollar opportunity in Ukraine, which can not be. The political leadership can not outsource the war to that “military-industrial complex.” Because that would be to lose sight of the primary goal of this unfortunate war.</p><p>The sole focus can not be to outgun Putin. To try would be to fall into his trap. That is what he wants. That is what he understands. Perhaps Putin and Zelensky are not talking, but plenty of people are talking to Putin and should keep on talking. All global players who have Putin’s ears should step in and play a role to help deescalate. This war is already global. Look at the food crisis in Africa.</p><p>All countries directly impacted by the blockage of Ukraine’s wheat by Putin’s mines in the Black Sea should ramp up the pressure on Putin. This war is not about Donbas. This is about Putin wanting to stay in power for 20 more years. A dictator needs his wars for domestic reasons.</p><p>Scotland has the democratic right and option to break away from Britain. Ukraine should be willing to say it is ready for such an eventuality for Crimea and Donbas. That Russia might not reciprocate is not an issue. Russia is not a democracy. Ukraine is. This offer should be relentlessly made through all available channels. Conquest can not be allowed. But the people of Crimea and Donbas can, in an internationally organized referendum, choose to do the Scotland and Quebec thing. That should be Ukraine’s stand. The stand is the political option to push the Russian military out. There you up the pressure as much as possible. And that political campaign also weakens Putin militarily. Why do you want to go down the path of death and destruction when you can easily have the same through a referendum? People in his own camp will ask. And no matter how the Russian military steps out, that weakens the Putin regime in Moscow. The strongman starts looking like a strawman. The madman starts looking like the madman he is. And despite the referendum carrot, if he does not step back, that saps the morale of the Russian forces. That also weakens him militarily. A military defeat of Putin in Donbas becomes much more possible after you hit on the head relentlessly with this political solution.</p><p>The political solution has to be primary. The economic sanctions are secondary. The military solution has to be tertiary.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8">crowdfund://0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8?features=overview,editions,podium,backers</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
            <enclosure url="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/3424c5802aa5bb4fe9405d9531e8d8b67296fed2d3ce1a2d5db5aee860353af2.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg"/>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[The Piece That Is Missing]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/the-piece-that-is-missing</link>
            <guid>FNABxYgxmHU39c3nn6cl</guid>
            <pubDate>Mon, 20 Jun 2022 11:57:25 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Sometimes you have to fight for a just peace. That is what Ukraine is doing. It is the underdog. A dictator needs to invade or his regime will collapse. The Ukraine invasion has to be seen in that light. The military strategy in Donbas has become complicated if only because Ukraine has lacked long-range artillery. But I am for peace. I am for a negotiated settlement. That would require an immediate ceasefire and all cessation of hostilities and letting the grain go out of the Ukrainian ports....]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/2e41c4ade11922a3c5c110b5aeeff85132280de61f1deb01152045f684f7d063.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p>Sometimes you have to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://www.netizen.page/2022/05/vitalik-butarin-contradictions-in.html">fight for a just peace</a>. That is what Ukraine is doing. It is the underdog. A <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/74VFIptIWJuZAj7lNpui5qyfJJPDgNfr-GGanw6yoSo">dictator</a> needs to invade or his regime will collapse. The Ukraine invasion has to be seen in that light.</p><p>The military strategy in <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/aXuK-ZMG_JWkbrab_uNgmyZ05arGBvL2aYyRuI7SjLY">Donbas</a> has become complicated if only because Ukraine has lacked long-range artillery. But I am for peace. I am for a negotiated settlement. That would require an immediate ceasefire and all cessation of hostilities and letting the grain go out of the Ukrainian ports.</p><p>Once you have the ceasefire, you can then talk about territory. If Ukraine agrees to hold a referendum in the contested areas, that will be a huge concession. That <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/eBqKkTf5o7OlgB5jw3Lr8YTHgsd--53-SVKpz9zggS8">referendum</a> would have to be internationally sponsored and conducted. That would have to include Crimea. The areas where a referendum might be conducted would have to be completely demilitarized.</p><p>But there is no immediate chance of a ceasefire. And so preaching peace to Ukraine is fantasyland. Ukraine more than the world must want peace. But they face the reality of a relentless, indiscriminate onslaught, a firing of World War II-style weapons from 10 miles away. They will be picking up stray explosives for years even after a ceasefire and peace. And they will still avoid areas that they might not be able to clean up. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://www.barackface.net/2022/06/unbundling-putin-st-petersburg-speech.html">Putin</a> has been primitive in his ways.</p><p>Peace can not be about, okay <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/mfhnTv4VvUNm107_zz3M9Aw7a_YnJQAvV2MXtM4O348">Vlad</a>, so you can have whatever you have managed to conquer. And forget the war crimes. War crimes are for losers. You won.</p><p>That is not <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/MaTuxpZ8Tv68W99K2kAtc8nDI-KWaQwAzpwe0TVarSw">peace</a>. That is capitulation.</p><p>What Moscow needs is an Orange Revolution like Ukraine had in 2004 and that was my inspiration one year later as I worked for <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://www.democracyfornepal.com/2022/05/nepali-joe-rogan-talks-to-nepali.html">democracy in Nepal</a>.</p><p>If the Ukrainian military can have the matching long-range artillery, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://www.barackface.net/2022/06/putins-hour-long-speech-in-his-hometown.html">Putin</a> can be pushed out or at least brought to a standstill. And then peace can be possible. A negotiated peace where Ukraine is not a defeated party can be an option. You can not imagine Russia holding referendums anywhere in Russia. But I think it is okay if Ukraine agrees to the same. Ukraine is a democracy. It still has many robust institutions left to build. But it has one element in plenty: a people that will fight for liberty.</p><p>A military stalemate in Donbas is going to be plenty of bad news for Putin. Donbas is Putin wanting to rule Russia for 20 more years. It is not about Donbas.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://t.co/YaBK8rHUwV">The piece that is missing</a> is the global Russian diaspora needs to organize weekly protests in cities around the world. You build momentum until you manage to flood the streets of Moscow. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="http://jesusisback.xyz">Liberty</a> rings inside every human heart.</p><p>These <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://t.co/YaBK8rHUwV">protest marches</a> will topple Putin with or without any military strategy in <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/lY5s4ZRQZpZGl-h21mOb0D0VW8Ttwabzw6p1qD5qG6o">Donbas</a>, with or without any economic sanctions on Russia, although both are force multipliers. But no force is being multiplied if the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://t.co/YaBK8rHUwV">protest marches</a> are not being organized.</p><p>I would like to see Gary Kasparov in front of the UN <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/crowdfunds/0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8">every Sunday</a>.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1538130288009744388">https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1538130288009744388</a></p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/da269e519cb73f5d40baf8eaebee0a0b65d9588765dcd22d6c9aa7aacb14e233.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><div data-type="youtube" videoId="elt-bfwkWuo">
      <div class="youtube-player" data-id="elt-bfwkWuo" style="background-image: url('https://i.ytimg.com/vi/elt-bfwkWuo/hqdefault.jpg'); background-size: cover; background-position: center">
        <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elt-bfwkWuo">
          <img src="{{DOMAIN}}/editor/youtube/play.png" class="play"/>
        </a>
      </div></div><div data-type="youtube" videoId="zo3a0iLE_0s">
      <div class="youtube-player" data-id="zo3a0iLE_0s" style="background-image: url('https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zo3a0iLE_0s/hqdefault.jpg'); background-size: cover; background-position: center">
        <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo3a0iLE_0s">
          <img src="{{DOMAIN}}/editor/youtube/play.png" class="play"/>
        </a>
      </div></div><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8">crowdfund://0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8?features=overview,editions,podium,backers</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x2F2A3D020cfbD506AE64D31421231187b92963b1">crowdfund://0x2F2A3D020cfbD506AE64D31421231187b92963b1?features=overview,editions,podium,backers</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[A Political Solution Forces You To Look At Both Sides, Many Sides, And All Possible Sides]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/a-political-solution-forces-you-to-look-at-both-sides-many-sides-and-all-possible-sides</link>
            <guid>CSEWk1MjdMARsLzS6Iod</guid>
            <pubDate>Thu, 16 Jun 2022 23:13:18 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[I am absolutely opposed to the idea of Taiwan declaring independence. It would be irresponsible for Taiwan to declare independence. The status quo, as bizarre as it is, has to be maintained. I do note it is not a standstill situation. China expands its military capabilities year after year with a singular focus on Taiwan. But Taiwan is no sitting duck either. It has pledges from both Japan and the US to enter the war if an invasion were to happen. Also, I don’t get the impression China is ask...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I am absolutely opposed to the idea of Taiwan declaring independence. It would be irresponsible for Taiwan to declare independence. The status quo, as bizarre as it is, has to be maintained. I do note it is not a standstill situation. China expands its military capabilities year after year with a singular focus on Taiwan. But Taiwan is no sitting duck either. It has pledges from both Japan and the US to enter the war if an invasion were to happen. Also, I don’t get the impression China is asking for a desolate landscape. Taiwan has an attractive chip industry that, if you destroy it, you have chaff in your hands.</p><p>The dictatorship of a party is different from the dictatorship of a person. Russia is one person, not that smart. He just wiped out 20 years of gain for the Russian economy. Smart? Not very.</p><p>Some people in America argue it is a two-party dictatorship. As in, corporations have both parties in their pockets. There is a money primary in America in which only a few tens of thousands of people vote. At one point China said to Hong Kong, okay, so you can have direct elections for the Chief Executive as long we decide who the two candidates will be.</p><p>What is being destroyed before our very eyes in Ukraine is the post-World War II order, financial, and political. Just like the League Of Nations made way for the United Nations, it might soon be time to reimagine the global order.</p><p>Russia has fully discredited itself. It can no longer be allowed veto power.</p><p>The US Congress shapes intellectual property laws and then expects the rest of the world to follow them. That is going beyond its jurisdiction. We need a global parliament. The Security Council should be elected. All global institutions from the Interpol, to the WTO, to the International Court, should be brought under the aegis of the to-be-formed global parliament.</p><p>The Soviet Communist Party might have collapsed around 1991, but the KGB changed clothes and kept ruling. The criminal syndicate that rules Russia are too many former KGB. It is now the KGB’s time to go.</p><p>NATO expansion did not trigger the Ukraine invasion. It is in the nature of autocracies to invade. The strongman needs the invasion to stay relevant domestically. I am never going to argue Ukraine needs to consult with Russia before it can join a global organization. Ukraine is sovereign. Having said that, if I were Ukraine, I would want to be neutral like Switzerland, a luxury it might have once the Putin regime has been thrown into the dustbins of history. The era of a democratically elected president Navalny might open up such possibilities.</p><p>Putin’s nuclear threats are to the entire world, and to the people of Moscow. Which way do you think the winds will blow? The old nuclear order has been smashed by Putin’s threats. A new order will have to be about every nuclear power pledging a no first use policy and a greater than 95% reduction in the arsenal of the largest nuclear powers.</p><p>Putin blocking the wheat exports from Ukrainian ports is a Putin directly attacking Africa and the world at large.</p><p>It is good to keep many channels of communication open. It is good to engage Putin. But peace will be that all Russian troops pull out of all Ukrainian territories, the war crimes are accounted for, and a referendum is organized under international supervision for the disputed areas. Consent, not conquest.</p><p>Putin also has to pay to rebuild Ukraine. He might have to foot a bill to the tune of $100 billion. But he has plenty of money. He has more money than Elon Musk.</p><p>But no peace is an argument for the continuation of the Putin regime. The Russian diaspora has to get organized, and the streets of Moscow have to be flooded with people all clamoring, Go Putin Go.</p><p>But right now we don’t even have the luxury to think of peace. This is not a war. This has been a brutal invasion. Putin is busy turning the Donbas region into a moon-like landscape. He needs to be stopped. The Ukrainians are braving it. They need to be assisted.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/961b1a05e26a75e1c7a6ed9767ff1cf81902c3c4ed974f2234ae32b556a9ab54.png" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p>The streets of Moscow have immense power. The streets of Moscow could shatter glass in China and Saudi Arabia. China could feel the pressure for political reform. Saudi Arabia could become a republic. The smart monarchies in the Gulf will choose to become constitutional monarchies. The not-so-smart ones will pave the way for republics.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/873ae541e11b3732d9c4744fba7578b369600330bbb195cab8e18ac30e1de030.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8">crowdfund://0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8?features=overview,editions,podium,backers</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
            <enclosure url="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/c6cead88f161994c0d3c9d5e21052538a06dc00fc6a4b21735e39b1e097e5ea8.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg"/>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[The Cryptocrash Is A Case For Crypto Regulation]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/the-cryptocrash-is-a-case-for-crypto-regulation</link>
            <guid>UmcQuSXMMtu2aZX47wsH</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 2022 14:52:25 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Markets go up. Markets go down. That is what markets do. At least in the short run. And the “crash” of the past few weeks has not even been that severe, although we will only learn of the bottom after we see the upswing. The crash so far is not comparable to the dot com crash at the end of the last century. During that so-called nuclear winter, nobody serious really doubted the future of the Internet. A market where anybody with a domain name could raise a few million dollars was bound to cra...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Markets go up. Markets go down. That is what markets do. At least in the short run. And the “crash” of the past few weeks has not even been that severe, although we will only learn of the bottom after we see the upswing.</p><p>The crash so far is not comparable to the dot com crash at the end of the last century. During that so-called nuclear winter, nobody serious really doubted the future of the Internet. A market where anybody with a domain name could raise a few million dollars was bound to crash. When the car industry started, there were a thousand car companies. The technology was so promising everybody felt like they could do it.</p><p>The exuberance around crypto is the true promise of the technology. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/m-WRvMWuezMqJMIG5RtQNnYI8IBUaelh0U1bdwcOkao">The fundamental trajectory</a> of the technology is strong. But greed is in the human domain.</p><p>You can’t play a great soccer game without a great, impartial, competent referee on the field. That referee has been missing in crypto. Crypto is a case for proactive regulation. With crypto, you only lose money. With AI, you will lose lives. We can’t have people dying before we start the discussion on seat belts. The seat belts and the airbags have to be built-in from the get-go.</p><p>The best way to regulate will be to form a T100, a global consortium of the 100 largest technology companies on the planet, that plays an advisory role for regulators. The T100 helps set the standards.</p><p>For example, look into Luna. It just blew a $40 billion hole in the crypto market. What was it? Did it have the characteristics of a Ponzi scheme? I never got a chance to dig into it. DeFi is full of promise but Ponzi schemes can not be allowed.</p><p>Crypto has to solve the problem of identity for everybody, it has to solve the problem of most people not having bank accounts. Otherwise, you are just inviting bad behavior. Scammers are like seaweed in the sea. Crypto holds the promise to change that. But not completely unregulated crypto.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/5ce310d7fdf80e093620b73ee9a173df44560f910d11194bfcf0c7aca5073862.jpg" alt="&quot;Thank You, Bitcoin For Dinner!&quot;" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="">&quot;Thank You, Bitcoin For Dinner!&quot;</figcaption></figure><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8">crowdfund://0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8?features=overview,editions,podium,backers</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Defeating Putin In Donbas Is The Cheap, Easy Option]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/defeating-putin-in-donbas-is-the-cheap-easy-option</link>
            <guid>z5nTLp41EvYbgvYhHLpx</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 2022 13:18:26 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[As I follow Zelensky in this war, I am constantly reminded of this book I read just a few months ago. At that time there was no inkling of Putin’s invasion. I read the book because I am perennially interested in Abraham Lincoln’s life and work. Lincoln was not even a soldier. It was not a war he had chosen. He became a student of war in the White House. And because his instincts were right, and he stood on the side of justice and liberty, he seems to have made all sorts of right war moves. If...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As I follow Zelensky in this war, I am constantly reminded of this book I read just a few months ago. At that time there was no inkling of Putin’s invasion. I read the book because I am perennially interested in Abraham Lincoln’s life and work. Lincoln was not even a soldier. It was not a war he had chosen. He became a student of war in the White House. And because his instincts were right, and he stood on the side of justice and liberty, he seems to have made all sorts of right war moves. If you were to just give him credit for his military strategies, you would be impressed. One passage stood out for me. Lincoln laments the war, he is sad about the bloodshed on both sides, and he notes, that this is karma, he says, he does not use that word, but you get the point; he says we are paying in blood for all the blood we have spilled to subjugate the black race over centuries. God Almighty always, always makes it right in the long run. With God Almighty as witness, when you forgive someone, especially someone who might have done the most heinous thing, you are not saying, okay, let’s overlook because we are powerless. You are invoking the wrath of the highest power there is. That God will destroy the entire universe for justice, and He has before. Who is Putin?</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/68d183e587d6473395aee89bec1d2805f8e43ea13dba8c8bc572afd5c9ba570d.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p>Zelensky and Navalny for a joint Nobel Peace Prize after we uproot Putin in Moscow because half a million Muscovites dared the streets all at once and in an organized fashion.</p><p>I want NATO irrelevant. A democratic, federal, vibrant Russia will do it without doing anything about it.</p><p>I not only want Ukraine to be neutral like Switzerland, I see the center of gravity in Europe shifting to Kyiv. When Russia is a Germany or a France, because it is no longer a state run by a criminal gang, an authoritarian kleptocracy where the dictator takes a 50% cut on every oligarch’s personal GDP, at that point Russia is a most vibrant knowledge economy with a GDP approaching and exceeding 10 trillion dollars, and Ukraine is the center of Europe. Who needs NATO when there is peace and justice?</p><p>You defeat Putin in Donbas not because you think the territory would be a nice to have for Ukraine. You do it for the people in Donbas. They deserve liberty as much as anyone else. It is not about territory, it is about liberty. And Kissinger should stay in retirement.</p><p>This war will be fought and won in Donbas, or it will be fought for a decade more in five different countries. Finish the job. Blood is the hard part. The Ukrainians are braving it. Who are you? Who are you to not give the necessary military supplies?</p><p>As for the black race, remember the Jews also toiled in Egypt for 400 years. The meek shall inherit the earth.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8">crowdfund://0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8?features=overview,editions,podium,backers</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x2F2A3D020cfbD506AE64D31421231187b92963b1">crowdfund://0x2F2A3D020cfbD506AE64D31421231187b92963b1?features=overview,editions,podium,backers</a></p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/de23ae7d16f8d5721261d60d2e6023927f26a523223bca9d64cb94404de08ca4.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Liberty's Donbas Strategy]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/liberty-s-donbas-strategy</link>
            <guid>LvjGESuaK3krXQYldChu</guid>
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jun 2022 12:58:07 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[It is not a political requirement that the Ukrainian military pushes the Russian forces out of Donbas. If they don’t want to do it, if they can not do it, that is not a problem. The only requirement is that they keep contesting the territory. Because the economic sanctions have to continue and further tightened. And that is an unfair arrangement for the ordinary people in Russia. I don’t blame them for Putin any more than I blame the dinosaurs for the asteroid. Putin has been imposed upon the...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It is not a political requirement that the Ukrainian military pushes the Russian forces out of Donbas. If they don’t want to do it, if they can not do it, that is not a problem. The only requirement is that they keep contesting the territory. Because the economic sanctions have to continue and further tightened. And that is an unfair arrangement for the ordinary people in Russia. I don’t blame them for Putin any more than I blame the dinosaurs for the asteroid. Putin has been imposed upon them time and again. Putin they have not chosen.</p><p>Putin recently said he is not going to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine. That means he is thinking about it. The KGB taught him to look in your face and lie. There are videos on YouTube that show how exactly he does it. There is a video from when he was Deputy Mayor of Leningrad. He looks at the camera and says to the people, this money we are raising will only be used to buy food for you. He collects the money and moves to Moscow.</p><p>So let’s assume he will drop a bomb somewhere in Ukraine. A retaliatory bomb drop is not going to be an option. But that has to draw an iron curtain around Russia. At that point it is either you are with us or against us. No country that will still do any kind of business with Russia should be allowed to do any kind of business with the US and the West. The economic sanction has to be total and complete.</p><p>But if you only have a military strategy, if you only have an economic sanctions strategy, you have no strategy at all. My strategy is to topple Putin in Moscow, with or without any military strategy, with or without economic sanctions.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://t.co/YaBK8rHUwV">Russia’s Democracy Movement Will Be Tokenized</a></p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/992477d1c0ef52c48ee0014817007ad96b321175b0cf5e5b4209099bb874a3a6.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8">crowdfund://0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8?features=overview,editions,podium,backers</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x2F2A3D020cfbD506AE64D31421231187b92963b1">crowdfund://0x2F2A3D020cfbD506AE64D31421231187b92963b1?features=overview,editions,podium,backers</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x0F99BB35788D2EC13E214e01aaFdFe64A2CB0f0e">crowdfund://0x0F99BB35788D2EC13E214e01aaFdFe64A2CB0f0e?features=overview,editions,podium,backers</a></p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/09a9630fa00abe1ce93cbe44ccb8168b7d3d5416980e6f517734cd2ce4e387a6.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Putin: Cotton Candy]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/putin-cotton-candy</link>
            <guid>9l5pCNNKT95dmBVUIkYQ</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 29 May 2022 23:48:42 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The military campaign in Donbas is important, and the economic sanctions are important, but ultimately what matters is that liberty rings inside every human heart. The challenge is to ignite that among Muscovites. And then Putin is cotton candy.The work has to start in the diaspora. If the Russian diaspora will not brave the streets in New York City, London, Paris, or Berlin, then what are the chances in Moscow? There is a need for weekly protests that keep snowballing. Cheering the military ...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The military campaign in Donbas is important, and the economic sanctions are important, but ultimately what matters is that liberty rings inside every human heart. The challenge is to ignite that among Muscovites. And then Putin is cotton candy.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/d0a95a0a0c9bd688dbe43101b7b6ad381302a2090832307861b6f6e07bf2fbf7.png" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p>The work has to start in the diaspora. If the Russian diaspora will not brave the streets in New York City, London, Paris, or Berlin, then what are the chances in Moscow? There is a need for weekly protests that keep snowballing.</p><p>Cheering the military campaign can not be the centerpiece of the action. The primary solution is political.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8">crowdfund://0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8?features=overview,editions,podium,backers</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Guns Are Like Cigarettes: They Kill ]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/guns-are-like-cigarettes-they-kill</link>
            <guid>08Eq4qLO5TpTP7hCModo</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 29 May 2022 10:59:52 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Guns are like cigarettes. And they have to be tackled like cigarettes were tackled. All families and friends of the victims of gun violence have to come together, rally and make legal moves. That is how tobacco was brought to the knees. A lot of people wonder, will America slide into civil war? The country is divided. Will there be a civil war? Look at the annual gun deaths in America and compare that to the death figures in any civil war country, or all of them combined. America beats all of...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Guns are like cigarettes. And they have to be tackled like cigarettes were tackled. All families and friends of the victims of gun violence have to come together, rally and make legal moves. That is how tobacco was brought to the knees.</p><p>A lot of people wonder, will America slide into civil war? The country is divided. Will there be a civil war? Look at the annual gun deaths in America and compare that to the death figures in any civil war country, or all of them combined. America beats all of them, hands down.</p><p>America has been at civil war for years and years.</p><p>This is insanity. The solution is not politicians making speeches, but rather citizens coming together and making organized legal moves in the courts. The people have the power to amend the second amendment, the appendix (body organ) of the US constitution. I am waiting for someone to make the argument that the amendment allows them to own tanks.</p><p>At one point in the civil war, Abraham Lincoln lamented that all the white people getting killed to preserve the union has been karma for all the blood the white people spilled over a few centuries to subjugate the black slaves.</p><p>American guns are sold in civil wars around the world. American companies make big profits. There is a need for global regulations.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/4c3e545f9c118c99d4af73465c3cb22389611a19dcc856f64f072e023e270c15.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p>There are more guns than people in America. This is no country for old men, or young. People, generally.</p>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[The Enemy Is In Donbas]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/the-enemy-is-in-donbas</link>
            <guid>NwDBNLvLQJLpQobjv1DY</guid>
            <pubDate>Thu, 26 May 2022 12:44:39 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[I am no military expert, and I defer to military experts on the specifics, like the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense that makes specific asks on Twitter. https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1529715892803739648 My expertise is getting people out into the streets of Moscow. But this military angle is unavoidable. And I see the political aspects of it. This is what I see. Putin is not trying to liberate anybody. Pay attention. He is busy destroying Donbas. He does not speak for the ethnic Russians ...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I am no military expert, and I defer to military experts on the specifics, like the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense that makes specific asks on Twitter.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1529715892803739648">https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1529715892803739648</a></p><p>My expertise is getting people out into <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/_Hh1OTsSguUelQgYjT5yRFnhernZXGQ_bOlj1L72MEY">the streets of Moscow</a>. But this military angle is unavoidable. And I see the political aspects of it. This is what <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/pTW9iXYnEqbINlkTvwmmQj4VVoRGeV6pMngA07nExm8">I see</a>.</p><p>Putin is not trying to liberate anybody. Pay attention. He is busy destroying Donbas. He does not speak for the ethnic Russians in Moscow. Hell, he does not speak for the ethnic Russians in Donbas.</p><p>Feed him your finger, he will eat your hand. That is the nature of the beast. If you want peace in Estonia, fight in Donbas. And if you can’t then support the good people who are putting up the good fight. Ukraine fights for the world.</p><p>Putin is in survival mode in Donbas. He gets pushed out of Donbas, his regime collapses in Moscow. That is what this is about. A military invasion of Moscow was unthinkable. But a military engagement in Donbas is our daily reality right now. The enemy has made a mistake. The enemy is in Donbas.</p><p>If the Ukrainian military can push the Russian forces out of Donbas, fine. If that is not an option, all it needs to do is keep contesting the territory. Because Putin is getting weaker by the day. Time is not his friend.</p><p>Navalny depends on the brave people of Ukraine. The Russian Mandela looks to the brave people of Ukraine. The war in Donbas is about liberating Moscow.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/fd8eac1b1fa77b2f84b809d8b7fcd1c77a13a0a0b4ea4cbc42987138c8d9b241.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[NFT Party: Poetry Invited]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/nft-party-poetry-invited</link>
            <guid>0mg8XllPTuHdJqsqV665</guid>
            <pubDate>Wed, 25 May 2022 22:58:33 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Monkey chap Aping the com com Art that moves markets A remote orchestra of 70 Going strong Don&apos;t tell Vitalik Buterin We are selling apes On his Ethereum I am waiting For my crowdfund train To Moscow And while I wait Let me ask Is poetry invited?]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/8ce854771b26766bdd96f6a32093e6675beb7915f60e79b2eae636761effbe41.png" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p>Monkey chap </p><p>Aping the com com </p><p>Art that moves markets </p><p>A remote orchestra of 70 </p><p>Going strong </p><p>Don&apos;t tell Vitalik Buterin</p><p>We are selling apes </p><p>On his Ethereum </p><p>I am waiting </p><p>For my crowdfund train </p><p>To Moscow </p><p>And while I wait</p><p>Let me ask</p><p>Is poetry invited?</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/a0ff4518fbddc190ba26d45adcc067805394b2c025720631e9d2a028e30d1be7.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Ukraine Can Be The First Blockchain War]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/ukraine-can-be-the-first-blockchain-war</link>
            <guid>hNbZTFPAgyKGhymIAD9H</guid>
            <pubDate>Wed, 25 May 2022 21:54:42 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The most cynical characterization of the brutal invasion of Ukraine I have come across in the tech circles is Marc Andreessen calling it the current thing. Many people in tech have been comparing this year to 1995. As in, 2022 is to the Blockchain what 1995 might have been to the Internet. You might see a lot of froth but this is for real. There will be market ups and downs, as there always are, but this thing is for real. Ukraine is 1989, it is 1991 all over again, or can be. This is not som...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/89dbaed2076bd625a26fc50dac39b38d40cad81d53bbe6344a0642dd99223df5.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p>The most cynical characterization of the brutal invasion of Ukraine I have come across in the tech circles is Marc Andreessen calling it <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/1511404882749652992">the current thing</a>.  </p><p>Many people in tech have been comparing this year to 1995. As in, 2022 is to the Blockchain what 1995 might have been to the Internet. You might see a lot of froth but this is for real. There will be market ups and downs, as there always are, but this thing is for real. </p><p>Ukraine is 1989, it is 1991 all over again, or can be. This is not some remote war. It is heartbreaking to watch all the damage that has been done. The images and the videos are so easily accessible. </p><p>This was thought of as old-fashioned. This was not supposed to happen. It is like someone threatened to type a paper on a typewriter. And then he did it. He started hammering a paper on a typewriter. </p><p>The valor of the people of Ukraine and their leader is on display for all to see. They fight at the front. They fight for democracy in America. </p><p>But ultimately this has to be about taking the fight to the streets of Moscow. If sufficient momentum can be created, tectonic shifts could take place. China could see a push for political reform to the point of a breakup of the Chinese Communist Party like it were a political AT&amp;T. Sufficient street momentum in Moscow could turn Saudi Arabia into a republic. It would definitely make NATO irrelevant. </p><p>I feel like the rest of us have an obligation to build the most sophisticated Web 3 digital tools to put at the service of those Russians who will brave the streets of Moscow to topple Putin and give the country a new start in Navalny&apos;s leadership. Navalny is the Russian Mandela. It&apos;s just that we don&apos;t want him in jail for 20 years. </p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/8b5fdb682e2cac650d462c4ffd1bbbe6732172b5c482a6cd4c1e9986d546c1e3.png" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Musk's 44 Billion Dollar Give To Foolish Fascism ]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/musk-s-44-billion-dollar-give-to-foolish-fascism</link>
            <guid>3xTjoHv8tov31NYji2UW</guid>
            <pubDate>Fri, 13 May 2022 16:37:18 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1524881263470993435 By now I am beginning to think this has been the only reason Elon Musk has wanted to buy Twitter. Edit button? You can already compose a new tweet. Free speech does not mean you can incite violence, which is what Trump did on January 6. It is a well-documented act, minute by minute. Trump is a violent fascist. Germany was a country of high culture and science, it was a democracy. And some of the leading minds in the country fell for Hitl...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1524881263470993435">https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1524881263470993435</a></p><p>By now I am beginning to think this has been the only reason Elon Musk has wanted to buy <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/_XNBQ-GrG0G3lQ3hykGW0q1ZlH5Asnoqm30yVSQ9qEQ">Twitter</a>. Edit button? You can already compose a new tweet.</p><p>Free speech does not mean you can incite violence, which is what Trump did on January 6. It is a well-documented act, minute by minute. Trump is a violent fascist.</p><p>Germany was a country of high culture and science, it was a democracy. And some of the leading minds in the country fell for Hitler. I see people like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/HFZMM1I3PEGtSmxduo85UjeEEZR3DNM1yl9rScm-VjE">Marc</a> and Elon falling for Trump. Frankly, this is sad and disgusting. Marc has been running up and down the street about how Ukraine is the current thing. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/XQob59dTPCnYvQ43LtpXZU6CVq3h_q9rSUQJMpfhwJ0">Ukraine</a> is not a country at the frontline of the fight for democracy. It is the current thing. How cavalier is that?</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/1511404882749652992">https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/1511404882749652992</a></p><p>Putin today, Trump tomorrow, Le Pen yesterday.</p><p>Hate speech is problematic enough. And that is its own category. What used to be fringe, thanks to Trump, is now in the mainstream.</p><p>America is a democracy in crisis. Ukraine is exporting <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/74VFIptIWJuZAj7lNpui5qyfJJPDgNfr-GGanw6yoSo">democracy</a> to America, as we speak. A two-party democracy where one party is hellbent on disenfranchising large swathes of the population is a democracy in crisis.</p><p>Musk is <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/et1ugarygXrqY8fWLvIfR8z1qTWuTtRlLOwcfwLhqGw">very smart</a>, very hardworking, very <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/sNOYKg7eif4R5MHP78uXGJZt7-goCiEN4-FR1VhlGS0">innovative</a>, but also very white male. The while male part is 90% of his success. That is why he feels the need to pour $44 billion into the hate speech.</p><p>I think this sentiment is a sound argument for a well-thought-out wealth tax. Nobody needs to be a billionaire. There ought to be forking. You still get to keep your voting power, but the wealth goes to We The People.</p><p>You might be smart on one thing, but that does not make you smart on all things. These two gentlemen are missing out on <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/JAcmWtP8C0F7nfKozOKQ84e_g4m30CfZA2wlZOtW31k">the basics of basic politics</a>.</p><p>I don’t think America could survive one more term of Donald Trump in the White House. Wake up, Elon.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/45eb24118c78872ac4cb8f29cff2cf3d123f88cf06a5806ebc2ffbe1706f8d54.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Self-Driving Electric Buses, Not Tunnels]]></title>
            <link>https://paragraph.com/@paramendra-bhagat/self-driving-electric-buses-not-tunnels</link>
            <guid>OJZPnGxjBq8NtvBZ3Whs</guid>
            <pubDate>Tue, 10 May 2022 14:04:16 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Elon Musk came up with this vision of underground tunnels under Los Angeles when one day he found himself stuck in traffic. And I think he should still go for it. But, just like with Mars, he gets the physics right but misses out on the human element. Being underground for long periods of time is psychologically hard. And only a few accidents could be a PR nightmare. A much better global idea would be to design and build self-driving electric buses of various sizes that come in fleets. So a c...]]></description>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Elon Musk came up with this vision of underground tunnels under Los Angeles when one day he found himself stuck in traffic. And I think he should still go for it. But, just like with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/et1ugarygXrqY8fWLvIfR8z1qTWuTtRlLOwcfwLhqGw">Mars</a>, he gets the physics right but misses out on the human element. Being underground for long periods of time is psychologically hard. And only a few accidents could be a PR nightmare.</p><p>A much better global idea would be to design and build self-driving electric buses of various sizes that come in fleets. So a city buys a fleet, preferably paying in installments over years, and it uploads the data on routes, and the buses are good to go. For added intelligence, the fleet is allowed cameras to be installed along the routes. That would revolutionize public transportation in emerging cities around the world. The city government, not the individual, is your customer. People might buy a monthly pass online. And they get a bar code on the phone. Ride as much as you want over a month.</p><p>Just like with boring tunnels, the idea is to get people out of their cars and into the public buses. City buses for short-distance travel, hyperloop for between cities, and the 30-minute rocket for point-to-point travel for really long distances. That is going to be enough space tourism for me. I just want a blimp of a view. Keep me on <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://mirror.xyz/0x065e533120b87e5b4F5bfBF0802EB6428c237487/et1ugarygXrqY8fWLvIfR8z1qTWuTtRlLOwcfwLhqGw">earth</a>.</p><p>Buses come with big windows. You do want the views.</p><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/9526b84ef65f606648273e8474bec0bd699ec168f5844b58b03ac2d8441c23dc.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/82e158ed386ef452f390124515543cbd59b0f43d522512d1aaa7084c3f0b7c2e.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><figure float="none" data-type="figure" class="img-center" style="max-width: null;"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/d1a242c09d5f27a00fceafc48dd7dce8cdc063ce78dcb347ca473b284e39c472.jpg" alt="" blurdataurl="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" nextheight="600" nextwidth="800" class="image-node embed"><figcaption HTMLAttributes="[object Object]" class="hide-figcaption"></figcaption></figure><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://t.co/YaBK8rHUwV">Russia&apos;s Democracy Movement will be tokenized.</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x0F99BB35788D2EC13E214e01aaFdFe64A2CB0f0e">crowdfund://0x0F99BB35788D2EC13E214e01aaFdFe64A2CB0f0e?features=overview,editions,podium,backers</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8">crowdfund://0x4C2380d1548bbf533F0336225Bb9A7784BCDF2f8?features=overview,editions,podium,backers</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc" class="dont-break-out" href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x2F2A3D020cfbD506AE64D31421231187b92963b1">crowdfund://0x2F2A3D020cfbD506AE64D31421231187b92963b1?features=overview,editions,podium,backers</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
            <author>paramendra-bhagat@newsletter.paragraph.com (Paramendra Bhagat)</author>
        </item>
    </channel>
</rss>