All posts tagged: appealing

Managing an ally, appealing to a pope – POLITICO

Managing an ally, appealing to a pope – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

And Crosetto said at an event during Italy’s Armed Forces Day that “in a world that has gone crazy … it is our duty to ensure that Italy can defend itself,” validating Trump’s longstanding demand that NATO allies should do — and spend — more to defend themselves. Meloni will try to convey alignment when she sits down with Rubio, including through increased defense spending, according to analyst Filippo Simonelli of the Rome-based Istituto Affari Internazionali think tank. And longer-term commitments offer a potential path to ease tensions without requiring immediate public concessions: Crosetto’s meeting is a sign that something could move in that direction, Simonelli argued. “Italy is not strictly necessary, but the U.S. is losing ground with allies, so reinforcing ties with a middle power may in the end be worth the effort,” continued Simonelli. “They will likely try to find some meeting point and a path forward for cooperation.” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is navigating a more complicated domestic landscape. | Simona Granati – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images On Wednesday, the …

BBCNOW/Djupsjöbacka review – Tower’s Love Returns is an uncommonly appealing piece | Classical music

BBCNOW/Djupsjöbacka review – Tower’s Love Returns is an uncommonly appealing piece | Classical music

Published by Sam Flores

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales is marking the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence in a series of concerts, and the UK premiere of Love Returns, by the 87-year-old American composer Joan Tower, was at the centre of this programme with Finnish conductor Tomas Djupsjöbacka. Tower is best known for her Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman and, in this work, a concerto for alto saxophone, she has realised an uncommonly appealing piece. Its title relates to Tower’s use of a melody from her piano piece, Love Letter, written in memory of her late husband, as the basis for a theme and variations structure, as different from conventional concerto form as can be, evolving and gradually accelerating in tempo over its whole span of six sections. The only departure from this is in the fifth of the six: a solo saxophone cadenza, brilliantly delivered by soloist Steven Banks. His sometimes edgy, sometimes honeyed tone was wonderfully expressive throughout, whirling virtuoso passagework countered by aching lyricism, with Djupsjöbacka ensuring that Tower’s orchestral textures offered …

Two events remember the 5th anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot, appealing to two divine truths

Two events remember the 5th anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot, appealing to two divine truths

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON (RNS) — Two groups with decidedly differing views of the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol marked the fifth anniversary of the day’s events on Tuesday, both appealing to what they argued were divine truths. On Tuesday morning, at a vigil at Luther Place Memorial Church, a historic Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregation in downtown Washington, a dozen or so clergy assembled as the church’s pastor, the Rev. Karen Brau, recounted the story of the vigil held five years before. At the time, thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump rallied in Washington to protest, insisting the 2020 election was stolen — a false claim. Two Trump supporters marched into the prayer circle, Brau recalled, and mockingly reenacted the murder of George Floyd. “This unjust and harsh interruption was designed to pull our attention away from the prayerful space we were inhabiting,” Brau said, adding, “It did not work.” The theme of this year’s vigil was truth-telling, Brau told Religion News Service, an idea she traced to Scripture. “As we were bearing …