Edi ialtor

At the ROR Magazine, we focus our attention on the scourge that is corporate greed. It seems to be the “mouth of the river” no matter which burden of today’s we retrace our steps from. Inflation became a major issue for Americans and most other nations last year, so we take that angle in our infographics exposé. Economists tend to dismiss even unhealthy degrees of inflation citing regular market forces. However, we present enough data on price hiking, wage raises vs inflation comparisons, profit gains figures, and concerned experts’ explanations that there should be no doubt left what corporate motives and strategies have led to this scenario.

Dr. Taras Romashchenko joins us from Ukraine with a perceptive analysis of what economic tugs of war find his country, unfairly so, in such a predicament with Russia. Lucia Meija throws light on the labor rights abuse behind the glitter of the FIFA World Cup this past December. Mohammad Al-Tala from Palestine complements her piece by exposing how his people weren’t even allowed simple cheering for teams supporting their cause, and how celebrations would be disrupted by arrival of Israeli soldiers. Violence on unarmed people in Palestine has continued throughout January, largely unmourned by our mainstream media.

On the bright side, Lonnie Hughes is back with another eye-opening rouser finding art in every breath and every wind of thought we turn into action. Rubina Feroz from Pakistan brings us her clinical psychologist insights on how the landscape of values is in flux, owing to the virtual reality and related tech’s encroachment on our lives. It serves as a sobering complement to Andy Colquhoun’s fascinating piece on how companies are now conquering the virtual frontier by opening their outlets and conference halls in the metaverse. Steve Morley of Esguard, on the other hand, enlightens us with how to make schools excel with a dash of entrepreneurial magic.

Our resident cartoonist from Venezuela, Luis González, captures the painful dichotomies of our time in two brilliant satire pieces, one below, and another, a commentary on the virtual virtuosos on pages 104-105. Other than that, the the lifestyle side of this issue is well rounded off by Denmark’s Viktor Toth on the best spots around the Arctic Circle to catch the nature’s aurora borealis show. Amber Branch finds inspiration and relevance in Stephen King’s classic, Carrie. Dmitry Dragunov shares his remarkable adventures in film translation and how those keep his own filmmaking dreams alive.

The balance of things to celebrate and things to protest seems heavily tilted away from the billions who work day in and day out on this planet, filling coffers for their lords, while waiting for the dreams of their children to come true... The new year asks us if what we are doing in our classrooms and admissions offices is enough to empower our next generation? Will they reach their skies, their horizons, without toeing the line of easy profits at the expense of the climate health of our planet, the economic health of our people...? Or will they give up somewhere along the way becoming either a pawn or a profiteer on an eternal assembly line?

Let’s loose some sleep over these questions.