COMMENT

The attachment: The articles in this appendix of ORIENTERING shows which problems are linked to cities and poverty, pandemic, war, conflict, energy, food, flight, floods and fear.

Urbanization: Moving from the countryside to the city has lifted many people out of poverty, particularly in developing countries. The city provides better access to work, services and freedom from inhibiting social norms. At the same time, life for the city's poor can be difficult.

Poverty: Over a billion people, 24 percent of the world's urban population, are today considered slum dwellers. And most refugees do not end up in overcrowded camps in Europe, but as displaced migrants in medium-sized and small cities in Asia and Africa. Aid today has a reluctance to get involved in urban areas and urbanization issues.

Poverty: Norwegian Development Cooperation's weak urban efforts over 60 years – an average of five percent of the annual aid budget – is difficult to understand. Because it is in the cities that the "billion at the bottom" live. Many are calling for measures in areas such as forests and climate, plastic and marine litter, transport, energy, food safety and regional planning.

Forum: Urbanism is often about building bridges and removing contradictions. Here are some examples from the World Forum in Katowice, Poland, of how cities can safeguard women's safety and security

War: In the ongoing conflict between Russia and the West in Ukraine, social democrats, social liberals and green politicians have been among the most ardent supporters of war and confrontational politics. And when "solidarity" becomes a tool for warmongers, the political right can become a strategic ally.

RADIATION: For many of us who have become electrosensitive, it is almost impossible to find a place where we can be healthy. The authorities must therefore facilitate radiation-free areas that are not covered by the mobile network.

Social media: While the public is a place where free individuals have the right, and perhaps also the duty, to participate in a free exchange of opinions, the social is more about herd and control. Are we now faced with a social control that does not invite disagreement and diversity, but only obedience or exclusion? The rise of the social can threaten both freedom and individuality. MODERN TIMES prints here an extract from Einar Øverenget's new book, Intoleransens intog.

Intelligence: We present here aspects of the USA/NATO in connection with this obituary of Major General Alf Roar Berg, who passed away on 12 July after a long illness. For example, it emerges that in 1988, during a meeting of NATO's Intelligence Committee, the American and British heads of military intelligence claimed that a Russian attack on the West was imminent. It was a lie.