CHAPTER XXI THANKSGIVING This yearly festival was always kept at Plumfield in the good old fashioned way, and nothing was allowed to interfere with it. For days beforehand the little girls helped Asia and Mrs. Joe in the storeroom and kitchen, making pies and puddings, sorting fruit, dusting dishes, and being very happy and immensely important. The boys hovered on the outskirts of the forbidden ground, sniffing the savory odors, peeping in at the mysterious performances, and occasionally being permitted to taste some delicacy in the process of preparation. Something more than usual seemed to be on foot this year, for the girls were as busy upstairs as down, so were the boys in schoolroom and barn, and a general air of bustle pervaded the house. There was a great hunting up of old ribbons and finery, much cutting and pasting of gold paper, and the most remarkable quantity of straw, grey cotton, flannel, and big black beads used by Frans and Mrs. Joe. Ned hammered at strange machines in the workshop. Demi and Tommy went about murmuring to themselves as if learning something. A fearful racket was heard in e-mails room at intervals and peels of laughter from the nursery when Rob and Teddy were sent for and hidden from sight whole hours at a time. But the thing that puzzled Mr. Bear the most was what became of Rob's big pumpkin. It had been born in triumph to the kitchen where a dozen gold-tinted pies soon after appeared. It would not have taken more than a quarter of the mammoth vegetable to make them, yet where was the rest? It disappeared and Rob never seemed to care, only chuckled when it was mentioned, and told his father to wait and see, for the fun of the whole thing was to surprise Father Bear at the end and not let him know a bit about what was to happen. He obediently shut eyes, ears, and mouth, and went about trying not to see what was in plain sight, not to hear the tell-tale sounds that filled the air, not to understand any of the perfectly transparent mysteries going on about him. In a German he loved these simple domestic festivals and encouraged them with all his heart, for they made home so pleasant that the boys did not care to go elsewhere for fun. When at last the day came the boys went off for a long walk that they might have good appetites for dinner, as if they ever needed them. The girls remained at home to help them set the table and give last touches to various affairs which filled their busy little souls with anxiety. The school room had been shut up since the night before, and Mr. Bear was forbidden to enter it on pain of a beating from Teddy, who guarded the door like a small dragon, though he was dying to tell about it, and nothing but his father's heroic self-denial and not listening kept him from betraying a grand secret. It's all done, and it's perfectly splendid, cried Nan, coming out at last with the air of triumph. The, you know, goes beautifully, and Silas knows just what to do now, added Daisy, skipping with the light at some unspeakable success. I'm blessed of it ain't the cutest thing I ever see, them critters in particular said Silas, who had been led into the secret, went off laughing like a great boy. They are coming, I hear email-roaring landlubbers lying down below, so we must run and dress, cried Nan, and upstairs they scampered in a great hurry. The boys came trooping home with appetites that would have made the big turkey tremble if it had not been past all fear. They also retired to dress, and for half an hour there was a washing, brushing, and prinking that would have done any tidy woman's heart good to see. When the bell rang a troupe of fresh-faced lads with shiny hair, clean collars and Sunday jackets on, filed into the dining-room where Mrs. Joe, in her one black silk with a knot of her favorite white chrysanthemums in her bosom, sat at the head of the table, looking splendid as the boys said whenever she got herself up. Rosie and Nan were as gay as a posy bed in their new winter dresses, with bright sashes and hair-ribbons. Teddy was gorgeous to behold in a crimson merino blouse and his best button-boots which absorbed and distracted him as much as Mr. Toots wristbands did on one occasion. As Mr. and Mrs. Bear glanced at each other down the long table, with those rows of happy faces on either side, they had a little Thanksgiving all to themselves. And without a word, for one heart said to the other, Our work has prospered, let us be grateful and go on. The clatter of knives and forks prevented much conversation for a few minutes, and Marianne with an amazing pink boner hair flew round briskly, handing plates and ladling out gravy. Nearly everyone had contributed to the feast, so the dinner was a peculiarly interesting one to the eaters of it, who beguiled the pauses by remarks on their own productions. If these are not good potatoes I never saw any, observed Jack, as he received his fourth big mealy one. Some of my herbs are in the stuffing of the turkey, that's why it's so nice, said Nan, taking a mouthful with intense satisfaction. My ducks are prime anyway. Asia said she never cooked such fat ones, added Tommy. Well, our carrots are beautiful, aren't they? And our parsnips will be ever so good when we dig them, put in dick, and Dolly murmured his ascent from behind the bone he was picking. I helped make the pies with my pumpkin, called out Robbie, with a laugh which he stopped by retiring into his mug. I picked some of the apples that the cider is made of, said Demi. I raked the cranberries for the sauce, cried Nat. I got the nuts, added Dan, and so it went on all round the table. Who made up Thanksgiving, asked Rob? For having been lately promoted to jacket and trousers, he felt a new and manly interest in the institutions of his country. See who can answer that question? And Mr. Bear nodded to one or two of his best history boys. I know, said Demi, the pilgrims made it. But four, asked Rob, without waiting to learn who the pilgrims were. I forget, and Demi subsided. I believe it was because they were starved once, and so when they had a good harvest they said, We will thank God for it. And they had a day and called it Thanksgiving, said Dan, who liked the story of the brave men who suffered so nobly for their faith. Good! I didn't think you would remember anything but natural history, and Mr. Bear tapped gently on the table as applause for his pupil. Dan looked pleased, and Mrs. Joe said to her son, Now do you understand about it, Robby? No, I don't. I thought pilgrims were a sort of big bird that lived on rocks, and I saw pictures of them in Demi's book. He means penguins. Oh, isn't he a little goosey? And Demi laid back in his chair and laughed aloud. Don't laugh at him, but tell him all about it if you can, said Mrs. Bear, consoling Rob with more cranberry sauce, for the general smile that went round the table at his mistake. Well, I will. And after a pause to collect his ideas Demi delivered the following sketch of the pilgrim fathers, which would have made even those grave gentlemen smile if they could have heard it. You see, Rob, some of the people in England didn't like the king, or something. So they got into ships and sailed away to this country. It was all full of Indians, and bears, and wild creatures, and they lived in forts and had a dreadful time. The bears asked Robby with interest? No, the pilgrims, because the Indians troubled them, they hadn't enough to eat, and they went to church with guns and ever so many died. And they got out of the ships on a rock, and it's called Plymouth Rock, and Aunt Jo saw it and touched it. The pilgrims killed all the Indians and got rich and hung the witches, and were very good. And some of the greatest great-grandpas came in the ships. One was the Mayflower, and they made Thanksgiving, and we have it always. And I like it. Some more turkey, please. I think Demi will be a historian. There is such order and clearness in his account of events. But Uncle Fritz's eyes laughed at Aunt Jo, as he helped the descendant of the pilgrims to his third bit of turkey. I thought you must eat as much as ever you could on Thanksgiving. But Fran says you mustn't even then, and stuffy looked as if he had received bad news. Fran's is right, so mind your knife and fork, and be moderate, or else you won't be able to help in the surprise buy-and-buy, said Mrs. Jo. I'll be careful. But everybody does eat lots, and I like it better than being moderate, said stuffy, who leaned to the popular belief that Thanksgiving must be kept by coming as near-apoplexy as possible, and escaping with merely a fit of indigestion or headache. Now my pilgrims, amuse yourselves quietly till tea-time, for you will have enough excitement this evening, said Mrs. Jo, as they rose from the table after a protracted sitting, finished by drinking everyone's health in cider. I think I will take the whole flock for a drive, it is so pleasant. Then you can rest, my dear, or you will be worn out this evening, added Mr. Bear. And as soon as coats and hats could be put on, the great omnibus was packed full and away they went for a long gay drive, leaving Mrs. Jo to rest and finish sundry small affairs in peace. When early and light tea was followed by more brushing of hair and washing of hands, then the flock waited impatiently for the company to come. Only the family was expected, for these small revels were strictly domestic, and such being the case, Sorrow was not allowed to sadden the present festival. All came, Mr. and Mrs. March, with Aunt Meg so sweet and lovely in spite of her black dress, and the little widow's cap that encircled her tranquil face. Uncle Teddy and Aunt Amy, with the princess looking more fairy-like than ever, in a sky-blue gown and a great bouquet of hot-house flowers which she divided among the boys, sticking one in each buttonhole, making them feel particularly elegant and festive. One strange face appeared, and Uncle Teddy led the unknown gentleman up to the bears, saying, This is Mr. Hyde. He has been inquiring about Dan, and I ventured to bring him tonight that he might see how much the boy has improved. The bears received him cordially, for Dan's sake, pleas that the lad had been remembered. But after a few minutes' chat they were glad to know Mr. Hyde for his own sake, so genial, simple, and interesting was he. It was pleasant to see the boy's face light up when he cut sight of his friend. Pleasant or still to see Mr. Hyde's surprise and satisfaction in Dan's improved manners and appearance, and pleasantest of all to watch the two sit talking in a corner, forgetting the differences of age, culture, and position, in the one subject which interested both, as man and boy compared notes, and told the story of their summer life. The performance must begin soon or the actors will go to sleep, said Mrs. Joe, when the first greetings were over. So everyone went into the school room and took seats before a curtain made of two bed covers. The children had already vanished, but stifled laughter and funny little exclamations from behind the curtain betrayed their whereabouts. The entertainment began with a spirited exhibition of gymnastics led by friends. The six elder lads in blue trousers and red shirts made a fine display of muscle with dumbbells, clubs, and weights, keeping time to the music of the piano played by Mrs. Joe behind the scenes. Dan was so energetic in this exercise that there was some danger of his knocking down his neighbors, like so many nine-pins, or sending his beanbags whizzing among the audience, for he was excited by Mr. Hyde's presence and a burning desire to do honour to his teachers. A fine strong lad, if I go on my trip to South America in a year or two, I shall be tempted to ask you to lend him to me, Mr. Bear, said Mr. Hyde, whose interest in Dan was much increased by the report he had just heard of him. You shall have him and welcome, though we shall miss our young Hercules very much. It would do him a world of good, and I am sure he would serve his friend faithfully. Dan heard both question and answer, and his heart leaped with joy at the thought of travelling in a new country with Mr. Hyde, and swelled with gratitude for the kindly commendation which rewarded his efforts to be all these friends desired to see him. After the gymnastics Demi and Tommy spoke the old-school dialogue, money makes the mare go. Demi did very well, but Tommy was capital as the old farmer, for he imitated Silas in a way that convulsed the audience and caused Silas himself to laugh so hard that Asia had to slap him on the back as they stood in the hall enjoying the fun immensely. Then E.M.I.L., who had got his breath by this time, gave the massee song in costume with a great deal about stormy winds, lee shores, and a rousing chorus of Lough Boys Lough which made the room ring. After which Ned performed a funny Chinese dance, and hopped about like a large frog in a pagoda hat. As this was the only public exhibition ever held at Plumfield, a few exercises in lightning arithmetic, spelling, and reading were given. Jack quite amazed the public by his rapid calculations on the blackboard. Tommy won in the spelling match, and Demi read a little French fable so well that Uncle Teddy was charmed. There are the other children asked every one as the curtain fell and none of the little ones appeared. Oh, that is the surprise! It's so lovely! I pity you because you don't know it, said Demi, who had gone to get his mother's kiss and stayed by her to explain the mystery when it should be revealed. Goldilocks had been carried off by Aunt Joe to the great amazement of her papa, who quite outdid Mr. Bear in acting wonder, suspense, and wild impatience to know what was going to happen. At last, after much rustling, hammering, and very audible directions from the stage manager, the curtain rose to soft music, and Bess was discovered sitting on a stool beside a brown paper fireplace. A dear little Cinderella was never seen, for the gray gown was very ragged, the tiny shoes all worn, the face so pretty into the bright hair, and the attitude so dejected it brought tears as well as smiles to the fond eyes looking at the baby actress. She sat quite still till a voice whispered, now, then she sighed a funny little sigh and said, Oh, I wish I could go to the ball! So naturally that her father clapped frantically and her mother called out, Little Darling! These highly improper expressions of feeling caused Cinderella to forget herself and shake her head at them saying reprovingly, You mustn't peek to me! Silence instantly prevailed and three taps were heard on the wall. Cinderella looked alarmed, but before she could remember to say, What is that? The back of the brown paper fireplace opened like a door, and was some difficulty the fairy godmother got herself and her pointed hat through. It was Nan in a red cloak, a cap, and a wand, which she waved as she said decidedly, You shall go to the ball, my dear! Now you must pull and show my pretty dress, returned Cinderella tugging at her brown gown. No, no, you must say, How can I go in my rag, said the godmother in her own voice? Oh, yes, so I must! And the princess said it quite undisturbed by her forgetfulness. I change your rags into a splendid dress because you are good, said the grandmother in her stage tones, and deliberately in butting the brown pinafore she displayed a gorgeous sight. The little princess really was pretty enough to turn the heads of any number of small princes. For her mama had dressed her like a tiny courtlady in a rosy silk train with satin underskirt and bits of bouquets here and there quite lovely to behold. The godmother put a crown with pink and white feathers drooping from it on her head, and gave her a pair of silver paper slippers which she put on, and then she stood up, lifting her skirts to show them to the audience saying with pride, My last ones, ain't they pity? She was so charmed with them that she was with difficulty recalled to her part and made to say, But I have no torch, godmother? Behold it! And Nann waved her wand with such a flourish that she nearly knocked off the crown of the princess. Then appeared the grand triumph of the peace. First a rope was seen to flap on the floor, to tighten with a twitch as E-mail's voice was heard to say, He-vahoy! and Silas's gruff one to reply, Stitty now, stitty! A shout of laughter followed, for four large gray rats appeared, as shaky as to their legs, and queer as to their tails, but quite fine about the head. Were black beads shown in the most lifelike manner? They drew, or were intended to appear as if they did, a magnificent coach made of half the mammoth pumpkin, mounted on the wheels of Teddy's wagon, painted yellow to match the gay carriage.  It was Teddy and he beamed upon the company so affably that they gave him around all to himself, and Uncle Laurie said, If I could find a sober a coachman as that one I would engage him on the spot. The coach stopped. The godmother lifted in the princess, and she was trundled away in state, kissing her hand to the public, with her glass shoes sticking up in front, and her pink train sweeping the ground behind. For elegant as the coach was, I regret to say that her highness was rather a tight fit. The next scene was the ball. In here Nan and Daisy appeared as gay as peacocks in all sorts of finery. Nan was especially good as the proud sister, and crushed many imaginary ladies as she swept about the palace hall. The prince, in his solitary state upon a somewhat unsteady throne, sat gazing about him from under an imposing crown, as he played with his sword and admired the rosettes and his shoes. When Cinderella came in he jumped up and exclaimed with more warmth than elegance, My gracious, who is that? And immediately led the lady out to the dance, while the sisters scowled and turned up their noses in the corner. The stately jig executed by the little couple was very pretty, for the childish faces were so earnest, the costumes so gay, and the steps so peculiar, that they looked like the dainty quaint figures painted on a wato fan. The princess's train was very much in her way, and the sword of Prince Robb nearly tripped him up several times. But they overcame these obstacles remarkably well, and finished the dance with much grace and spirit, considering that neither knew what the other was about. Drop your shoe, whispered Mrs. Joe's voice, as the lady was about to sit down. Oh, I forgot! And taking off one of the silvery slippers, Cinderella planted it carefully in the middle of the stage, said to Robb, Now you must try and touch me! and ran away, while the prince, picking up the shoe, obediently trotted after her. The third scene, as everybody knows, is where the herald comes to try on the shoe. Teddy, still in Coachman's dress, came in, blowing a tin fishhorn melodiously, and the proud sisters each tried to put on the slipper. Nan insisted on playing cut off her toe within a carving-nice, and performed that operation so well that the herald was alarmed, and begged her to be, weely, careful. Cinderella then was called, and came in with the pinafore half on, slipped her foot into the slipper, and announced with satisfaction. I am the pincis. The prince was very happy, but Nan, who liked tragedy, improved upon the story, and fell in a fainting fit upon the floor, where she remained comfortably enjoying the rest of the play. It was not long, for the prince ran in, dropped upon his knees, and kissed the hand of goalie-locks with great ardour, while the herald blew a blast that nearly deafened the audience. The curtain had no chance to fall, for the princess ran off the stage, to her father crying, "'Didn't I do well?' while the prince and herald had a fending match with the tin horn and wooden sword. "'It was beautiful,' said every one, and when the raptures had a little subsided, Nat came out with his violin in his hand. "'Hush, hush!' cried all the children, and silence followed, for something in the boy's bashful manner and appealing eyes made everyone listen kindly. The bears thought he would play some of the old heirs he knew so well, but to their surprise they heard a new and lovely melody so softly, sweetly played that they could hardly believe it could be Nat. It was one of those songs without words that touched the heart, and sing of all tender home like hopes and joys, soothing and cheering those who listened to its simple music. Aunt Meg leaned her head on Demi's shoulder. Grandmother wiped her eyes, and Mrs. Joe looked up at Mr. Laurie saying in a choky whisper, "'You composed that. I wanted your boy to do you honour, and thank you in his own way,' answered Laurie, leaning down to answer her. When Nat made his bow and was about to go, he was called back by many hands and had to play again. He did so with such a happy face that it was good to see him, for he did his best, and gave them the gay old tunes that set the feet to dancing, and made quietude impossible. "'Clear the floor,' cried Emile, and in a minute the chairs were pushed back, the older people put safely in corners, and the children gathered on the stage. "'Show your manners,' called Emile, and the boys pranced up to the ladies, old and young, with polite invitations to tread the mazy, as dear Dick's swiveller has it. The small lads nearly came to blows for the princess, but she chose Dick like a kind little gentlewoman as she was, and let him lead her proudly to her place. Mrs. Joe was not allowed to decline, and Aunt Amy filled Dan with unspeakable delight by refusing Franz and taking him. Of course, Nan and Tommy, Nat and Daisy paired off, while Uncle Teddy went and got Asia, who was longing to jig it, and felt much elated by the honour done her. Silas and Marianne had a private dance in the hall, and for half an hour Plumfield was at its merriest. The party wound up with a grand promenade of all the young folks headed by the pumpkin coach with the princess and driver inside, and the rats in a wildly frisky state. While the children enjoyed this final frolic, the elders sat in the parlour looking on as they talked together of the little people with the interest of parents and friends. What are you thinking of all by yourself with such a happy face, Sister Joe, asked Laurie, sitting down beside her on the sofa? My summers work, Teddy, and amusing myself by imagining the future of my boys, she answered, smiling as she made room for him. They are all to be poets, painters, and statesmen, famous soldiers, or at least merchant princes, I suppose. No, I am not as aspiring as I once was, and I shall be satisfied if they are honest men. But I will confess that I do expect a little glory in a career for some of them. Demi is not a common child, and I think he will blossom into something good and great in the best sense of the word. The others will do well, I hope, especially my last two boys, for after hearing Nat play tonight I really think he has genius. Too soon to say, talent he certainly has, and there is no doubt that the boy can soon earn his bread by the work he loves. Build him up for another year or so, and then I will take him off your hands and launch him properly. That is such a pleasant prospect for poor Nat, who came to me six months ago so friendless and forlorn. Dan's future is already plain to me. Mr. Hyde will want him soon, and I mean to give him a brave and faithful little servant. Dan is one who can serve well if the wages are love and confidence, and he has the energy to carve out his future in his own way. Yes, I am very happy over our success with these boys, one so weak and one so wild, both so much better now and so full of promise. What magic did you use, Joe? I only love them, and let them see it, Fritz did the rest. Dear soul, you look as if only loving had been rather hard work sometimes, said Laurie, stroking her thin cheek with a look of more tender admiration than he had ever given her as a girl. I'm a faded old woman, but I'm a very happy one, so don't pity me, Teddy.  Yes, your plan seems to work better and better every year, he said, with an emphatic nod of approval toward the cheery scene before him. How can it fail to work well, when I have so much help from you all? answered Mrs. Joe, looking gratefully at her most generous patron. It is the best joke of the family, this school of yours, and its success, so unlike the future we plan for you, and yet so suited to you after all. It was a regular inspiration, Joe, said Laurie, dodging her thanks as usual. Ah, but you laughed at it in the beginning, and still make all matter a fun of me and my inspirations.  Now see how well it works. And she pointed to the happy group of lads and lassies dancing, singing, and chattering together with every sign of kindly good fellowship. I give in, and when my Goldilocks is old enough I'll send her to you. Can I say more than that? I shall be so proud to have your little treasure trusted to me. But really, Teddy, the effect of these girls has been excellent. I know you will laugh at me, but I don't mind, I'm used to it. So I'll tell you that one of my favorite fancies is to look at my family as a small world, to watch the progress of my little men, and lately to see how well the influence of my little women works upon them. Daisy is the domestic element and they all feel the charm of her quiet womanly ways. Nan is the restless, energetic, strong-minded one. They admire her courage, and give her a fair chance to work out her will, seeing that she has sympathy as well as strength, and the power to do much in their small world. Her best is the lady, full of natural refinement, grace, and beauty. She polishes them unconsciously, and fills her place as any lovely woman may, using her gentle influences to lift and hold them above the course, rough things of life, and keep them gentlemen in the best sense of the final word. It's not always the ladies who do that best, Joe. It is sometimes the strong brave woman who stirs up the boy and makes a man of him. And Laurie bowed to her with significant laugh. No. I think the graceful woman, whom the boy you allude to married, has done more for him than the wild nan of his youth, or better still the wise motherly woman who watched over him, as Daisy watches over her demi, did more to make him what he is. And Joe turned toward her mother, who sat a little apart with Meg, looking so full of the sweet dignity and beauty of old age, that Laurie gave her a glance of filial respect and love as he replied in serious earnest. All three did much for him, and I can understand how well these little girls will help your lads. Not more than the lads help them, it is mutual, I assure you. Nat does much for Daisy with his music. Dan can manage Nan better than any of us. And Demi teaches your Goldilocks so easily and well that Fritz calls them Roger Aschum and Lady Jane Gray. Dear me, if men and women would only trust, understand, and help one another as my children do, what a capital place the whole world would be. And Mrs. Joe's eyes grew absent, as if she was looking at a new and charming state of society in which people lived as happily and innocently as her flock at Plumfield. You are doing your best to help on the good time, my dear. Continue to believe in it, to work for it, and to prove its possibility by the success of her small experiment, said Mr. March, pausing as he passed to say an encouraging word, for the good man never lost his faith in humanity and still hoped to see peace, goodwill, and happiness reign upon the earth. I am not so ambitious as that, Father. I only want to give these children a home in which they can be taught a few simple things which will help to make life less hard to them when they go out to fight their battles in the world. Honesty, courage, industry, faith in God, their fellow creatures and themselves, that is all I try for. That is everything. Give them these helps and let them go to work out their life as men and women, and whatever their success or failure is. I think they will remember and bless your efforts, my good son and daughter. The professor had joined them, and as Mr. March spoke he gave a hand to each and left them with a look which was a blessing, as Joe and her husband stood together for a moment talking quietly and feeling that their summer work had been well done, if Father approved. Mr. Laurie slipped into the hall, said a word to the children, and all of a sudden the whole flock pranced into the room, joined hands and danced about Father and Mother Bear singing blithely. Summer days are over, summer work is done, harvests have been gathered, gaily one by one. Now the feast is eaten, finished is the play, but one right remains for our Thanksgiving day. Best of all the harvest in the dear God's sight are the happy children in the home to-night. And we come to offer thanks where thanks are due, with grateful hearts and voices, Father, Mother, unto you. With the last words the circle narrow till the good professor and his wife were taken prisoner by many arms, and half hidden by the bouquet of laughing young faces which surrounded them, proving that one plant had taken root and blossom beautifully in all the little gardens. For love is a flower that grows in any soil, works at sweet miracles undaunted by autumn frost or winter snow, blooming fair and fragrant all the year, and blessing those who give and those who receive. End of Chapter 21. End of the Book Little Men by Louisa May Alcott


Today, we're gonna be taking a look at a highly anticipated Air Jordan 5 and that is the Green Bean Jordan 5. This is a colorway that we have seen one time in the past before and I'm excited to unbox this shoe and re-add these back to my collection. So if you guys didn't know by now, my name is DJ and this is the DNA Show. On this channel, I love breaking down different sneakers like this, talking about styles, cuts, materials, history, nostalgia and all those fancy things. So if you haven't already, consider subscribing and joining the fam. We're on the road to a million subscribers and you could be the next one to get us there. So with all that being said, let's go ahead and crack this box open and see what these shoes are talking about. Starting with the top of the box right here, you have your classic Air Jordan 5 OG style box but it definitely does have a major twist to it. On here, you're gonna have silver on the back end and silver on the lid with a green jump man in the center of that. Now going to the side of the box right here, this is actually one cool element that I really do like and I'm not sure if it is 3M reflective, we will check on camera if so I'll show you guys some B-roll but basically it has the speckle pattern all throughout the rest of the box right here and it actually has a texture to it. I don't know if you can hear it or not but. Normally when you see an Air Jordan 5 box like this, it's just smooth with the texture pattern printed on there and you can't really feel the texture. So on here it is kind of dope to see that element on the box. Now going to the size tag, it reads Air Jordan 5 Retro Silver Green Bean Flint Gray. Size 13, just for me and retail on these things was 200 bucks. Now flipping open the lid of the box, you have that same type of texture print that you saw on the sides of the box. That's going to be all over the paper and then you got the shoe. Oh, you got this shoe. Okay, first impressions of this sneaker. Bruh, I ain't going to lie. Originally I thought the shape was going to be kind of messed up when I saw the toe box in the new OG style but these are pretty fire. Now before we get into breaking down the styles, cuts and materials like I was talking about the toe box area of the shoe, we got to talk about the history first. So as we all know, the Air Jordan 5 originally came around back in 1990. We saw Jordan wearing that shoe on the court and we all remember the 3M reflective tongue that was so iconic throughout the years. I'll never forget back in 2006 when I saw JQ walking through the cafeteria in high school and he had the new green bean fives that had just came out on his feet. I seen them and they were flashing just shining from across the room and I was like, bro, I gotta have those. So shortly after that, as I started to collect sneakers more seriously in high school, I immediately copped a pair as soon as I had a chance. I'm sure a lot of older sneaker heads remember those days of the times when we had the burgundy fives, the olive fives, the green bean fives, the fire reds with the black tongues, the stale fives, you name it, there was a bunch of great colors. We can't forget the grapes. I know everybody remember the grapes? That was just a very, very dope shoe in its time but we'll keep that one for another video. Either way, there were a lot of dope fives coming out during that time and this one in particular really stood out to a lot of people and it's dope to see that a lot of people still appreciate them to this day. Now, before I get into too much storytelling about all of my sentimental reasons why I love this shoe and everything, let's break down the styles, cut some materials so you can see some more in-depth shots and then we'll talk about my opinions, everybody else's opinions, resale values and what my predictions are for the future. Starting with the bottom of the shoe, you have your classic Air Jordan 5 outsole, blue translucent pods, the green bean junkman in the center of the ball of the foot and then the Jordan in the back end on the gray rubber. Going to the midsole, this is gonna be pretty much similar to the OG as well. You got your darker gray here with the green on the front and on the shark teeth. Now looking at the upper, oh the upper, like I said before, we all remember the iconic 3M tongues on the Jordan 5s. Well, when they decided to do this on the entire upper, having the whole shoe be reflective, there is a lot of positives and there's a lot of negatives, right?  Creasing, most sneaker heads know the Air Jordan 5 does have heavy creasing right here around the toe box and especially on the inside of the foot and sometimes over right here around the toe but when you have the 3M, you can see the creasing and it kinda shows when it reflects off of light and it kinda leaves a dark line on the shoe and that's something that people don't like when it comes to wearing the shoe. So again, there's some positives and there's some negatives. But besides all that, when you see the shoe fresh out the box or freshly worn on a pair of feet, you're like, bro, that shoe looks extremely clean. I love it. So taking that all into account, that does lead to people questioning, do they wanna have the shoe because if they wanna wear it, how long are they gonna be able to wear it without having to deal with all those issues? And that's always something to take note of if you have never owned a sneaker like this before. Now besides that, you got dark gray plastic eyelets right here running up the foot. These come standard with a pair of light gray laces. You got a clear bib with a green bean lace lock and then you have the same thing right here, 3M on the tongue with a green bean jump man on here. You got that green bean coloring on the sock liner and behind the tongue and then your Air Jordan patch that goes behind the tongue classic like every other Air Jordan. Now looking at the insoles of the shoe, it's gonna be a light gray with the green bean jump man as well. And those are gonna be essentially all your major details. I forgot to mention the jump man on the back, another dope hit. Some people are like, we need Nike Air on everything. This is not a Nike Air type shoe. I get it. I know we want Nike Air on a lot of stuff, but I feel like it's okay to have jump man on shoes too. I don't know. Let me know what you guys think down below. Now that also drives me to my next question on what you guys think down below and that is the longevity of this sneaker. So we saw these come out in 2006, it's 2022 now. So it's been a long time, over 15 years since this shoe came out. So with that being said, there's gonna be a big gap. Could they potentially ever release this shoe again? That's another question. Are we gonna see this retro 10 or 15 years from now again? And in that time, is this shoe gonna hold the tail of time when it comes to the materials? I feel like they are aware of that. And the only thing we can do is see what happens. I think when we look at the five lab threes, I used to have those in my collection and I started wearing them. And then I got that weird kind of like wrinkly crease kind of on the toe box. And I just wasn't really feeling it. And then I had the darker pair, the darker five lab threes as well. And it just wasn't really tickling my fancy with actually wearing the shoe. I liked it. I appreciated it. I thought it was a cool flashy shoe and it gave me those same vibes of owning a green bean five. But I just, I didn't wanna wear it because I feel like it had to be brand new every time with that crease line. So I don't know, maybe that's just an internal issue. And I'm the only one that's dealing with that. And other people don't really care about the creasing. But I feel like when I see that shoe, they did a little bit better on the creasing compared to the 2006 green bean five. If you look at some pairs from the past, you can definitely see right here with these images. People's pairs, as they worn them over the years and the creases start to come and the midsole start to fall apart and all those different things. It causes you to be like, I don't know how long I could really keep this shoe in my collection. For me, I think now, from learning that thing from all them years before, I think it's a shoe that I take advantage of the opportunity, rock it. I don't have to rock it right now, but within the next couple years, start walking the shoe and mixing it with different outfits and understanding that this shoe could potentially be a shoe that I'm like, it's time to sell after I've gotten my creases in it and done my things and pulled off all my outfits that I like with it. Because when it comes to the pairs that I've owned in the past, I've actually owned three different pairs. I had like a really beat pair that I got for the super low that I used to just wear all the time and just like flashy with it. The other pair I had was clean and it looked really good. I was like, cool, I could pull a dope fits right here.  Ended up finding a dead stock pair. And this picture right here is the dead stock pair that I used to have. And I think I wore those like one time and I was like scared because I remember my North Carolina fives, the midsole started to fall apart. And when I saw that, I was like, damn, those were dead stock too. So I was just kind of scared of seeing the, you know, the file on midsole falling apart on a shoe like that. So it kind of just brought all these things to my mind.  I'm going to sell it. It's okay. Like maybe it's just a shoe that I'll never have in my collection again. And then boom, 2022 comes around and we have the retro coming out. And I'm like, I immediately, I need to cop. I have to have this shoe. Because I've had this shoe for so many years. I'm so happy to have it back in my collection and have the opportunity to wear the shoe again. And I think that's another thing that sneakerheads don't talk about and why they justify why you need multiple pairs and you need the different driven iterations and stuff like that is because the old pairs, they fall apart and that's okay.  And then they retro one 10, 15, 20, 12 years, whatever anniversary it is, they retro another one. And you have the opportunity to enjoy that memory from high school for me or whatever it was for you and a different stuff like that. So for me, it makes me extremely excited to have this shoe.  I feel like the toe box, it is kind of interesting because they've given us that OG style toe box. And on the previous pair, it had a completely different cut. We've gone over this before in the fire rare review showing you different types or in the raging bull fives or anything like that. I should have brought my burgundy fives so you could see those as well. That'll give you kind of a different look at the toe box and the style from that era. But either way, hopefully these pictures that I just showed you from some previous references kind of let you see the difference with the toe box and the shape and everything. So I'm interested to see what the toe down looks like. It looks really wide, especially with this being a size 13. But overall, besides that, I love the shoe. I'm gonna give these a solid. I'm gonna give these a solid nine, eight. I'm gonna give these a solid 8.5 out of 10. So now that you guys have my rating on the shoe, clearly I think the shoe is fire. I'm interested to see what you guys think. So if you haven't already, consider following me on IG so you can participate in the polls and see all the results here on the channel. Ask the people a simple question. This is what they say. 70% of the people chose fire and 30% of the people chose trash. And honestly, that makes sense. Like I said earlier, all the different reasons, sometimes people say the shoe is just too loud or whatever and I get that. Or they say the functionality of it with the creasing. There's a lot of different pros and there's a lot of different cons.  One thing that I can say when it comes to pricing and everything like that, the older pair, a dead stock pair, you're gonna find online for four or 500 bucks. You know, that's 15 year old shoe. I get that, I understand. That's kind of like the max value of the sneaker. I don't think it could ever go to something any higher, especially saying now that we have a retro, if anything that could cause the price to drop. So again, having the wiseness of knowing like, oh, if this shoe is coming out again, I should sell it before the next one comes out that way. I can get the max potential value of the dollar on the sneaker before I get the next one. And then so, you know, there's just a lot of different nuances to the game. Again, we talk about all that in the hobby to hustle if you wanna learn more about that stuff. But either way, that's kind of where I'm at with it. I'm interested to see what you guys think. The shoe hit for 200 bucks, going for a little bit over that. I think it should be a pretty easy cop for those people that missed out on the drop. And I'm sure a lot of people that wanted the shoe, got the shoe, and were happy about that. So I think it was a pretty good overall release for everybody, not a crazy hype release, kind of just went under the radar. You should probably be able to pick these up for the next couple of years. And then we might see a trend in the spike for people that kept, you know, a really clean pair or a dead stock pair, you know, two or three years from now. Then we'll start saying, oh, okay, now I see the shoe being worth, you know, $300, $350 and slowly creeping up over time. So that's kind of my predictions. Let me know what you guys think down below. I'm excited to talk about more. We got a lot more shoes to review. I've been picking up a bunch of stuff for y'all. Yo, if you enjoyed this video and wanna grow your collection or make extra money on the side, I built a VIP mastermind that will teach you everything that I've learned about growing my sneaker collection over the past 15 years. This will also give you access to the DNA fam in my VIP community where we talk about investing outside of sneakers. And don't worry. If you don't plan on joining the VIP community, it's okay. I'll also set up a private DNA fam community that gives you access to all the behind the scenes looks from the studio and multiple chances to win free sneakers and gear from weekly and monthly challenges. So all you need to do is click on the link down below in the description or the first link pinned in the comment section. That will get you set up and into the community. I'm excited to see you guys on the inside. If you made it to the end of this video, drop a comment down below and let me know what is your favorite alternate Air Jordan 5 colorway of all time? For me, that's really hard. When I say alternate colorway, I'm talking about like non-OG colorways. So you know, metallics, fire rays, grapes, different stuff like that, like don't count those. Let's talk about alternate colorway, something like the green beans or the burgundies or something like that. So I'm interested to see what y'all think. Let me know down below.


Welcome to another episode of the international relations capsule for the Shankar IAS Academy. Today we discuss global governance. This subject has come up again after the recent failure of the United Nations Security Council to even ask for a ceasefire when there was a conflict between Israel and Hamas or Palestine or Gaza. Because of the veto of the United States, they could not even discuss it openly till about three or four days later. This had happened earlier last year on the occasion of the pandemic. Because of the Chinese veto, the Security Council could not even meet. So that time itself, many questions were raised about global governance. Are the existing structures adequate? Is there a global governance at all? In fact, if we look at what we call global governance, we'll realize that is an idealistic concept because the world is firmly founded on the sovereignty of individual states, whether big or small. So when you say global governance, it is an idealistic expectation or even a misnomer. Because to have global governance in the direction of a of a world government, then the member states will have to surrender a lot of their sovereignty to that model. But what we have today in the form of the United Nations is a shadow global government, which seeks only to arrive at some international processes of consensus building without any erosion of sovereignty of the individual states. But the surrender sovereignty for the sake of global commons is the concept of the United Nations. So you exercise your sovereignty but at the same time concede part of your sovereignty to the United Nations so that those energies can be directed towards the common good rather than the individual interests of the countries. So every decision declaration that United Nations have made, at least there are some countries do not agree with it. You can have any number of resolutions which are recommendatory, but when it comes to mandatory resolutions like in the security council, then it does not work because each country, particularly the permanent members, what they do is to insist on their sovereign right. In this particular case we are talking about the United States as a particular interest in Israel. United States is not interested in finding out who is right or who is wrong. So just as China was insistent that the security council should not deal with the pandemic because of their own interests. So the global government is telling a story about other institutions like the World Bank and the IMF. So since all these governing structures have been designed to protect the sovereignty of each country, we really do not have an effective global governance system. Consensus is possible on many issues, but those are issues on which there is no compulsiveness about the implementation of these resolutions. So we are conceptual resolutions in the general context of them, but they do not amount to a global governance system that the world should have. So through the end of the Cold War, after the United Nations was set up and all these specialized agencies came into being, considerable discussion has taken place. Of course, it is a valuable thing for the countries of the world to get together and discuss issues and understand each other, that by itself avoids conflict, that by itself leads to some arrangement, some kind of consensus on certain issues. But a homogeneous system in which countries work together for the sake of the world and not for themselves is something which is a dream till today. So it did not change throughout the Cold War. After the end of the Cold War, when the United Nations was able to wage a war in the Gulf because of the unanimity of the government members, one of the very rare occasions, people thought the world had changed. And therefore, at that time, the Secretary General, Mr. Boutros Ghali, came up with what is called an agenda for peace and made an effort to establish that the days of absolute sovereignty were over and that member states must make the United Nations more powerful. It is not a new idea. But since this was not possible during the Cold War, he felt that maybe this is the time to do this. But he was very disappointed because his suggestions were not acceptable to the General Assembly as a whole. His idea was that the Secretary General should have the power to enforce peace if there is a conflict. For that, he even wanted an army for himself. But the world countries and the members of the United Nations will contribute to create an army which will be at the disposal of the Secretary General, even to that extent. Because today's system is when the United Nations has to use the army, then you invite member states to send proposals. And it takes four to six months before a force can be organized and precious time is lost. So the Secretary General, Mr. Boutros Ghali, the former Egyptian foreign minister, proposed that the countries must surrender more sovereignty to the United Nations and the Secretary General should be able to enforce peace if necessary. But it did not work out. The decisions taken on his proposal were really rejection of those proposals because for member states, in spite of what happened during the Gulf War, for the member states sovereignty was like oxygen. It was vital for them and they were not giving the surrender to the Secretary General. In fact, the joke at the UN at that time, I was there, we used to say we want only Secretary General, we do not need a general. Now, after some years, it has taken a turn for the worse because sovereignty has assumed the nature of extreme nationalism and even globalism has been called in this system. I'm talking about the time because the Republican Party in the United States was always skeptical about the UN and President Trump was not just skeptical. He was opposed to the idea of the UN inside because for him, America was first and which undermined even the rudimentary concept of global governance by riding roughshod over the UN and withdrawing from international treaties unilateral. You know those treaties that he pulled out of like the Paris accord and the Iran nuclear deal etc. So even multilateralism was all but abandoned except for wielding power of the weaker generations. So for the Americans or the big powers or the permanent numbers, United Nations has simply become an instrument by which they can control the others but when it comes to their own adjusting themselves to the common good it retreated during President Trump. So they use these multilateral structures like the World Bank, the IMF and the UN itself to impose conditionalities on the developing world. So they say, yes, we will assist you for your development but you have this kind of abolish corruption. You should all be honest. So they put those conditions and said, since you are not fulfilling these conditions, therefore we do not view the way. So it was some kind of a neo-colonialism was established by the international institutions. So particularly after President Trump took over, the global governance system, particularly its most important component that is the United Nations and the specialized agencies came under very serious stress and therefore the process was initiated to reform multilateralism. Since the old multilateralism which was set up by the Americans themselves after the Second World War was not working, why not try and reform multilateralism, bring in some new ideas and concepts which would make global cooperation more possible. But as I mentioned earlier when it came to the question of COVID-19 in 2020 and there was this even now there is an existential threat to mankind which of course is a function of the Security Council to keep peace and remove threats to international peace and security. So there is no greater peace to threat to international peace and security than COVID-19. And so the United Nations should have woken up and done something. But the Chinese veto paralyzed the Security Council and the World Health Organization was dancing to the tune of the Chinese and made international cooperation an impossible case. And as a result of which even regional organizations did not work. So we saw every country, US in its own way, Italy, North Korea, the UK in its own way. Even Europe did not work together as Europe. For the other parts of the world, in Asia there was no structure at all. And so the COVID-19 was handled badly because there was no international coordination. India tried to call this a heartbeat. We asked Saudi Arabia to hold a G20 meeting and many processes were initiated by us. But since there was no coordinating agency to do all this, United Nations simply did nothing. It was all left to the WHO, which is a public health organization. This is not related to international peace and security issues. Even when the previous pandemics or epidemics arose, Security Council would judge like in the case of HIV AIDS or in the case of Ebola and so on. So some people even suggested and myself suggested that the United Nations must have a health-keeping force like the peace-keeping force with blue berries, blue caps, let us have a health-keeping force with red berries. And this was a suggestion seriously made because that would have enabled us to coordinate the relief efforts because this is not an isolated incident. The pandemic is global and so it needs global cooperation in order to deal with it. But that did not happen and that is why we are still in the stage of fighting this no coordination about production of vaccines or distribution or pricing. So many things that would have been done to avoid the kind of situation we are in was not done. Even regional organizations did not do anything and individual countries left to themselves. If there was an international consortium for production and distribution of vaccines, for example, that would have made a difference. In fact, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, when he was asked what was the biggest achievement of the United Nations on the occasion of the 70th anniversary, he said, we vaccinated the world's children against infectious diseases. What he said was, the UN may not have prevented wars. So some deaths may have happened. People may have died in small wars. But the lives we have seen by immunizing the children of the world by UNICEF was more beneficial to humanity than prevention of war. So that was the kind of pride that the United Nations had. But today, the UN has blood on its hands as millions of people fall victim to the ravages of the pandemic. So one of the uncertainties of the post-war war is the state of multilateralism. Everybody is talking about the post-COVID work. Of course, we do not know when the post-COVID work will come because the end is not in sight and how many more waves will come we do not know. But we are talking about the various ways in which global governance can be improved. One idea was supposed to reform the security policy because behind every problem that the United Nations faces, the issue is a matter of the veto of the permanent powers because the United Nations is not able to act because of the veto. So therefore, search started in as early as 1979 to reform the Security Council to make it more representative, more effective, did not work. So other important bodies were looked at the search of alternative for the United Nations because you cannot remove the veto from the Security Council permanent members unless they agree. So this process which started on 79 has not reached any kind of agreement. As a result, the current thinking is to look for alternatives, including a new United Nations because if you cannot change the rules of the United Nations by the provisions of the Charter, which means two-thirds majority of the UN unanimous votes of the permanent members, then what do you do? Like the League of Nations was abandoned and United Nations was created. So it may happen, that world may have to look at a a different body to perform these functions, G7 maybe, G20 maybe. So these are all being thought about, but as you know these changes cannot be brought about in a day and the urgency is very much there. So what we will come into is to seek individual countries and groups of countries seeking alliances. So from a global body aiming at the global governance, we are now breaking up into groups who are like-minded and who have common interests. So the new Cold War between the United States and China has become a reality because of this. So there is a feeling that there will be dominant powers as regional groups or even as part of the United Nations and therefore you have to be with the most powerful nation. That is why already we have a new Cold War between the United States and China. And what happens when there is a Cold War? We already seen it. The countries align themselves with whichever powerful nation. But this exercise is also not very easy at this time because the new Cold War has not taken a shape. We do not know which one is going to be absolutely powerful. The China going to be more powerful. Has the United States suffered on account of COVID and will be less powerful? All these we do not know. So the tendency today in global governance is look for alliances. What are the problems in there? Maybe a trade problem, maybe a pandemic problem, it may be a peace problem, it may be a conflict, it may be a dispute. In all these alliances are going to be more important and therefore you will have a new situation. But nobody wants to take a decision. If they ask one country, beside are you with United States or are you with China? Nobody will say anything. We know probably what their inclinations are. So the global scenario or will there be a non-aligned moment? Will there be countries grouping themselves like during the first Cold War? But we know that it will be in a state of flux and there are many swing states countries wondering what to do. And therefore multiple alliances will take place but the shape of it is not yet visible. Let us take for example the negotiations on climate change. In 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, we felt that we had reached a consensus which will help the developed and developing countries. And it was a threat to mankind therefore intense international cooperation was turned into an instrument for the preservation of the preservation of the existing inequities in the world. So in Rio in 1992 it appeared that climate change would come a binding factor in international affairs to develop countries seeing the imperatives of cooperation for their own survival. But a secret understanding between the US and China undermined their consensus of Rio and created the new regime manipulated by the two of them. I am referring to the Paris Accord. We all praise Paris Accord. The Paris Accord is nothing but the compromise reached between US and China because US did not want to have commitments, binding commitments and China also wanted to escape it because they were under pressure. And so they said let us not have any binding commitments for everybody. And in Copenhagen it was decided that everybody would pledge how much reduction they can bring about and to look for a zero carbon. But we saw what happened. Many countries pledged various measures to control emission of greenhouse gases. But when it was added up we found that this was not going to help because it had to be within 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius. Only the global temperature should rise. But if you make the calculations of the commitment made under Paris Agreement we will know that it should be something like 3 degrees Celsius which will be disastrous for the world. So what we are seeing is the kind of struggle for a new talents in the world. And we know that Americans and the Chinese are the two centers to the left. But more important is our vision that there should be multipolar world not just these two. So we would rather not join either of them. Though some compulsions may require us to join quad and stay close to the United States because the Chinese are after us or is a war situation with China. So naturally we may incline ourselves to anti-China group. But at the same time we are reluctant to become part of any alliance. As far as India is concerned we were very committed to multilateralism. Prime Minister Nehru always looked at India's issues or India's problems as the problems of the world. So while pursuing our own security and our own right to place in the world community we participated in global governance activities to contribute to the experience and insights rather than to seek any benefits. Because India did not seek anything from India. Our purpose was to contribute our experience so that the world can work together. So we championed the issues like decolonization, disarmament, equitable distribution of wealth and human rights as universal goals. We had to gain from all this. Disarmament is good for us because we don't have to build these armies. Decolonization is important because the power countries should not be kept under colonial administrations. Human rights were very important and economic issues were very important. And therefore we worked really for the world rather than for ourselves. So if there was a role model of a country which was willing to surrender its sovereignty in order to help the world, India was one of them. But India also got into trouble unexpectedly. The first was that we had to go to the Security Council to resolve the problem of passionate. So we went there with a purpose. We wanted the problems to be solved. But we discovered that United Nations is not a judicial body. It's not even a democratic body. So what we took to the Security Council in the 40s still remains there. No solution has been found. It has only actually exacerbated the situation by different people interpreting the U1 position differently. Then as a result of that particular issue in which India developed national interests in dealing with governance issues, we adapted our commitment to the U1 in various ways. Like for example, the idea of self-determination for all people is supposed to be applicable in the U1 charter. But we moved away from there because Pakistan kept saying or some others kept saying that Kashmir is yet to exercise its self-determination. But our position is we believe in self-determination. But that is only when a country or a region is under foreign or colonial occupation. So if you say that self-determination is absolute and is the right of every people and every country and every region, then there will be no peace in this world. India itself has so many divisive movements and many countries look at Burma, 40 to 50% of their land is under insurgency. And many countries that are freedom movements etc. So there will be no so big countries like the United States etc. Do not believe that self-determination can be exercised again and again. The people of Kashmir exercise their self-determination when the Maharaja signed the instrument of accession and Kashmir became part of it. After that there is no question of self-determination. So we also had to dilute our commitment to some of the concepts in the United Nations and that is the problem. So we repudiated the charter provision for self-determination. And again subsequently we decided not to sign the NPT. This again, we moved away from the global consensus. Except for three countries, everyone had signed the NPT. But this became a crucial national issue for us. So I am mentioning that even with the best of intentions, countries are unable to commit themselves to certain principles which were good in themselves. But in the situation that we are in, we may have to push on. And that is why we decided not to sign the NPT. And of course now that has been sold to us on some extent because of the Indo-US nuclear deal and we have been brought back to the nuclear mainstream. But for more than 30 years, India was considered outside the main stream because we did not sign the NPT.  Still when it comes to important issues like membership of the NSD, etc., we are told that you are still not eligible because you have not signed the NPT. And then the action that we had to take against secessionist movements in Punjab and Kashmir, etc., you know, that was misinterpreted as a violation of human rights. Violation of human rights is not only by the governments. They only talk about the UN talks only about governments violations, about individuals and groups violating and destroying the peace of the country's concern. What do you do? The governments have to take action. So we were also accused of not committing ourselves to human rights because we had to fight terrorism. So now terrorism has come to be accepted as a global mess. But before that, we were accused of not following the humanitarian or human rights instruments that India had committed ourselves to. Then non-intervention in the internal affairs of states is a sacred principle of the United Nations. But some situations which are mounted to aggression by states against their own people, like in the case of apartheid and racial discrimination, the world had assumed the responsibility to protect. This is a complex concept which can jeopardize national sovereignty. Therefore, exercise in rare places. We ourselves raised the question of apartheid in the Security Council and the General Assembly. And people said, no, you are interfering in the internal affairs of states. But we stood our ground till apartheid was abolished. Because we said that this is not a matter of internal affairs. There is a matter of human rights, no, massive violation of human rights. And it was recognized and the UN intervened. And finally, South Africa became free. In the case of Iraq also, after the war, the United Nations changed several things about the disarmament situation, the arms situation in Iraq forcefully. And that also had come to be accepted. But we, our own support of this kind of concept is very limited. We do not think that any human rights issue could be turned into a national international issue. Each has to be judged in its own merit. Because human rights we have seen are being used by several countries to punish other countries. And they make false allegations, sometimes wrong interpretation of what they have done. Like now Sri Lanka is under attack by the United States and others for the crimes committed during the war. Yes, that's an issue. But how much can you force a country like Sri Lanka to do those and leave those things to them? That's why we abstain on that vote because Sri Lanka must resolve its problem itself. So there is a big conflict between internationalizing internal issues and leaving it to the countries concerned to resolve their conflict. So I mentioned the efforts made for the reform of the Security Council. I think you will know all the details. I will not go into that. But it was in 1979. It was India which proposed that the membership of the Security Council should be expanded. And it was not accepted. We are only talking about non-permanent members. But still it was not accepted by the government members. And then when the Cold War ended, Brazil proposed that this is the time to add new permanent members. And India, Germany, Japan, maybe South Africa were considered countries which should be in the Security Council. And since 1979 the size has been going on. Every year it is postponed. And I personally do not see any possibility of this being accomplished in a hurry. Because more important than the agreement of the permanent members of the Security Council, there is this whole issue of two-thirds majority of the General Assembly. Because the majority of the General Assembly, as far as I can see, is against veto itself, permanent membership itself. So in that situation, how will they agree to adding five permanent members with veto? So there is a overall overwhelming consensus for restraining veto and reducing permanent members. And therefore, it is not likely to happen. Two-thirds majority in the General Assembly and the General Assembly must support. And there are so many proposals on the table, including a proposal made by the Secretary-General at that time, Mr. Kofi Annan, which proposed two alternatives. And both do not have the support. There are as many proposals as member states. So though there is a possibility of expansion of the non-permanent membership, maybe a little later, but permanent membership with veto power are not likely to be added. And therefore, the full system of the veto, which has paralyzed the United Nations over the years, is likely to conflict. As far as India is concerned, our qualifications for permanent membership is recognized widely. But I don't think that there will be any possibility of a vote which will give us two-thirds majority in the General Assembly and the support of all permanent members. This is the same about the other candidates also. So UN reform is not likely. And that's why I spoke about veto. In any case, UN reform has to be slightly calmed. It cannot be just one-time reform. Actually, there have been many changes, even though the Charter has not changed. UN has shown itself to be capable of taking on new agenda items, like, for example, terrorism, climate change, HIV AIDS, but not the preoccupations of the UN in 1945. But now they are very important items on the agenda. So the UN has innovated, but also proved resilient in finding out of the work solutions of others. But it is still a conservative organization where it has much to form as to success. The UN or any other institution of global governments cannot be more than what the member states are willing to entrust to it. If anything, most countries have become more reluctant to part with their sovereign rights. More rightist, nationalist, patriotic governments. And therefore, the global governance institutions can only be a discussion bodies where you can try out various ideas, sounding boats of new ideas to learn from each other in the many debates that take place on the threat space by humanity, particularly in the panel. So the international community is not yet ready. My conclusion is that the international community is not yet ready to establish structures that would limit their freedom of action. Each country wants its freedom of action preserved, even when they say that changes are required in work governance. So we are nowhere near fashioning a global governance system. Even in the face of an existential threat of the pandemic, when the pandemic has not changed, the natural instincts of nations to compete rather than cooperate because mankind is another adamant species. We make adjustments here and there. But finally, we stick to our national interests and nationalism. And that is moving away from the fundamental, the rudimentary internationalism, which was there, the UN Charter. Even those cannot be implemented. And therefore, it's going in the different direction. Globalization is not considered acceptable even to developing countries. Of course, developing countries that have posted, but India had accepted globalization. But in our case, we are having second thoughts because we feel that we should have an admirable development. So that again reflects the lack of trust in global governance and global governance in situations. So the best possible thing I see is that more of the same fundamental changes are not likely to take place. Unless, as I said earlier, there is a move to establish a new structure. And then to demolish the old structure, you need the permission of that structure. So how are we going to do that? But after the pandemic is over, after the reality of political power emerges, we will know when that happens. Because pandemic has to be over otherwise till then, there will be no certainty about anything that humanity can do. But after that, the ruby area, just maybe China will become more important than the United States. Others might support China. At the moment, China is in the dock. China is being accused again and again. Even in the last few days, there have been two new evidence or at least scientific suggestion to suggest that China created the COVID-19 virus, or at least they created it, but it kind of by accidently went outside the lab, etc. So China is not having its good time. But at the same time, they are building their influence because they are the second biggest economic power, military power. And what it has is a system which can do things systematically and by force, etc. So this we have to watch. And after that only, we can think in terms of what global government structure we can have. So what we really need are not the present ones, but the structure which will enable countries to cooperate rather than compete. And that is the problem that the world is tackling. So this is something, a continuing discussion. So much has been written, so much has been spoken about this. But nobody seems to have an idea what the world would be, say, two years from now, three years from now. It's going to be the same system, struggling with various concepts. Or is it going to be something which will be able to devote the decade itself to global peace? Thank you very much.


I'm George Alter at the University of Michigan, visiting at ANU for a term, and I will be talking about strategies that we use at ICPSR to share confidential data, and in particular about the framework of the five safes.