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7 most bizarre taxes from history that actually existed
7 most bizarre taxes from history that actually existed

Time of India

time3 hours ago

  • Business
  • Time of India

7 most bizarre taxes from history that actually existed

Taxes are a part of life, and while modern ones like income or sales tax are familiar, history has seen some truly bizarre and surprising forms of taxation. Through the ages, governments have found unexpected ways to raise revenue, sometimes through targeting things as ordinary as beards or something as mood-lifting as playing cards. When we look back at some of these most unusual taxes, they often tell us about the society and priorities of the time, symbolising class structures, cultural norms, and also fashion trends. And while some taxes were designed to encourage conformity, others to stop some practices, and many just to squeeze more funds from the population. Many of these taxes eventually disappeared due to public backlash or impractical enforcement, leaving an interesting story in the record books. Here are seven of the strangest real taxes that existed in history The urine tax in Ancient Rome This was almost just as the Ancient Romans taxed pee! Introduced under Emperors Nero and Vespasian, the urine tax was placed on the buyers of urine, which was used at the time for tanning leather, laundering clothes, and even teeth whitening. Collectors of public urine were required to pay tax since it became a profitable commodity. The Latin phrase Pecunia non olet meaning 'money does not stink', reportedly originated from this, telling that profit was more important than how it was made. The beard tax in Russia and England Emperor Peter the Great of Russia, in 1698, wanted his people to adopt a more European look. So, he taxed facial hair. Those who wanted to keep their beards had to pay a fee and carry a beard token as proof. Earlier, Henry VIII had also taxed beards in England. As a result, beards became a symbol of status, meaning if you had one, you could afford to pay for it! The cowardice tax In medieval England, knights could avoid going to war by paying a tax called scutage, often mockingly called the "cowardice tax." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Franklin India NFO Investment Franklin Templeton India AMC Learn More Undo It started around the 1100s, letting landowning knights stay home rather than fight. Over time, it became a more general land tax and was eventually phased out by the 14th century. While this tax seemed practical, it often exposed the social tensions between duty and privilege. Window tax First introduced in England in 1696, the window tax was meant to tax wealthier homeowners who had more windows. But in crowded urban areas, it hit the poor hard too. To avoid paying, people bricked up their windows, leading to dark, poorly ventilated homes. This unhealthy condition led to public anger and was a major reason the tax was repealed in 1851. Playing card and dice tax It is true that there was a tax on fun. From the 16th century, and raised significantly in 1710, England taxed playing cards and dice. Cards became more expensive, leading to widespread forgery. The tax was charged until 1960. The wallpaper tax In 1712, Britain imposed a tax on patterned or decorated wallpaper, viewing it as a luxury and a way to target wealthier homeowners. To get around this, people began buying plain paper and hiring artists to paint designs directly on their walls. The tax stayed put until 1836. Clock and watch tax Back in 1797, Britain decided to put a tax on timepieces, including watches and clocks, specifically the ones made of precious metals! This was done to collect more revenue, as most clocks and watches were owned by the rich. Rates depended on how fancy the timepiece was, as gold ones cost more, of course. But people weren't happy. As clock owners and watchmakers pushed back hard. The tax caused so much frustration and avoidance that it was dropped just a year later, in 1798.

Do self-help books actually help?
Do self-help books actually help?

The Spinoff

time12 hours ago

  • General
  • The Spinoff

Do self-help books actually help?

Josh Drummond explores the enduring appeal of self-help books and asks what they're really doing for us. This self-help book isn't like the others you may have read. Those didn't help, did they? Well, you're in luck. This self-help book will actually help. That's how a lot of self-help books begin. I would know; I've read a truly upsetting number of them. 'But why?' is an excellent question. A few years ago I started an experiment: I would read self-help books, analyse them with a sceptical eye, but still try to put their lessons into practice. I'd blog about it, or rather, Substack about it, which was the style at the time. Readers could thrill to my adventures as I became… I'm not sure what. The terms of reference were always a little hazy. I know what I wanted to get out of it, though; the experience of being consistent with something. Which, apart from things like eating food and going to the toilet, is something I have never had. The experiment has, by nearly all possible measures of success, been a colossal failure. The only thing I've managed to be consistent with is inconsistency, and relatively few lessons from self-improvement have been put into place. This is a shame, because self-help remains incorrigibly popular. And despite my failure there is one thing that I do feel wildly overqualified to discuss: the form and content of self-help books; and the itches that readers seek to scratch with them. At the time of writing, Mel Robbins' awkwardly-titled self-help tome, The Let Them Theory, is dominating sales charts. To be clear: I haven't read this book and I'm not planning to. I don't need to, and neither do you. If there's one thing that I've learned about self-help books it's that nearly all of them are one or several core aphorisms stretched across hundreds of needless pages, like butter scraped over a factory's worth of bread. (Others are remixes of stuff like Stoicism that, while genuinely useful, was old when Romans were discussing it.) In the case of The Let Them Theory, everything you need to know and possibly more is contained in the first four sentences of the back cover blurb. What if the key to happiness, success, and love was as simple as two words? If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated with where you are, the problem isn't you. The problem is the power you give to other people. Two simple words – Let Them – will set you free. That's it. That's the book. I hope you find something fun to do with the dozen or so hours that I have just saved you. I'm being serious; I have nothing but disdain for the sort of people who try to render down most books into bite-sized but nutrition-free chunks (ChatGPT, give me a hundred-word summary of The Brothers Karamazov including bullet points of the three main themes) but self-help is an exception. Even the good self-help books should be substantially shorter. The mediocre ones would benefit from being bullet points. The bad ones would be better off as actual bullets; I've certainly felt the urge to shoot them out of an old-timey circus cannon when reading. Of course, this raises the question: if self-help is just obvious and often very old aphorisms repeated and remixed into a slurry, then why is it so popular? It turns up some strange answers. The idea of the 'first ever book' is a contested notion, but one of the serious candidates is a Sumerian tome called The Instructions of Shuruppak. This book was already centuries old when the internet's favourite copper merchant Ea-nāṣir wrote his famous complaint letter, and in its opening passage it claims to be even older. In those days, in those far remote days, in those nights, in those faraway nights, in those years, in those far remote years, at that time the wise one who knew how to speak in elaborate words lived in the Land… The instructions of an old man are precious; you should comply with them! You should not buy a donkey which brays; it will split your midriff. Shuruppak is an example of what's called 'wisdom literature,' which can be found in many places, including religious texts like the Bible. My contention is that this stuff is basically self-help, and that humans have been gravitating to that particular form of words since we've been able to write. Look at that introduction again; even the repetition is present! And if you skip to verse 65, there's this: The eyes of the slanderer always move around as shiftily as a spindle. You should never remain in his presence; his intentions should not be allowed to have an effect on you. There you go. That's The Let Them Theory, in the oldest book known to humanity. Saved you a click. If you accept that wisdom literature shares DNA with self-help, we can agree that the genre has essentially always been with us. But that doesn't explain its eternal appeal. To attempt that – and in the navel-gazing spirit of self-help – I'm going to start with me. My first self-help book was something my parents got me when I was about 12. I've forgotten the title, and I'd rather not remember it. It was some kind of Christian approach to improving your self-esteem, and to a kid who was incredibly self-critical, it seemed like a godsend. To me it promised something I'd long dreamed of: the cheat code to how people worked. If I could crack that – and the book hinted tantalisingly that I might – then I might understand how to make it so people were less mean to me, and perhaps even how to be less mean to myself. That, and I read every book I touched. I used to read the phone book. It was better than some of the self-help I've read since. I've since learned something that will probably not surprise anyone who read the previous sentence or so but still came as a shock to me: that I am autistic, and I have ADHD. As a kid, my parents were keen to avoid labels like 'Asperger's Syndrome' (as my flavour of autism was then called) worrying that it would attract bullies. They found me anyway; it turns out children who wear the same flight jacket to school every day in 1994 kind of print their own labels. Without a more accurate understanding of why I was the way I was, books offered an escape and an explanation. I don't know how I'd verify this, but one of my pet theories of self-help's perennial popularity is that the world is stuffed with non-neurotypical people who are desperate for an instruction manual, a way to carve off the square-peg points of their personalities with a prose adze, in order to fit into society's round holes. Even for so-called neurotypical folks, self-help's appeal might be easily understood given the right framework. We all inhabit bodies that evolved to gather food, to hunt, to socialise in close proximity, often outside. Today, many of us spend our waking hours almost entirely indoors, alternating between a big screen where you are entertained, a medium screen where you work, and a small screen where you incur psychic damage. Across all three screens, a lot of time is spent reading. Small wonder that so much self-help concerns itself with fundamental human needs: eat! exercise! socialise! avoid things that harm you! Here is my book-cover-blurb-worthy hot-take: Self-help functions as a virtue simulator, a way to feel good about yourself for a few hundred pages as you embody the hero of a better life. In that respect, self-help is essentially the same as fiction; only (often) less well-written. While reading, you are the person who keeps a tidy house or keeps time or keeps track of personal finances. But upon finishing, the prose fragments into figments of your imagination, and you return to being the person you already are. I am painting a pretty dire picture of self-help, but that's not really my intention. A lot of the actual advice given in self-help isn't bad so much as it is belaboured. Some of it is excellent! The more deliberate, meditative forms of self-help — such as Stoicism — have a lot of value. There is of course some terrible self-help advice out there, such as Jordan Peterson's commandment: 'Put your life in perfect order before you criticise the world.' If followed, this would ensure no-one (including Jordan Peterson) did anything, ever. Objectively bad advice aside, the difficulty lies not just with the fact that the world is complicated, too much so for any one or even several books. It's also because of something true a psychiatrist told me – in the moment before he recommended a self-help book – 'You can't out-think the thinker'. Perhaps, if we're being honest, we might admit self-help comes from that specific hope. That through the mere act of reading, of thinking someone else's thoughts, we might become someone else. Obviously that's an unfair expectation for any book, but I still think that's the subconscious substrate of the genre. The fundamental problem, since the Instructions of Shuruppak, seems the same: prose, on its own, is a poor teacher, and it's a mistake to put the prose cart before the actually-doing-shit horse. Imagine trying to learn to play the violin, or to do woodworking, from a book of inspirational stories about virtuoso violinists or woodworkers. The idea is absurd, and yet that's what a lot of self-help consists of. I'm sure that some folks do triumphantly snap shut their copy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad and immediately set about building an extortionate rent-seeking empire, but most probably don't. For the rest of us, the idea of improving by yourself is inherently flawed; it requires a community. Whether you're learning an instrument or forming atomic habits, you'll do better if you're doing it with others, while taking deliberate, somatic action that's much more than turning pages or imbibing inspirational TikToks. Perhaps this isn't like the other self-help articles you've read. Perhaps it's exactly the same. But when you shut the book, close your browser, or end the scroll, it will still be true that the best help comes from other selves.

Moon Magic Reveals the Ancient Secret Contained within Modern Jewelry: Bringing the Rare Phenomenon of Adularescence to Life
Moon Magic Reveals the Ancient Secret Contained within Modern Jewelry: Bringing the Rare Phenomenon of Adularescence to Life

Associated Press

time17 hours ago

  • Science
  • Associated Press

Moon Magic Reveals the Ancient Secret Contained within Modern Jewelry: Bringing the Rare Phenomenon of Adularescence to Life

Amsterdam-Based Brand Reveals the Science Behind Moonstone's Mystical Glow While Making This Rare Gemstone Phenomenon Accessible Worldwide. Throughout the ages, people have been fascinated by a mysterious optical event: an otherworldly, shimmering light that seems to float under the skin of certain gemstones, rippling like liquid moonlight when the gemstone spins in your hand. This mystical phenomenon, referred to as adularescence, has been the subject of legend over the course of human cultures from ancient Romans who believed that moonstone was formed from congealed moonbeams, to Hindu mythology that considered it to be filled with actual pieces of the moon. Today, Amsterdam jewelry brand Moon Magic is bringing this rare geological phenomenon to a new market. With the synergy of gemological expertise and global reach, the brand makes authentic, adularescent moonstone accessories available to women worldwide. The Science Behind the Magic Moon Magic describes how adularescence occurs due to light diffraction within the layered structure of the moonstone, between alternating layers of albite and orthoclase. The light is diverted and scattered across microscopic boundaries within the crystal as it passes through the layers, giving off a silvery to bluish luster that is similar to moonlight. This phenomenon gives the stone its signature ethereal quality, as the light seems to move across the surface with every shift. According to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), the finest moonstones are nearly transparent and colorless to the eye, with a vivid electric-blue adularescence. Because this glow is highly directional, it is visible only when the stone is illuminated and viewed from specific angles, making each piece of moonstone jewelry uniquely mesmerizing. Traditionally, high-quality moonstone jewelry with genuine adularescence has been limited to luxury markets with corresponding price points. Moon Magic disrupts this model by sourcing directly from global suppliers and eliminating traditional retail markups. Every Moon Magic gemstone is 100% authentic, ethically sourced, and independently tested by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). 'Since 2016, we've built trusted relationships with our global suppliers, states Laura, co-founder of Moon Magic. 'With our team members on the ground, we are able to bring you high-quality gemstones without the traditional luxury markup.' A Phenomenon Worth Preserving Moon Magic notes that the rarity of genuine adularescence makes authentic moonstone increasingly valuable. The effect is best shown in low- to medium-domed cabochons, with blueish adularescence preferred over whitish or silvery effects. Ideal stones exhibit high transparency and minimal body color, allowing the optical effect to shine through. As awareness of gemstone authenticity grows, Moon Magic represents a modern shift, blending ancient geological marvels with ethical sourcing and transparency. The brand's direct-to-consumer model and GIA certification serve as safeguards in a market where synthetic and treated imitations are prevalent. Adularescence distinguishes moonstone from nearly every other gemstone. Once available only to select buyers, this natural optical wonder is now accessible through Moon Magic's ongoing efforts to preserve and promote the beauty of genuine moonstone. For more information about Moon Magic and adularescence moonstone jewelry, visit About Moon Magic Moon Magic was founded in 2016 and is located in Amsterdam. Moon Magic is a brand specializing in authentic moonstone and gemstone jewelry featuring natural optical effects such as adularescence. The gemstones are third-party certified by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and sustainably sourced through direct supplier relationships. The company has delivered to more than 500,000 customers globally and has in excess of 1.8 million social media followers. Moon Magic assists in global sustainability by teaming up with Trees for the Future, where they plant a tree for each sale of jewelry. Media Contact Company Name: Moon Magic Contact Person: Walter Email: Send Email Country: United States Website: Source: Brand Push

15 Cities Got Roasted By ChatGPT And I Threw In Some Heat Too
15 Cities Got Roasted By ChatGPT And I Threw In Some Heat Too

Buzz Feed

timea day ago

  • Entertainment
  • Buzz Feed

15 Cities Got Roasted By ChatGPT And I Threw In Some Heat Too

I was bored, the group chats were dry, and it had been way too long since I watched something—or someone—get absolutely torched. So, I turned to ChatGPT and asked it to roast some of the world's most famous cities, without any filters or disclaimers. Forget about the Wild Wild West, this is Wild Wild AI. And of course, I've thrown in a few of my own *ahem ahem* thoughts along the way, because some of these hit a little too close to home. Paris Can we talk about the weird judgment around asking for milk? Like, what is Paris' deal with people who want a cappuccino after noon? If you're really the city of love, then let me romanticise my coffee, whenever I want please. New York Two things I'd actively avoid in the city: the subway (obviously) and the potholes, because I've seen that video of rats dragging entire slices of pizza under them, and I haven't recovered since. But I can go to have the infamous New York slice. London Honestly, if I had to be a city during one of my emotional rollercoaster phases, it'd be this one. Moody, dramatic, sometimes cold, but somehow still comforting in a weird, tea-and-toast kind of way. And while we're here, can we stop pretending baked beans are a crime? They're actually kind of great (don't hate me for this). Los Angeles Now this city? This one's the ultimate cover-up. Because underneath all the sunshine and smoothies, it's the place where everyone's trying to fit into something. A role or an image. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if babies in LA popped out asking, 'So when's my casting call?' Dubai Whenever I hear the word Dubai, one thing immediately comes to mind: Labubu matcha pistachio kunafa chocolate. Yes, I'm a woman of culture, obviously. Tokyo Tokyo feels like the one city that's this close to fully replacing humans with robots. They're already everywhere—serving food, guiding traffic, bowing politely—so honestly, the only thing left is building luxury high-rises for them and handing out robot citizenship cards. Mumbai Ah, Mumbai, the so-called city of hustle and bustle. The Indian LA. The city that never sleeps, which, let's be honest, is a lie. Mumbai absolutely it's also the only city where I'll happily stand on the side of the road with a paper cup of kadak chai in one hand and a vada pav in the other. Rome It's almost ironic, really. The place that gave us the saying 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do' seems to have forgotten it itself. The Romans do… exactly what they've always done. Like they hit pause sometime after Caesar and never really hit play again. Berlin Every time I hear the name of this city, a loud, pulsing techno track just starts playing in my head, completely uninvited. It's like my brain has permanently associated the place with flashing lights at 3 a.m. and the sound of bass echoing through a concrete warehouse. I think I have a collective internet brain. Sydney I cannot be the only one who immediately tries to pronounce Vegemite in the thickest Aussie accent possible every time I hear it. It's like a reflex. That, and thinking about bugs. So many bugs. Hong Kong Hong Kong kind of feels like the gifted kid who peaked early and has been hustling ever since to prove they've still got it. From a distance, it's polished, efficient, and looks like it has its life very together. But get a little closer and you can feel the stress radiating off the glass buildings. Like it's trying to hold it all in… with a perfectly ironed blazer. Amsterdam The moment someone mentions Amsterdam, my brain short-circuits trying to process an image of a plate piled high with stroopwafels and Dutch cheese, I swear, even the cheese has its own museum. You'll dodge more bikes than cars and somehow leave with 47 photos of the same bridge. Seoul Seoul life always looks so tempting in K-dramas: cute coworker at the office, late-night beer and fried chicken with your bestie, glowing skin and perfect outfits. It's all so aesthetic it almost feels scripted. But then there's the flip side, that crushing social pressure to look flawless 24/7. Like, I love a good sheet mask, but I also love having pores. Let me live. Istanbul This city might be a little confused, caught between continents, history, and identity, but there's one thing it's crystal clear about: its kebabs and its deep, unapologetic love for spices. I believe its kebabs are also as roasted as this response from AI, to perfection. São Paulo The city is running on pastel, pão de queijo, and pure adrenaline. Between Avenida Paulista, Ibirapuera Park, and all-night samba spots, there's barely time not to feel like you've had five espressos. Well, it wasn't just the cities that got emotionally dismantled, I'm pretty sure the people from them need a moment too. We joke because we care. Or at least because we've all thought it, and now we've said it!

Slovakia: Fico uses anti-EU rhetoric as diversionary tactic – DW – 07/22/2025
Slovakia: Fico uses anti-EU rhetoric as diversionary tactic – DW – 07/22/2025

DW

timea day ago

  • Politics
  • DW

Slovakia: Fico uses anti-EU rhetoric as diversionary tactic – DW – 07/22/2025

After holding out for weeks, Slovak PM Robert Fico dropped his veto on new EU sanctions against Russia. There's likely to be more of the same in the future as such maneuvering diverts attention from domestic problems. Slovakia's veto of the EU's package of sanctions against Russia is not something entirely new. After all, the bloc is already well familiar with such maneuvering from the prime minister of neighboring Hungary: Viktor Orban has in the past blocked EU decisions that have to be agreed unanimously, promising his supporters that he will "never" back down. Then, at the last minute, he does a U-turn and drops his veto. In many cases, it is not clear what he got in return. Then, back home, Orban portrays his "fight against the Brussels bureaucrats" as a "victory." But this is the first time that Orban's friend and ally Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has played this card. For weeks, Fico — formally a Social Democrat but in practice a right-wing populist — kept the EU on tenterhooks, declaring that he would not approve the EU's 18th package of sanctions against Russia, even if that would trigger a "major crisis in the EU." Fico's reasoning was that the sanctions would have a massive impact on Slovakia's economy and, above all, on its energy supplies. He also claimed that it would damage the EU itself, not Russia. Fico made his veto stance out to be a question of national sovereignty and national pride. The U-turn came in the form of a social media post late on Thursday evening just hours before the planned vote on the package. Speaking in a video, Fico said that even though the European Commission's sanctions plan against Russia was "nonsensical," it would be "counterproductive" to vote against it. He explained the concessions that Slovakia would get in return and finished by saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." There was great relief in the EU at Fico's surprise U-turn. Some — such as the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — even voiced understanding for Slovakia's tough economic situation. But within Slovakia itself, both opposition politicians and many political commentators have been extremely cutting about Fico's maneuvering. The general tone of what was said was that he had alienated Slovakia's European partners, done Russian President Vladimir Putin a favor that did nothing for Slovakia and isolated the country. Michal Simecka, leader of the country's largest opposition party, Progressive Slovakia (PS), posted on Facebook that Fico was "amateurish, lacked direction, frustrated and unsuitable to hold office and to defend Slovakia's interests." A commentator for the daily broadsheet called Fico's maneuvering a "show for the voters back home and to divert people's attention away from other problems." But what was the purpose of Fico's maneuvering and what did it ultimately achieve? The aim of the EU's 18th package of sanctions against Russia was above all to stop the sale of Russian oil in the EU, to cut off the Russian armaments industry from key imports, and ban transactions with Russian banks that have not so far been on the list of sanctioned institutions. Fico and his coalition government had agreed to the package in principle. The bone of contention was a set of measures included in a plan known as RePowerEU, which Brussels tabled some time ago. Among other things, this plan seeks to stop the flow of Russian gas to EU member states from 2028. Slovakia wanted an exemption from this plan because it has a gas supply contract with the Russian company Gazprom that runs until 2034 and is completely dependent on Russian gas. But even before Fico agreed to back the 18th sanctions package, the EU had assured Slovakia assistance in this respect, allowing the country to use some of the financial aid from the EU to subsidize energy prices. Brussels has also promised Slovakia assistance in the event of litigation with Gazprom. So, why the "show for the voters back home"? On the one hand, Slovakia is in considerable financial difficulty and in the middle of a profound structural economic crisis. Fico's coalition government has been able to solve neither problem since coming to power in late 2023. Above all, it is dragging its heels on the issue of fixing the country's public finances. Last year, Slovakia's budget deficit stood at 5.3% of GDP, which is well over the 3% limit for the eurozone. Even though Fico's government has already introduced financial consolidation measures, which included raising a number of taxes and social security contributions and canceling some public holidays, it has also made some expensive gifts to its voters, including support to cope with high energy prices and a 13th monthly pension payment for senior citizens. The government is also currently under pressure among other things because of a controversial tax on financial transactions. Economically, the crisis in the automotive industry has brought huge problems for Slovakia, which relies heavily on exports. Plants in Slovakia produce for Volkswagen, Kia, Jaguar and Peugeot. Indeed, car production is by far the most important economic sector in the country. However, because of the upheaval on the automotive market, competition from China, falling sales in the US, and US President Donald Trump's tariff policy, the Slovak automotive production model is facing growing problems. Fico's government has yet to table a long-term plan for fundamental economic reform. But Fico and his government are also under pressure because of a series of corruption scandals — both old and new. After the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova in February 2018, Fico was forced to resign. In the years that followed, it became clear just how close the links between politics and organized crime are in Slovakia. Since Fico returned to power in late 2023, one of his top-priority projects has been to stop the fight against corruption and to silence opponents. Peter Bardy, editor-in-chief of the web portal Aktuality, says that Fico is "obsessed with revenge," which is also the title of his current bestseller about the prime minister. Actuality recently reported on a scandal concerning a luxury villa of obscure ownership on the Croatian Adriatic coast with alleged links to the prime minister. Fico sees himself as a victim and a man surrounded by enemies. This has intensified since he was the victim of an assassination attempt in May 2024. He feels that the opposition, independent media, liberalism, "LGBTQ ideologues" and the EU are all conspiring against him. Fico has repeatedly taken sides with President Putin and was the only EU head of government to travel to Moscow for the Victory Day parade there on May 8. After a visit to Uzbekistan in June, he praised its political system, calling it a model, and reflected on how "European democracy" could be reformed, for example by reducing the number of parliamentary parties. This fall, Fico is planning to erect a "dam against progressivism" with amendments to the constitution. Among other things, he is planning to only recognize two genders: male and female. Slovak-Hungarian journalist and writer Laszlo Barak sees both this move and Fico's strategy of first opposing and then agreeing to the EU's sanctions against Russia as part of the same policy. "This is how the Fico reality is constructed: with slogans, half-truths and cheap lies," he said, writing for the online media outlet Parameter. "That's his policy: manipulation, Russophilia and cynicism."

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