Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 9 2024

Per and Birger and the equidistance or how rejected courtship leads to conflict. Once upon a time there were two states, Per the one and Birger the other. Per was older and had the feeling that Birger had always belonged to him. They were neighbours, knew each other well and their languages were related. There was no denying their shared cultural roots. Per and Birger spoke often and at length and felt close to each other, as neither Per's nor Birger's presidency was truly democratically legitimised. But it turned out that the people in Birger wanted a change and were prepared to put their lives on the line for it. As a result, Birger had a new government led by an actor who no longer wanted to be dominated by Per. And that was the end of the distance between almost equals. Per got pissed and angry and rounded up everything that could carry weapons at Birger's borders and the world public didn't want to believe what they could have seen. Many in the countries with freer information had long believed in the good in Per. Decades earlier, hundreds of thousands of people had come together in courtyard gardens to create peace without weapons, their own readiness to defend themselves was no longer present because Per was happy to provide the necessary energy to defend the competitiveness of the freer countries against other bloc states. There was also a constant distance to these countries, somewhat increased after Per had taken a grim little island from Birger years ago just for fun. He just wants to play, but to be on the safe side we won't let Per eat at the others' table any more, said the freemen. And so, after Per's attack on Birger, the constant distance became a deep ditch in which everyone was stuck together. However, Per also played the card of all usurpers, denying the raided people the right to their own cultural identity. Buildings, libraries, monuments and historical sites are mercilessly reduced to rubble by Per - but Birger is still fighting back and bravely hoping for the solidarity of the free. We should all help to ensure that Birger's courage is rewarded.

Art Karlsruhe, which Stefan Kobel also reported on, had more than 42,000 visitors - Art Cologne could feel its breath. Despite negative economic news, which tends to dominate the German market, there were enough buyers to make the fair a success for most gallery owners.

Warren Buffet, the great white man behind Berkeshire Hathaway, can be pleased. His investment in insurance activities has paid off - the portfolio is performing almost 20% better than in the previous year. This is possibly due to the fact that prices for reinsurance and industrial insurance have risen in the last two years. In any case, there have been plenty of natural disasters - but the insurance industry has - with very few exceptions - stayed out of the conflicts triggered by the Russian war of aggression. Cowardice triumphs?

Art Dubai opens next week. The participation of German or European galleries is not so pronounced. Yet the Arab region has been one of the future prospects for the development of the art market for more than 10 years. Nothing against the farmers, they are good for many rules named after them - in this case they could be associated with their conservative eating behaviour.

Everything has been said about the upcoming strikes in local and long-distance transport. The trade unions' patronage policy will lead to the loss of many jobs that are available to people with little education and training. They sense this and are fleeing in political directions that have put the well-paid trade union officials of all genders in the "Pfui Bah" corner.

Have a good week in which the world's conflicts will hopefully become fewer.

Yours, Stephan Zilkens and the team at Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker GmbH in Cologne and Solothurn