Too far back to find the other global politics thread.
Top Iranian and Saudi officials continue talks on renewing ties between the former rivals
The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia meet in Beijing for the first formal meeting of their top diplomats in more than seven years.
roughbarked said:
Too far back to find the other global politics thread.
Top Iranian and Saudi officials continue talks on renewing ties between the former rivals
The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia meet in Beijing for the first formal meeting of their top diplomats in more than seven years.
Beijing. Good choice.
mollwollfumble said:
roughbarked said:
Too far back to find the other global politics thread.
Top Iranian and Saudi officials continue talks on renewing ties between the former rivals
The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia meet in Beijing for the first formal meeting of their top diplomats in more than seven years.Beijing. Good choice.
Yeah right.
roughbarked said:
mollwollfumble said:
roughbarked said:
Too far back to find the other global politics thread.
Top Iranian and Saudi officials continue talks on renewing ties between the former rivals
The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia meet in Beijing for the first formal meeting of their top diplomats in more than seven years.Beijing. Good choice.
Yeah right.
You got somewhere better¿
Just for the snaps¡
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
mollwollfumble said:
Beijing. Good choice.
Yeah right.
You got somewhere better¿
I’m not sure I can trust the motives of Xi.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:roughbarked said:
Yeah right.
You got somewhere better¿
I’m not sure I can trust the motives of Xi.
Sure but who should they trust then¿
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:You got somewhere better¿
I’m not sure I can trust the motives of Xi.
Sure but who should they trust then¿
Those who don’t have control of the world as their goal.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:roughbarked said:
Yeah right.
You got somewhere better¿
I’m not sure I can trust the motives of Xi.
I didn’t even know you were in negotiation with him.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
I’m not sure I can trust the motives of Xi.
Sure but who should they trust then¿
Those who don’t have control of the world as their goal.
So non-STEMsts then, well, we don’t agree with that.
CNN
—
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s trial on charges of abuse of political power and misuse of public media began in the country’s highest electoral court on Thursday in Brasilia.
The charges stem from a meeting Bolsonaro held with foreign diplomats in July 2022, in which he is accused of spreading false information about Brazil’s electoral system and bringing its credibility into question – a strategy the former president used in his reelection campaign.
If found guilty, Bolsonaro could be ruled ineligible to run for public office for up to eight years.
—-
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/22/americas/brazil-jair-bolsonaro-trial-intl-latam/index.html
Top American Export
Protesters vow to fight on despite passage of key bill in Israel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSMZXH-tnM0
—
Getting heavy.
sarahs mum said:
Protesters vow to fight on despite passage of key bill in Israel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSMZXH-tnM0—
Getting heavy.
Yes the sons and daughters of Zion are unhappy that their religion has overtaken the judiciary.
sarahs mum said:
Protesters vow to fight on despite passage of key bill in Israel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSMZXH-tnM0—
Getting heavy.
Protests in Israel are growing and intensifying after the country’s parliament passed a controversial bill that limits the supreme court’s power to overturn government decisions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv3vyPcVuuw
sarahs mum said:
sarahs mum said:
Protesters vow to fight on despite passage of key bill in Israel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSMZXH-tnM0—
Getting heavy.
Protests in Israel are growing and intensifying after the country’s parliament passed a controversial bill that limits the supreme court’s power to overturn government decisions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv3vyPcVuuw
The Israelites have come to desire and expect democracy.
Morning Pilgrims, cool but sunny in the Pearl.
Over.
Peak Warming Man said:
Morning Pilgrims, cool but sunny in the Pearl.
Over.
***waves belatedly***
LOL
The French president also flagged increasing the French forces in the country and warned independence could mean a “Chinese naval base tomorrow”.
“This is not called independence,” Mr Macron said. “France has a voice in the Pacific and Oceania.”
SCIENCE said:
LOL
The French president also flagged increasing the French forces in the country and warned independence could mean a “Chinese naval base tomorrow”.
“This is not called independence,” Mr Macron said. “France has a voice in the Pacific and Oceania.”
are you talking about New Caledonia?
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:
LOL
The French president also flagged increasing the French forces in the country and warned independence could mean a “Chinese naval base tomorrow”.
“This is not called independence,” Mr Macron said. “France has a voice in the Pacific and Oceania.”
are you talking about New Caledonia?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-26/macron-newcaledonia-blinken-tonga-china-warning/102649506
Note that we don’t have a solution to little groups being caught in the rivalry of big groups.
Good ¡ Need a cull ¡ Too
The cost of rice — a staple food for nearly half the world’s population — and other essentials, like wheat, corn and vegetable oils, are rising as geopolitical forces, extreme weather and a dawning El Niño disrupt global trade. And the trend has everyone from economists to humanitarian organisations worried.
many ASIANS in Asia ¡
SCIENCE said:
Good ¡ Need a cull ¡ Too
The cost of rice — a staple food for nearly half the world’s population — and other essentials, like wheat, corn and vegetable oils, are rising as geopolitical forces, extreme weather and a dawning El Niño disrupt global trade. And the trend has everyone from economists to humanitarian organisations worried.
many ASIANS in Asia ¡
It is a bit of a concern. It really is time we had investment in rail infrastructure to open up phosphate mining in the NT/QLD border regions to become self-sufficient in this necessary resource rather than relying in imports. Need to connect this area to the agricultural lands in the south and east. WA needs to develop phosphate mining at Mt Weld and connect it to the WA wheatbelt.
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:Good ¡ Need a cull ¡ Too
The cost of rice — a staple food for nearly half the world’s population — and other essentials, like wheat, corn and vegetable oils, are rising as geopolitical forces, extreme weather and a dawning El Niño disrupt global trade. And the trend has everyone from economists to humanitarian organisations worried.
many ASIANS in Asia ¡
It is a bit of a concern. It really is time we had investment in rail infrastructure to open up phosphate mining in the NT/QLD border regions to become self-sufficient in this necessary resource rather than relying in imports. Need to connect this area to the agricultural lands in the south and east. WA needs to develop phosphate mining at Mt Weld and connect it to the WA wheatbelt.
Just who do you think you are, demanding that corporations look to projects beyond the next quarterly dividend and issue of executive bonuses, or that governments invest in projects that they won’t get immediate credit for?
captain_spalding said:
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:Good ¡ Need a cull ¡ Too
The cost of rice — a staple food for nearly half the world’s population — and other essentials, like wheat, corn and vegetable oils, are rising as geopolitical forces, extreme weather and a dawning El Niño disrupt global trade. And the trend has everyone from economists to humanitarian organisations worried.
many ASIANS in Asia ¡
It is a bit of a concern. It really is time we had investment in rail infrastructure to open up phosphate mining in the NT/QLD border regions to become self-sufficient in this necessary resource rather than relying in imports. Need to connect this area to the agricultural lands in the south and east. WA needs to develop phosphate mining at Mt Weld and connect it to the WA wheatbelt.
Just who do you think you are, demanding that corporations look to projects beyond the next quarterly dividend and issue of executive bonuses, or that governments invest in projects that they won’t get immediate credit for?
They call us Legion because we are many.
I’m just worried that if carbs get any more expensive it might lower obesity prevalence.
party_pants said:
captain_spalding said:
party_pants said:It is a bit of a concern. It really is time we had investment in rail infrastructure to open up phosphate mining in the NT/QLD border regions to become self-sufficient in this necessary resource rather than relying in imports. Need to connect this area to the agricultural lands in the south and east. WA needs to develop phosphate mining at Mt Weld and connect it to the WA wheatbelt.
Just who do you think you are, demanding that corporations look to projects beyond the next quarterly dividend and issue of executive bonuses, or that governments invest in projects that they won’t get immediate credit for?
They call us Legion because we are many.
Your upbringing is showing…
buffy said:
party_pants said:
captain_spalding said:Just who do you think you are, demanding that corporations look to projects beyond the next quarterly dividend and issue of executive bonuses, or that governments invest in projects that they won’t get immediate credit for?
They call us Legion because we are many.
Your upbringing is showing…
Yeah, protestant upbringing. There’s a lot of us around you know :)
Proof That The USSA Is Truly The Most Equal Cuntry After Germany
Seriously though, if
it looks like one, smells like one, tastes like one, feels like one, sounds like one, satiates like one, shits like one
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-15/the-rise-of-the-superfake-handbag/102686918
then is it really a new age modern 21st century NFT sorry we mean non-flowering tulip¿
SCIENCE said:
Seriously though, if
it looks like one, smells like one, tastes like one, feels like one, sounds like one, satiates like one, shits like one
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-15/the-rise-of-the-superfake-handbag/102686918
then is it really a new age modern 21st century NFT sorry we mean non-flowering tulip¿
Not being a handbag buff, I wouldn’t know a designer handbag from a K-mart one anyway.
Bubblecar said:
SCIENCE said:Seriously though, if
it looks like one, smells like one, tastes like one, feels like one, sounds like one, satiates like one, shits like one
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-15/the-rise-of-the-superfake-handbag/102686918
then is it really a new age modern 21st century NFT sorry we mean non-flowering tulip¿
Not being a handbag buff, I wouldn’t know a designer handbag from a K-mart one anyway.
Not into handbags either.. Into watches though. https://bhi.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/08-HJAugust23-AOTM.pdf
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/24/asia/philippines-south-china-sea-floating-barrier-intl-hnk/index.html
CNN
—
The Philippines on Sunday condemned the Chinese coast guard for installing what it called a “floating barrier” in a disputed area of the South China Sea, saying that it prevented Filipino boats from entering and fishing in the area.
In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, Philippine coast guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said the floating barrier was discovered by Philippine vessels during a routine maritime patrol on Friday and measured around 300 meters (984 feet).
“The Philippine coast guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources strongly condemn the China coast guard’s installation of a floating barrier in the Southeast portion of Bajo de Masinloc, which prevents Filipino fishing boats from entering the shoal and depriving them of their fishing and livelihood activities,” the statement read.
Tarriela shared photos of the alleged floating barrier and claimed three Chinese coast guard boats and a Chinese maritime militia service boat had installed the floating barrier following the arrival of a Philippine government vessel in the area.
The Philippines’ National Security Council (NSC) said Monday it will take “all appropriate actions to cause the removal of the barriers and to protect the rights of our fishermen in the area.”
CNN
—
Slovakia is getting ready to elect its fifth prime minister in just four years, and with Kremlin sympathizer Robert Fico’s opposition party leading the polls, it is one being watched with alarm in the West.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine last February, Slovakia has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest allies. The two countries share a border, Slovakia was the first country to send air defenses to Ukraine and it welcomed tens of thousands of refugees.
But all that could change if Fico comes to power. The former prime minister makes no secret of his sympathies towards the Kremlin and has blamed “Ukrainian Nazis and fascists” for provoking Russia’s President Vladimir Putin into launching the invasion, repeating the false narrative Putin has used to justify his invasion.
Fico has called on the Slovak government to stop supplying weapons to Kyiv, and said that if he were to become prime minister, Slovakia would “not send another round of ammunition.” He is also opposed to Ukraine joining NATO.
Grigorij Mesežnikov, a political analyst and the president of the Institute of Public Affairs, a Slovak think tank, said that like many Russia sympathizers, Fico is framing his support for Moscow as a “peace” initiative.
“He and his allies argue that we shouldn’t be sending weapons to Ukraine because it will make the war go on for longer. They are saying ‘there will be peace if we stop sending weapons to Ukraine’ because if we don’t the conflict will end sooner. So, in essence, they are not pro-peace, they are pro-Russian,” he told CNN.
—-
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/28/europe/slovakia-election-russia-supporter-intl-cmd/index.html
Great, Orbaninho
Rare and refreshing candour
Some good news for Poland:
Polish opposition leader Tusk declares win after exit poll shows ruling conservatives lose majority
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk declared the beginning of a new era for his country after opposition parties appeared to have won enough votes in Sunday’s election to oust the governing nationalist conservative party.
https://apnews.com/article/poland-election-vote-720f7b81838c33ccb2865fb3bc6e0414
Bubblecar said:
Some good news for Poland:Polish opposition leader Tusk declares win after exit poll shows ruling conservatives lose majority
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk declared the beginning of a new era for his country after opposition parties appeared to have won enough votes in Sunday’s election to oust the governing nationalist conservative party.
https://apnews.com/article/poland-election-vote-720f7b81838c33ccb2865fb3bc6e0414
….At stake are the health of the nation’s constitutional order, its legal stance on LGBTQ+ rights and abortion, and the foreign alliances of a country that has been a crucial ally to Ukraine after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
LGBTQ+ rights activist Bart Staszewski called it the end of a “nightmare” for himself as a gay man and others.
“This is just the beginning of reclaiming of our country. The fight is ahead but we are breathing fresh air today,” Staszewski said.
Environmental activist Dominika Lasota was emotional with relief, saying “we have our future.”
….The fate of Poland’s relationship with Ukraine was also at stake. The Confederation party campaigned on an anti-Ukraine message, accusing the country of lacking gratitude to Poland for its help in Russia’s war. Its poor showing will be a relief for Kyiv.
Bubblecar said:
Some good news for Poland:
Polish opposition leader Tusk declares win after exit poll shows ruling conservatives lose majority
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk declared the beginning of a new era for his country after opposition parties appeared to have won enough votes in Sunday’s election to oust the governing nationalist conservative party.
https://apnews.com/article/poland-election-vote-720f7b81838c33ccb2865fb3bc6e0414
Holy fuck has it been 4 years already 2019 WTF¿
Sorry that was our self-indulgence, but you’re right, this may be something.
SCIENCE said:
Bubblecar said:
Some good news for Poland:
Polish opposition leader Tusk declares win after exit poll shows ruling conservatives lose majority
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk declared the beginning of a new era for his country after opposition parties appeared to have won enough votes in Sunday’s election to oust the governing nationalist conservative party.
https://apnews.com/article/poland-election-vote-720f7b81838c33ccb2865fb3bc6e0414
Holy fuck has it been 4 years already 2019 WTF¿
Sorry that was our self-indulgence, but you’re right, this may be something.
Glad of some good news from this damned weekend.
Apart from the Poms being beaten in the cricket.
dv said:
SCIENCE said:
Bubblecar said:
Some good news for Poland:
Polish opposition leader Tusk declares win after exit poll shows ruling conservatives lose majority
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk declared the beginning of a new era for his country after opposition parties appeared to have won enough votes in Sunday’s election to oust the governing nationalist conservative party.
https://apnews.com/article/poland-election-vote-720f7b81838c33ccb2865fb3bc6e0414
Holy fuck has it been 4 years already 2019 WTF¿
Sorry that was our self-indulgence, but you’re right, this may be something.
Glad of some good news from this damned weekend.
Apart from the Poms being beaten in the cricket.
“We recognise nations will spy, we recognise nations will seek strategic advantage,” he said ahead of the summit. “But what we’re talking about here, this is behaviour that goes beyond traditional espionage.
“The Chinese government are engaged in the most sustained, sophisticated and scaled theft of intellectual property and expertise in human history. “And this summit is about how we work with our partners together, and in the tech sector and innovation sector, so they can better be placed to identify and manage those risks effectively.”
LOL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-18/five-eyes-spy-summit-asio-cia-fbi-san-francisco/102984976
So
American AI technology was a particular target for Chinese theft, the FBI director told the summit. He warned stolen AI could be used “to take what’s already the largest hacking program in the world by a country mile and make it that much more effective”.
what they’re saying is they already have their own “much more effective” hacking program, and they’re worried it’ll get … hacked¿
How Good Is Democracy¿
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-18/rise-of-bongbong-marcos-take-me-to-your-leader/102840572
Ms Marginson, the lead convenor of the Australians for Philippine Human Rights Network, grew up in the Philippines during the 1970s and 1980s, when the South-East Asian country was ruled by dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. “He really plundered the nation, much poverty and a lot of killings,” she tells ABC RN’s Take Me To Your Leader. “Many were tortured … and many were killed.” After more than 20 years of Marcos Sr in charge, mass protests in 1986 by millions of Filipinos — including Ms Marginson — saw the leader and his family flee the country in disgrace.
Last year, the late dictator’s son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr — also known as Bongbong Marcos — won the Philippines’ presidential election in a landslide victory. In the space of a few decades, the Marcos name has gone from widely reviled to wildly popular.
It’s As Good As Dynastic Monarchy¡
The revolt saw the Marcos family flee the country to Hawaii. Before they left, they had time to pack 22 crates of cash, 300 crates of jewellery (some wrapped in nappies), gold bullion and deposit slips to banks in Switzerland, the US and the Cayman Islands.
The only son of Marcos Sr, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, was born in 1957 and would grow up to follow in his father’s footsteps. But to this day, Mr Heydarian says there have been no major repercussions for the family’s actions — both the human rights abuses and the billions of dollars questionably acquired. “It is quite scandalous that not only the Marcos’, but a lot of people responsible for disasters that happened throughout the past decades, are not facing any kind of serious judicial scrutiny,” he says.
Marcos Jr unsuccessfully ran for vice president of the Philippines in 2016. Then, in 2021, he announced he was going for the office once occupied by his father. In this time, he has changed the narrative of his father’s political history — reframing it as a golden age for the Philippines.
In the lead up to the 2022 presidential election, Marcos Jr largely ignored mainstream media, instead embracing social media and focusing on the youth vote. The approach worked. “He was a TikTok star during the elections the greatest share of votes that he won was among Gen Z — the younger Filipinos,” Mr Heydarian says.
Ah so democracy is actually just pop culture, imagine¡
And, so far, he’s largely been pragmatic. “Marcos Jr wants to be more technocratic ,” Mr Heydarian says. “If you look at his first State of the Nation address, he spent so much of the first hour really on economic issues on agricultural issues.”
Fuck that shit, fix that stuff, y’al’no’ there’s a better system of governance.
Polish election results appear to have been finalised. The new government will probably be made of a coalition of Third Way, Civic Coalition and The Left. This will be a very broad tent running from centre-right to centre-left but it will be an improvement on the previous government.
Whereas the lower house runs on proportional representation, the upper house is first past the post. To get past this, all of the significant opposition parties agreed to run only one candidate in each division: this Senate Pact group won 65 out of 100 seats.
—-
Grand DJT-admirer Javier Milei is likely to win the upcoming presidential election in Argentina. He is likely to presiding with a fractious legislature.
Argentina’s tear-it-all-down frontrunner connects with angry young men
By Samantha Schmidt and David Feliba
Published October 20, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. EDT
BUENOS AIRES — The blast of a shofar echoed across the arena. A giant screen showed atomic bombs destroying cities. Then the image of a lion in flames appeared, and thousands of young men screamed.
The star of the show had arrived: Javier Milei, the man leading the race to become Argentina’s next president.
“I am the king — the lion king,” the floppy-haired economist sang in his raspy voice. Supporters joined him in belting out his rewrite of the headbanging Argentine song “Panic Show.”
“Don’t run away from me; I am the king of a lost world. I am the king and I’ll devour you. The entire caste is my appetite.”
Most of the thousands who packed the Movistar Arena for Milei’s campaign-closing rally on Wednesday were men, many of them young and all of them seemingly angry.
Angry with a leftist establishment that has failed to control spiraling inflation and economic stagnation. Angry with a government that has allowed their currency to plummet and their earnings to vanish.
Young people are a political force in Argentina. Young women here were on the front lines of massive protests for the “green wave” abortion rights movement that spread across Latin America. They’ve led a campaign for gender-inclusive Spanish and helped bring the populist movement of former Argentine leaders Juan and Eva “Evita” Perón back to power.
Now, after the Peronista government of Alberto Fernández and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has failed to halt the country’s economic decline, a new force among Argentina’s Generation Z is rising.
This time, it’s young men who are at the forefront. Milei is speaking for them.
With his viral TikTok videos raging against the “political caste” and evangelizing his free-market ideas, the 52-year-old congressman has touched a nerve among a generation of young people struggling to enter the workforce.
An admirer of Donald Trump and former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, Milei is campaigning on an Argentine version of “Drain the Swamp.” His aggressive style, outlandish comments and unusual presentation — he claims he hasn’t brushed that hair in years — have drawn millions of viewers to his videos and disrupted traditional politics.
Women hold green handkerchiefs during a demonstration in support of International Safe Abortion Day on Sept. 28 in Buenos Aires.
He has branded Pope Francis — the Argentine former Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio, the first South American pontiff — an “evil” leftist. Climate change, he says, is a “socialist lie.” He would hold a referendum to undo the three-year-old law that legalized abortion. He has called for creating a market for the sale of organs.
But he has also offered frustrated Argentines a break from the status quo: He has proposed shutting down the central bank, dollarizing the economy and taking a “chain saw” to government spending.
His attacks on the peso are already shocking the Argentine economy; the currency has taken a nose dive in the widely traded black market in recent weeks. The inflation rate has skyrocketed.
Polls here show Milei leading the field of five candidates in Sunday’s presidential election. His top competitors include Sergio Massa, economy minister for the leftist current government, and Patricia Bullrich, a center-right former security minister.
If Milei wins, it will likely be on the strength of the country’s young. Voters aged 18 to 29 account for a quarter of the electorate, and polls show they’re overwhelmingly inclined to vote for the iconoclast. That’s especially true for young men.
One of those young men is Juan Cruz Coronel, a 21-year-old volunteer for Milei’s libertarian party in the city of Rosario. The political science student walked into the rally with a Milei flag draped across his back like a cape.
Coronel grew up watching the North American right-wing provocateurs Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro and Milo Yiannopoulos on a YouTube channel that translated their words into Spanish. “They were a fundamental part of my ideological awakening,” he said. But his greatest inspiration was Trump.
“We stopped listening to the intellectuals to listen to the politicians,” Coronel said.
“While everyone was focused on feminist demands and gay rights, there was a generation slowly starting to pay attention to Javier Milei.”
An unconventional candidate
Long before Milei could pack a Buenos Aires concert arena, he played goalkeeper for the second-division Chacarita Juniors soccer team and the Mick Jagger role in a Rolling Stones tribute band.
He decided to become an economist in 1989 during the early days of hyperinflation in Argentina. He worked as a risk analyst for Corporacion America, owned by one of Argentina’s billionaires, before leaping into television as a regular guest on shows.
Milei’s unconventional ideas and brash style — rants peppered with personal insults — was a TV hit. As the peso plunged and inflation skyrocketed, his economic theories began to find an audience.
He was elected to Congress in 2021 on pledges to tear the political elite down. He gained national prominence by raffling off his congressional salary each month.
Milei describes himself as a liberal-libertarian or a miniarchist. He supports limiting government to just a few functions — ideally, only security and justice — a night-watchman state.
He promises to slash the number of federal ministries from 18 to eight. He applies his free-market ideas to just about everything — he proposes loosening gun restrictions to “maximize the cost of robbery” — and letting the invisible hand of the market do the rest.
The economist Alberto Benegas Lynch, whom Milei has called the father of Argentine liberalism, opened his rally.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself to ask whether I am living a dream or it’s a reality,” he told The Washington Post. “Because what Javier Milei proposes in politics hasn’t been heard in Argentina for 80 years.”
Milei’s personal life? He owns four mastiffs, each of which weighs more than 170 pounds and bears the name of a renowned economist.
In 2017, when his dog Conan was in decline, he prevailed on a U.S. laboratory to produce four clones of Conan, according to Raymond Page, one of the founders of the PerPETuate laboratory.
Milei dedicated his victory in the primaries to his “four-legged children.” But he remains close to the late Conan. After his death, he sought the help of a medium to communicate with the deceased dog, according to a person familiar with the subject. “Eventually, what was bothering him at that moment was resolved,” the person said.
While thanking his team during Wednesday night’s campaign rally, he called his dogs the “best strategists in the world.”
The crowd cheered as the bespectacled economist chuckled into the microphone.
Politics for the TikTok generation
Milei’s originality is perhaps exactly why Gen Z is so transfixed by him. It’s a generation craving authenticity, Argentine political analyst Ana Iparraguirre said. “They see this guy telling it like it is,” she said. “I might not like that he’ll be selling guns in the streets, but at least this guy is not faking it.”
Most of his 1.4 million TikTok followers are younger than 24, according to his social media team. Iñaki Gutierrez, a 22-year old unpaid volunteer who manages his TikTok, said Milei managed to win the primaries in remote provinces “we didn’t even set foot in.” “TikTok was the answer,” Gutierrez said.
The fastest-growing social media site in Latin America has helped elect a wave of millennial presidents in the region, including Nayib Bukele in El Salvador and, last week, Daniel Noboa in Ecuador.
Milei’s TikTok posts offer Gen Z voters an outlet for rebellion against a system that they say is doing very little for them.
Unlike their older siblings or parents, they aren’t old enough to remember the initial years of economic growth under President Néstor Kirchner or his wife, the former president and current Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. According to one recent survey, more than 65 percent of young voters say they would leave Argentina if they could.
“They feel they have no future,” Iparraguirre said. “If you’ve got nothing to lose you may as well try something different.”
Agustín Fragoso, 24, owns a small business selling meat and chicken. His sales have plummeted as his prices have more than tripled. Customers who would once buy two kilograms of milanesas now buy half a kilogram. He’s voting for Milei in the hope he can fix the economy.
Fragoso’s girlfriend, Victoria Alegre, 23, walking with him in a mall in Buenos Aires this week, said she thinks Milei is a machista who could roll back rights for women. Fragoso said he also dislikes the way Milei speaks about feminism. But he’s willing to overlook it, he said, to take a chance on something — anything — different.
At the Movistar Arena, Milei fans carried toy chain saws or passed around fake U.S. dollars printed with Milei’s face. Some wore Make America Great Again hats.
“They said we were dangerous and that we needed to be quiet,” Milei shouted. “But we’re here, we fought the battle and we’re going to win!
“Long live freedom, damn it!” Milei roared.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/20/javier-milei-argentina-trump-bolsonaro/?
Witty Rejoinder said:
Argentina’s tear-it-all-down frontrunner connects with angry young men
By Samantha Schmidt and David Feliba
Published October 20, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. EDTBUENOS AIRES — The blast of a shofar echoed across the arena. A giant screen showed atomic bombs destroying cities. Then the image of a lion in flames appeared, and thousands of young men screamed.
The star of the show had arrived: Javier Milei, the man leading the race to become Argentina’s next president.
“I am the king — the lion king,” the floppy-haired economist sang in his raspy voice. Supporters joined him in belting out his rewrite of the headbanging Argentine song “Panic Show.”
“Don’t run away from me; I am the king of a lost world. I am the king and I’ll devour you. The entire caste is my appetite.”
Most of the thousands who packed the Movistar Arena for Milei’s campaign-closing rally on Wednesday were men, many of them young and all of them seemingly angry.
Angry with a leftist establishment that has failed to control spiraling inflation and economic stagnation. Angry with a government that has allowed their currency to plummet and their earnings to vanish.
Young people are a political force in Argentina. Young women here were on the front lines of massive protests for the “green wave” abortion rights movement that spread across Latin America. They’ve led a campaign for gender-inclusive Spanish and helped bring the populist movement of former Argentine leaders Juan and Eva “Evita” Perón back to power.
Now, after the Peronista government of Alberto Fernández and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has failed to halt the country’s economic decline, a new force among Argentina’s Generation Z is rising.
This time, it’s young men who are at the forefront. Milei is speaking for them.
With his viral TikTok videos raging against the “political caste” and evangelizing his free-market ideas, the 52-year-old congressman has touched a nerve among a generation of young people struggling to enter the workforce.
An admirer of Donald Trump and former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, Milei is campaigning on an Argentine version of “Drain the Swamp.” His aggressive style, outlandish comments and unusual presentation — he claims he hasn’t brushed that hair in years — have drawn millions of viewers to his videos and disrupted traditional politics.
Women hold green handkerchiefs during a demonstration in support of International Safe Abortion Day on Sept. 28 in Buenos Aires.
He has branded Pope Francis — the Argentine former Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio, the first South American pontiff — an “evil” leftist. Climate change, he says, is a “socialist lie.” He would hold a referendum to undo the three-year-old law that legalized abortion. He has called for creating a market for the sale of organs.But he has also offered frustrated Argentines a break from the status quo: He has proposed shutting down the central bank, dollarizing the economy and taking a “chain saw” to government spending.
His attacks on the peso are already shocking the Argentine economy; the currency has taken a nose dive in the widely traded black market in recent weeks. The inflation rate has skyrocketed.
Polls here show Milei leading the field of five candidates in Sunday’s presidential election. His top competitors include Sergio Massa, economy minister for the leftist current government, and Patricia Bullrich, a center-right former security minister.
If Milei wins, it will likely be on the strength of the country’s young. Voters aged 18 to 29 account for a quarter of the electorate, and polls show they’re overwhelmingly inclined to vote for the iconoclast. That’s especially true for young men.
One of those young men is Juan Cruz Coronel, a 21-year-old volunteer for Milei’s libertarian party in the city of Rosario. The political science student walked into the rally with a Milei flag draped across his back like a cape.
Coronel grew up watching the North American right-wing provocateurs Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro and Milo Yiannopoulos on a YouTube channel that translated their words into Spanish. “They were a fundamental part of my ideological awakening,” he said. But his greatest inspiration was Trump.
“We stopped listening to the intellectuals to listen to the politicians,” Coronel said.
“While everyone was focused on feminist demands and gay rights, there was a generation slowly starting to pay attention to Javier Milei.”
An unconventional candidate
Long before Milei could pack a Buenos Aires concert arena, he played goalkeeper for the second-division Chacarita Juniors soccer team and the Mick Jagger role in a Rolling Stones tribute band.He decided to become an economist in 1989 during the early days of hyperinflation in Argentina. He worked as a risk analyst for Corporacion America, owned by one of Argentina’s billionaires, before leaping into television as a regular guest on shows.
Milei’s unconventional ideas and brash style — rants peppered with personal insults — was a TV hit. As the peso plunged and inflation skyrocketed, his economic theories began to find an audience.
He was elected to Congress in 2021 on pledges to tear the political elite down. He gained national prominence by raffling off his congressional salary each month.
Milei describes himself as a liberal-libertarian or a miniarchist. He supports limiting government to just a few functions — ideally, only security and justice — a night-watchman state.
He promises to slash the number of federal ministries from 18 to eight. He applies his free-market ideas to just about everything — he proposes loosening gun restrictions to “maximize the cost of robbery” — and letting the invisible hand of the market do the rest.
The economist Alberto Benegas Lynch, whom Milei has called the father of Argentine liberalism, opened his rally.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself to ask whether I am living a dream or it’s a reality,” he told The Washington Post. “Because what Javier Milei proposes in politics hasn’t been heard in Argentina for 80 years.”
Milei’s personal life? He owns four mastiffs, each of which weighs more than 170 pounds and bears the name of a renowned economist.
In 2017, when his dog Conan was in decline, he prevailed on a U.S. laboratory to produce four clones of Conan, according to Raymond Page, one of the founders of the PerPETuate laboratory.
Milei dedicated his victory in the primaries to his “four-legged children.” But he remains close to the late Conan. After his death, he sought the help of a medium to communicate with the deceased dog, according to a person familiar with the subject. “Eventually, what was bothering him at that moment was resolved,” the person said.
While thanking his team during Wednesday night’s campaign rally, he called his dogs the “best strategists in the world.”
The crowd cheered as the bespectacled economist chuckled into the microphone.
Politics for the TikTok generation
Milei’s originality is perhaps exactly why Gen Z is so transfixed by him. It’s a generation craving authenticity, Argentine political analyst Ana Iparraguirre said. “They see this guy telling it like it is,” she said. “I might not like that he’ll be selling guns in the streets, but at least this guy is not faking it.”Most of his 1.4 million TikTok followers are younger than 24, according to his social media team. Iñaki Gutierrez, a 22-year old unpaid volunteer who manages his TikTok, said Milei managed to win the primaries in remote provinces “we didn’t even set foot in.” “TikTok was the answer,” Gutierrez said.
The fastest-growing social media site in Latin America has helped elect a wave of millennial presidents in the region, including Nayib Bukele in El Salvador and, last week, Daniel Noboa in Ecuador.
Milei’s TikTok posts offer Gen Z voters an outlet for rebellion against a system that they say is doing very little for them.
Unlike their older siblings or parents, they aren’t old enough to remember the initial years of economic growth under President Néstor Kirchner or his wife, the former president and current Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. According to one recent survey, more than 65 percent of young voters say they would leave Argentina if they could.
“They feel they have no future,” Iparraguirre said. “If you’ve got nothing to lose you may as well try something different.”
Agustín Fragoso, 24, owns a small business selling meat and chicken. His sales have plummeted as his prices have more than tripled. Customers who would once buy two kilograms of milanesas now buy half a kilogram. He’s voting for Milei in the hope he can fix the economy.
Fragoso’s girlfriend, Victoria Alegre, 23, walking with him in a mall in Buenos Aires this week, said she thinks Milei is a machista who could roll back rights for women. Fragoso said he also dislikes the way Milei speaks about feminism. But he’s willing to overlook it, he said, to take a chance on something — anything — different.
At the Movistar Arena, Milei fans carried toy chain saws or passed around fake U.S. dollars printed with Milei’s face. Some wore Make America Great Again hats.
“They said we were dangerous and that we needed to be quiet,” Milei shouted. “But we’re here, we fought the battle and we’re going to win!
“Long live freedom, damn it!” Milei roared.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/20/javier-milei-argentina-trump-bolsonaro/?
It looks like Venezuelans are between a rock and a hard place.
Argentina is a place where some people happily display pictures of Hitler on the walls in their house, and other people accept it as quite normal.
captain_spalding said:
Argentina is a place where some people happily display pictures of Hitler on the walls in their house, and other people accept it as quite normal.
Thank Fuck For UnFreedom Of Speech
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-21/victoria-police-nazi-salute-offence-new-laws/103005966
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-13/three-men-arrested-sydney-jewish-museum-alleged-nazi-salute/102974820
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-12/qld-hate-symbols-laws-explainer/102965556
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-08/government-to-introduce-ban-on-nazi-symbols/102453090
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-29/queensland-parliament-hate-symbols-crime/102158002
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-21/victoria-law-banning-nazi-salute-effective-enforceable/101877788
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-11/nsw-second-state-to-ban-swastika/101325940
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-22/victoria-passes-bill-banning-nazi-swastika/101172344
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
Argentina is a place where some people happily display pictures of Hitler on the walls in their house, and other people accept it as quite normal.
Thank Fuck For UnFreedom Of Speech
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-21/victoria-police-nazi-salute-offence-new-laws/103005966
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-13/three-men-arrested-sydney-jewish-museum-alleged-nazi-salute/102974820
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-12/qld-hate-symbols-laws-explainer/102965556
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-08/government-to-introduce-ban-on-nazi-symbols/102453090
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-29/queensland-parliament-hate-symbols-crime/102158002
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-21/victoria-law-banning-nazi-salute-effective-enforceable/101877788
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-11/nsw-second-state-to-ban-swastika/101325940
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-22/victoria-passes-bill-banning-nazi-swastika/101172344
You know what people used to do to Nazis? Kill them.
Why? Because they were Nazis, and they wanted to be Nazis in other peoples’ countries, and they wanted the people in those other countries to either be Nazis or to be dead.
Sometimes, they got it right in the olden days.
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
Argentina is a place where some people happily display pictures of Hitler on the walls in their house, and other people accept it as quite normal.
Thank Fuck For UnFreedom Of Speech
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-21/victoria-police-nazi-salute-offence-new-laws/103005966
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-13/three-men-arrested-sydney-jewish-museum-alleged-nazi-salute/102974820
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-12/qld-hate-symbols-laws-explainer/102965556
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-08/government-to-introduce-ban-on-nazi-symbols/102453090
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-29/queensland-parliament-hate-symbols-crime/102158002
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-21/victoria-law-banning-nazi-salute-effective-enforceable/101877788
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-11/nsw-second-state-to-ban-swastika/101325940
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-22/victoria-passes-bill-banning-nazi-swastika/101172344You know what people used to do to Nazis? Kill them.
Why? Because they were Nazis, and they wanted to be Nazis in other peoples’ countries, and they wanted the people in those other countries to either be Nazis or to be dead.
Sometimes, they got it right in the olden days.
Maybe but vigilantism and capital punishment are not really favoured in Australia last we checked.
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:
Thank Fuck For UnFreedom Of Speech
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-21/victoria-police-nazi-salute-offence-new-laws/103005966
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-13/three-men-arrested-sydney-jewish-museum-alleged-nazi-salute/102974820
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-12/qld-hate-symbols-laws-explainer/102965556
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-08/government-to-introduce-ban-on-nazi-symbols/102453090
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-29/queensland-parliament-hate-symbols-crime/102158002
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-21/victoria-law-banning-nazi-salute-effective-enforceable/101877788
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-11/nsw-second-state-to-ban-swastika/101325940
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-22/victoria-passes-bill-banning-nazi-swastika/101172344You know what people used to do to Nazis? Kill them.
Why? Because they were Nazis, and they wanted to be Nazis in other peoples’ countries, and they wanted the people in those other countries to either be Nazis or to be dead.
Sometimes, they got it right in the olden days.
Maybe but vigilantism and capital punishment are not really favoured in Australia last we checked.
Well, i never said that we couldn’t be discreet about it…
captain_spalding said:
Argentina is a place where some people happily display pictures of Hitler on the walls in their house, and other people accept it as quite normal.
Hey, you gotta support your family
Venezuelans back candidate to challenge Maduro — if she’s allowed
By Ana Vanessa Herrero, Samantha Schmidt and María Luisa Paúl
October 23, 2023 at 12:25 a.m. EDT
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelans nominated conservative opposition leader María Corina Machado on Sunday to challenge authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro in what his government has promised will be a competitive, internationally monitored presidential election next year.
The next obstacle she must overcome: a government ban that prevents her from running.
Machado, a 56-year-old industrial engineer and former lawmaker, won an overwhelming victory in the opposition’s first presidential primary in more than a decade to choose a single candidate to unite behind. Initial reports suggested unusually strong turnout for an unofficial vote that received no support from the government.
In a preliminary report around midnight — with 26 percent of the votes counted — the internal committee in charge of the elections said Machado got 93.13 percent of the votes, with a total of 552,430.
Maduro, Venezuelan opposition agree to freer election in 2024
Machado, a longtime critic of the government — she was once mocked by Hugo Chávez, the founder of Venezuela’s socialist state — has been disqualified from holding public office for 15 years.
But across the country — and among a diaspora of millions abroad, many of whom fled the failing economy here — there were signs of hope. Venezuelans waited hours in long lines to cast their votes.
María Victoria Ramos, 23, waited four hours with her 6-year-old to vote in the Libertador municipality of western Caracas.
“You can see it everywhere; people are determined to end this,” she said. “My son keeps asking me about why we are here, waiting for so many hours, and I just tell him that this is our chance for a better president.
“María Corina is that person.”
The government and opposition leaders agreed to terms last week for elections in the second half of 2024. The Biden administration rewarded the government the next day by easing sanctions on Venezuela’s oil, gas and gold industries.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had “conveyed our expectation and understanding” that before the end of November, Maduro will “define a specific timeline and process for the expedited reinstatement of all” candidates in upcoming elections, including “all who want to run for president” next year, on a “level electoral playing field.”
The U.S. Treasury Department issued a general license authorizing American companies to engage in long-barred transactions, primarily in the state-controlled energy sector. The license is to be valid for six months, to be renewed only if the authoritarian socialist government “meets its commitments” for elections and “with respect to those who are wrongfully detained.”
In an agreement signed Tuesday in Barbados, Maduro’s government pledged to allow all parties to choose their candidates, grant all campaigns fair access to the media and permit international observers to monitor the vote.
The government did not promise to lift bans on several of the most popular opposition candidates. But a person familiar with the negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said the government has laid out a clear pathway for all candidates, including Machado, by the end of November.
If the government doesn’t follow through, the oil and gas license will expire in April. The United States can pull out a “yellow card” before then, the person said — and the “red card” in April.
The vote Sunday was the first since 2012 to choose a consensus opposition candidate. That year, Henrique Capriles was chosen to challenge then-president Chávez.
Capriles lost to Chávez in 2012 and to Maduro in a special election after Chávez’s death in 2013.
Before the vote Sunday, polls showed Machado leading a field of 10 candidates, despite her disqualification.
In the past decade, more than 7 million Venezuelans — a quarter of the population — have fled hunger, insecurity and official repression. Venezuelans abroad cast votes at 80 polling centers in more than 20 countries — “a majorly important bloc in deciding the outcome,” said David Smolansky, Machado’s Washington-based diaspora coordinator.
Social media was awash with videos of Venezuelans throughout Latin America, North America, Europe and Australia, some clad in coats or hats splashed in the red, yellow and blue of the national flag, waiting to cast votes.
In Madrid, Delia Pérez, 60, who left Venezuela five years ago, said the vote “filled her with hope that Venezuela will one day be free again.”
“Just six months ago, the outlook in Venezuela seemed grim,” Smolansky said. “We were grieving and felt hopeless, but today we see a resurrection. We know the path ahead will be challenging, but we’re willing to take it on.”
U.S. to ease sanctions on Venezuelan oil for freer presidential election
After reinstatement, Machado’s next challenge would be unifying a historically fractured opposition. Her policy goals — such as privatizing the lucrative state-run oil industry — veer further right than many in the movement. If she is unable to register for the presidential election next year, another opposition candidate could insist on replacing her.
“After winning the primary, Machado has every right to insist on her candidacy,” said Geoff Ramsey, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Atlantic Council who focuses on Venezuela. “The thing is, Maduro will almost certainly play dirty. If she ultimately can’t run, she’ll have to work with the rest of the opposition on finding a realistic alternative.”
Maduro’s government dismissed the vote Sunday as a fraud.
Lawmaker Diosdado Cabello waves behind President Nicolás Maduro at an event in Caracas in April. (Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg News)
“Who is going to believe them? Where are they going to get credibility?” lawmaker and former vice president Diosdado Cabello, one of the most influential people in government, asked during his weekly television show. “They are liars, they manipulate, they don’t care at all. We already have the results.”
David Smilde, a Tulane University sociologist who studies Venezuela, said that given the logistical and political challenges the vote faced, it was a success.
“Beyond turnout, the primary process has done what primaries should do: force politicians to get closer to the people, generate excitement and spur change,” he said. “This process has done all of those things and has revived an opposition that just a year ago seemed to be in hibernation.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/23/venezuela-primary-vote-machado-maduro/?
Turkey’s Erdogan submits Sweden’s NATO bid to parliament for ratification
https://www.reuters.com/world/turkeys-erdogan-submits-swedens-nato-bid-parliament-ratification-presidency-2023-10-23/
This Week In Textile Work
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-24/act-experts-endangered-trades-skills-raise-interest-awareness/102986788
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-24/artificial-intelligence-fashion-industry-models-deepfake-porn-ai/102997036
LOL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-24/afp-allowed-hong-kong-police-tour-cyber-facilities/103014286
SCIENCE said:
LOL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-24/afp-allowed-hong-kong-police-tour-cyber-facilities/103014286
SCIENCE said:
Fuck Chairman Dan And CHINA And Their Lockdowns¡
Thank Fuck Regime Change Is All About
Boniadi, who has dedicated much of her working life to advocating for human rights, including in Iran — her country of birth that her family escaped soon after the 1979 revolution — questions China’s motives, suggesting they are not altruistic.
“The Chinese rapprochement between Saudi and Iran is something that Australia should care about as a democracy,” Boniadi tells ABC News in an exclusive interview, following China’s attempt at playing Middle East power broker.
Democracy And Altruism¡
captain_spalding said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
captain_spalding said:
Japan is now beginning to pay the price of having an ossified economic structure.
The way business is set up and run in Japan solidified around about 1965, and nothing significant has changed since then.
This was fine as long as the rest of the world was still doing things in a similar way, the Japanese were doing much the same things as everyone else, but doing them better and working harder at them. By the end of the 1980s, Japan’s lack of ability to adapt to changing circumstances was beginning to be a bit of a drag on its influence and position in the the world picture, and the last 30 years have been a very slow but steady decline in its world economic standing.
Things were not helped for them by the emergence of China, with its ‘anything goes’ attitude towards business and manufacturing, largely unhindered by a prescribed way of doing things such as the Japanese adhere to.
There’s no ‘correct’ way to do capitalism: whatever pays the bills! Japan’s turning on the dime with the Meiji restoration shows how adaptable they can be. IMO it’s their moribund politics and inability to make their government accountable through a vibrant competitive democracy that is the real culprit with the lost decade of policy inaction as a case in point.
Yes,that’s part of it. It’s the visible portion of the iceberg of ‘how things are done’. There’s rules and prescribed ways of doing everything, and everyone makes sure that they don’t rock the boat by even the smallest degree. Even when reform or more tolerance for innovation is promulgated, you can be sure that it’ll only be a facade, and, underneath, nothing will change at all.
In 1945, it was acknowledged by Hirohito and his courtiers, advisers, and ministers that Japan would have to bear the unbearable, and place themselves on an equal and undistinguished level with other countries for perhaps 100 years, before rising to greatness again.
The end of that 100 years is now approaching, and we’ll have to wait and see what ‘rising to greatness again’ actually means.
Wait so are CHINA a bunch of communist authoritarians who have to do things the way they are required to be done, or are they a shrewd flexible crowd who fucked the world supply chain with their overwhelming mass production comparative advantage¿
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/10/30/what-a-third-world-war-would-mean-for-investors
Not satire
dv said:
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/10/30/what-a-third-world-war-would-mean-for-investors
Not satire
The captains of industry will be rubbing their hands.
Now do bookkeepers and the gambling industry.
‘A little scary’: Argentina elects Trump-like libertarian Javier Milei as president
By Nicolás Misculin and Walter Bianchi
November 20, 2023 — 10.33am
Buenos Aires: Argentina elected libertarian outsider Javier Milei as its new president on Sunday, rolling the dice on an outsider with radical views to fix an economy battered by triple-digit inflation, a looming recession and rising poverty.
Official results have not been released, but his rival, Peronist Economy Minister Sergio Massa, conceded in a speech. His candidacy was hampered by the country’s worst economic crisis in two decades while he has been at the helm.
Milei, who has frequently been compared to ex-US president Donald Trump, is pledging economic shock therapy. His plans include shutting the central bank, ditching the peso, and slashing spending, potentially painful reforms that resonated with voters angry at the economic malaise, but sparked fears of austerity in others.
“Milei is the new thing, he’s a bit of an unknown and it is a little scary, but it’s time to turn over a new page,” said 31-year-old restaurant worker Cristian as he voted on Sunday.
But Milei’s challenges are enormous. He will have to deal with the empty coffers of the government and central bank, a creaking $US44 billion debt program with the International Monetary Fund, inflation nearing 150 per cent and a dizzying array of capital controls.
With many Argentines not fully convinced by either candidate, some had characterized the vote as a choice of the “lesser evil”: fear of Milei’s painful economic medicine versus anger at Massa and his Peronist party for an economic crisis that has left Argentina deeply in debt and unable to tap global credit markets.
Milei has been particularly popular among the young, who have grown up seeing their country lurch from one crisis to another.
“Our generation is pushing the presidency of Milei to stop our country being a pariah,” said Agustina Lista, 22, a student in Buenos Aires.
Milei’s win shakes up Argentina’s political landscape and economic roadmap, and could impact trade in grains, lithium and hydrocarbons. Milei has criticised China and Brazil, saying he won’t deal with “communists,” and favours stronger US ties.
The shock rise of the 53-year-old economist and former TV pundit has been the story of the election, breaking the hegemony of the two main political forces on the left and the right – the Peronists and the main Together for Change conservative bloc.
“The election marks a profound rupture in the system of political representation in Argentina,” said Julio Burdman, director of the consultancy Observatorio Electoral, ahead of the vote.
Supporters of Massa, 51, an experienced political wheeler-dealer, had sought to appeal to voter fears about Milei’s volatile character and “chainsaw” plan to cut back the size of the state.
“Milei’s policies scare me,” teacher Susana Martinez, 42, said on Sunday after she voted for Massa.
Milei is also staunchly anti-abortion, favours looser gun laws and has called Argentine Pope Francis a socialist “son of a bitch”. He used to carry a chainsaw in a symbol of his planned cuts but shelved it in recent weeks to help boost his moderate image.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/south-america/a-little-scary-argentina-elects-trump-loving-libertarian-javier-milei-as-president-20231120-p5el9i.html
Witty Rejoinder said:
‘A little scary’: Argentina elects Trump-like libertarian Javier Milei as president
By Nicolás Misculin and Walter Bianchi
November 20, 2023 — 10.33amBuenos Aires: Argentina elected libertarian outsider Javier Milei as its new president on Sunday, rolling the dice on an outsider with radical views to fix an economy battered by triple-digit inflation, a looming recession and rising poverty.
Official results have not been released, but his rival, Peronist Economy Minister Sergio Massa, conceded in a speech. His candidacy was hampered by the country’s worst economic crisis in two decades while he has been at the helm.
Milei, who has frequently been compared to ex-US president Donald Trump, is pledging economic shock therapy. His plans include shutting the central bank, ditching the peso, and slashing spending, potentially painful reforms that resonated with voters angry at the economic malaise, but sparked fears of austerity in others.
“Milei is the new thing, he’s a bit of an unknown and it is a little scary, but it’s time to turn over a new page,” said 31-year-old restaurant worker Cristian as he voted on Sunday.
But Milei’s challenges are enormous. He will have to deal with the empty coffers of the government and central bank, a creaking $US44 billion debt program with the International Monetary Fund, inflation nearing 150 per cent and a dizzying array of capital controls.
With many Argentines not fully convinced by either candidate, some had characterized the vote as a choice of the “lesser evil”: fear of Milei’s painful economic medicine versus anger at Massa and his Peronist party for an economic crisis that has left Argentina deeply in debt and unable to tap global credit markets.
Milei has been particularly popular among the young, who have grown up seeing their country lurch from one crisis to another.
“Our generation is pushing the presidency of Milei to stop our country being a pariah,” said Agustina Lista, 22, a student in Buenos Aires.
Milei’s win shakes up Argentina’s political landscape and economic roadmap, and could impact trade in grains, lithium and hydrocarbons. Milei has criticised China and Brazil, saying he won’t deal with “communists,” and favours stronger US ties.
The shock rise of the 53-year-old economist and former TV pundit has been the story of the election, breaking the hegemony of the two main political forces on the left and the right – the Peronists and the main Together for Change conservative bloc.
“The election marks a profound rupture in the system of political representation in Argentina,” said Julio Burdman, director of the consultancy Observatorio Electoral, ahead of the vote.
Supporters of Massa, 51, an experienced political wheeler-dealer, had sought to appeal to voter fears about Milei’s volatile character and “chainsaw” plan to cut back the size of the state.
“Milei’s policies scare me,” teacher Susana Martinez, 42, said on Sunday after she voted for Massa.
Milei is also staunchly anti-abortion, favours looser gun laws and has called Argentine Pope Francis a socialist “son of a bitch”. He used to carry a chainsaw in a symbol of his planned cuts but shelved it in recent weeks to help boost his moderate image.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/south-america/a-little-scary-argentina-elects-trump-loving-libertarian-javier-milei-as-president-20231120-p5el9i.html
Argentines ought to be a little bit more careful about what they wish for.
Still, they love a good riot, and Milei looks set to give them plenty of reasons to have some.
Witty Rejoinder said:
‘A little scary’: Argentina elects Trump-like libertarian Javier Milei as president
By Nicolás Misculin and Walter Bianchi
November 20, 2023 — 10.33amBuenos Aires: Argentina elected libertarian outsider Javier Milei as its new president on Sunday, rolling the dice on an outsider with radical views to fix an economy battered by triple-digit inflation, a looming recession and rising poverty.
Official results have not been released, but his rival, Peronist Economy Minister Sergio Massa, conceded in a speech. His candidacy was hampered by the country’s worst economic crisis in two decades while he has been at the helm.
Milei, who has frequently been compared to ex-US president Donald Trump, is pledging economic shock therapy. His plans include shutting the central bank, ditching the peso, and slashing spending, potentially painful reforms that resonated with voters angry at the economic malaise, but sparked fears of austerity in others.
“Milei is the new thing, he’s a bit of an unknown and it is a little scary, but it’s time to turn over a new page,” said 31-year-old restaurant worker Cristian as he voted on Sunday.
But Milei’s challenges are enormous. He will have to deal with the empty coffers of the government and central bank, a creaking $US44 billion debt program with the International Monetary Fund, inflation nearing 150 per cent and a dizzying array of capital controls.
With many Argentines not fully convinced by either candidate, some had characterized the vote as a choice of the “lesser evil”: fear of Milei’s painful economic medicine versus anger at Massa and his Peronist party for an economic crisis that has left Argentina deeply in debt and unable to tap global credit markets.
Milei has been particularly popular among the young, who have grown up seeing their country lurch from one crisis to another.
“Our generation is pushing the presidency of Milei to stop our country being a pariah,” said Agustina Lista, 22, a student in Buenos Aires.
Milei’s win shakes up Argentina’s political landscape and economic roadmap, and could impact trade in grains, lithium and hydrocarbons. Milei has criticised China and Brazil, saying he won’t deal with “communists,” and favours stronger US ties.
The shock rise of the 53-year-old economist and former TV pundit has been the story of the election, breaking the hegemony of the two main political forces on the left and the right – the Peronists and the main Together for Change conservative bloc.
“The election marks a profound rupture in the system of political representation in Argentina,” said Julio Burdman, director of the consultancy Observatorio Electoral, ahead of the vote.
Supporters of Massa, 51, an experienced political wheeler-dealer, had sought to appeal to voter fears about Milei’s volatile character and “chainsaw” plan to cut back the size of the state.
“Milei’s policies scare me,” teacher Susana Martinez, 42, said on Sunday after she voted for Massa.
Milei is also staunchly anti-abortion, favours looser gun laws and has called Argentine Pope Francis a socialist “son of a bitch”. He used to carry a chainsaw in a symbol of his planned cuts but shelved it in recent weeks to help boost his moderate image.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/south-america/a-little-scary-argentina-elects-trump-loving-libertarian-javier-milei-as-president-20231120-p5el9i.html
And invading the Falklands.
Peak Warming Man said:
And invading the Falklands.
Always a popular notion. And it did such wonders for the Argentinian government the last time.
Although Trump seems to be the go-to comparison, there are also a number of differences. Trump came to office in a time of economic prosperity, low inflation, low unemployment, high growth. Argentina really is in an economic crisis now and it’s not so surprising that people have gone for a wildcard. Milei’s promise to use a dollar-tied currency is probably a good move.
His other ideas (militarising the prisons, banning abortion, privatising the medical system etc) are dreadful.
He still has parliament to contend with and he won’t be able to get most of this done.
captain_spalding said:
Peak Warming Man said:
captain_spalding said:
From the ABC report:
‘The scene was still sealed off shortly before 6pm when a group of around 50 anti-immigrant protesters briefly broke through a police barrier.
Some shouted “get them out” and one kicked the wing mirror off a police car. Another was draped in an Irish flag.
Riot police in helmets and shields were deployed shortly after.’
Revolts so far: 0
Burnings so far: 0
Loot acquired so far: 1 wing mirror
All things considered, it might be much worse.
New information has just come to hand…
Good To See Nationalist Determination On The Rise ¡
Live: 34 arrested, 13 shops damaged and 11 garda vehicles damaged and destroyed in Dublin violence
GOVERNMENT AND GARDAÍ are responding in the aftermath of violent scenes last night that saw clashes with gardaí, shops smashed and looted, and buses and Luas carriages set on fire.
The unrest came after five people, including three young children, were hospitalised after a stabbing in Parnell Square yesterday afternoon.
A five-year-old girl remains in a serious condition as does her teacher following the incident.
The scenes of violence have been widely condemned, with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris describing those carrying out the rioting as a “complete lunatic, hooligan faction”.
This morning, public transport is still disrupted, while gardaí remain at the scene of yesterday’s attack on Parnell Street East.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said that 34 arrests were made, while 13 shops were damaged, 11 garda vehicles were “either destroyed through arson or quite extensively damaged”. Three buses and one Luas were also destroyed.
https://www.thejournal.ie/liveblog-dublin-riots-aftermath-6231436-Nov2023/
dv said:
Live: 34 arrested, 13 shops damaged and 11 garda vehicles damaged and destroyed in Dublin violenceGOVERNMENT AND GARDAÍ are responding in the aftermath of violent scenes last night that saw clashes with gardaí, shops smashed and looted, and buses and Luas carriages set on fire.
The unrest came after five people, including three young children, were hospitalised after a stabbing in Parnell Square yesterday afternoon.
A five-year-old girl remains in a serious condition as does her teacher following the incident.
The scenes of violence have been widely condemned, with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris describing those carrying out the rioting as a “complete lunatic, hooligan faction”.
This morning, public transport is still disrupted, while gardaí remain at the scene of yesterday’s attack on Parnell Street East.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said that 34 arrests were made, while 13 shops were damaged, 11 garda vehicles were “either destroyed through arson or quite extensively damaged”. Three buses and one Luas were also destroyed.
https://www.thejournal.ie/liveblog-dublin-riots-aftermath-6231436-Nov2023/
It’s hard to explain why the mob burns random peoples shops due to some other random person stabbing another random person/people.
It’s pretty random.
dv said:
Live: 34 arrested, 13 shops damaged and 11 garda vehicles damaged and destroyed in Dublin violenceGOVERNMENT AND GARDAÍ are responding in the aftermath of violent scenes last night that saw clashes with gardaí, shops smashed and looted, and buses and Luas carriages set on fire.
The unrest came after five people, including three young children, were hospitalised after a stabbing in Parnell Square yesterday afternoon.
A five-year-old girl remains in a serious condition as does her teacher following the incident.
The scenes of violence have been widely condemned, with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris describing those carrying out the rioting as a “complete lunatic, hooligan faction”.
This morning, public transport is still disrupted, while gardaí remain at the scene of yesterday’s attack on Parnell Street East.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said that 34 arrests were made, while 13 shops were damaged, 11 garda vehicles were “either destroyed through arson or quite extensively damaged”. Three buses and one Luas were also destroyed.
https://www.thejournal.ie/liveblog-dublin-riots-aftermath-6231436-Nov2023/
A Lucas is Doublins light rail, apparently.
Kingy said:
dv said:
Live: 34 arrested, 13 shops damaged and 11 garda vehicles damaged and destroyed in Dublin violence
GOVERNMENT AND GARDAÍ are responding in the aftermath of violent scenes last night that saw clashes with gardaí, shops smashed and looted, and buses and Luas carriages set on fire.
The unrest came after five people, including three young children, were hospitalised after a stabbing in Parnell Square yesterday afternoon.
A five-year-old girl remains in a serious condition as does her teacher following the incident.
The scenes of violence have been widely condemned, with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris describing those carrying out the rioting as a “complete lunatic, hooligan faction”.
This morning, public transport is still disrupted, while gardaí remain at the scene of yesterday’s attack on Parnell Street East.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said that 34 arrests were made, while 13 shops were damaged, 11 garda vehicles were “either destroyed through arson or quite extensively damaged”. Three buses and one Luas were also destroyed.
https://www.thejournal.ie/liveblog-dublin-riots-aftermath-6231436-Nov2023/
It’s hard to explain why the mob burns random peoples shops due to some other random person stabbing another random person/people.
It’s pretty random.
Shrug 31.5017, 34.4668 shrug.
The Venezuelan government has claimed victory in a referendum to determine whether the country should claim part of the territory of neighbouring Guyana. Critics say the turnout was so low (around 10%) that the results aren’t meaningful.
Brazil is on good terms with Guyana, and Guyana is a commonwealth country.
dv said:
The Venezuelan government has claimed victory in a referendum to determine whether the country should claim part of the territory of neighbouring Guyana. Critics say the turnout was so low (around 10%) that the results aren’t meaningful.Brazil is on good terms with Guyana, and Guyana is a commonwealth country.
So Venezuela is just gonna invade Guyana?
There’ll be some sternly worded emails being dispatched.
dv said:
The Venezuelan government has claimed victory in a referendum to determine whether the country should claim part of the territory of neighbouring Guyana. Critics say the turnout was so low (around 10%) that the results aren’t meaningful.Brazil is on good terms with Guyana, and Guyana is a commonwealth country.
Time to “export democracy” to Venezuela. Fuck ‘em.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-17/red-sea-explainer-drones-shipping-comapnies-houthi/103238874
“US and British militaries say they’ve shot down 15 attack drones over the Red Sea as more major shipping firms suspend passage through a corridor vital for global trade. “
“We are likely to know more in coming days — should marine insurers withdraw policies for ships passing through the area or declare the Red Sea a ‘war zone’, shipping lines will be commercially left with little option but to abandon this key waterway.”
If the shipping companies stop using the Red Sea, they’ll stop paying Egypt for use of the Suez Canal.
Egypt will then give the Hooties a stern talking to, and problem solved.
Kingy said:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-17/red-sea-explainer-drones-shipping-comapnies-houthi/103238874“US and British militaries say they’ve shot down 15 attack drones over the Red Sea as more major shipping firms suspend passage through a corridor vital for global trade. “
“We are likely to know more in coming days — should marine insurers withdraw policies for ships passing through the area or declare the Red Sea a ‘war zone’, shipping lines will be commercially left with little option but to abandon this key waterway.”
If the shipping companies stop using the Red Sea, they’ll stop paying Egypt for use of the Suez Canal.
Egypt will then give the Hooties a stern talking to, and problem solved.
These Hooties are bad people, and probably them muslems.
Kingy said:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-17/red-sea-explainer-drones-shipping-comapnies-houthi/103238874“US and British militaries say they’ve shot down 15 attack drones over the Red Sea as more major shipping firms suspend passage through a corridor vital for global trade. “
“We are likely to know more in coming days — should marine insurers withdraw policies for ships passing through the area or declare the Red Sea a ‘war zone’, shipping lines will be commercially left with little option but to abandon this key waterway.”
If the shipping companies stop using the Red Sea, they’ll stop paying Egypt for use of the Suez Canal.
Egypt will then give the Hooties a stern talking to, and problem solved.
That’s how it should work.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67858566.amp
Ethiopia signs agreement with Somaliland paving way to sea access
Russia recently used short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) sourced from North Korea to conduct multiple strikes against Ukraine, a White House spokesperson said, citing newly declassified intelligence.
FMD things are crook in kalamanook if Russia is sourcing rockets from NK.
dv said:
FMD things are crook in kalamanook if Russia is sourcing rockets from NK.
Nods.
Michael V said:
dv said:
FMD things are crook in kalamanook if Russia is sourcing rockets from NK.
Nods.
The NKs would have been happy to come to the party, and might have even suggested it.
There’s nothing like some operational testing to make you feel reassured about your weapons systems.
Bangladesh is conducting parliamentary elections today. The main opposition party are boycotting them because of crack-downs on the opposition and the silencing of critics by the increasingly authoritarian ruling party.
Sometimes I wonder about boycotts and whether they are really effective. I question whether when faced with dirty politics is it better to just drag your opponent into the mud and have at it.
Ecuador enters a state of emergency as criminal gangs step up campaign of violence
Bit of a rout in the end:
https://asia.nikkei.com/static/vdata/infographics/election-taiwan-2024/
“A Pakistani court has sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife to 14 years in prison for corruption, a day after another special court convicted him for leaking state secrets and gave him a 10-year prison sentence.
Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, had been accused of retaining and selling state gifts when the former premier was in power.
The court also disqualified Khan for 10 years from holding any public office ahead of February 8 parliamentary elections, according to his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).”
I have no idea where the truth lies in these matters, but charging political leaders with crimes seems to happen a lot in Pakistan.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-31/pakistan-ex-pm-imran-khan-sentenced-to-14-years-over-gifts/103410762
Michael V said:
“A Pakistani court has sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife to 14 years in prison for corruption, a day after another special court convicted him for leaking state secrets and gave him a 10-year prison sentence.Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, had been accused of retaining and selling state gifts when the former premier was in power.
The court also disqualified Khan for 10 years from holding any public office ahead of February 8 parliamentary elections, according to his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).”
I have no idea where the truth lies in these matters, but charging political leaders with crimes seems to happen a lot in Pakistan.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-31/pakistan-ex-pm-imran-khan-sentenced-to-14-years-over-gifts/103410762
Got him, yes he’s gone.
Peak Warming Man said:
Michael V said:
“A Pakistani court has sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife to 14 years in prison for corruption, a day after another special court convicted him for leaking state secrets and gave him a 10-year prison sentence.Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, had been accused of retaining and selling state gifts when the former premier was in power.
The court also disqualified Khan for 10 years from holding any public office ahead of February 8 parliamentary elections, according to his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).”
I have no idea where the truth lies in these matters, but charging political leaders with crimes seems to happen a lot in Pakistan.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-31/pakistan-ex-pm-imran-khan-sentenced-to-14-years-over-gifts/103410762
Got him, yes he’s gone.
LOL
dv said:
of course eastern countries never did this.
Michael V said:
“A Pakistani court has sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife to 14 years in prison for corruption, a day after another special court convicted him for leaking state secrets and gave him a 10-year prison sentence.Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, had been accused of retaining and selling state gifts when the former premier was in power.
The court also disqualified Khan for 10 years from holding any public office ahead of February 8 parliamentary elections, according to his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).”
I have no idea where the truth lies in these matters, but charging political leaders with crimes seems to happen a lot in Pakistan.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-31/pakistan-ex-pm-imran-khan-sentenced-to-14-years-over-gifts/103410762
JudgeMental said:
dv said:
of course eastern countries never did this.
No need for any mention of this
Huge if true
dv said:
Huge if true
It’s true alright.
I organise a press release.
The inescapable appeal of the world’s ‘coolest dictator’
Analysis by Ishaan Tharoor
Columnist
February 6, 2024 at 12:00 a.m. EST
El Salvador is the site of a startling — and, to many liberals, disturbing — political project. Under President Nayib Bukele, who won reelection in a crushing landslide over the weekend, the country has shifted from what was a functional multiparty democracy to a de facto one-party state. Backed by a parliamentary supermajority, Bukele packed the country’s constitutional court with loyalists. They later issued a ruling that allowed him to circumvent prohibitions against presidents holding office longer than one term.
Bukele is embarking on a second five-year stint in office where his power will be paramount, the country’s legislature a rubber stamp for the agenda of the executive and the opposition a feeble shadow. And Salvadorans are ecstatic. Bukele commands some of the highest approval ratings of any leader in the world and won Sunday’s presidential vote by close to a 90 percent margin.
His astonishing popularity hinges on one critical issue: Since winning the presidency in 2019, Bukele has masterminded a sweeping crackdown on gangs and cartels that proliferated for years throughout El Salvador and through networks across the region. His tough approach has lowered the country’s once world-leading homicide rates and brought a degree of safety to Salvadoran neighborhoods. It’s also inspired politicians, especially on the right, across Latin America to try to replicate the Bukele model.
Critics, though, point to its heavy-handed overreach. For two years, the country’s legislature granted Bukele emergency powers to carry out his fight against crime. “Bukele’s government has used emergency powers to jail more than 72,000 suspects — giving El Salvador the world’s highest lockup rate,” explained my colleague Mary Beth Sheridan last year. “They face mass trials of up to 900 defendants. Human rights groups say many were arrested arbitrarily. The government has acknowledged some errors, freeing around 7,000.”
How to match Bukele’s success against gangs? First, dismantle democracy.
Bukele, 42, has scoffed at his critics, including officials in the Biden administration, which said the 2021 court ruling that paved the way for Bukele’s second term “undermines democracy.” Suave and irreverent, Bukele then jokingly rebranded his bio on Twitter, now known as X, as “the coolest dictator in the world.”
The vast majority of Salvadorans appeared unfussed, drawn instead to the populist promise inherent in Bukele’s pitch to smash a failed status quo that presided over stagnation, corruption and poverty. “It will be the first time in a country that just one party exists in a completely democratic system,” Bukele exulted before cheering crowds on Sunday night, adding that “the entire opposition together was pulverized.”
That’s largely undeniable. “El Salvador’s traditional parties from the left and right that created the vacuum that Bukele first filled in 2019 remain in shambles,” noted the Associated Press. “Alternating in power for some three decades, the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) were thoroughly discredited by their own corruption and ineffectiveness.”
The Salvadoran president cast the election as a referendum on his way of doing things in a society traumatized by decades of violence. “Why are there so many eyes on a small (Latin) American country?” Bukele said to his supporters. “They’re afraid of the power of example.”
Bukele’s bio on X no longer mentions anything about being a dictator. Now, he simply identifies as a “philosopher king.”
Bukele’s success in El Salvador reflects a set of politics that transcends his small Central American nation. In both developing and developed countries, democracies are facing historic tests. Polls show mounting public apathy from voters, particularly young people, and growing disenchantment with the ideals of liberal democracy itself.
“There’s this growing rejection of the basic principles of democracy and human rights, and support for authoritarian populism among people who feel that, concepts like democracy and human rights and due process have failed them,” Tyler Mattiace, Americas researcher for Human Rights Watch, told the AP.
For this reason, Bukele has become a cause célèbre among the U.S. right. “The American liberal media cannot comprehend that enforcing hard authority might make a society better, and counterintuitively, more free and liberal,” declared the American Conservative, adding that Bukele “provides a time-tested, successful alternative to the liberal model of governance.”
But the path forward for Bukele is far from smooth. His anti-gang measures are wildly popular, but his country’s economic position remains fraught — inflation is a mounting problem, and El Salvador still has high rates of poverty and unemployment. Bukele’s attention-grabbing, quixotic bid to make bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador has done little to address deeper problems.
“Showmanship is no substitute for governance, and the second term will inevitably increase pressure on Bukele to address the state of the economy,” wrote Christine Wade, a political scientist focused on Latin America at Washington College. “With food insecurity on the rise and exports in decline, Bukele will have to have to address the country’s socioeconomic ailments with policies that prove more effective than his stalled Bitcoin initiative.”
“If prices continue to rise and the government is unable to respond, Bukele’s five-year run of strong popularity may end in his second term,” Valeria Vásquez, senior analyst for Central America at Control Risks consultancy, told Americas Quarterly. “However, given the erosion of the political opposition and the country’s checks and balances, it will be difficult for any serious challenge to emerge.”
Indeed, there’s one overwhelming reality in El Salvador: “The Bukele Model is this,” Juan Martínez d’Aubuisson, an anthropologist who has studied El Salvador’s gangs, told Sheridan. “Concentrating all the power in one man.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/02/06/bukele-nayib-el-salvador-president-coolest-dictator-global-international/?
dv said:
She is wise, wise beyond her years.
Which is about four.
Indonesian presidential and legislative elections are on. There will be a set of run-off elections later for cases where no one reaches 50%.
Joko Widoyo is term limited and the moderate who replaced him as PDI-P candidate (Ganjar Pranowo) does not appear to be popular. It seems very likely the right wing Gerindra party will gain the presidency with Prabowo Subianto. A former Kopassos leader under Suharto, he is associated with a number of war crimes in East Timor and with disappearances and kidnappings domestically.
It appears that progressive and moderate parties will together hold a majority in parliament so Prabowo’s ability to direct change will be limited.
Pakistan stunned as ex-premier Khan’s party overperforms in election
By Rick Noack, Shaiq Hussain and Haq Nawaz Khan
Updated February 9, 2024 at 4:55 p.m. EST|Published February 9, 2024 at 8:57 a.m. EST
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s general election took a surprising turn Friday after candidates affiliated with the party of jailed opposition leader Imran Khan appeared to have performed well above expectations, according to provisional official results for more than 90 percent of the races.
Khan’s rival, three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, had been widely viewed as the clear front-runner and preferred candidate of Pakistan’s powerful military, which has a history of shaping politics in the country. But by Friday evening, his party had won only 70 out of 246 called races — compared to over 90 for Khan-linked candidates.
Sharif suggested in a speech late Friday that his party would seek to form a broad coalition government. “Since we don’t have a clear majority, we will reach out,” he said, “to steer the country out of the quagmire it is in.”
Sharif’s outreach, however, is unlikely to include the leadership of Khan’s party, which continues to be deeply at odds with Pakistan’s establishment and is unlikely to return to power, despite the races won by people associated with it.
But a future government could include some candidates who ran on the ticket of Khan’s party. All of its candidates had been ordered by a court to run as independents in the lead-up to the election, which now opens up the possibility of rival parties poaching some of them in the coming days. This could turn upcoming coalition talks into a particularly fraught process and deepen polarization between Khan’s supporters and his opponents in this nuclear-armed country of 240 million.
Khan, who was arrested in August after a court convicted him of corruption, is still in jail and buried under multiple lawsuits. He did not run in this election, and his party would have no obvious coalition partner in Parliament. Sharif’s party has a clearer path to power if it can form a coalition with the Pakistan People’s Party, led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who represents another major Pakistani political family.
But the provisional results of Thursday’s vote still pointed to lingering support for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, which was politically sidelined by the Pakistani establishment after Khan ran afoul of the military two years ago.
“Your massive turnout has surprised everyone,” Khan told his supporters in an AI-generated speech from prison Friday night. “By voting, you have laid the foundation for true freedom.”
Its supporters say Khan’s party has been all but dismantled over the past year, with many of its leaders arrested and its offices raided. As vote-counting appeared to slow Thursday night, the remnants of the party’s leadership raised the possibility of electoral fraud.
“We demand that there should be no manipulation of results,” said Omar Ayub Khan, the PTI’s secretary general. The PTI’s leadership called on its supporters to assemble outside polling stations to demand a fair counting process.
In a statement, the U.S. State Department condemned “electoral violence, restrictions on the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including attacks on media workers, and restrictions on access to the Internet and telecommunication services” and said it was “concerned about allegations of interference in the electoral process.”
There were some initial reports of protests by PTI supporters over electoral fraud allegations in parts of the country Friday. Two people were killed in northwestern Pakistan after PTI supporters clashed with police over claims of vote fraud there, officials said.
“There is a strong likelihood of more instability,” cautioned Pakistani political analyst Ijaz Khattak, especially if the PTI’s supporters feel that their candidates are being coerced into joining other parties.
When Khan was arrested on corruption charges early last year, the country witnessed days of clashes between security forces and his supporters. Pakistan’s government later compared those riots to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by supporters of Donald Trump.
Khan’s party has rejected those comparisons, saying that most of its supporters protested peacefully. But the PTI has warned that it may not be able to control its supporters’ fury if what they perceive as an election victory is taken away from them.
Pakistani authorities cited security concerns to justify a nationwide shutdown of all mobile internet and cellphone connections starting early Thursday, when voting got underway, but the PTI alleged that the measures were part of a sophisticated attempt to manipulate the election.
Pakistan’s caretaker interior minister, Gohar Ejaz, defended the shutdown Friday, saying it was “not an easy decision” but necessary to deter militants who may have tried to attack polling stations with remote-control devices. Mobile internet services were restored across large parts of Pakistan by Friday morning.
Pakistan’s military said that despite precautions, 12 people were killed in 51 attacks “aimed at disrupting the electoral process” in the remote Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces — a toll that appeared to be lower than some worst-case scenarios in the run-up to the election.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/09/pakistan-election-results-imran-khan/?
Witty Rejoinder said:
Pakistan stunned as ex-premier Khan’s party overperforms in election
By Rick Noack, Shaiq Hussain and Haq Nawaz Khan
Updated February 9, 2024 at 4:55 p.m. EST|Published February 9, 2024 at 8:57 a.m. ESTISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s general election took a surprising turn Friday after candidates affiliated with the party of jailed opposition leader Imran Khan appeared to have performed well above expectations, according to provisional official results for more than 90 percent of the races.
Khan’s rival, three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, had been widely viewed as the clear front-runner and preferred candidate of Pakistan’s powerful military, which has a history of shaping politics in the country. But by Friday evening, his party had won only 70 out of 246 called races — compared to over 90 for Khan-linked candidates.
Sharif suggested in a speech late Friday that his party would seek to form a broad coalition government. “Since we don’t have a clear majority, we will reach out,” he said, “to steer the country out of the quagmire it is in.”
Sharif’s outreach, however, is unlikely to include the leadership of Khan’s party, which continues to be deeply at odds with Pakistan’s establishment and is unlikely to return to power, despite the races won by people associated with it.
But a future government could include some candidates who ran on the ticket of Khan’s party. All of its candidates had been ordered by a court to run as independents in the lead-up to the election, which now opens up the possibility of rival parties poaching some of them in the coming days. This could turn upcoming coalition talks into a particularly fraught process and deepen polarization between Khan’s supporters and his opponents in this nuclear-armed country of 240 million.
Khan, who was arrested in August after a court convicted him of corruption, is still in jail and buried under multiple lawsuits. He did not run in this election, and his party would have no obvious coalition partner in Parliament. Sharif’s party has a clearer path to power if it can form a coalition with the Pakistan People’s Party, led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who represents another major Pakistani political family.
But the provisional results of Thursday’s vote still pointed to lingering support for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, which was politically sidelined by the Pakistani establishment after Khan ran afoul of the military two years ago.
“Your massive turnout has surprised everyone,” Khan told his supporters in an AI-generated speech from prison Friday night. “By voting, you have laid the foundation for true freedom.”
Its supporters say Khan’s party has been all but dismantled over the past year, with many of its leaders arrested and its offices raided. As vote-counting appeared to slow Thursday night, the remnants of the party’s leadership raised the possibility of electoral fraud.
“We demand that there should be no manipulation of results,” said Omar Ayub Khan, the PTI’s secretary general. The PTI’s leadership called on its supporters to assemble outside polling stations to demand a fair counting process.
In a statement, the U.S. State Department condemned “electoral violence, restrictions on the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including attacks on media workers, and restrictions on access to the Internet and telecommunication services” and said it was “concerned about allegations of interference in the electoral process.”
There were some initial reports of protests by PTI supporters over electoral fraud allegations in parts of the country Friday. Two people were killed in northwestern Pakistan after PTI supporters clashed with police over claims of vote fraud there, officials said.
“There is a strong likelihood of more instability,” cautioned Pakistani political analyst Ijaz Khattak, especially if the PTI’s supporters feel that their candidates are being coerced into joining other parties.
When Khan was arrested on corruption charges early last year, the country witnessed days of clashes between security forces and his supporters. Pakistan’s government later compared those riots to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by supporters of Donald Trump.
Khan’s party has rejected those comparisons, saying that most of its supporters protested peacefully. But the PTI has warned that it may not be able to control its supporters’ fury if what they perceive as an election victory is taken away from them.
Pakistani authorities cited security concerns to justify a nationwide shutdown of all mobile internet and cellphone connections starting early Thursday, when voting got underway, but the PTI alleged that the measures were part of a sophisticated attempt to manipulate the election.
Pakistan’s caretaker interior minister, Gohar Ejaz, defended the shutdown Friday, saying it was “not an easy decision” but necessary to deter militants who may have tried to attack polling stations with remote-control devices. Mobile internet services were restored across large parts of Pakistan by Friday morning.
Pakistan’s military said that despite precautions, 12 people were killed in 51 attacks “aimed at disrupting the electoral process” in the remote Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces — a toll that appeared to be lower than some worst-case scenarios in the run-up to the election.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/09/pakistan-election-results-imran-khan/?
Khan’s party looks like having the biggest number of seats, Khan is in jail for 14 years.
Trump, who should be in jail, looks like winning the US presidential election.
What the hell is going on in the world.
Looks like Roy Spencer has decided that updating his temperature records right at the start of every month is not such a great idea at the moment:
The Rev Dodgson said:
Looks like Roy Spencer has decided that updating his temperature records right at the start of every month is not such a great idea at the moment:
The USSA Will Fix This¡
dv said:
Heh.
Bubblecar said:
dv said:
Heh.
¿ Is This A Comment About Western TaiwanImperialism
SCIENCE said:
Bubblecar said:
dv said:
Heh.
¿ Is This A Comment About Western TaiwanImperialism
Just pointing out the absurdity of the Chinese gov-bot’s argument.
It’s another contribution in the line of: “We use our Chinese tanks to run over Chinese people, so if we use them to run over Taiwanese, that means they’re Chinese too.”
Bubblecar said:
SCIENCE said:
Bubblecar said:
Heh.
¿ Is This A Comment About Western TaiwanImperialism
Just pointing out the absurdity of the Chinese gov-bot’s argument.
It’s another contribution in the line of: “We use our Chinese tanks to run over Chinese people, so if we use them to run over Taiwanese, that means they’re Chinese too.”
Yeah we agree it’s stupid no worries about that.
SCIENCE said:
Bubblecar said:
dv said:
Heh.
¿ Is This A Comment About Western TaiwanImperialism
Your effect didn’t work for me but at least I checked source because I knew you’d be up to tricks
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/armenia-is-considering-seeking-eu-membership-foreign-minister-says-2024-03-09/
Armenia is considering seeking EU membership, foreign minister says
Reuters
dv said:
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/armenia-is-considering-seeking-eu-membership-foreign-minister-says-2024-03-09/Armenia is considering seeking EU membership, foreign minister says
Reuters
Interesting. And then there will be ten.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Georgia_to_the_European_Union
dv said:
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/armenia-is-considering-seeking-eu-membership-foreign-minister-says-2024-03-09/Armenia is considering seeking EU membership, foreign minister says
Reuters
It’s harder to get out of than it is to join.
It’s like trying to leave Scientology or other cults.
Britain had a he’ll of a job getting their freedom and self-respect back. And now the British sausage is back on the plates of Punters across this green land and little Jimmy can go to sleep in his own little room again.
Peak Warming Man said:
dv said:
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/armenia-is-considering-seeking-eu-membership-foreign-minister-says-2024-03-09/Armenia is considering seeking EU membership, foreign minister says
Reuters
It’s harder to get out of than it is to join.
It’s like trying to leave Scientology or other cults.
Britain had a he’ll of a job getting their freedom and self-respect back. And now the British sausage is back on the plates of Punters across this green land and little Jimmy can go to sleep in his own little room again.
Tough crowd tonight Fred, keep the engine running.
Now that the Baltic Sea is NATO Lake, we need a catchy name for the Black Sea for when Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia cross over.
The premises of a diplomatic mission, diplomatic premises are the houses of ambassadors and are inviolable and must not be entered by the host country except by permission of the head of the mission; likewise, the host country must never search the premises, may not seize its documents or property, and must protect the mission from intrusion or damage (Article 22). Article 30 extends this provision to the private residence of the diplomats.
SCIENCE said:
The premises of a diplomatic mission, diplomatic premises are the houses of ambassadors and are inviolable and must not be entered by the host country except by permission of the head of the mission; likewise, the host country must never search the premises, may not seize its documents or property, and must protect the mission from intrusion or damage (Article 22). Article 30 extends this provision to the private residence of the diplomats.
__
Unless you break diplomatic ties
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-06/ecuadorian-police-raid-mexican-embassy-to-arrest-jorge-glas/103678028
tauto said:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-06/ecuadorian-police-raid-mexican-embassy-to-arrest-jorge-glas/103678028
umm.. ahh – that’s against the rulez!
party_pants said:
tauto said:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-06/ecuadorian-police-raid-mexican-embassy-to-arrest-jorge-glas/103678028
umm.. ahh – that’s against the rulez!
That’s going to ruffle some feathers. The Govt of Mexico is going to lose their shit, and rightly so. It’s the equivalent of an invasion, and Mexico are entitled to return serve.
Kingy said:
party_pants said:
tauto said:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-06/ecuadorian-police-raid-mexican-embassy-to-arrest-jorge-glas/103678028
umm.. ahh – that’s against the rulez!
That’s going to ruffle some feathers. The Govt of Mexico is going to lose their shit, and rightly so. It’s the equivalent of an invasion, and Mexico are entitled to return serve.
Will there be a Ministerial resignation? maybe an Ambassadorial recall???? Or will they just nuke the joint instead.
Woodie said:
Kingy said:
party_pants said:umm.. ahh – that’s against the rulez!
That’s going to ruffle some feathers. The Govt of Mexico is going to lose their shit, and rightly so. It’s the equivalent of an invasion, and Mexico are entitled to return serve.
Will there be a Ministerial resignation? maybe an Ambassadorial recall???? Or will they just nuke the joint instead.
Shit is going to go down here. You can’t just invade an embassy just because you feel like it.
Mexico is not happy with Ecuador.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-06/ecuadorian-police-raid-mexican-embassy-to-arrest-jorge-glas/103678028
Michael V said:
Mexico is not happy with Ecuador.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-06/ecuadorian-police-raid-mexican-embassy-to-arrest-jorge-glas/103678028
Ecuador’s government/police has a ‘Flagrancy Unit’.
It’s not the corruption that they dislike, but just don’t be so bloody flagrant about it.
https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-gen-z-splurge-groceries-spending-inflation-gen-z-boomers-2024-4
It’s the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/04/macron-to-say-france-and-allies-could-have-stopped-rwanda-genocide-in-1994
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said France and its western and African allies “could have stopped” Rwanda’s 1994 genocide but did not have the will to halt the slaughter of an estimated 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
dv said:
It’s the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said France and its western and African allies “could have stopped” Rwanda’s 1994 genocide but did not have the will to halt the slaughter of an estimated 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis.Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Well, that’s wrong. It’sn’t genocide. Being an aid worker isn’t genetic.
SCIENCE said:
dv said:
It’s the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said France and its western and African allies “could have stopped” Rwanda’s 1994 genocide but did not have the will to halt the slaughter of an estimated 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis.Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Well, that’s wrong. It’sn’t genocide. Being an aid worker isn’t genetic.
Ref
dv said:
“Left-wing beliefs”?
Is that the approved academic term?
The Rev Dodgson said:
dv said:
“Left-wing beliefs”?
Is that the approved academic term?
Yes
Good to know that truth is not what people should be agreeing on.
What Is Enlightenment Anyway ¿
SCIENCE said:
Good to know that truth is not what people should be agreeing on.
What Is Enlightenment Anyway ¿
Self realisation ?
Don’t those that use it mean evolving to some higher plan of existence, like pure energy beings
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:Good to know that truth is not what people should be agreeing on.
What Is Enlightenment Anyway ¿
Self realisation ?
Don’t those that use it mean evolving to some higher plan of existence, like pure energy beings
You sound like you’ve opened up your third eye.
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Good to know that truth is not what people should be agreeing on.
What Is Enlightenment Anyway ¿
Self realisation ?
Don’t those that use it mean evolving to some higher plan of existence, like pure energy beings
You sound like you’ve opened up your third eye.
LOL excellent ¡ This’l‘learn’em ¡ The good
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-22/floods-swamp-southern-china/103755962
news is that global warming will disable bastard arsehole CHINA a cuntry sowing conflict all over the world while it melts Siberia and frees up lots of prime productive land in friendly Russia ¡
OCDC said:
dv said:
, meanwhile
And while women may be gaining more economic control, Dalton stressed the country was far from being a utopia for women. “Like many other socialist countries, despite state rhetoric, North Korea has failed to achieve gender equality in reality,” Dalton said.
New York’s highest court has overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction. The court found the trial judge made an error by allowing several other women to testify against Weinstein, even though their assault claims were not part of the official case against him. One of the judges, Madeline Singas, wrote a passionate dissenting decision that included a warning:
.
Soon Ideologically Motivated Violence Extremism Terrorism Can Become Just Another Mental Health Problem ¡
National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds says there are underlying factors leading children to become involved in radical behaviour like violent extremism, leaving them vulnerable to grooming by extremist groups. “A lot of these kids have underlying complex issues like neurodevelopmental disorders, including ADHD, autism et cetera. They have learning problems, they may have mental health issues as well,” she says.
SCIENCE said:
Soon Ideologically Motivated Violence Extremism Terrorism Can Become Just Another Mental Health Problem ¡
National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds says there are underlying factors leading children to become involved in radical behaviour like violent extremism, leaving them vulnerable to grooming by extremist groups. “A lot of these kids have underlying complex issues like neurodevelopmental disorders, including ADHD, autism et cetera. They have learning problems, they may have mental health issues as well,” she says.
It probably isn’t wrong, simplifies it all though and seems to what to blame something else instead of how the inequality of the world breeds this behaviour
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Soon Ideologically Motivated Violence Extremism Terrorism Can Become Just Another Mental Health Problem ¡
National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds says there are underlying factors leading children to become involved in radical behaviour like violent extremism, leaving them vulnerable to grooming by extremist groups. “A lot of these kids have underlying complex issues like neurodevelopmental disorders, including ADHD, autism et cetera. They have learning problems, they may have mental health issues as well,” she says.
It probably isn’t wrong, simplifies it all though and seems to what to blame something else instead of how the inequality of the world breeds this behaviour
We mean a favourable interpretation is that we need to do a fuck load more to protect susceptible minds from ideological opportunism.
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Soon Ideologically Motivated Violence Extremism Terrorism Can Become Just Another Mental Health Problem ¡
National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds says there are underlying factors leading children to become involved in radical behaviour like violent extremism, leaving them vulnerable to grooming by extremist groups. “A lot of these kids have underlying complex issues like neurodevelopmental disorders, including ADHD, autism et cetera. They have learning problems, they may have mental health issues as well,” she says.
It probably isn’t wrong, simplifies it all though and seems to what to blame something else instead of how the inequality of the world breeds this behaviour
We mean a favourable interpretation is that we need to do a fuck load more to protect susceptible minds from ideological opportunism.
That is true as well.
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Soon Ideologically Motivated Violence Extremism Terrorism Can Become Just Another Mental Health Problem ¡
National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds says there are underlying factors leading children to become involved in radical behaviour like violent extremism, leaving them vulnerable to grooming by extremist groups. “A lot of these kids have underlying complex issues like neurodevelopmental disorders, including ADHD, autism et cetera. They have learning problems, they may have mental health issues as well,” she says.
It probably isn’t wrong, simplifies it all though and seems to what to blame something else instead of how the inequality of the world breeds this behaviour
We mean a favourable interpretation is that we need to do a fuck load more to protect susceptible minds from ideological opportunism.
Yep, kids growing up with fundamentalist religious parents or fundamentalist woke parents can have issues later on.
the real problem probably lies in the fact that we expect children to obey adults unconditionally and without question.
how about instead of turning children into little obedience robots, we answer the why questions with anything more than ‘because I said so’.
Arts said:
the real problem probably lies in the fact that we expect children to obey adults unconditionally and without question.how about instead of turning children into little obedience robots, we answer the why questions with anything more than ‘because I said so’.
Is that something you agree with on principle ?
I understand when any child of today would be pissed of with the powers that be (adults in general) for inheriting a broken planet
SCIENCE said:
Soon Ideologically Motivated Violence Extremism Terrorism Can Become Just Another Mental Health Problem ¡
National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds says there are underlying factors leading children to become involved in radical behaviour like violent extremism, leaving them vulnerable to grooming by extremist groups. “A lot of these kids have underlying complex issues like neurodevelopmental disorders, including ADHD, autism et cetera. They have learning problems, they may have mental health issues as well,” she says.
One important thing is to have a society-wide condemnation. We’re doing okay with that in Australia but in the US there are some kinds of extremist violence by youngsters that are a road to fame and fortune and a speaking tour on the conservative circuit.
Bullshit, The Quad are a
strategic security dialogue between great democracies, they intend to establish an “Asian Arc of Democracy”, “a shared vision for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific,” totally not an “Asian NATO” with “shared security and geopolitical goals“¡
List of Belligerents in the Portuguese Colonial War is wild
dv said:
List of Belligerents in the Portuguese Colonial War is wild
World War 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYvcdhCbzJw
Moranbong Band I Want to Break Free
Fucking RCR¡
“Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan in trouble? Why is Russia in trouble? And India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants,” the president said on Wednesday.
“One of the reasons why our economy is growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants,” the president added.
SCIENCE said:
Fucking RCR¡
“Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan in trouble? Why is Russia in trouble? And India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants,” the president said on Wednesday.
“One of the reasons why our economy is growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants,” the president added.
Fucking RCR¡
Germany is one of Israel’s staunchest allies, and its arms trade with Tel Aviv is second only to the US. Ms Baerbock told 7.30 that Israel’s security remains Germany’s “raison d’êtat.” “The security of the state of Israel and the future generation is our raison d’êtat. We have committed the worst crimes, the genocide, the Shoah to 6 million Jews,” she said, making reference to the Holocaust. Germany’s foreign minister says that dark history compels them to uphold international law.
Jesus Siddhartha Fucking Gautama Christ
The Japanese murdered 30 million civilians while “liberating” what it called the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere from colonial rule. About 23 million of these were ethnic Chinese. It is a crime that in sheer numbers is far greater than the Nazi Holocaust. In Germany, Holocaust denial is a crime.
How’s that new fasc president going in Argentina?
https://www.ft.com/content/1d8701f7-c9a9-417b-851a-84f54df0b438
Sky-high inflation forces Argentina to circulate first 10,000-peso notes
Same as last time eh?
dv said:
How’s that new fasc president going in Argentina?
https://www.ft.com/content/1d8701f7-c9a9-417b-851a-84f54df0b438
Sky-high inflation forces Argentina to circulate first 10,000-peso notes
Same as last time eh?
It’ll be different with the good people in charge, it’s different¡
SCIENCE said:
dv said:
How’s that new fasc president going in Argentina?
https://www.ft.com/content/1d8701f7-c9a9-417b-851a-84f54df0b438
Sky-high inflation forces Argentina to circulate first 10,000-peso notes
Same as last time eh?
It’ll be different with the good people in charge, it’s different¡
i wish we were the goodies.
Michael V said:
dv said:
A British woman has pleaded guilty to being part of a global monkey torture network.
Holly LeGresley, 37, from Kidderminster, was a participant in a private online group that was paying people in Indonesia to kill and torture baby monkeys on video.
The convictions follow a year-long investigation by the BBC Eye team.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-68968718
What a world
Yuck.
We mean Homo sapiens are just fine haired monkeys and there certainly is a global torture network for … wait, not going there, sorry right thread.
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
dv said:
A British woman has pleaded guilty to being part of a global monkey torture network.
Holly LeGresley, 37, from Kidderminster, was a participant in a private online group that was paying people in Indonesia to kill and torture baby monkeys on video.
The convictions follow a year-long investigation by the BBC Eye team.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-68968718
What a world
Yuck.
We mean Homo sapiens are just fine haired monkeys and there certainly is a global torture network for … wait, not going there, sorry right thread.
I wonder what the world population would be if we got rid of all the horrible people.
Tau.Neutrino said:
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
Yuck.
We mean Homo sapiens are just fine haired monkeys and there certainly is a global torture network for … wait, not going there, sorry right thread.
I wonder what the world population would be if we got rid of all the horrible people.
-1
Wait we
In a wide-ranging interview, Britain’s air force chief also warned China continued to entice veterans from western militaries with large amounts of money to provide defence training and secrets. Two years ago, the UK introduced new penalties to stop former Royal Air Force pilots from becoming paid instructors for the People’s Liberation Army. Sir Richard said, despite counter efforts by nations such as Australia, the threat remains.
thought
“Despite the legal restrictions we’ve put in place, despite the investigations into individuals, large sums of money continue to attract certain types of people.
capitalism good¡
Tau.Neutrino said:
SCIENCE said:Michael V said:
Yuck.
We mean Homo sapiens are just fine haired monkeys and there certainly is a global torture network for … wait, not going there, sorry right thread.
I wonder what the world population would be if we got rid of all the horrible people.
0?
Tau.Neutrino said:
SCIENCE said:Michael V said:
Yuck.
We mean Homo sapiens are just fine haired monkeys and there certainly is a global torture network for … wait, not going there, sorry right thread.
I wonder what the world population would be if we got rid of all the horrible people.
And who is going to make that choice – who is horrible and who is not.
And by example – sometimes I am horrible, and mostly I am not. Well, that’s what I think anyway.
Michael V said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
SCIENCE said:We mean Homo sapiens are just fine haired monkeys and there certainly is a global torture network for … wait, not going there, sorry right thread.
I wonder what the world population would be if we got rid of all the horrible people.
And who is going to make that choice – who is horrible and who is not.
And by example – sometimes I am horrible, and mostly I am not. Well, that’s what I think anyway.
1 I can tell you it won’t be me.
2 Depends on how horrible, murderer, rapist, wife basher, some who pays money to watch animals being tortured, human trafficking, kidnapping children to be sex slaves?
I would not be surprised at a 20 percent figure
It would be interesting to find out how many horrible people there are.
Tau.Neutrino said:
Michael V said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
I wonder what the world population would be if we got rid of all the horrible people.
And who is going to make that choice – who is horrible and who is not.
And by example – sometimes I am horrible, and mostly I am not. Well, that’s what I think anyway.
1 I can tell you it won’t be me.
2 Depends on how horrible, murderer, rapist, wife basher, some who pays money to watch animals being tortured, human trafficking, kidnapping children to be sex slaves?
I would not be surprised at a 20 percent figure
It would be interesting to find out how many horrible people there are.
Charlie will make the decision¡
Not the king.
Monty’s pulled out.
Lets try that again.
Monty’s pulled out.
Good idea, we should ensure tradition is followed and create global war such that malnourished years may occur and then whale meat consumption is important¡
“It is also important to carry on Japan’s traditional food culture,” he said. Last year, Japanese whalers caught 294 minke, Bryde’s and sei whales. Whale meat consumption in Japan was an affordable source of protein during the malnourished years after World War II.
So we’re not aware of ever being harassed by a Japanese politician but is there
At a karaoke afterparty, the deputy speaker of the Minokamo Municipal Assembly, Norio Nagata, allegedly took the microphone and held it towards the lower stomach of the adult daughter of Dubbo’s mayor, Mathew Dickerson. Cr Dickerson described the action by the 71-year-old Japanese official as an “inappropriate gesture”.
some kind of cultural significance to being shorter than someone and offering them the conch¿
Interesting, we hadn’t realised that the UN were controlled by Scientology.
When Australia signed up to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it added a declaration noting it would allow for involuntary treatment of people with mental illness where such treatments are “necessary, as a last resort and subject to safeguards”.
However, the UN has rejected this, saying it is a fundamental human right “to be free from involuntary detention in a mental health facility and not to be forced to undergo mental health treatment”.
SCIENCE said:
Interesting, we hadn’t realised that the UN were controlled by Scientology.
When Australia signed up to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it added a declaration noting it would allow for involuntary treatment of people with mental illness where such treatments are “necessary, as a last resort and subject to safeguards”.
However, the UN has rejected this, saying it is a fundamental human right “to be free from involuntary detention in a mental health facility and not to be forced to undergo mental health treatment”.
Believe me, there are some people who you DO NOT want released from their ‘involuntary detention in a mental health facility’.
I know of MH wards where staff never enter alone, where a third staffer might be posted next to the door and the alarm button.
Loving that media spin,
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-12/asia-heatwave-sunburn-risk-unchanged-experts-say/103830398
In short: Air pollution in many Asian cities creates a barrier between the ground and the Sun, absorbing ultraviolet (UV) radiation and reducing sunburn risk.
Less sun burn¡ Pollute more good¡
Oh an afterthought.
Although pollution may help block UV rays, experts were quick to warn it comes with its own dangers. What’s next? Experts are hoping to improve air quality in polluted cities to mitigate health risks.
Deep faked¡
Voters went to the polls on April 26 to vote for Mr Revanna and other candidates in the second phase of nationwide elections.
But the vote was overshadowed by scandal a day later when almost 3,000 videos began circulating of him allegedly sexually assaulting multiple women.
Shortly after the news broke, Mr Revanna disappeared and it is believed he has fled to Germany on a diplomatic passport.
SCIENCE said:
Deep faked¡
Voters went to the polls on April 26 to vote for Mr Revanna and other candidates in the second phase of nationwide elections.
But the vote was overshadowed by scandal a day later when almost 3,000 videos began circulating of him allegedly sexually assaulting multiple women.
Shortly after the news broke, Mr Revanna disappeared and it is believed he has fled to Germany on a diplomatic passport.
But, it’s India.
Surely they’d just blame the women, and he’d be fine?
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:Deep faked¡
Voters went to the polls on April 26 to vote for Mr Revanna and other candidates in the second phase of nationwide elections.
But the vote was overshadowed by scandal a day later when almost 3,000 videos began circulating of him allegedly sexually assaulting multiple women.
Shortly after the news broke, Mr Revanna disappeared and it is believed he has fled to Germany on a diplomatic passport.
But, it’s India.
Surely they’d just blame the women, and he’d be fine?
If he’d stayed and denied it. But fleeing to Germany on a diplomatic passport is a bit of a giveaway I think.
party_pants said:
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:Deep faked¡
Voters went to the polls on April 26 to vote for Mr Revanna and other candidates in the second phase of nationwide elections.
But the vote was overshadowed by scandal a day later when almost 3,000 videos began circulating of him allegedly sexually assaulting multiple women.
Shortly after the news broke, Mr Revanna disappeared and it is believed he has fled to Germany on a diplomatic passport.
But, it’s India.
Surely they’d just blame the women, and he’d be fine?
If he’d stayed and denied it. But fleeing to Germany on a diplomatic passport is a bit of a giveaway I think.
https://frontline.thehindu.com/news/data-nearly-half-of-mlas-in-india-have-criminal-records-adr-analysis/article67090605.ece
Malaysia’s appetite for oil and gas puts it on collision course with China
As reserves closer to shore run dry, Malaysia is venturing farther into disputed waters of the South China Sea claimed and patrolled by China.
By Rebecca Tan
May 11, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
BINTULU, Malaysia — In the open sea off the coast of Malaysian Borneo, industrial rigs extract massive amounts of oil and gas that fuel the economy of Malaysia.
Slightly beyond that, in waters Malaysia also considers its own, Chinese coast guard vessels and maritime militia boats maintain a near-constant presence, say Malaysian officials. For 10 years, their country has done little to contest them.
But Malaysia is running out of oil and gas close to shore. Increasingly, it has to venture farther out to sea, raising the likelihood of direct confrontation with Chinese forces in the South China Sea.
As tensions rise throughout the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest and most contested bodies of water, energy demands are drawing Malaysia deeper into the fray and testing the country’s long-standing reluctance to antagonize China, according to interviews with more than two dozen government officials, diplomats, oil and gas executives and analysts in Malaysia.
Some of Asia’s biggest oil and gas reserves lie under the seabed of these disputed waters, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Since 2021, Malaysia’s state-owned energy company, Petronas, has awarded several dozen new permits for companies like Shell and TotalEnergies to explore new deposits here, many in so-called “deepwater” clusters more than 100 nautical miles from shore but still within the boundaries of what Malaysia considers its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
These developments are teeing up more confrontations with China, warn energy and security analysts. Already, federal and provincial officials in Malaysia have been beefing up military deployments around the industrial port town of Bintulu in the state of Sarawak, where much of the country’s oil and gas industry is based, and Malaysia has been increasing military cooperation with the United States, particularly on maritime security. For the first time later this year, a bilateral army exercise that Malaysia conducts annually with the United States will be held on Borneo, said a U.S. State Department official.
At least since 2020, China has been harassing Malaysian drilling rigs and survey vessels, leading to standoffs that have lasted months, according to satellite imagery and data that track ship movements. For years, Malaysia’s response has been muted — a calculation shaped by reliance on Chinese investment and the relative weakness of the Malaysian military, said Malaysian security analysts and defense officials. Unlike the Philippines or Vietnam, Malaysia rarely publicizes Chinese intrusions into its EEZ, which extends 200 nautical miles off the coast, and withholds how often these incidents occur from journalists and academics.
In an exclusive interview, the director general of Malaysia’s National Security Council dismissed concerns of Chinese harassment even as he acknowledged that Chinese vessels had been patrolling Malaysian waters nearly nonstop.
“Obviously, we prefer for Chinese assets not to be in our waters,” said Nushirwan bin Zainal Abidin, who was ambassador to China from 2019 to 2023. But there’s no need, he added, for the dispute to “color” Malaysia’s broader relationship with its largest trading partner. “We can let sleeping dogs lie,” Nushirwan said.
Despite objections from countries in Southeast Asia, China has laid claim to almost the entire South China Sea, building artificial islands and deploying vessels to enforce what it calls the “10-dash line,” delimiting on maps the boundaries of what China says are its waters, which come within 25 nautical miles of the Malaysian coast.
While much attention in recent months has been paid to China’s intensifying encounters in contested waters with Filipino fishermen and coast guard, tensions stirring farther south, where the world’s biggest oil and gas companies have deeper interests, have gained far less notice. Asked about Malaysia’s claims of Chinese incursions, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Chinese vessels have been conducting “normal navigation and patrol activities” in areas under its jurisdiction.
Tensions in the South China Sea have grown more intense than at any time in recent years. Under President Xi Jinping, China has become more aggressive in asserting sovereignty over the sea’s contested islands, rocks, reefs and other features and the strategic waters that surround them. A half dozen other countries that border the sea have also been pursuing their own claims and economic interests.
About one-third of the world’s trade passes through the South China sea, according to the U.N., including crucial energy supplies for U.S. allies Japan and South Korea. The sea also includes oil and natural gas reserves as well as valuable fishing grounds, coral and minerals.
The U.S. has not formally endorsed any of these claims, urging that disputes be settled on the basis of international law. The U.S. insists on freedom of navigation through these contested waters and has repeatedly sailed warships through them to assert that right.
Malaysia has for decades sought to “decouple” the South China Sea dispute from trade and investment with China, said a high-ranking Malaysian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he had not been authorized to address the issue.
But the country’s need for offshore oil and gas is starting to upset this delicate balancing act, the official said. He noted that Chinese coast guard vessels have repeatedly disrupted operations at the Kasawari gas field, which contains an estimated 3 trillion cubic feet of gas and where Malaysia has recently built its biggest offshore platform. “For what’s happening at Kasawari, I don’t have a solution,” the official said. “Right now, no one does.”
Venturing into deeper waters
In the 1970s, before Shell discovered large deposits of oil and gas off the coast, Bintulu was a small fishing village with a single stretch of road connecting a mosque to a market. Today, it’s a throbbing hub of industry, anchored by a 682-acre processing facility that produces 30 million tons of liquefied natural gas per year. In 2023, Malaysia was the world’s fifth-largest exporter of LNG, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Malaysia has relied on these resources to drive growth for decades, deriving 20 percent of its gross domestic product from oil and gas. But several years ago, industry analysts warned that the country’s era of “easy exploration” was ending. Oil and gas found in shallow waters, meaning at depths less than 1,000 feet, were running out. Companies knew there were more deposits remaining, said San Naing, a senior oil and gas analyst at BMI, a market research firm. “They just had to go farther out.”
Nearly 60 percent of Malaysia’s gas reserves are located off the state of Sarawak, says the country’s energy regulator. Starting in 2020, Petronas ramped up exploration. Two years later, having reported a string of new discoveries, the company awarded 12 new licensing contracts to energy conglomerates looking to operate in Malaysia, the most since 2009.
Petronas executives say this enthusiasm is a sign of “investor confidence.” But in private, investors have been fretting over the risks of operating in the South China Sea, said a veteran oil and gas analyst who researches Malaysia and who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect business interests. “What happens when the Chinese boats turn up? That’s always front of mind,” said the analyst.
In 2018, after harassment by Chinese vessels, Vietnam called off a major oil project midway through construction, leaving the companies involved with an estimated $200 million in losses. That incident was a “shock to the industry” and drove companies to reconsider investments in the South China Sea, said the analyst. Malaysia’s new discoveries are encouraging companies to return. But the risks now are arguably higher than ever.
A handful of Chinese vessels patrol the waters at Luconia Shoals, about 60 nautical miles off the Malaysian coast, near major gas fields like Kasawari. But a much bigger fleet of hundreds of Chinese coast guard ships and maritime militia are based farther north, near the Spratly Islands, where Petronas has designated new clusters for oil and gas exploration. The closer Malaysia’s energy projects come to the Spratlys, the greater the likelihood of confronting the Chinese, said Harrison Prétat, deputy director at the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
In recent months, Chinese officials have said pointedly that the exploration of resources in the South China Sea “should not undermine China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”
Petronas rejected requests for interviews and did not respond to inquiries about the South China Sea. But last year, after Beijing released a new map of the waterway that expanded Chinese claims, Petronas’ chief executive, Tengku Muhammad Taufik Aziz, made an unusually strong statement of objection. Extracting offshore oil and gas is within Malaysia’s sovereign rights, he said. “Petronas,” he added, “will very vigorously defend Malaysia’s rights.”
A ‘fundamental rethinking’
Three years ago, a fleet of 16 Chinese military planes conducting an exercise over the South China Sea entered Malaysian airspace, said Malaysian officials. The incursion elicited rare rebuke from the Malaysian air force, which called it a threat to national security, and prompted the Malaysian minister of foreign affairs to summon the Chinese ambassador. Writing for a think tank, a trio of Malaysian scholars said the incident had “sparked fundamental rethinking within the Malaysian establishment about the country’s China policy.”
Chinese officials, however, denied that its planes had ever entered foreign airspace. A Chinese state-run think tank, the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said military aircraft were free to fly over the airspace of the South China Sea since its boundaries were “unclear.”
By the end of 2021, Malaysia had announced that a new air base would be built near Bintulu. Soon after, an army regiment from a neighboring city was moved in and last year, defense officials said they had worked out a plan to establish a new naval base. Speaking in Parliament, Defense Minister Seri Mohamad Hasan said Malaysia’s oil and gas would be protected “at any cost.”
Since 2021, Malaysia has also been increasing defense spending and strengthening military cooperation with the United States. Malaysia has received drones, communication equipment and surveillance programs, including long-range radar systems, installed on Borneo, to “monitor the sovereignty of airspace over the coastlines,” officials say. Later this year, Malaysia is set to get a decommissioned U.S. Coast Guard cutter and hold the annual bilateral army exercises with the U.S., called Keris Strike, on Borneo, according to the State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private negotiations.
Little of this has been highlighted by Malaysia. It is eager to avoid becoming “entangled” in the geopolitical contest between the United States and China, said the high-ranking Malaysian official.
He said he presumes that China “sees” everything happening in the South China Sea. “The question is will they see what we’re doing and allow it.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/11/china-malaysia-south-china-sea/?
I hope Rev isn’t too alarmed
dv said:
I hope Rev isn’t too alarmed
Thank fuck and thank the USSA for taking the lead and ensuring that potential economic exploits aren’t killed before they’re baked¡
dv said:
I hope Rev isn’t too alarmed
Only to the extent that this sort of crap will make a stable population hard to reach.
dv said:
I hope Rev isn’t too alarmed
Suddenly? The demographers have been saying this for decades. It is what the plasma-screen bonus in the early 2000s was al about.
The Rev Dodgson said:
dv said:
I hope Rev isn’t too alarmed
Only to the extent that this sort of crap will make a stable population hard to reach.
In seriousness though I do note that global fertility rate is now = replacement level, per UNPF report of 2024.
dv said:
I hope Rev isn’t too alarmed
Alarmed? What’s wrong with elated?
roughbarked said:
dv said:
I hope Rev isn’t too alarmed
Alarmed? What’s wrong with elated?
Well as you can see the graphic says that the whole world is alarmed and Rev is nominally part of the world
dv said:
roughbarked said:
dv said:
I hope Rev isn’t too alarmed
Alarmed? What’s wrong with elated?
Well as you can see the graphic says that the whole world is alarmed and Rev is nominally part of the world
What do you mean “nominally”?
The Rev Dodgson said:
dv said:
roughbarked said:Alarmed? What’s wrong with elated?
Well as you can see the graphic says that the whole world is alarmed and Rev is nominally part of the world
What do you mean “nominally”?
Well, you tend to shy away from music videos that more than a handful of people have looked at.
;)
Masks Stop Bullets ¡
War Impoverishes Nations And Feeds Them To South East ASIANS ¡
Not long afterwards, his team was forced to move to Sihanoukville in Cambodia where he said most of the scam companies in his compound were using Russian and Ukrainian models. “I saw a lot of them when I was at ,” he said.
Myanmar Has Stronger 爱 Capability Than NATO ¡
Mr Tana said the crime syndicates had made AI research and development a priority since “day one” and were willing to go to great lengths to get the most advanced technology. He said some scam compounds in Myanmar were using advanced face-swapping tech.
“She said was more advanced than anything she had seen in the world, anything she had ever studied,” he said.
Donald Trump has given a “warm reception” to the AUKUS defence pact during a meeting with Scott Morrison in New York, the former prime minister says.
The Rev Dodgson said:
dv said:
roughbarked said:Alarmed? What’s wrong with elated?
Well as you can see the graphic says that the whole world is alarmed and Rev is nominally part of the world
What do you mean “nominally”?
I suppose I should say “technically”
dv said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
dv said:Well as you can see the graphic says that the whole world is alarmed and Rev is nominally part of the world
What do you mean “nominally”?
I suppose I should say “technically”
Based on the evidence available to me, it’s quite possible that I’m the only real person in the world.
You may see things differently I suppose.
Cold War Feels
In 1952, Alan Turing published his paper “The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis”, on the development of patterns in animals’ bodies. He suggested that morphogenesis could be explained by a reaction–diffusion system, a system of reacting chemicals able to diffuse through the body. He modelled catalysed chemical reactions using partial differential equations, showing that patterns emerged when the chemical reaction produced both a catalyst (A) and an inhibitor (B) that slowed down production of A. If A and B then diffused at different rates, A dominated in some places, and B in others. The Russian biochemist Boris Belousov had run experiments with similar results, but was unable to publish them because scientists thought at that time that creating visible order violated the second law of thermodynamics.
It has been over 3 hours since the helicopter carrying Iran’s president crashed. There is no doubt that there was several lines of communication on the helicopter and persons. At this point every media source is unfortunately awaiting for confirmation on what is most likely the death of Ebrahim Raisi.
The IRGC is deploying in sensitive areas around Iran after the helicopter carrying the President and Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic crashed in a remote mountain area to protect the nation in case this was a coup to overthrow power.
Spiny Norman said:
It has been over 3 hours since the helicopter carrying Iran’s president crashed. There is no doubt that there was several lines of communication on the helicopter and persons. At this point every media source is unfortunately awaiting for confirmation on what is most likely the death of Ebrahim Raisi.
The IRGC is deploying in sensitive areas around Iran after the helicopter carrying the President and Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic crashed in a remote mountain area to protect the nation in case this was a coup to overthrow power.
What Would Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria Do ¿
SCIENCE said:
Spiny Norman said:
It has been over 3 hours since the helicopter carrying Iran’s president crashed. There is no doubt that there was several lines of communication on the helicopter and persons. At this point every media source is unfortunately awaiting for confirmation on what is most likely the death of Ebrahim Raisi.
The IRGC is deploying in sensitive areas around Iran after the helicopter carrying the President and Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic crashed in a remote mountain area to protect the nation in case this was a coup to overthrow power.
What Would Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria Do ¿
Not much.
Spiny Norman said:
It has been over 3 hours since the helicopter carrying Iran’s president crashed. There is no doubt that there was several lines of communication on the helicopter and persons. At this point every media source is unfortunately awaiting for confirmation on what is most likely the death of Ebrahim Raisi.The IRGC is deploying in sensitive areas around Iran after the helicopter carrying the President and Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic crashed in a remote mountain area to protect the nation in case this was a coup to overthrow power.
What remains to be seen now is whether Raisi will be replaced by someone who’s more of a ratbag than he was, or less of a ratbag.
Anyone offering odds?
captain_spalding said:
Spiny Norman said:
It has been over 3 hours since the helicopter carrying Iran’s president crashed. There is no doubt that there was several lines of communication on the helicopter and persons. At this point every media source is unfortunately awaiting for confirmation on what is most likely the death of Ebrahim Raisi.
The IRGC is deploying in sensitive areas around Iran after the helicopter carrying the President and Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic crashed in a remote mountain area to protect the nation in case this was a coup to overthrow power.
What remains to be seen now is whether Raisi will be replaced by someone who’s more of a ratbag than he was, or less of a ratbag.
Anyone offering odds?
Ben is.
There is “no sign of life” at the crash site of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, his foreign minister and others, officials have said.
SCIENCE said:
There is “no sign of life” at the crash site of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, his foreign minister and others, officials have said.
I wonder what their motive was?
SCIENCE said:
There is “no sign of life” at the crash site of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, his foreign minister and others, officials have said.
Hard landing.. found by heat source … fire located…
The head of Iran’s Red Crescent told state TV the wreckage of the helicopter was sighted, describing the situation as “not good”.
“We can see the wreckage and the situation does not look good,” Pirhossein Kolivand said.
Peak Warming Man said:
SCIENCE said:There is “no sign of life” at the crash site of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, his foreign minister and others, officials have said.
I wonder what their motive was?
Couldn’t see where they were going. Inclement weather, hit a mountain.
roughbarked said:
Peak Warming Man said:
SCIENCE said:There is “no sign of life” at the crash site of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, his foreign minister and others, officials have said.
I wonder what their motive was?
Couldn’t see where they were going. Inclement weather, hit a mountain.
Cloud full of rocks.
John Denver syndrome.
Peak Warming Man said:
SCIENCE said:
There is “no sign of life” at the crash site of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, his foreign minister and others, officials have said.
I wonder what their motive was?
truth telling
SCIENCE said:
Peak Warming Man said:
SCIENCE said:
There is “no sign of life” at the crash site of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, his foreign minister and others, officials have said.
I wonder what their motive was?
truth telling
Not up to doing Weekend At Raisi’s
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:Peak Warming Man said:
I wonder what their motive was?
truth telling
Not up to doing Weekend At Raisi’s
He’s cactus now. Dead.
Ian said:
Reuters is reporting that an Israeli official has told the news agency it was not involved in the helicopter crash which has killed Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi.
إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ
So what they’re saying is they admit that all their prayers do nothing and religion is fantasy.
Oh wait sorry we
He said hardly any reformist or centrist were allowed to run, which resulted in the 2021 boycott.
“[Mr Raisi] wields power not just because of this, but because of his lineage and his backing through particular elements within the establishment, very hard-line backing,” Ms Lennie told News Channel.
“They now basically control the judiciary, the executive branch parliament as well as the unified establishment at the moment.”
almost thought we had the wrong thread here, should have been the USSA thread.
I mean in fairness you sure as hell face jail for protesting in the West but hopefully not torture.
Certainly sounds like divine intervention¡
As his helicopter passed over treacherous mountains and dense trees, a blanket of thick fog and bad weather reportedly settled over the area.
SCIENCE said:
Certainly sounds like divine intervention¡
As his helicopter passed over treacherous mountains and dense trees, a blanket of thick fog and bad weather reportedly settled over the area.
Intelligent design.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
Certainly sounds like divine intervention¡
As his helicopter passed over treacherous mountains and dense trees, a blanket of thick fog and bad weather reportedly settled over the area.
Intelligent design.
Evolution.
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
Certainly sounds like divine intervention¡
As his helicopter passed over treacherous mountains and dense trees, a blanket of thick fog and bad weather reportedly settled over the area.
Intelligent design.
Evolution.
Flying into fog is not a good idea, maybe the radar or some other terrain sensors wasn’t working?
Tau.Neutrino said:
SCIENCE said:roughbarked said:
Intelligent design.
Evolution.
Flying into fog is not a good idea, maybe the radar or some other terrain sensors wasn’t working?
No. The clouds had rocks in them.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:Certainly sounds like divine intervention¡
As his helicopter passed over treacherous mountains and dense trees, a blanket of thick fog and bad weather reportedly settled over the area.
Intelligent design.
Maybe more praying was needed?
Tau.Neutrino said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:Certainly sounds like divine intervention¡
As his helicopter passed over treacherous mountains and dense trees, a blanket of thick fog and bad weather reportedly settled over the area.
Intelligent design.
Maybe more praying was needed?
Many were celebrating his death.
Only to be put to death.
So are we all happy about New Caledonia becoming a new Australian territory?
party_pants said:
So are we all happy about New Caledonia becoming a new Australian territory?
I can think of many cons and no pros.
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
So are we all happy about New Caledonia becoming a new Australian territory?
I can think of many cons and no pros.
It will be fun.
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
So are we all happy about New Caledonia becoming a new Australian territory?
I can think of many cons and no pros.
It will be fun.
You think?
party_pants said:
So are we all happy about New Caledonia becoming a new Australian territory?
The frogs may not approve.
The revolution may continue.
Pharmaceutical giant Bayer is getting rid of bosses and asking nearly 100,000 workers to ‘self-organize’ to save $2.15 billion
—-
https://fortune.com/europe/2024/04/11/pharmaceutical-giant-bayer-ceo-bill-anderson-rid-bosses-staff-self-organize-save-2-billion/
Bayer goes Marxist
dv said:
Pharmaceutical giant Bayer is getting rid of bosses and asking nearly 100,000 workers to ‘self-organize’ to save $2.15 billion—-
https://fortune.com/europe/2024/04/11/pharmaceutical-giant-bayer-ceo-bill-anderson-rid-bosses-staff-self-organize-save-2-billion/
Bayer goes Marxist
It was much easier for Bayer in the 1940s. Slave labourers and human guinea pigs were available at bargain prices.
What killed President Ebrahim Raisi? Iranians have theories.
Official silence on Raisi’s death in a helicopter crash has fueled wide speculation, none of it good for the regime.
By Jason Rezaian
Global Opinions writer
May 20, 2024 at 3:57 p.m. EDT
It’s unlikely that we’ll know with certainty anytime soon what precisely happened to the helicopter carrying the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, and several other senior officials. On Monday, many hours after Iranian state television first reported the vehicle’s “hard landing,” it confirmed what everyone seemed to know: Raisi and his foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, along with other officials on board were dead.
Even though it appeared that the crash was a weather-related accident, few details were released to the public, naturally fueling wide speculation among observers. Iranian authorities’ track record of tampering with the crash sites of aviation disasters does little to instill confidence that they will be transparent in reporting their findings, which inevitably leads to more questions.
Let’s address the most basic one first: How can a vehicle transporting top officials of a large country — one credited with all manner of sinister powers — simply disappear within its borders and for so long? The likeliest answer is that Iranian authorities knew immediately what had happened but dragged their feet while they considered how to inform the nation and the world.
During those long hours when officials had little to say, conspiracy theories undermining the regime proliferated. All three point to weaknesses the regime would prefer to hide. In walking through them here, I’ll save the most probable explanation for last.
Inevitably, some pointed to Israel as a possible culprit. That country denied any involvement, but it has done that in previous instances when it killed key Iranian officials. Regardless of whether Israel played a role, ordinary Iranians will not dismiss the possibility that this was a message to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: that Israeli forces truly seem capable of doing whatever they like inside Iran. Even if this is not true, it does an authoritarian regime no good for its people to think it might be.
Another pesky theory that will be hard for the regime to shake was the notion that this was an inside job.
Although Iran is a tightly controlled system that usually bends to Khamenei’s whims, that doesn’t mean political competition doesn’t exist. In fact, it’s rampant. Raisi was thought to have been handpicked by the supreme leader to be president. Though astute analysts doubted Raisi had the chops to rise to the top, it was widely assumed that he was in the running to succeed Khamenei.
Now, Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, is the likeliest person to assume the full power of the state when his father dies. There was a time when loyalty meant something in Iran’s theocratic system, but there has also been a long history of violent and unresolved deaths within the state in the 45-year history of the Islamic republic. In the eyes of some Iranians, this will make Mojtaba and his cronies immediate suspects — and for regime insiders, it’s yet another sign that deadly infighting is likely to increase after Khamenei dies.
But the most probable cause of this fatal helicopter crash is the least fanciful and most damning: It was an accident that most likely happened because much in the Islamic republic is in an advanced state of decay.
Iran is one of the most dangerous places in the world in which to drive or fly. The number of road deaths is staggering, averaging about 17,000 each year. The number of fatal plane crashes is also abnormally high. Flight fatalities can be attributed to the use of antiquated aircraft whose maintenance is hampered by the economic sanctions imposed on Iran. And yet Iranians of all stripes, including senior regime officials, make risky transportation decisions all the time. Politicians die or are injured in accidents more frequently than you might think.
Still, Iranians have to be wondering: If conditions were so treacherous, why were the country’s president and top members of his cabinet allowed to fly? Didn’t the Islamic republic have any more advanced methods or equipment for tracking their whereabouts? And if not, what else is the regime neglecting to tend to?
In a country where responsibility for failures large and small is almost always attributed to the will of God, one wonders what act of divine intervention will be required to explain this mess.
Despite the calamity, many Iranians won’t miss Raisi, who was an architect of the horrific extermination of thousands of domestic dissidents in the 1980s. At the same time, they know his death won’t change things in any substantive way. The Iranian regime may be wobbly and sclerotic, but it’s also deeply entrenched. It will take more than the death of its president — whose power is marginal, at best — to unseat it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/20/iran-president-raisi-death-speculation/?
Witty Rejoinder said:
What killed President Ebrahim Raisi? Iranians have theories.
Official silence on Raisi’s death in a helicopter crash has fueled wide speculation, none of it good for the regime.By Jason Rezaian
Global Opinions writerMay 20, 2024 at 3:57 p.m. EDT
It’s unlikely that we’ll know with certainty anytime soon what precisely happened to the helicopter carrying the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, and several other senior officials. On Monday, many hours after Iranian state television first reported the vehicle’s “hard landing,” it confirmed what everyone seemed to know: Raisi and his foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, along with other officials on board were dead.
Even though it appeared that the crash was a weather-related accident, few details were released to the public, naturally fueling wide speculation among observers. Iranian authorities’ track record of tampering with the crash sites of aviation disasters does little to instill confidence that they will be transparent in reporting their findings, which inevitably leads to more questions.
Let’s address the most basic one first: How can a vehicle transporting top officials of a large country — one credited with all manner of sinister powers — simply disappear within its borders and for so long? The likeliest answer is that Iranian authorities knew immediately what had happened but dragged their feet while they considered how to inform the nation and the world.
During those long hours when officials had little to say, conspiracy theories undermining the regime proliferated. All three point to weaknesses the regime would prefer to hide. In walking through them here, I’ll save the most probable explanation for last.
Inevitably, some pointed to Israel as a possible culprit. That country denied any involvement, but it has done that in previous instances when it killed key Iranian officials. Regardless of whether Israel played a role, ordinary Iranians will not dismiss the possibility that this was a message to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: that Israeli forces truly seem capable of doing whatever they like inside Iran. Even if this is not true, it does an authoritarian regime no good for its people to think it might be.
Another pesky theory that will be hard for the regime to shake was the notion that this was an inside job.
Although Iran is a tightly controlled system that usually bends to Khamenei’s whims, that doesn’t mean political competition doesn’t exist. In fact, it’s rampant. Raisi was thought to have been handpicked by the supreme leader to be president. Though astute analysts doubted Raisi had the chops to rise to the top, it was widely assumed that he was in the running to succeed Khamenei.
Now, Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, is the likeliest person to assume the full power of the state when his father dies. There was a time when loyalty meant something in Iran’s theocratic system, but there has also been a long history of violent and unresolved deaths within the state in the 45-year history of the Islamic republic. In the eyes of some Iranians, this will make Mojtaba and his cronies immediate suspects — and for regime insiders, it’s yet another sign that deadly infighting is likely to increase after Khamenei dies.
But the most probable cause of this fatal helicopter crash is the least fanciful and most damning: It was an accident that most likely happened because much in the Islamic republic is in an advanced state of decay.
Iran is one of the most dangerous places in the world in which to drive or fly. The number of road deaths is staggering, averaging about 17,000 each year. The number of fatal plane crashes is also abnormally high. Flight fatalities can be attributed to the use of antiquated aircraft whose maintenance is hampered by the economic sanctions imposed on Iran. And yet Iranians of all stripes, including senior regime officials, make risky transportation decisions all the time. Politicians die or are injured in accidents more frequently than you might think.
Still, Iranians have to be wondering: If conditions were so treacherous, why were the country’s president and top members of his cabinet allowed to fly? Didn’t the Islamic republic have any more advanced methods or equipment for tracking their whereabouts? And if not, what else is the regime neglecting to tend to?
In a country where responsibility for failures large and small is almost always attributed to the will of God, one wonders what act of divine intervention will be required to explain this mess.
Despite the calamity, many Iranians won’t miss Raisi, who was an architect of the horrific extermination of thousands of domestic dissidents in the 1980s. At the same time, they know his death won’t change things in any substantive way. The Iranian regime may be wobbly and sclerotic, but it’s also deeply entrenched. It will take more than the death of its president — whose power is marginal, at best — to unseat it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/20/iran-president-raisi-death-speculation/?
Don’t forget this one: Iran has been under international sanctions for decades, which includes military aerospace stuff, including spare parts. Much of their military fleet is old, and keeping them going is a bit of an exercise in avoiding sanctions.
More than 70 per cent of posts came from just 1,000 accounts.
So-called “superspreaders” were defined as accounts introducing “content originally published by low credibility or untrustworthy sources”.
“Fifty-two per cent of superspreaders on Twitter are political in nature,” the report said.
“They consist largely of anonymous hyper-partisan accounts but also high-profile political pundits and strategists.
“Notable, this group includes the official accounts of both the Democratic and Republican parties … as well as @DonaldTrumpJr, the account of the son and political advisor of then-president Donald Trump.”
SCIENCE said:
More than 70 per cent of posts came from just 1,000 accounts.
So-called “superspreaders” were defined as accounts introducing “content originally published by low credibility or untrustworthy sources”.
“Fifty-two per cent of superspreaders on Twitter are political in nature,” the report said.
“They consist largely of anonymous hyper-partisan accounts but also high-profile political pundits and strategists.
“Notable, this group includes the official accounts of both the Democratic and Republican parties … as well as @DonaldTrumpJr, the account of the son and political advisor of then-president Donald Trump.”
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
More than 70 per cent of posts came from just 1,000 accounts.
So-called “superspreaders” were defined as accounts introducing “content originally published by low credibility or untrustworthy sources”.
“Fifty-two per cent of superspreaders on Twitter are political in nature,” the report said.
“They consist largely of anonymous hyper-partisan accounts but also high-profile political pundits and strategists.
“Notable, this group includes the official accounts of both the Democratic and Republican parties … as well as @DonaldTrumpJr, the account of the son and political advisor of then-president Donald Trump.”
https://tokyo3.org/forums/holiday/posts/2157177/
Ah but did you post a transcript to assist in our reading¿
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
More than 70 per cent of posts came from just 1,000 accounts.
So-called “superspreaders” were defined as accounts introducing “content originally published by low credibility or untrustworthy sources”.
“Fifty-two per cent of superspreaders on Twitter are political in nature,” the report said.
“They consist largely of anonymous hyper-partisan accounts but also high-profile political pundits and strategists.
“Notable, this group includes the official accounts of both the Democratic and Republican parties … as well as @DonaldTrumpJr, the account of the son and political advisor of then-president Donald Trump.”
https://tokyo3.org/forums/holiday/posts/2157177/Ah but did you post a transcript to assist in our reading¿
I saw that.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
https://tokyo3.org/forums/holiday/posts/2157177/
Ah but did you post a transcript to assist in our reading¿
I saw that.
It wasn’t even hyperlinked¡
“I went headfirst. We were in the middle section so I was dead centre and I went up through all the vents and masks and things.
“Unfortunately for Kerry, she hit the luggage doors.
“Instead of landing back into the seat area, she fell flat straight into the aisle and from that moment, she didn’t move. That’s where she remained for the rest of the flight.
Communism Takes Over In Indonesia
SCIENCE said:
Communism Takes Over In Indonesia
About half of Indonesians have some level of lactose intolerance. Does Aust export any oat or soy milk?
dv said:
SCIENCE said:
Communism Takes Over In Indonesia
About half of Indonesians have some level of lactose intolerance. Does Aust export any oat or soy milk?
Good Point, Maybe This Is Hypercapitalism State Capture And Actually Big Farmer Are Teaming Up With Big Pharma To Supply Shit Loads Of This Too ¡
SCIENCE said:
dv said:
SCIENCE said:
Communism Takes Over In Indonesia
About half of Indonesians have some level of lactose intolerance. Does Aust export any oat or soy milk?
Good Point, Maybe This Is Hypercapitalism State Capture And Actually Big Farmer Are Teaming Up With Big Pharma To Supply Shit Loads Of This Too ¡
See If Shithole Cuntries Actually Made School Lunch A Profit Thing Instead Then Their Economy Must Grow Much Better
But What About Military And Espionage Aircraft Are We Allowed To Track Those ¿
North Korea has tried and failed to launch a military satellite into space — a move that had threatened to violate United Nations conventions and further inflame tensions in the region.
When Hummel’s deadline for the ransom passes, his men pressure him into firing a rocket, but he redirects it to harmlessly detonate at sea. When confronted by Captains Darrow and Frye, Hummel explains the rocket threat was an elaborate bluff, as he had never intended to harm innocent civilians, and declares the mission over.
North Korea’s state media said a rocket carrying the spy satellite exploded in mid-air shortly after launch on Monday.
SCIENCE said:
North Korea has tried and failed to launch a military satellite into space — a move that had threatened to violate United Nations conventions and further inflame tensions in the region.
When Hummel’s deadline for the ransom passes, his men pressure him into firing a rocket, but he redirects it to harmlessly detonate at sea. When confronted by Captains Darrow and Frye, Hummel explains the rocket threat was an elaborate bluff, as he had never intended to harm innocent civilians, and declares the mission over.
North Korea’s state media said a rocket carrying the spy satellite exploded in mid-air shortly after launch on Monday.
One can understand North Korea being annoyed when nearly everyone who calls them out has the very weapons they aren’t meant to have.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
North Korea has tried and failed to launch a military satellite into space — a move that had threatened to violate United Nations conventions and further inflame tensions in the region.
When Hummel’s deadline for the ransom passes, his men pressure him into firing a rocket, but he redirects it to harmlessly detonate at sea. When confronted by Captains Darrow and Frye, Hummel explains the rocket threat was an elaborate bluff, as he had never intended to harm innocent civilians, and declares the mission over.
North Korea’s state media said a rocket carrying the spy satellite exploded in mid-air shortly after launch on Monday.
One can understand North Korea being annoyed when nearly everyone who calls them out has the very weapons they aren’t meant to have.
So you mean the Big Guns Club is just about rich militaristic cuntries bullying the have nots¿
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
North Korea has tried and failed to launch a military satellite into space — a move that had threatened to violate United Nations conventions and further inflame tensions in the region.
When Hummel’s deadline for the ransom passes, his men pressure him into firing a rocket, but he redirects it to harmlessly detonate at sea. When confronted by Captains Darrow and Frye, Hummel explains the rocket threat was an elaborate bluff, as he had never intended to harm innocent civilians, and declares the mission over.
North Korea’s state media said a rocket carrying the spy satellite exploded in mid-air shortly after launch on Monday.
One can understand North Korea being annoyed when nearly everyone who calls them out has the very weapons they aren’t meant to have.
So you mean the Big Guns Club is just about rich militaristic cuntries bullying the have nots¿
Most of the time I think
Nukes really don’t help you win a war, more about stopping your nation being invaded or destroyed as that last line can’t be crossed.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:Cymek said:
One can understand North Korea being annoyed when nearly everyone who calls them out has the very weapons they aren’t meant to have.
So you mean the Big Guns Club is just about rich militaristic cuntries bullying the have nots¿
Most of the time I think
Nukes really don’t help you win a war, more about stopping your nation being invaded or destroyed as that last line can’t be crossed.
Ukraine, wishing it’d held on to just one.
La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera, Italy’s largest circulation dailies, both quoted the pope as saying seminaries, or priesthood colleges, are already too full of “frociaggine”, a vulgar Italian term roughly translating as “fa—tness”.
Appears not to be satire. Had no idea Lockheed was so alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.
dv said:
Appears not to be satire. Had no idea Lockheed was so alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.
They could be in trouble if redneck consumers boycott them and stop buying so many F-35s
dv said:
Appears not to be satire. Had no idea Lockheed was so alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.
guns don’t discriminate
diddly-squat said:
dv said:
Appears not to be satire. Had no idea Lockheed was so alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.
guns don’t discriminate
Sure they do as long as you’re killing the right sorry we mean left people¡
Why India’s election is the most expensive in the world
It is not just because of its size
May 11th 2024
Nearly one billion people are casting their votes in India’s general election. It is the biggest democratic exercise in history—and could also be the most expensive. Spending is expected to reach 1.35trn rupees ($16bn), according to the Centre for Media Studies (cms), an Indian non-profit. That would be more than double the amount spent in the previous election in 2019 and even exceed the cash splashed in America’s presidential election in 2020. Why do Indian political parties spend such vast sums?
The explanation seems simple: the more voters there are, the more it costs parties to reach them. Yet the size of India’s electorate only partly explains the massive election bill. Over the past two decades, election spending has increased by 165% (after adjusting for inflation)—far more than the 27% rise in the population during the same period.
Another explanation is the number of candidates. In India contests at constituency level can feature dozens: in 2019, an average of 15 candidates contested each seat (preliminary data points to a similar figure in this election). Packed fields can lead to aggressive and costly campaigning.
According to estimates by cms, more than half of party and candidate spending in 2019 went towards advertisements, party workers’ wages and transport. As India’s economy has grown, voters are being wooed in more sophisticated and costlier ways. With more Indians online, much more is now spent on digital marketing. Data from Google suggests that spending on adverts on its platform in the months leading up to this year’s election was six times greater than the equivalent period in 2019.
Another important factor is the money spent on sweeteners for voters. These expenditures are never declared but cms estimated that around a quarter of political spending in 2019 went to voters directly in the form of gifts, which can range from booze to tvs to goats, or outright cash bribes. It estimated that more than half of voters in four southern Indian districts were paid 1,000-2,000 rupees for their votes. Research conducted in northern India by Jennifer Bussell of the University of California, Berkeley found that more than 80% of candidates said their peers feel pressured to hand out gifts.
This largesse is illegal. On April 15th, a week before voting began, the Election Commission said that it had seized assets worth 47bn rupees in an effort to ensure “a level playing-field”. The loot included 36m litres of alcohol and 4bn rupees in cash. That is probably a small fraction of the total. There are caps on the campaign spending of individual candidates, but they are loosely enforced. Moreover, there is no restriction on the amount that the candidates’ parties can spend.
The extravagance involved in campaigning affects the type of people who are elected. Successful candidates tend to be wealthy. In 2019 the median wealth of winning candidates was 40m rupees, roughly 16 times higher than those they beat. And partly because so much of the spending is illicit, they are also more likely to have criminal backgrounds. Nearly 30% of winners had serious criminal cases filed against them at the time of their victories, compared with 13% for the competition. Preliminary data reveal a similar trend in this year’s candidates.
These problems are not unique to India. Cash-for-votes is a common practice in other developing democracies. And like their counterparts in those places, Indian officials have long wrestled with how to weaken the relationship between money and politics. In 2018 the government launched an “electoral bonds” scheme to stem the flow of “black cash” into politics by providing a legal channel for donations. But the programme did little to improve transparency as donations were anonymous. In February the Supreme Court deemed the initiative unconstitutional In truth, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has little reason to introduce effective reform. In 2019 it led the way in election spending, accounting for over half of all the expenditure by parties. It swept to power—and will probably do so again.
https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2024/05/11/why-indias-election-is-the-most-expensive-in-the-world?
Mexico’s ruling Morena party says its candidate Claudia Sheinbaum will become Mexico’s first female president.
Rate cuts RCR
The Australian dollar rose to a two-week high, while iron ore and oil prices fell sharply ahead of potential interest rate cuts from the European and Canadian central banks this week.
¡
SCIENCE said:
Rate cuts RCR
The Australian dollar rose to a two-week high, while iron ore and oil prices fell sharply ahead of potential interest rate cuts from the European and Canadian central banks this week.
¡
Bad news for me
sorry
SCIENCE said:
sorry
So we DO shoot the messenger?
dv said:
SCIENCE said:Rate cuts RCR
The Australian dollar rose to a two-week high, while iron ore and oil prices fell sharply ahead of potential interest rate cuts from the European and Canadian central banks this week.
¡
Bad news for me
you mean from an FX standpoint or an oil price standpoint?
diddly-squat said:
dv said:
SCIENCE said:Rate cuts RCR
The Australian dollar rose to a two-week high, while iron ore and oil prices fell sharply ahead of potential interest rate cuts from the European and Canadian central banks this week.
¡
Bad news for me
you mean from an FX standpoint or an oil price standpoint?
DV gets paid in US dollars for his work. OSIB
Bogsnorkler said:
diddly-squat said:
dv said:Bad news for me
you mean from an FX standpoint or an oil price standpoint?
DV gets paid in US dollars for his work. OSIB
OSIB?
Witty Rejoinder said:
Bogsnorkler said:
diddly-squat said:you mean from an FX standpoint or an oil price standpoint?
DV gets paid in US dollars for his work. OSIB
OSIB?
or so i believe
Bogsnorkler said:
diddly-squat said:
dv said:Bad news for me
you mean from an FX standpoint or an oil price standpoint?
DV gets paid in US dollars for his work. OSIB
yes, but I imagine a dropping oil price is not particularly good news either when you work in the petroleum exploration industry
diddly-squat said:
Bogsnorkler said:
diddly-squat said:you mean from an FX standpoint or an oil price standpoint?
DV gets paid in US dollars for his work. OSIB
yes, but I imagine a dropping oil price is not particularly good news either when you work in the petroleum exploration industry
I thought he was into tunnels these days.
diddly-squat said:
dv said:
SCIENCE said:Rate cuts RCR
The Australian dollar rose to a two-week high, while iron ore and oil prices fell sharply ahead of potential interest rate cuts from the European and Canadian central banks this week.
¡
Bad news for me
you mean from an FX standpoint or an oil price standpoint?
I’m not really in hc any more. I mean from a forex perspective. My contracts are all in USD.
dv said:
diddly-squat said:
dv said:Bad news for me
you mean from an FX standpoint or an oil price standpoint?
I’m not really in hc any more. I mean from a forex perspective. My contracts are all in USD.
Well, you’ve had a good run.
dv said:
diddly-squat said:
dv said:Bad news for me
you mean from an FX standpoint or an oil price standpoint?
I’m not really in hc any more. I mean from a forex perspective. My contracts are all in USD.
Wet work for the CIA huh
dv said:
diddly-squat said:
dv said:Bad news for me
you mean from an FX standpoint or an oil price standpoint?
I’m not really in hc any more. I mean from a forex perspective. My contracts are all in USD.
ok… we do a lot of USD contracts as well and it’s one of the reasons we ahead of budget.. been making out like bandits on the our FX predictions
LOL @ fucking counter counter counter propaganda
Dr Ripley says the AUKUS alliance, coupled with an upcoming federal election, may further motivate groups like this one to target Australia. “AUKUS unfortunately puts us in the crosshairs,” he said.
like “our big spend must be correct because that means that other cuntries are targeting us and they’d only target us if we were doing something correct”¿¡.
Macron calls shock French elections after far-right parties win big in Europe
ByRaf Casert, Lorne Cook and Samuel Petrequin
Updated June 10, 2024 — 5.46am
Brussels: Far-right parties made such big gains at the European Union parliamentary elections that they dealt stunning defeats to two of the bloc’s most important leaders: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
In France, the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen dominated the polls to such an extent that Macron immediately dissolved the national parliament and called for new elections, a massive political risk since his party could suffer more losses, hobbling the rest of his presidential term that ends in 2027.
French President Emmanuel Macron poses for pictures outside a polling station during the European election, in northern France.
French President Emmanuel Macron poses for pictures outside a polling station during the European election, in northern France.CREDIT:AP
In Germany, Scholz suffered such an ignominious fate that his long-established Social Democratic Party fell behind the extreme-right Alternative for Germany, which surged into second place.
Adding insult to injury, the National Rally’s lead candidate, Jordan Bardella, all of 28 years old, immediately took on a presidential tone with his victory speech in Paris, opening with “My dear compatriots” and adding “the French people have given their verdict, and it’s final.”
Macron acknowledged the thud of defeat. “I’ve heard your message, your concerns, and I won’t leave them unanswered,” he said, adding that calling a snap election only underscored his democratic credentials.
The four-day polls in the 27 EU countries were the world’s second-biggest exercise in democracy, behind India’s recent election. At the end, the rise of the far right was even more stunning than many analysts predicted. The French National Rally stood at just over 30 per cent or about twice as much as Macron’s pro-European centrist Renew party that is projected to reach around 15 per cent.
In Germany, the most populous nation in the 27-member bloc, projections indicated that the AfD overcame a string of scandals involving its top candidate to rise to 16.5 per cent, up from 11 per cent in 2019. In comparison, the combined result for the three parties in the German governing coalition barely topped 30 per cent.
Overall across the EU, two mainstream and pro-European groups, the Christian Democrats and the Socialists, remained the dominant forces. The gains of the far right came at the expense of the Greens, who were expected to lose about 20 seats and fall back to sixth position in the legislature.
For decades, the European Union, which has its roots in the defeat of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, confined the hard right to the political fringes. With its strong showing in these elections, the far right could now become a major player in policies ranging from migration to security and climate.
The Greens were predicted to fall from 20 per cent to 12 per cent in Germany, a traditional bulwark for environmentalists, with more losses expected in France and several other EU nations. Their defeat could well have an impact on the EU’s overall climate change policies, still the most progressive across the globe.
The centre-right Christian Democratic bloc of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which already weakened its green credentials ahead of the polls, dominated in Germany with almost 30 per cent, easily beating Scholz’s Social Democrats, who fell to 14 per cent, even behind the AfD.
“What you have already set as a trend is all the better – strongest force, stable, in difficult times and by a distance,” von der Leyen told her German supporters by video link from Brussels.
As well as France, the hard right, which focused its campaign on migration and crime, was expected to make significant gains in Italy, where Premier Giorgia Meloni was tipped to consolidate her power.
Voting will continue in Italy until late in the evening and many of the 27 member states have not yet released any projections. Nonetheless, data already released confirmed earlier predictions: the EU’s massive exercise in democracy is expected to shift the bloc to the right and redirect its future.
France becomes world’s first country to enshrine abortion rights in constitution
France has become the world’s first country to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution.
With the centre losing seats to hard right parties, the EU could find it harder to pass legislation and decision-making could at times be paralysed in the world’s biggest trading bloc.
EU lawmakers, who serve a five-year term in the 720-seat parliament, have a say in issues from financial rules to climate and agriculture policy. They approve the EU budget, which bankrolls priorities including infrastructure projects, farm subsidies and aid delivered to Ukraine. And they hold a veto over appointments to the powerful EU commission.
These elections come at a testing time for voter confidence in a bloc of some 450 million people. Over the past five years, the EU has been shaken by the coronavirus pandemic, an economic slump and an energy crisis fuelled by the biggest land conflict in Europe since the Second World War. But political campaigning often focuses on issues of concern in individual countries rather than on broader European interests.
The voting marathon began in the Netherlands on Thursday, where an unofficial exit poll suggested that the anti-migrant hard-right party of Geert Wilders would make important gains, even though a coalition of pro-European parties has probably pushed it into second place.
Casting his vote in the Flanders region, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency until the end of the month, warned that Europe was “more under pressure than ever.”
Since the last EU election in 2019, populist or far-right parties now lead governments in three nations — Hungary, Slovakia and Italy — and are part of ruling coalitions in others including Sweden, Finland and, soon, the Netherlands. Polls give the populists an advantage in France, Belgium, Austria and Italy.
“Right is good,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who leads a stridently nationalist and anti-migrant government, told reporters after casting his ballot. “To go right is always good. Go right!”
After the election comes a period of horse-trading, as political parties reconsider in their places in the continent-wide alliances that run the European legislature.
The biggest political group — the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) — has moved further right during the present elections on issues like security, climate and migration.
Among the most watched questions is whether the Brothers of Italy — the governing party of populist Meloni, which has neo-fascist roots — stays in the more hard-line European Conservatives and Reformists group or becomes part of a new hard-right group that could form the wake of the elections. Meloni also has the option to work with the EPP.
A more worrying scenario for pro-European parties would be if the ECR joins forces with Le Pen’s Identity and Democracy group to consolidate hard-right influence.
The second-biggest group — the centre-left Socialists and Democrats — and the Greens refuse to align themselves with the ECR.
Questions also remain over what group Orban’s ruling Fidesz party might join. It was previously part of the EPP but was forced out in 2021 due to conflicts over its interests and values. The far-right Alternative for Germany was kicked out of the Identity and Democracy group following a string of scandals surrounding its two lead candidates for the European Parliament.
The election also ushers in a period of uncertainty as new leaders are chosen for the European institutions. While lawmakers are jostling over places in alliances, governments will be competing to secure top EU jobs for their national officials.
Chief among them is the presidency of the powerful executive branch, the European Commission, which proposes laws and watches to ensure they are respected. The commission also controls the EU’s purse strings, manages trade and is Europe’s competition watchdog.
Other plum posts are those of European Council president, who chairs summits of presidents and prime ministers, and EU foreign policy chief, the bloc’s top diplomat.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/europe/macron-calls-shock-french-elections-after-defeat-in-eu-vote-20240610-p5jkgd.html
STFU And Be Thankful You Aren’t Cheng Lei CHINA Worst
Barcelona plans to shut all holiday apartments by 2028 as mayor seeks to tackle housing crisis
Barcelona, a top Spanish holiday destination, announced on Friday that it will bar apartment rentals to tourists by 2028, an unexpectedly drastic move as it seeks to rein-in soaring housing costs and make the city liveable for residents.
The city’s leftist mayor, Jaume Collboni, said that by November 2028, Barcelona will scrap the licences of the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals.
“We are confronting what we believe is Barcelona’s largest problem,” Mr Collboni told a city government event.
The boom in short-term rentals in Barcelona, Spain’s most visited city by foreign tourists, means some residents cannot afford an apartment after rents rose 68 per cent in the past 10 years and the cost of buying a house rose by 38 per cent, Mr Collboni said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-22/brk-barcelona-plans-to-shut-all-holiday-apartments-by-2028/104010862
dv said:
Barcelona plans to shut all holiday apartments by 2028 as mayor seeks to tackle housing crisisBarcelona, a top Spanish holiday destination, announced on Friday that it will bar apartment rentals to tourists by 2028, an unexpectedly drastic move as it seeks to rein-in soaring housing costs and make the city liveable for residents.
The city’s leftist mayor, Jaume Collboni, said that by November 2028, Barcelona will scrap the licences of the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals.
“We are confronting what we believe is Barcelona’s largest problem,” Mr Collboni told a city government event.
The boom in short-term rentals in Barcelona, Spain’s most visited city by foreign tourists, means some residents cannot afford an apartment after rents rose 68 per cent in the past 10 years and the cost of buying a house rose by 38 per cent, Mr Collboni said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-22/brk-barcelona-plans-to-shut-all-holiday-apartments-by-2028/104010862
Bloody tourists.
They should just send us their money, and stay out of the place.
Assange is free.
More Importantly Why Are They Wearing Wedding Cakes On Those Lumps On Their Necks ¿
roughbarked said:
Got a shock this morning. Turned on my TV and caught MTG on my TV. Yes, the 7:30 report.
Ack!Democracy sinks to its lowest in the USA.
Could be better¡
Juan José Zúñiga, present in the same square, confirmed the movement of uniformed officers and said: “We are upset by the affront, enough is enough.” He spoke on television of “attacks on democracy,” without elaborating.
President Luis Arce warned an “irregular” deployment of troops was taking place in the capital, raising coup fears. Mr Arce warned on Wednesday local time that an “irregular” deployment of troops was taking place in the capital and he called for “democracy to be respected” on social media.
Probably someone had a much bigger shock.
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
MTG on my TV. Yes, the 7:30 report. Ack!Democracy sinks to its lowest in the USA.
He spoke on television of “attacks on democracy,” without elaborating.
he called for “democracy to be respected”
Probably someone had a much bigger shock.
Also why worry about extraterritorial judicial overreach when you can just export fascist cultural influence to the rest of the world hey¿
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
MTG on my TV. Yes, the 7:30 report. Ack!Democracy sinks to its lowest in the USA.
He spoke on television of “attacks on democracy,” without elaborating.
he called for “democracy to be respected”
Probably someone had a much bigger shock.
Also why worry about extraterritorial judicial overreach when you can just export fascist cultural influence to the rest of the world hey¿
It is a worry though.
Farsed flags, farsed flags everywhere¡
The rebellion passed bloodlessly at the end of the business day. In an extraordinary scene, Mr Arce argued strongly with Mr Zúñiga and his allies face-to-face in the plaza outside the palace before returning inside to name a new army commander. “What we saw is extremely unusual for coup d’etats in Latin America, and it raises red flags,” said Diego von Vacano, an expert in Bolivian politics at Texas A&M University and former informal adviser to Mr Arce. “ Arce looked like a victim yesterday and a hero today, defending democracy.”
SCIENCE said:
Farsed flags, farsed flags everywhere¡
The rebellion passed bloodlessly at the end of the business day. In an extraordinary scene, Mr Arce argued strongly with Mr Zúñiga and his allies face-to-face in the plaza outside the palace before returning inside to name a new army commander. “What we saw is extremely unusual for coup d’etats in Latin America, and it raises red flags,” said Diego von Vacano, an expert in Bolivian politics at Texas A&M University and former informal adviser to Mr Arce. “ Arce looked like a victim yesterday and a hero today, defending democracy.”
The Bolivian president has angrily called the accusations that he was behind a failed “self-coup” against his government “lies”.
SCIENCE said:
Farsed flags, farsed flags everywhere¡
The rebellion passed bloodlessly at the end of the business day. In an extraordinary scene, Mr Arce argued strongly with Mr Zúñiga and his allies face-to-face in the plaza outside the palace before returning inside to name a new army commander. “What we saw is extremely unusual for coup d’etats in Latin America, and it raises red flags,” said Diego von Vacano, an expert in Bolivian politics at Texas A&M University and former informal adviser to Mr Arce. “ Arce looked like a victim yesterday and a hero today, defending democracy.”
I don’t speak Farsi
dv said:
SCIENCE said:
Farsed flags, farsed flags everywhere¡
The rebellion passed bloodlessly at the end of the business day. In an extraordinary scene, Mr Arce argued strongly with Mr Zúñiga and his allies face-to-face in the plaza outside the palace before returning inside to name a new army commander. “What we saw is extremely unusual for coup d’etats in Latin America, and it raises red flags,” said Diego von Vacano, an expert in Bolivian politics at Texas A&M University and former informal adviser to Mr Arce. “ Arce looked like a victim yesterday and a hero today, defending democracy.”
I don’t speak Farsi
That Islamic Republican Influence Is Everywhere Even After It’s Parsed
SCIENCE said:
dv said:
SCIENCE said:
Farsed flags, farsed flags everywhere¡
The rebellion passed bloodlessly at the end of the business day. In an extraordinary scene, Mr Arce argued strongly with Mr Zúñiga and his allies face-to-face in the plaza outside the palace before returning inside to name a new army commander. “What we saw is extremely unusual for coup d’etats in Latin America, and it raises red flags,” said Diego von Vacano, an expert in Bolivian politics at Texas A&M University and former informal adviser to Mr Arce. “ Arce looked like a victim yesterday and a hero today, defending democracy.”
I don’t speak Farsi
That Islamic Republican Influence Is Everywhere Even After It’s Parsed
Don’t speak Parsi, either.
It’s a shame we can’t get all Anglosphere govts progressive at the same time. Just can’t be firing on all cylinders for some reason. Right now NZ is on the blink but we are about to get the UK back.
dv said:
It’s a shame we can’t get all Anglosphere govts progressive at the same time. Just can’t be firing on all cylinders for some reason. Right now NZ is on the blink but we are about to get the UK back.
We’ve won back NZ but are about to lose the UK after 15 years in the Sun.
Peak Warming Man said:
dv said:
It’s a shame we can’t get all Anglosphere govts progressive at the same time. Just can’t be firing on all cylinders for some reason. Right now NZ is on the blink but we are about to get the UK back.
We’ve won back NZ but are about to lose the UK after 15 years in the Sun.
And he’s a darkie…
Smoke Bomb LOL
the company confirmed that it makes white phosphorus bombs in response to questions from the ABC. “The smoke bombs manufactured by
No we think the problem is overcapacity in the big manufacturing country or countries, driving inflation and not deflation
As war rages in Ukraine and the Middle East, weapons manufacturers are watching their profits and share prices soar.
oh wait ah shit.
A number of American carriers have issued a ground stop on air traffic after experiencing “communication issues”.
This means no new planes will be allowed to depart from airports, but planes already airborne will remain on their scheduled routes. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed the global ground stop for airlines including United, Delta, American, and Frontier.
Fortunately dirty ASIAN countries are such software pirates that they’ve probably self inflicted so much system disability that they won’t be able to exploit this chaos opportunity¡
The epic bust-up between China and India could be ending
Witness calm in the Himalayas, diplomatic charm offensives and thickening trade
Jul 18th 2024|delhi
Ask an indian diplomat about relations with China and they will repeat a well-rehearsed mantra: there can be no return to normality until peace is restored on their disputed Himalayan border. That has been the official line for most of the time since 2020, when a deadly clash occurred there between Indian and Chinese troops. On the face of it, India’s stance is a rejection of China’s suggestion that the two countries should set aside the dispute, which has pushed India closer to America, and focus on areas of mutual interest.
Relations are indeed still far from their pre-2020 normality. And they are unlikely to return to it soon. Even so, there has been a quiet yet notable shift in recent months towards a new phase of relations defined by border stability and closer commercial ties. The shift reflects India’s urgent need for Chinese technology, investment and expertise to meet its immediate industrial needs. It is also based on China’s mounting concern about its own economy and escalating trade barriers worldwide.
The first sign of the shift came in November last year, when Indian restrictions on visas for Chinese professionals in some industries were relaxed. That was followed by a softening of rhetoric on China from Narendra Modi, the prime minister. In an interview with Newsweek magazine published on April 10th, weeks before the Indian election, Mr Modi described relations with China as “important and significant” and expressed hope that border stability could be restored. His defence minister, Rajnath Singh, said in late April that border talks were “progressive and satisfactory” and “no fresh tension has come up”. Then in May a new Chinese ambassador, Xu Feihong, arrived in Delhi after a hiatus of 18 months in which China’s embassy there operated without one. Mr Xu has since been on a charm offensive, meeting several members of the political elite.
China has also been unusually restrained in its public statements on India. Xi Jinping, China’s leader, did not congratulate Mr Modi on his re-election in June. However, China gave a relatively low-key response when Mr Modi thanked Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te, for doing so (China claims Taiwan as its territory). And Chinese officials avoided criticising India after an American congressional delegation met the Dalai Lama, who it views as a separatist, there.
One reason for the recalibration is the apparent success of a new mechanism for managing border tensions. It relies on “buffer zones” where both sides withdraw troops and cease all patrols. Through 21 rounds of talks between military commanders, the two sides have already established such zones at five of seven flashpoints and are discussing others, although their strategic importance makes them more contentious.
The other impetus for change is a recent surge of demand for Chinese technology in India, despite official efforts to reduce its economic dependence on its neighbour. After the clash in 2020, India’s government banned 320 Chinese apps, launched tax raids on Chinese companies and introduced new rules requiring government approval for any Chinese investment. Bilateral trade dropped, and Indian officials joined Western counterparts in trying to “de-risk” supply chains.
And yet India’s dependence on Chinese imports has only grown (see chart). In the 2023-24 financial year China edged past America to reclaim its position as India’s top trading partner. India’s imports from China increased to $102bn (about 56% more than in 2020) out of a total $118bn in bilateral trade. India’s trade deficit with China has risen by around 75% since 2020.
More strikingly, China was India’s biggest source of major industrial products in 2023, accounting for around 30% in categories such as electronics, machinery, cars, chemicals and textiles, according to a recent study by the Global Trade Research Initiative (gtri), a Delhi-based think-tank. The study found that India’s reliance on China was highest in imports of electronics, telecoms and electrical products, at 39%. Machinery was second, at 38%.
A year ago, “the narrative in India was that our imports from China are a worry”, says Ajay Srivastava, an Indian former trade official who runs the gtri. That narrative has changed over the past two or three months, he adds; now the dominant theme is that not only does India need Chinese products, but it needs Chinese companies to make stuff in India. Under pressure from some Indian firms, the government is planning to relax visa restrictions to allow in more Chinese technicians.
Indian public views of China remain generally hawkish. Diplomatic relations are still touchy too: Mr Modi skipped a summit attended by Mr Xi and Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, in Kazakhstan in July. And a bilateral Xi-Modi meeting does not seem imminent. But commercial ties look set to expand further in the coming years, as Indian and Chinese companies form joint manufacturing ventures in India, which will probably import machinery and components from China. Many of these ventures involve big and influential Indian companies. They are also in industries such as electrical vehicles and mobile-phone assembly that the government is subsidising to boost manufacturing.
In one high-profile example, saic Motor, a state-run Chinese company that owns the mg Motors brand, announced a joint venture in November with India’s jsw Group to produce electric vehicles in Mr Modi’s home state of Gujarat. The venture has since committed to sell a million vehicles annually and capture a third of India’s electric-vehicle market by 2030. jsw also plans to make electrical-vehicle batteries in eastern India, through a technology transfer deal with a Chinese manufacturer.
The trend suggests that some Western firms’ efforts to shift manufacturing to India from China may not result in a clean break. Apple already produces about 14% of its iPhones in India. But the latest public list of Apple suppliers shows that several of its Chinese component-makers have started manufacturing in India. Several more may soon follow suit.
Chinese technology is also integral to India’s infrastructure plans. A single state-run Chinese company, zpmc, has already provided at least 250 of the cranes at Indian ports. Yet despite security concerns over these hi-tech cranes in India and America, private Indian port operators continue to install them. The Adani Group, one of India’s biggest conglomerates and port operators, took delivery in May of the final six out of 24 such cranes for a new port it is building in Kerala.
On the military front, India continues to hedge against China by enhancing ties with America and its allies. It is also bolstering relations with Russia to try to offset China’s growing influence there, as seen by Mr Modi’s recent bear hug with Mr Putin. And India and China still compete for influence elsewhere in the world.
Still, like its Western counterparts, India’s government has to balance the interests of military chiefs with those of business leaders, who argue that most alternatives to Chinese tech are too costly. Mr Modi will also be mindful that the recent loss of his party’s majority in parliament was partly because of frustration over a shortage of high-quality manufacturing jobs. India’s leader has good reason to fear China. For now, though, he needs it too.
https://www.economist.com/asia/2024/07/18/the-epic-bust-up-between-china-and-india-could-be-ending?
Ah shit, how
China and the Philippines have reached a deal they hope will end confrontations at the most fiercely disputed shoal in the South China Sea, according to the Philippine government.
the fuck are we going to reduce the population, increase The Economy Must Grow, increase productivity, and lower environmental impacts now¿
Police kill more than 100 students in protests over job handouts
ByAnupreeta Das
July 22, 2024 — 11.19am
New Delhi: The video, taken this month, shows a Bangladeshi protester wearing a black T-shirt and standing on one side of an empty street. His arms are outstretched, and he is holding a stick in one hand.
Across the street stand several police officers, wearing bulletproof vests and helmets and pointing their guns at him. He does not move, daring the officers to shoot.
They begin to fire.
As Bangladesh was going through one of its worst bouts of violence since it gained independence in 1971, the video – verified by the news agency Storyful and carried by multiple television channels in the country – came to symbolise the helplessness and defiance of student protesters demanding the reform of a system of preferential treatment for coveted government jobs.
The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina responded to the escalating protests by deploying ever greater force. Officials shut down the internet. Paramilitary troops were called in. A curfew was declared. Protesters were beaten, and more than 100 were killed. Late Friday, the government declared a nationwide curfew and brought the army in to restore order. On Saturday alone, the police reported that 12 people had died.
On Sunday, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh stepped in with a ruling that was a significant concession to the protesters – and one that could open up job opportunities for thousands of students.
The streets of Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, were mostly empty after the verdict came down. A few protests were still going on, and helicopters were circling overhead as military patrols drove around the city. Some students said that they would continue to protest until the bill supporting the ruling was formally passed.
The protests erupted out of students’ anger at a quota system for public-sector jobs that benefited certain groups, including the families of war veterans. Collectively, the quotas added up to 56 per cent of all government jobs.
Under the Supreme Court’s orders, Bangladesh will now reserve only 7 per cent of those posts, a move that will open up many more civil service jobs to university students, who had called for a merit-based system.
The children and grandchildren of those who fought for the country’s independence from Pakistan in 1971 will have a quota of 5 per cent, down from 30 per cent. The ruling abolishes quotas for women and for those from certain districts. It also cuts the quota of jobs for ethnic minorities to 1 per cent, from 5 per cent, but leaves in place the 1 per cent of jobs that are reserved for people with disabilities.
Analysts say the weekslong revolt reflected a broader resentment over the uneven distribution of wealth and opportunity in an economy that has begun to wobble after years of rapid growth.
The protests expressed the “frustration many people feel about how economic growth has been uneven, and there is huge inequality and corruption,” said Pierre Prakash, director of the Asia Program at the International Crisis Group. “The quota protest is just the manifestation of a widespread malaise that’s not just about quotas but also economic and political.”
In recent decades, Bangladesh’s economy has lifted millions out of poverty on the back of a robust garment-export industry. But the coronavirus pandemic hit hard, with consumers around the world cutting back on clothing purchases and remittances from the diaspora falling. At the same time, consumers endured an inflationary burst, with food and fuel costs rising sharply.
Inflation remains high at 10 per cent, and the pace of job creation has slowed. As of 2022, the youth unemployment rate, at 16.1 per cent, was about three times as high as the overall rate.
Public-sector jobs are desirable because they are stable and prestigious, and they come with generous benefits. But they are tough to obtain. Every year, roughly 4000 government positions open up, and more than 300,000 students compete for them.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s founding leader and Hasina’s father, created the quota system in 1972 to ensure that the thousands of men and women who fought in the war of independence from Pakistan would be taken care of.
The quota was extended in 1997 and in 2010 to include the children and then grandchildren of war veterans, leading to the perpetuation of a favoured class that many deemed unfair.
Over time, guaranteed government jobs created a “political class” and a hierarchy, as well as a class of wealthy people, said Saad Hammadi, a policy and advocacy manager at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Ontario, Canada. That, along with the rising cost of living and clampdowns on free expression, brought Bangladeshis to this moment, Hammadi added.
“It was a volcanic eruption of all the frustrations people had been living with,” he said.
Other factors fuelled the anger. Last year, Bangladesh was ranked No. 149 out of 180 countries on an annual corruption index released by Transparency International, a global nonprofit.
Students and analysts said it was not unusual for someone to bribe an official for a government post or for the questions to an exam. Local papers recently reported on a long-running scheme to leak exam question papers, including those for the Bangladesh Civil Service exam, which is the qualifying test for a government job.
Anti-quota protests have erupted many times in the past two decades. The most recent demonstrations had their roots in a student movement that started in 2018 and that led Hasina to abolish the system. But after a lawsuit by the descendants of some freedom fighters, a court in June reinstated the quotas.
Initially peaceful, the demonstrations intensified after Hasina called the protesters “razakars” – a derogatory term for those who supported Pakistan during Bangladesh’s independence war.
“We demanded rights, but we got called ‘razakar’,” students chanted for days on the streets of Dhaka. As their cries faded amid the government’s crackdown, some Bangladeshi emigrants took up the cause. Protesters gathered in Sydney and Melbourne on the weekend.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/asia/police-kill-more-than-100-students-in-protests-over-job-handouts-20240722-p5jvhq.html
Communism Bad So Just Call It Something Else With A Lower Bound ¡
Ingrid Robeyns, a professor of philosophy and economics at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, has spent the past decade working on an approach to wealth which she calls limitarianism. “The limitarian idea involves saying to all members of society that while you can aspire to gain wealth, there should be a limit, a limit determined by society, and … that excess wealth should then be forfeited to the state to fund society’s overall needs,” Professor Robeyns explains.
Who needs to fight wars when you can just destroy your enemies with global warming¿¡
SCIENCE said:
Who needs to fight wars when you can just destroy your enemies with global warming¿¡
Typhoon Gaemi hits China after sinking ships and causing an oil spill that threatens Philippines capital
SCIENCE said:
Who needs to fight wars when you can just destroy your enemies with global warming¿¡
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:Who needs to fight wars when you can just destroy your enemies with global warming¿¡
Typhoon Gaemi hits China after sinking ships and causing an oil spill that threatens Philippines capital
They were toying with using weather as a weapon of warfare. Like all things, chemical or weather warfare, Russia held on to them longer.
Tamb said:
SCIENCE said:Who needs to fight wars when you can just destroy your enemies with global warming¿¡
That’s a 21st century variation of MAD.
Yep.
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
Tamb said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
Who needs to fight wars when you can just destroy your enemies with global warming¿¡
Typhoon Gaemi hits China after sinking ships and causing an oil spill that threatens Philippines capital
That’s a 21st century variation of MAD.
They were toying with using weather as a weapon of warfare. Like all things, chemical or weather warfare, Russia held on to them longer.
Yep.
Japan’s defence force has been called in to conduct search and rescue operations in affected towns. (Kyodo via Reuters)
That’s Right Keep Them Busy While
Oh Yeah
Well thank fuck for that eh,
Colin Parry, who owns a business nearby, told the BBC he called the police after seeing young girls bleeding. “Ambulances started arriving then. It was just mayhem,” Mr Parry said. “It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life … it is like a scene from a horror movie.” Mr Parry also described mothers racing to the scene “wailing and screaming”. Local coffee shop owner Bare Varathan told the Manchester Evening News he saw seven to 10 bleeding children outside the building. “They were all aged about 10,” he said. “One of them was really seriously injured.”
us, we’ve seen footage from Occupied Palestine.
ah well at least
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-29/train-derails-in-russia-hundreds-onboard/104157420
when 250000 people get washed away by a tidelike wave there’s nothing to see
Israel Attempts To Assassinate CHINA Foreign Interference Network
SCIENCE said:
Israel Attempts To Assassinate CHINA Foreign Interference Network
It can happen. I contracted amoebic dysentery from a prawn curry on Bugis Street. Fun times.
Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s Papua region have killed a New Zealand helicopter pilot, according to regional police. The 50-year-old pilot was killed when rebels rounded up those on board the helicopter when it landed in an isolated area.
Good day to SELL SELL SELL apparently¡
LOL
lies
SCIENCE said:
LOL
lies
I was thinking how to tackle this.
I think set up a code of practice for social media platforms to abide by socially accepted norms around not promoting hate speech or violence or similar. Social media companies will need to apply to be certified to operate under such a scheme, that they have the moderators and formal complaints procedures in place and the necessary resources to enforce it.
Then the real kicker, other companies that sell products in any particular market can only advertise on certified said social media platforms. If social media platforms won’t go down the path of sensible content moderation, then it will be illegal for anyone to advertise on them.
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:LOL
lies
I was thinking how to tackle this.
I think set up a code of practice for social media platforms to abide by socially accepted norms around not promoting hate speech or violence or similar. Social media companies will need to apply to be certified to operate under such a scheme, that they have the moderators and formal complaints procedures in place and the necessary resources to enforce it.
Then the real kicker, other companies that sell products in any particular market can only advertise on certified said social media platforms. If social media platforms won’t go down the path of sensible content moderation, then it will be illegal for anyone to advertise on them.
Google says it was changed for the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Thai Constitutional Court dissolves progressive Move Forward Party
Thailand’s top court also bans several party members, including ex-leader Pita Limjaroenrat, from politics for 10 years.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/7/thai-constitutional-court-dissolves-progressive-move-forward-party
Buddhism Enters The 21st Century¡
Communists Are Such Fun Police
Three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna have been cancelled over an apparent plot to launch an attack on an event in the Vienna area, such as the concerts.
I was wondering whether other countries would just copy China in the SCS:
…
Vietnam accelerates island building to challenge China’s maritime claims
As tensions mount in the South China Sea, Vietnam is dredging and filling in land, fortifying barriers and erecting new structures to create hundreds of acres.
By Rebecca Tan and Laris Karklis
August 9, 2024 at 4:00 p.m.
Today, the reef has become Vietnam’s biggest military outpost in the South China Sea.
Vietnam has dramatically accelerated its effort to expand islands and reclaim land in the contested South China Sea since the start of the year to challenge rising Chinese assertiveness, according to satellite imagery and interviews with Vietnamese officials, security analysts and diplomats.
While Vietnam has been enlarging its presence across a remote collection of rocks, reefs and islets called the Spratlys since 2021, the country is on pace this year to create more than 1,000 acres of new land there, more than in any year prior.
Not since China carried out its own island-building campaign there a decade ago, turning semi-submerged reefs into sophisticated military bases, has the landscape of the archipelago been so transformed. In just three years, Vietnam has increased its amount of land in the Spratlys tenfold.
Trouble in the South China Sea
Tensions in the South China Sea are more acute than at any time in recent years. As China under President Xi Jinping has grown more aggressive in asserting its claims, a half dozen other governments have pursued their own security and economic interests in the strategic waters. The United States has urged that disputes be settled based on international law.
Leaders of Vietnam’s communist government have traditionally been muted about its land reclamation drive in the South China Sea, often refusing to explain or acknowledge the effort even in private conversations, said security analysts and diplomats.
But in rare interviews in the capital, Hanoi, five former and current Vietnamese officials said the government has been “consolidating” outposts for the purpose of self-defense, part of a broader strategy to counter security threats “early and from afar.”
“We will resort to every means possible to make sure we can defend and safeguard our legitimate interests in the East Sea,” said Le Dinh Tinh, director general of policy planning in Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, using Vietnam’s name for the South China Sea. Vietnam’s activities in the Spratlys are “completely within its legitimate rights,” he added.
Tinh stressed that Vietnam wants a peaceful resolution to its maritime disputes but added that the government is alarmed by the recent escalation of tensions in the South China Sea, particularly between China and the Philippines, which have violently clashed over a shoal within the Spratlys.
The largest natural feature in the Spratly Island chain is Itu Aba, which is occupied by Taiwan, but its size was dwarfed by China’s island reclamation projects beginning in 2014 and now by Vietnam’s efforts in island building.
China has long sought to dominate the South China Sea, a strategic, resource-rich waterway that six other governments say belongs in part to them. Under leader Xi Jinping, Beijing has increasingly antagonized and confronted other claimants. Chinese ships have repeatedly harassed Philippine vessels in the disputed waters in recent months, raising the prospect that the United States, which has a mutual defense treaty with Manila, could be drawn into armed conflict.
From 2013 to 2015, China undertook an island-building blitz in the Spratlys, reclaiming about 3,000 acres of land, where it then constructed military bases complete with anti-ship and antiaircraft missile systems, radar domes, and fighter jets.
In response, Vietnamese officials say, Vietnam built out the small outposts it had been occupying in the Spratlys, dredging and filling in land, fortifying barriers, and erecting new structures.
The most dramatic transformation in recent months has occurred at Barque Canada Reef, a narrow, 18-mile atoll on the southern end of the Spratlys that Vietnam has doubled in size to 492 acres since November. The reef, which once hosted six pillbox-like structures, is now Vietnam’s largest outpost in the Spratlys, wide and long enough to potentially accommodate a 3,000-meter airstrip for large military and transport aircraft, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Vietnam’s Barque Canada Reef has undergone a massive transformation since the government began expanding it in 2022. This satellite image captured by Maxar Technologies on May 11 reveals the resources and techniques required for this undertaking.
Cutter suction dredgers, vessels equipped with a rotating cutter head, loosen material from the seabed, which is then sucked up and pumped through floating pipes toward land.
By developing these outposts, Vietnam can deploy more ships and personnel to the Spratlys, strengthening its footprint in the disputed waters, said Ha Hoang Hop, a Hanoi-based military analyst. The outposts can also host radar and radio systems that reveal the movements of Chinese vessels, which often turn off location trackers or “go dark” in the South China Sea, said Hop.
Vietnam is outgunned by China at sea, but the government’s aggressive island-building campaign demonstrates its commitment to defending Vietnam’s maritime features, said Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. The campaign is a warning, “a loud one,” he said.
An Indonesian navy boat patrols waters in the South China Sea last year as part of exercises that also included Vietnam and four other Southeast Asian countries. China’s claim to most of the sea is disputed by other nations in the region. (Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images)
‘Don’t push us too hard’
In addition to its land reclamation, Vietnam has expanded its maritime militia — government-funded ships used to chase off foreign vessels — and upgraded commercial fishing ships that operate far offshore, mirroring China’s tactics to strengthen its presence at sea, say security analysts.
“What Hanoi is signaling to China is this: ‘Don’t push us too hard,’” said Huong Le Thu, an Asia-focused analyst at the International Crisis Group.
Hanoi has also enhanced security cooperation with the United States, Japan and Australia, which all upgraded ties with Vietnam over the past 10 months, primarily in response to Chinese assertiveness, according to Le Thu and other analysts studying Vietnam.
Satellite image time lapse of Namyit Island expansion from Sept. 2020 to May 2024
Namyit Island expansion from September 2020 to May 2024. (Sentinel 2 imagery/ESA)
The United States recently transferred two Coast Guard cutters and began delivering 12 training aircraft to Vietnam as part of more than $330 million worth of security assistance and arms sales, according to State Department reports. In July, a U.S. Navy vessel paid a rare port call to Cam Ranh Bay, a strategic Vietnamese base facing the South China Sea.
Asked about Vietnam’s island building, officials at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi declined to comment on it directly, saying more generally that they are “concerned about a change in the status quo” in the Spratlys. At the same time, officials said, the United States supports Vietnam’s defense of its sovereignty.
Vietnam shares an 800-mile land border with China, which is also its largest trading partner. Hanoi is reluctant to antagonize Beijing, but ties between the two countries have long been strained by historical enmities and, increasingly, by China’s projection of power at sea.
Satellite image time lapse of Sand Cay Island expansion from March 2021 to May 2024
Sand Cay Island expansion from March 2021 to May 2024. (Sentinel 2 imagery/ESA)
In the years since an international tribunal ruled in 2016 that China’s claims over the South China Sea have no legal basis, China’s presence there has only intensified, including in areas claimed by Vietnam, according to ship-tracking data. China has also deepened its security relationship with Vietnam’s neighbor Cambodia, concerning officials in Hanoi who fear being encircled by old enemies.
At the same time, China has stepped up efforts to court Vietnam. In December, President Xi visited Hanoi, signing dozens of bilateral agreements. “China and Vietnam have common ideals and convictions and enjoy a shared future,” China’s Foreign Ministry said during the visit.
The Foreign Ministry did not respond to questions for this report.
A history of tensions
The steps that Vietnam takes to “secure itself” in the South China Sea, including its island building, should not be regarded as escalatory, said Nguyen Hong Quan, a Vietnamese major general and retired official at the Ministry of Defense. “After all,” he said, “it’s China that started this.”
In 2014, China sent an oil rig 120 miles from Vietnam’s mainland, according to Vietnamese officials, deep inside what the country considers its 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This prompted a months-long standoff that saw Chinese boats spraying Vietnamese boats with water cannons and sinking at least one Vietnamese vessel. Anti-Chinese protests across Vietnam devolved into riots, with businesses owned by Chinese people looted and burned.
More recently, there have been regular skirmishes and standoffs at sea between the two countries, Vietnamese officials said. But Vietnam and China have refrained from publicizing most of these. Chinese vessels have also continued to enter Vietnam’s EEZ, according to ship location data tracked by research groups like AMTI and the South China Sea Chronicle Initiative, a Vietnam-based think tank.
Since 2019, China has increased patrols in areas where Vietnam has oil and gas interests and deployed what China says are research vessels in Vietnam’s waters with growing frequency, sometimes for weeks at a time. Last year, after privately pressing China to withdraw a research vessel to no avail, Vietnam publicly rebuked its neighbor. In June, Vietnam again called out the “illegal activities” of a Chinese survey vessel in its EEZ.
Philippine coast guard personnel ride past a larger Chinese coast guard vessel in March. Amid numerous confrontations between those two countries, Vietnam may have to become even more assertive in defending its claims, a retired Vietnamese defense official says. (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
China has not dispatched ships to challenge Vietnam’s island-building efforts. But security analysts said that could change if tensions in the Spratly Islands continue to mount. “We can’t rule out the possibility of conflict … whether by accident or by design,” said Tinh, the Vietnamese official in the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
In particular, if China moves to cement its control over the Second Thomas Shoal, now the focus of a hot dispute with the Philippines, Vietnam could face domestic pressure to become even more aggressive in defending its own outposts in the Spratlys, said Quan, the retired defense official. “We’ll be forced to act,” he added.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2024/vietnam-south-china-sea-islands-growth/
Witty Rejoinder said:
I was wondering whether other countries would just copy China in the SCS:…
Vietnam accelerates island building to challenge China’s maritime claims
As tensions mount in the South China Sea, Vietnam is dredging and filling in land, fortifying barriers and erecting new structures to create hundreds of acres.
By Rebecca Tan and Laris Karklis
August 9, 2024 at 4:00 p.m.Today, the reef has become Vietnam’s biggest military outpost in the South China Sea.
Vietnam has dramatically accelerated its effort to expand islands and reclaim land in the contested South China Sea since the start of the year to challenge rising Chinese assertiveness, according to satellite imagery and interviews with Vietnamese officials, security analysts and diplomats.
While Vietnam has been enlarging its presence across a remote collection of rocks, reefs and islets called the Spratlys since 2021, the country is on pace this year to create more than 1,000 acres of new land there, more than in any year prior.
Not since China carried out its own island-building campaign there a decade ago, turning semi-submerged reefs into sophisticated military bases, has the landscape of the archipelago been so transformed. In just three years, Vietnam has increased its amount of land in the Spratlys tenfold.
Trouble in the South China Sea
Tensions in the South China Sea are more acute than at any time in recent years. As China under President Xi Jinping has grown more aggressive in asserting its claims, a half dozen other governments have pursued their own security and economic interests in the strategic waters. The United States has urged that disputes be settled based on international law.Leaders of Vietnam’s communist government have traditionally been muted about its land reclamation drive in the South China Sea, often refusing to explain or acknowledge the effort even in private conversations, said security analysts and diplomats.
But in rare interviews in the capital, Hanoi, five former and current Vietnamese officials said the government has been “consolidating” outposts for the purpose of self-defense, part of a broader strategy to counter security threats “early and from afar.”
“We will resort to every means possible to make sure we can defend and safeguard our legitimate interests in the East Sea,” said Le Dinh Tinh, director general of policy planning in Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, using Vietnam’s name for the South China Sea. Vietnam’s activities in the Spratlys are “completely within its legitimate rights,” he added.
Tinh stressed that Vietnam wants a peaceful resolution to its maritime disputes but added that the government is alarmed by the recent escalation of tensions in the South China Sea, particularly between China and the Philippines, which have violently clashed over a shoal within the Spratlys.
The largest natural feature in the Spratly Island chain is Itu Aba, which is occupied by Taiwan, but its size was dwarfed by China’s island reclamation projects beginning in 2014 and now by Vietnam’s efforts in island building.
China has long sought to dominate the South China Sea, a strategic, resource-rich waterway that six other governments say belongs in part to them. Under leader Xi Jinping, Beijing has increasingly antagonized and confronted other claimants. Chinese ships have repeatedly harassed Philippine vessels in the disputed waters in recent months, raising the prospect that the United States, which has a mutual defense treaty with Manila, could be drawn into armed conflict.
From 2013 to 2015, China undertook an island-building blitz in the Spratlys, reclaiming about 3,000 acres of land, where it then constructed military bases complete with anti-ship and antiaircraft missile systems, radar domes, and fighter jets.
In response, Vietnamese officials say, Vietnam built out the small outposts it had been occupying in the Spratlys, dredging and filling in land, fortifying barriers, and erecting new structures.
The most dramatic transformation in recent months has occurred at Barque Canada Reef, a narrow, 18-mile atoll on the southern end of the Spratlys that Vietnam has doubled in size to 492 acres since November. The reef, which once hosted six pillbox-like structures, is now Vietnam’s largest outpost in the Spratlys, wide and long enough to potentially accommodate a 3,000-meter airstrip for large military and transport aircraft, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Vietnam’s Barque Canada Reef has undergone a massive transformation since the government began expanding it in 2022. This satellite image captured by Maxar Technologies on May 11 reveals the resources and techniques required for this undertaking.
Cutter suction dredgers, vessels equipped with a rotating cutter head, loosen material from the seabed, which is then sucked up and pumped through floating pipes toward land.
By developing these outposts, Vietnam can deploy more ships and personnel to the Spratlys, strengthening its footprint in the disputed waters, said Ha Hoang Hop, a Hanoi-based military analyst. The outposts can also host radar and radio systems that reveal the movements of Chinese vessels, which often turn off location trackers or “go dark” in the South China Sea, said Hop.
Vietnam is outgunned by China at sea, but the government’s aggressive island-building campaign demonstrates its commitment to defending Vietnam’s maritime features, said Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. The campaign is a warning, “a loud one,” he said.
An Indonesian navy boat patrols waters in the South China Sea last year as part of exercises that also included Vietnam and four other Southeast Asian countries. China’s claim to most of the sea is disputed by other nations in the region. (Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images)
‘Don’t push us too hard’In addition to its land reclamation, Vietnam has expanded its maritime militia — government-funded ships used to chase off foreign vessels — and upgraded commercial fishing ships that operate far offshore, mirroring China’s tactics to strengthen its presence at sea, say security analysts.
“What Hanoi is signaling to China is this: ‘Don’t push us too hard,’” said Huong Le Thu, an Asia-focused analyst at the International Crisis Group.
Hanoi has also enhanced security cooperation with the United States, Japan and Australia, which all upgraded ties with Vietnam over the past 10 months, primarily in response to Chinese assertiveness, according to Le Thu and other analysts studying Vietnam.
Satellite image time lapse of Namyit Island expansion from Sept. 2020 to May 2024
Namyit Island expansion from September 2020 to May 2024. (Sentinel 2 imagery/ESA)
The United States recently transferred two Coast Guard cutters and began delivering 12 training aircraft to Vietnam as part of more than $330 million worth of security assistance and arms sales, according to State Department reports. In July, a U.S. Navy vessel paid a rare port call to Cam Ranh Bay, a strategic Vietnamese base facing the South China Sea.Asked about Vietnam’s island building, officials at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi declined to comment on it directly, saying more generally that they are “concerned about a change in the status quo” in the Spratlys. At the same time, officials said, the United States supports Vietnam’s defense of its sovereignty.
Vietnam shares an 800-mile land border with China, which is also its largest trading partner. Hanoi is reluctant to antagonize Beijing, but ties between the two countries have long been strained by historical enmities and, increasingly, by China’s projection of power at sea.
Satellite image time lapse of Sand Cay Island expansion from March 2021 to May 2024
Sand Cay Island expansion from March 2021 to May 2024. (Sentinel 2 imagery/ESA)
In the years since an international tribunal ruled in 2016 that China’s claims over the South China Sea have no legal basis, China’s presence there has only intensified, including in areas claimed by Vietnam, according to ship-tracking data. China has also deepened its security relationship with Vietnam’s neighbor Cambodia, concerning officials in Hanoi who fear being encircled by old enemies.At the same time, China has stepped up efforts to court Vietnam. In December, President Xi visited Hanoi, signing dozens of bilateral agreements. “China and Vietnam have common ideals and convictions and enjoy a shared future,” China’s Foreign Ministry said during the visit.
The Foreign Ministry did not respond to questions for this report.
A history of tensions
The steps that Vietnam takes to “secure itself” in the South China Sea, including its island building, should not be regarded as escalatory, said Nguyen Hong Quan, a Vietnamese major general and retired official at the Ministry of Defense. “After all,” he said, “it’s China that started this.”In 2014, China sent an oil rig 120 miles from Vietnam’s mainland, according to Vietnamese officials, deep inside what the country considers its 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This prompted a months-long standoff that saw Chinese boats spraying Vietnamese boats with water cannons and sinking at least one Vietnamese vessel. Anti-Chinese protests across Vietnam devolved into riots, with businesses owned by Chinese people looted and burned.
More recently, there have been regular skirmishes and standoffs at sea between the two countries, Vietnamese officials said. But Vietnam and China have refrained from publicizing most of these. Chinese vessels have also continued to enter Vietnam’s EEZ, according to ship location data tracked by research groups like AMTI and the South China Sea Chronicle Initiative, a Vietnam-based think tank.
Since 2019, China has increased patrols in areas where Vietnam has oil and gas interests and deployed what China says are research vessels in Vietnam’s waters with growing frequency, sometimes for weeks at a time. Last year, after privately pressing China to withdraw a research vessel to no avail, Vietnam publicly rebuked its neighbor. In June, Vietnam again called out the “illegal activities” of a Chinese survey vessel in its EEZ.
Philippine coast guard personnel ride past a larger Chinese coast guard vessel in March. Amid numerous confrontations between those two countries, Vietnam may have to become even more assertive in defending its claims, a retired Vietnamese defense official says. (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
China has not dispatched ships to challenge Vietnam’s island-building efforts. But security analysts said that could change if tensions in the Spratly Islands continue to mount. “We can’t rule out the possibility of conflict … whether by accident or by design,” said Tinh, the Vietnamese official in the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
In particular, if China moves to cement its control over the Second Thomas Shoal, now the focus of a hot dispute with the Philippines, Vietnam could face domestic pressure to become even more aggressive in defending its own outposts in the Spratlys, said Quan, the retired defense official. “We’ll be forced to act,” he added.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2024/vietnam-south-china-sea-islands-growth/
By 2050 the South China Sea will be completely reclaimed, you’ll be able to walk from Brunei to Beijing.
It’s all happening in Bangkok:
…
Thailand’s constitutional court removes Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin from office over ethical violations
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-14/thai-constitutional-court-removes-pm/104225978
https://apnews.com/article/disney-allergy-death-lawsuit-nyu-doctor-florida-4bdaf74e2c889882b23b319ec720680a
Disney argues wrongful death suit should be tossed because plaintiff signed up for a Disney+ trial
dv said:
https://apnews.com/article/disney-allergy-death-lawsuit-nyu-doctor-florida-4bdaf74e2c889882b23b319ec720680a
Disney argues wrongful death suit should be tossed because plaintiff signed up for a Disney+ trial
!!!
speaking about jobs
and disruption
