International Thread 4

[broken one]

1 hour ago, Ferocious Veldt Roarer said:

Aerys II Targaryen

I estimate him at 60% of Tywin Lannister, 40% of Walder Frey.

In 2007, when PiS governed for the first time, religious wing of the party had called for a ban on abortion. He had said then that the state should not be a tool of salvation and supressed the effort. Looks like he changed his mind.

[broken one]

The attorney general and minister of justice in one person, who also supervises courts (!!!!) announced that the organizers of the protests will be prosecuted for causing mass endangerment (COVID). Up to 8 years of prison. Shame the fuckers did not think about that when they put the torch onto the jar of Wildfire in the middle of the epidemy.

Oh wait, they did it on purpose...

I see red

[3CityApache]

On 10/29/2020 at 4:01 PM, broken one said:

Shame the fuckers did not think about that when they put the torch onto the jar of Wildfire in the middle of the epidemy.

Oh wait, they did it on purpose...

I see red

We definitely live in interesting times.

But I guess this is it. Whatever the fuckers' strategy, they already lost one way or another. That's usually what happens when you do something at least two thirds of the population is against.

[The Anti-Targ]

This is a headline I wasn't expecting to see when I opened up my news feed this morning.

Quote

New Zealand ranked the most 'Islamic country in the world' in annual index

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/123197239/new-zealand-ranked-the-most-islamic-country-in-the-world-in-annual-index

Interesting the highest ranked Muslim majority country is UAE at 44, which is well below the USA at 26.

Of course the headline is completely clickbait, since an Islamic country is one that is a theocracy based on the Quran. And no matter how much Islamophobes try, there is simply no way to rationally claim any of the top 43 countries are Quran-based theocracies.

List of ministers in the new govt has been published, and a couple of days ago it was announced that Labour and the Greens had signed a deal (85% of green Party membership voted in favour). Whether people agree with it from an electoral strategy perspective, I think it was a good decision for the greens in terms of having influence on important policy in real time. 

[Rippounet]

Quote

https://www.france24.com/en/france/20201030-islam-is-being-hyper-politicised-in-france-but-muslims-are-not-in-the-debate

.‘Islam is being hyper-politicised in France, but Muslims are not part of the debate’

Outrage over the recent resurgence in Islamist attacks has fuelled calls for a more robust response to a murderous ideology that has repeatedly shed blood on French soil – and a more assertive defence of the core principle of laïcité, or state secularism. It has rekindled a dispute between rival understandings of French secularism, which disagree on how far the state should go in asserting religious neutrality in the public sphere.

[...]

According to a survey of France’s Muslim population, published by the Ipsos institute earlier this year, 81 percent of people polled had a positive view of French secularism and 77 percent said they had no trouble practising their religion in France. Asked whether they loved their country, 90 percent answered “yes” and 82 percent said they were proud of being French – matching the percentages for the rest of France’s population.

However, the same survey found that 44 percent of French Muslims believe the rest of society has little regard for them. The figure rose to 61 percent among Muslims living in households earning less than the minimum wage.

Ammunition for the Islamists

The overlapping social, geographical, ethnic and religious discriminations suffered by many French Muslims living in the country’s most deprived suburbs has been amply documented by sociologists – as has their exploitation by Islamist radicals.

What the article doesn't say is that the government has also been aiming at universities, with the Minister for education claiming they propagate "Islamo-leftism," so the very sociological studies used to analyse Islamism in France are now being accused of complacency or complicity. Le Monde published yesterday an op-ed signed by a hundred academics titled "The real threat of Islamism is the persistence of denial" taking aim at their colleagues who defend Islam.
This, as the government is pushing for a reform of universities to align academic careers with the way it works in the US, with tenure-track positions (the overwhelming majority of teachers in France is tenured), a move that is of course massively rejected by academics.
The government embracing islamophobia comes at a time when it is historically unpopular for its reforms and its management of the Covid crisis. It may be hoping to take the breath out of the far-right and the left in a single blow, while getting its latest neo-liberal reform through.

[Varysblackfyre321]

41 minutes ago, Rippounet said:

What the article doesn't say is that the government has also been aiming at universities, with the Minister for education claiming they propagate "Islamo-leftism," so the very sociological studies used to analyse Islamism in France are now being accused of complacency or complicity. Le Monde published yesterday an op-ed signed by a hundred academics titled "The real threat of Islamism is the persistence of denial" taking aim at their colleagues who defend Islam.
This, as the government is pushing for a reform of universities to align academic careers with the way it works in the US, with tenure-track positions (the overwhelming majority of teachers in France is tenured), a move that is of course massively rejected by academics.
The government embracing islamophobia comes at a time when it is historically unpopular for its reforms and its management of the Covid crisis. It may be hoping to take the breath out of the far-right and the left in a single blow, while getting its latest neo-liberal through.

I hope this doesn’t get any worse than this.

Though I would feel safer with Macron having political power than Le Penn.
I’d rather take a neo-liberal than a facist.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.haaretz.com/amp/world-news/marine-le-pen-would-beat-emmanuel-macron-in-first-round-of-french-elections-poll-1.9225971

[rotting sea cow]

On 10/28/2020 at 11:17 PM, broken one said:

I estimate him at 60% of Tywin Lannister, 40% of Walder Frey.

Lol. This reminds me of a commentary of a russian friend: Putin is Roose Bolton, Kadyrov is Ramsay.

 

[ljkeane]

There's been another attack in Vienna. It seems like we're getting another wave of attacks.

Hopefully any Austrian boarders we have are ok.

[The Anti-Targ]

On 11/2/2020 at 4:39 PM, Varysblackfyre321 said:

I hope this doesn’t get any worse than this.

Though I would feel safer with Macron having political power than Le Penn.
I’d rather take a neo-liberal than a facist.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.haaretz.com/amp/world-news/marine-le-pen-would-beat-emmanuel-macron-in-first-round-of-french-elections-poll-1.9225971

The problem is the offspring of neoliberalism seems to be facism. Unless a country turns away from neoliberalim before it creates fertile ground for facist populism that's where it will end up.

[Heartofice]

1 hour ago, ljkeane said:

There's been another attack in Vienna. It seems like we're getting another wave of attacks.

Hopefully any Austrian boarders we have are ok.

Another horrifying attack, it's almost as if people are becoming numb to them. Huge sympathy to anyone affected.

[Varysblackfyre321]

3 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

The problem is the offspring of neoliberalism seems to be facism. Unless a country turns away from neoliberalim before it creates fertile ground for facist populism that's where it will end up.

I guess that’s fair.

[Rippounet]

4 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

The problem is the offspring of neoliberalism seems to be facism. Unless a country turns away from neoliberalim before it creates fertile ground for facist populism that's where it will end up.

Thanks for pointing that out. And I think it's rather blatant in the case of Macron. His government:
- Tightened restrictions on immigration and embraced islamophobia.
- Used excessive police brutality against demonstrators and limited individual liberties through a state of emergency (that was put in place through changes in the fucking constitution). This has been pointed out by -among others- Amnesty International.
- Made great use of executive powers, treating the legislative as something of a sidekick (though to be fair, France is a presidential system, so that's probably on De Gaulle).
- Threatened the independence of the Ministry of Justice by seeking to use investigations against rival politicians (Fillon first, then Mélenchon and Le Pen), and by nominating as Minister someone who was himself under investigation for criminal activities (Sarkozy's lawyer, Dupont-Moretti), who promtly started to attack magistrates (by putting them under internal investigation *!*).
- Attacked universities and "left-wing" academia.
- Didn't do jack shit about climate change (don't be fooled by the nice words, they were not followed by action).
- Implemented several reforms attacking French public services (healthcare, education...) or welfare (pensions, unemployment benefits...).
- Sytematically protected large corporations and finance at the expense of transparency and the rule of law (or should I say, used rule of law to protect large corporations and finance).
Those last two are neo-liberalism in a nutshell, but Macron has really been blurring the lines. My GF (who's far less prone to exaggeration or hyperbolism than I am) remarked yesterday that Macron basically did every single thing we feared Le Pen might do if elected. And the anger stemming from neo-liberal reforms will fuel the far-right.

So yeah, at the very least Macron is complicit. Perhaps it's all "strategy" for him, but the end result will be fascism in France. It's odd to say this today of all days (since it seems likely -or at least plausible- Trump gets kicked out of office), but don't be surprised if a Le Pen wins in 2022.
 

[Luzifer's right hand]

4 hours ago, ljkeane said:

There's been another attack in Vienna. It seems like we're getting another wave of attacks.

Hopefully any Austrian boarders we have are ok.

4 people were killed and 21 injured.

The perpetrator was killed by the police. He spent some time in prison last year because he tried to travel to Syria to join IS but was released early.

A number of people connected to him have been arrested.

Could have been much worse as a lot of people were enjoying the last night before the new lockdown.

Supposedly someone shouted the Viennese German equivalent of "Get lost asshole!" at him which is a proper Viennese response even if it was unwise.

[Corvinus85]

33 minutes ago, Luzifer's right hand said:

4 people were killed and 21 injured.

The perpetrator was killed by the police. He spent some time in prison last year because he tried to travel to Syria to join IS but was released early.

A number of people connected to him have been arrested.

Could have been much worse as a lot of people were enjoying the last night before the new lockdown.

Supposedly someone shouted the Viennese German equivalent of "Get lost asshole!" at him which is a proper Viennese response even if it was unwise.

So it was only one shooter? The article implied more.

[Varysblackfyre321]

52 minutes ago, Rippounet said:

Thanks for pointing that out. And I think it's rather blatant in the case of Macron. His government:
- Tightened restrictions on immigration and embraced islamophobia.
- Used excessive police brutality against demonstrators and limited individual liberties through a state of emergency (that was put in place through changes in the fucking constitution). This has been pointed out by -among others- Amnesty International.
- Made great use of executive powers, treating the legislative as something of a sidekick (though to be fair, France is a presidential system, so that's probably on De Gaulle).
- Threatened the independence of the Ministry of Justice by seeking to use investigations against rival politicians (Fillon first, then Mélenchon and Le Pen), and by nominating as Minister someone who was himself under investigation for criminal activities (Sarkozy's lawyer, Dupont-Moretti), who promtly started to attack magistrates (by putting them under internal investigation *!*).
- Attacked universities and "left-wing" academia.
- Didn't do jack shit about climate change (don't be fooled by the nice words, they were not followed by action).
- Implemented several reforms attacking French public services (healthcare, education...) or welfare (pensions, unemployment benefits...).
- Sytematically protected large corporations and finance at the expense of transparency and the rule of law (or should I say, used rule of law to protect large corporations and finance).
Those last two are neo-liberalism in a nutshell, but Macron has really been blurring the lines. My GF (who's far less prone to exaggeration or hyperbolism than I am) remarked yesterday that Macron basically did every single thing we feared Le Pen might do if elected. And the anger stemming from neo-liberal reforms will fuel the far-right.

So yeah, at the very least Macron is complicit. Perhaps it's all "strategy" for him, but the end result will be fascism in France. It's odd to say this today of all days (since it seems likely -or at least plausible- Trump gets kicked out of office), but don't be surprised if a Le Pen wins in 2022.
 

I guess this is threat of trying to compromise with the ideals of facists.

As you try to appease their bigotry, through giving up morsels of them to feast on you’ll end up just making them stronger, since their ideas are no longer considered that extreme.

[Luzifer's right hand]

18 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

So it was only one shooter? The article implied more.

Right now it looks like there was only one shooter and the violence stopped after he was killed. At least according to local news sources. Reports during the night and the early morning did suggest multiple perpetrators. Things are still in motion though and they have only checked 50% of the 20k videos that were sent to the police.

[Heartofice]

It looks like the UKs terrorist threat level has been raised to severe. I guess one advantage of lockdown is that there are no mass gatherings.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54799377

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

8 hours ago, ljkeane said:

There's been another attack in Vienna. It seems like we're getting another wave of attacks.

Hopefully any Austrian boarders we have are ok.

Thankfully I was nowhere close to the shooting. 

[Altherion]

7 hours ago, Rippounet said:

Those last two are neo-liberalism in a nutshell, but Macron has really been blurring the lines. My GF (who's far less prone to exaggeration or hyperbolism than I am) remarked yesterday that Macron basically did every single thing we feared Le Pen might do if elected. And the anger stemming from neo-liberal reforms will fuel the far-right.

So yeah, at the very least Macron is complicit. Perhaps it's all "strategy" for him, but the end result will be fascism in France. It's odd to say this today of all days (since it seems likely -or at least plausible- Trump gets kicked out of office), but don't be surprised if a Le Pen wins in 2022.

I think 2022 is too soon, but yes, Macron definitely co-opted some of her agenda. The neo-liberals are at best marginally different from people like Le Pen and Trump -- and sometimes not at all when you consider the actions of the latter rather than their populist preaching.

[The Anti-Targ]

oops wrong thread