International events

[Zorral]

Hamas pulled off a Big Deal, hasn't it?

Everyone has fallen into the trap.

[maarsen]

12 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

They're also in a territorial dispute with Afghanistan, i.e. the Taliban, over a river basin which has been drying up. Weird to piss off so many neighbors.

Regimes under pressure tend to find enemies everywhere.  Paranoia  is running deep now.

[kissdbyfire]

What links Rishi Sunak, Javier Milei and Donald Trump? The shadowy network behind their policies.

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There are elements of fascism, elements borrowed from the Chinese state and elements that reflect Argentina’s history of dictatorship. But most of the programme for government announced by Javier Milei, the demagogic new Argentinian president, feels eerily familiar, here in the northern hemisphere.

A crash programme of massive cuts; demolishing public services; privatising public assets; centralising political power; sacking civil servants; sweeping away constraints on corporations and oligarchs; destroying regulations that protect workers, vulnerable people and the living world; supporting landlords against tenants; criminalising peaceful protest; restricting the right to strike. Anything ring a bell?

Milei is attempting, with a vast “emergency” decree and a monster “reform bill”, what the Conservatives have done in the UK over 45 years. The crash programme bears striking similarities to Liz Truss’s “mini” (maxi) budget, which trashed the prospects of many poor and middle-class people and exacerbated the turmoil that now dominates public life.

 

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The IEA created, to a remarkable degree, Liz Truss’s political platform. In a video conversation on the day of her “mini” budget with another member of the institute, its then director general, Mark Littlewood, observed: “We’re on the hook for it now. If it doesn’t work it’s your fault and mine.” It didn’t work – in fact, it crashed spectacularly, at great cost to us all – but, thanks to the UK’s media, the BBC included, which continue to treat these fanatical corporate lobbyists as purveyors of holy writ, they’re off the hook.

Last year, the IEA was platformed on British media an average of 14 times a day: even more often than before the disaster it helped inflict on the UK. Scarcely ever was it challenged about who funds it or whom it represents. The three peers nominated by Truss in her resignation honours list have all worked for or with organisations belonging to the Atlas Network (Matthew Elliott, TaxPayers’ Alliance; Ruth Porter, IEA; Jon Moynihan, IEA). Now, like US supreme court justices, they have been granted lifelong powers to shape our lives, without democratic consent. Truss also put forward Littlewood, but his reward for wrecking people’s lives was blocked by the House of Lords appointments commission.

 

[Luzifer's right hand]

On 1/16/2024 at 10:02 PM, Werthead said:

Iran has launched ballistic missile attacks on Iraq and Pakistan in recent days, which seems an interesting - and highly unwise - step. Iraq is going to take Iran to the UNSC and now Pakistan is expressing extreme anger. Iran's claims that it was targeting a Mossad base and a "terrorist centre" have not been taken very well.

Iran and Iraq have had mixed but improving (ish) relations and Iran and Pakistan really don't need to suddenly be at each other's throats. However, Iran may claim that that Pakistani target was related to the terrorist strike last week, which at least would make the need to retaliate make sense, even if it comes as the expense of pissing off Pakistan (and possibly making Pakistan's good friend China furrow its brow).

Pakistan has launched a strike in response. Pakistan claims they are just striking at militants though.

Hopefully that won't escalate.

[Werthead]

7 hours ago, Luzifer's right hand said:

Pakistan has launched a strike in response. Pakistan claims they are just striking at militants though.

Hopefully that won't escalate.

I've seen a claim that Iran agreed to let Pakistan strike an unimportant target to allow both countries to save face and avoid further escalation.

That seems to be contradicted by other sources. The BBC maintain strong sources in Iran and they say the Republican Guard was taken completely aback by Pakistan's response and the country has been caught on the hop. There hasn't been a foreign state actor carrying out a direct military strike on Iranian soil since the end of the Iran-Iraq War, which is not a record the Iranians wanted to end in such a manner.

However, there are limited options for Iranian escalation. Starting a major conflict with Pakistan next door would be an incredibly bad idea, and going up the escalatory ladder with a nuclear-armed opponent would be incredibly unwise.

[Altherion]

The Indian government has inaugurated a Hindu temple built on the land formerly occupied by a Muslim mosque which, various Hindu groups claimed and the Supreme Court of India affirmed, was itself built on the ruins of an earlier temple. From the BBC article:

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated a grand temple to Hindu god Ram in the flashpoint city of Ayodhya.

He said it heralded "a new era" for India - the temple replaces a 16th-Century mosque torn down by Hindu mobs in 1992, sparking riots in which nearly 2,000 people died.

Top film stars and cricketers were among guests at the event in Ayodhya.

...

The building of the Ram temple in Ayodhya fulfils a decades-long Hindu nationalist pledge. Many Hindus believe the Babri mosque was built by Muslim invaders on the ruins of a temple where the Hindu god was born.

The movement to build the temple helped propel the BJP into political prominence in the 1990s.

 

[Kyoshi]

28 minutes ago, Altherion said:

The Indian government has inaugurated a Hindu temple built on the land formerly occupied by a Muslim mosque which, various Hindu groups claimed and the Supreme Court of India affirmed, was itself built on the ruins of an earlier temple. From the BBC article:

 

please excuse my ignorance, i'm genuinely curious, but shouldn't a religious leader (or some council of them) inaugurate something like that? i guess i don't trust politicians in general, especially in election years, and this is kind of "uncomfortable" given that a mosque was razed and there seems to be a growing nationalist movement. but i'm not Indian and my discomfort is really just something i feel, not a general condemnation of the temple itself ... not necessarily i guess ...

[AncalagonTheBlack]

2 minutes ago, Kyoshi said:

please excuse my ignorance, i'm genuinely curious, but shouldn't a religious leader (or some council of them) inaugurate something like that? i guess i don't trust politicians in general, especially in election years, and this is kind of "uncomfortable" given that a mosque was razed and there seems to be a growing nationalist movement. but i'm not Indian and my discomfort is really just something i feel, not a general condemnation of the temple itself ... not necessarily i guess ...

Here is an excellent explanation

 

[Altherion]

39 minutes ago, Kyoshi said:

please excuse my ignorance, i'm genuinely curious, but shouldn't a religious leader (or some council of them) inaugurate something like that? i guess i don't trust politicians in general, especially in election years, and this is kind of "uncomfortable" given that a mosque was razed and there seems to be a growing nationalist movement. but i'm not Indian and my discomfort is really just something i feel, not a general condemnation of the temple itself ... not necessarily i guess ...

I'm not Indian either so I don't know exactly how this works. Maybe somebody who does can explain? From what I can tell, there were both priests and secular leaders at the inauguration (as well as all sorts of celebrities) and the celebration was extremely wide spread. From the article in the link:

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In many other northern cities Hindus lit lamps, and saffron flags carrying images of Ram are fluttering on rooftops, including in several parts of Delhi. Cinemas screened the event, and big screens relayed pictures from Ayodhya to town squares and residential neighbourhoods.

...

Hindus celebrated the inauguration in other countries too. Massive billboards of Lord Ram graced Times Square in New York, where a group of devotees braved the freezing weather to gather in the middle of the night.

Temples all across the United Kingdom - where Indians are one of the largest diaspora groups - marked the event. Colourful posters had been shared inviting devotees to honour the occasion and celebrations involved flowers, sweets and music.

And yes, the ruling party of India is definitely milking this for political purposes -- pretty much every article I've seen agrees on that.

 

[Kyoshi]

^thank you.

[IheartIheartTesla]

Ah yes, the sordid Babri Masjid saga that began in '92 comes to and end with this gaudy and gauche display. I was Indian back then and remember well the events leading to the masjid being razed, and the subsequent riots that flared throughout India (including my home town of Mumbai, then Bombay, a quite secular city).

As to why Modi, while officially the constitution does prohibit mixing of religion and state in numerous scenarios (for instance, no state religion, and no religious instruction in state funded schools), there's a fair bit of flexibility as well. No one in India would bat an eyelid at government functions having a religious component.

My parents, while practicing Hindus, are disgusted by all this. They are also fairly liberal and probably outliers.

Edited January 23 by IheartIheartTesla

[Zorral]

Turkey’s parliament approves Sweden’s NATO membership, lifting a key hurdle

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/23/turkey-sweden-nato-kurdish-militants-quran/58b61a4e-ba06-11ee-b176-fe5fd794e716_story.html

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.... Hungary then becomes the only NATO ally not to have ratified Sweden’s accession. ....

 

Edited January 23 by Zorral

[A Horse Named Stranger]

So after Sweden, now Denmark has its garbage scandal.

Fun times.

[Rippounet]

20 minutes ago, Conflicting Thought said:

i guess it depends how you define occupation, haiti has been occupied or semi occupied, and france has just recently been leaving africa, its not conventional occupation though. 

It tends to look like this, doesn't it?

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https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/shell-agrees-sell-its-nigeria-onshore-oil-gas-business-2024-01-16/

Shell to exit Nigeria's troubled onshore oil after nearly a century

LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Shell  is set to conclude nearly a century of operations in Nigerian onshore oil and gas after agreeing to sell its subsidiary there to a consortium of five mostly local companies for up to $2.4 billion.

The British energy giant pioneered Nigeria's oil and gas business beginning in the 1930s. It has struggled for years with hundreds of onshore oil spills as a result of theft, sabotage and operational issues that led to costly repairs and high-profile lawsuits.

 

Since 2021, Shell has sought to sell its Nigerian oil and gas business, but will remain active in Nigeria's more lucrative and less problematic offshore sector.

 

[...]

 

The buyer, the Renaissance consortium comprises ND Western, Aradel Energy, First E&P, Waltersmith, all local oil exploration and production companies, and Petrolin, a Swiss-based trading and investment company.

The sale, which Renaissance confirmed, requires the approval of the Nigerian government.

 

Renaissance will take over the responsibility for dealing with spills, theft and sabotage, said Shell, which has faced in recent years multiple lawsuits for compensation over damage caused as a result of spills in the Niger delta.

 

Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director of Nigerian advocacy group Health of Mother Earth Foundation said: "Shell must own up to its responsibility."

 

 

 

[Zorral]

Orban Says He Will Push Hungary’s Parliament to Accept Sweden in NATO
In a post on social media, the Hungarian leader said he would urge Parliament, as he has done in the past, to vote in favor of Sweden’s admission to the security alliance.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/24/world/europe/hungary-sweden-nato-orban.html

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Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary said on Wednesday that he would “continue to urge” Hungarian legislators to vote in favor of accepting Sweden as a member of NATO, a day after Turkey, the only other holdout, endorsed the Nordic nation’s entry to the military alliance.

The Turkish decision left Hungary isolated as the last country that has not yet approved NATO’s expansion. The Hungarian Parliament, which voted to accept Finland into the alliance last spring but left Sweden in limbo, is in winter recess and not currently scheduled to reconvene until Feb. 15.

It was unclear whether Mr. Orban’s remarks, posted on the social media platform X after a conversation with NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, meant that the Parliament would swiftly vote on Sweden’s membership. He has often said in the past that he wanted Sweden to join NATO but that legislators were “not enthusiastic,” blaming Hungary’s repeated delays in accepting Sweden on the right of legislators to make their own decisions.

 

Most analysts questioned that explanation, noting that Mr. Orban has a tight grip on the governing Fidesz party and that its members, who constitute a large majority in Parliament, invariably follows the prime minister’s instructions. He said on Wednesday that he wanted Parliament to vote in favor of Sweden’s membership “at the first possible opportunity,” but gave no indication of when that might be. ....
 

[House Balstroko]

2 hours ago, Zorral said:

Orban Says He Will Push Hungary’s Parliament to Accept Sweden in NATO
In a post on social media, the Hungarian leader said he would urge Parliament, as he has done in the past, to vote in favor of Sweden’s admission to the security alliance.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/24/world/europe/hungary-sweden-nato-orban.html

Most analysts questioned that explanation, noting that Mr. Orban has a tight grip on the governing Fidesz party and that its members, who constitute a large majority in Parliament, invariably follows the prime minister’s instructions. He said on Wednesday that he wanted Parliament to vote in favor of Sweden’s membership “at the first possible opportunity,” but gave no indication of when that might be. ....
 

Either he’s finally seen the writing on the wall or he’s going to try and stall things.

[TheLastWolf]

India will go deeper far right wing with this being an election year, neat stunt. The general trend of lots of countries is abandoning ineffective (corrupt even in cases) liberal left only to be swallowed up by the conservatives campaigning for the good old with a dash of what the future holds. All coinciding eerily together. Ominous. 

[Rippounet]

I fear the lamps will soon be going out all over the world, and that we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.

Paraphrase aside, there are way too many countries descending into fascism or on the verge of descending into it (the US, Israel, India, Russia, France, the Netherlands... etc). If you add regimes that are no better (China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela... ) or little better (Argentina, Turkey, Myanmar...), our generations will have witnessed the ebb and flow of democracy in just a few decades.

[kissdbyfire]

5 minutes ago, Rippounet said:

I fear the lamps will soon be going out all over the world, and that we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.

Paraphrase aside, there are way too many countries descending into fascism or on the verge of descending into it (the US, Israel, India, Russia, France, the Netherlands... etc). If you add regimes that are no better (China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela... ) or little better (Argentina, Turkey, Myanmar...), our generations will have witnessed the ebb and flow of democracy in just a few decades.

I’m not sure I’d have had Argentina as little better than Venezuela or China or the others. It may not be as hardcore authoritarian as North Korea for instance, but it feels like Milei, like Mango, would very much like to be that type of ruler. I’m not sure what exactly is going on there apart from several strikes and that he’s apparently been attempting his own little coup to defang the judicial system. The core of his support is young unemployed men who like to rage against women and the LGBTQIA+ community and, of course, the system/“deep state”. Sounds like a bunch of whingeing incels if you ask me… But given Argentina’s history of civil engagement, I think (hope.) Milei is in for a few surprises. 

They hate feminists because they hate women, of course.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/jan/08/feminists-under-attack-ultra-right-threat-milei-argentina-writer-exile-luciana-peker

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The #NiUnaMenos (“not one less”) movement marches that began in 2015 put Argentina at the forefront in the struggle for women’s and gender rights in Latin America.

But the libertarian movement that helped propel Milei to power last month appeared to deliberately target feminists when it started building its follower base in 2018.

“Feminism in Argentina has been a driving force in the struggle for women’s rights across Latin America, which is why it is so important for the global libertarian ultra-right to try to discipline Argentinian women,” said Peker.

A ‘Ni una menos’ march against femicide in Buenos Aires, June 2016. Photograph: Eitan Abramovich/AFP/Getty Images

“They were on a crusade similar to the one in several western countries against anything related to progressive movements, with feminism at the head,” added the journalist Giselle Leclercq.

 

[Padraig]

4 hours ago, kissdbyfire said:

But given Argentina’s history of civil engagement, I think (hope.) Milei is in for a few surprises. 

It seem to be incremental.  These sort of leaders learn a lot from being in power and from how their power is resisted.

Orban was first elected as PM in Hungary in 1998 but was kicked out in 2002.  It took him 8 years to return to power but he was determined not to repeat that defeat.

The PIS party first took power in 2005 in Poland but lost power in 2007.  But again they learned from their mistakes, so that when they returned to power in 2015 they would radically alter the structures in Poland.  They did lost power last year again but as far as I can see, the new government is having major issues trying to return the structures to a more normal democratic standard.  It is still early I suppose.

We all know how Trump seems to have learned a lot after his first term.  Any next term will be an order of magnitude worse.

Bolsonaro in Brazil has been banned from running for office for 8 years, so maybe Brazil will avoid this incremental process.  Unless he wins an appeal or somebody equally troubling emerges to replace him.

Erdogan has had a long unbroken period in power but while he initially seemed a ray of hope for the country, he gradually turned more and more autocratic and remade the country in his image.  Although interestingly he hasn't succeeded in demolishing the opposition like in other countries, but he does keep winning the elections that matter.

So yes, i'm sure Argentina's civic and political structures will help it for a time but the longer he remains in power, the more he will nibble away at those structures until they fall.  The particularly worrying thing about Argentina is that the political classes seem to be even more corrupt or incompetent than in other countries, so its not like they offer much in the way of a reliable alternative.

I think the world's failure in Ukraine and Gaza says a lot about where we are heading unfortunately, so while I may not be as pessimistic as Rippounet, I may not be far off.  Even sort of good things, e.g. successful resistance to the dictatorship in Burma, are not really "good", as it is effectively a civil war and these armed conflicts just lead to countless lost and ruined lives.

Edited: and you can say to same about how Chavismo got worse and worse in Venezuela also.

Edited January 25 by Padraig