Image is of a crowd protesting in Athens.
Last week, on Friday, hundreds of thousands of Greeks poured into the streets to strike and protest on the second anniversary of the deadliest train crash in Greek history, in which 57 people died when a passenger train collided with a freight train. On this February 28th, public transportation was virtually halted, with train drivers, air traffic controllers, and seafarers taking part in a 24 hour strike - alongside other professions like lawyers, teachers, and doctors.
The train crash is emblematic of the decay of state institutions brought about from austerity being forced on Greece in the aftermath of the 2008 Great Recession, in which the IMF and the EU (particularly Germany) plundered the country and forced privatization. While Greece has somewhat recovered from the dire straits it was in during the early 2010s, the consequences of neoliberalism are very clearly ongoing. Mitsotakis’ right-wing government has still not even successfully implemented the necessary safety procedures two years on, and so far, nobody has been convicted nor punished for their role in the accident. The austerity measures were deeply unpopular inside Greece and yet the government did not respond to, or ignored, democratic outcry.
Last week’s thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
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The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA reports on Israel’s destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news.
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia’s youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don’t want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it’s just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists’ side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR’s former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR’s forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster’s telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a ‘propaganda tax’, if you don’t believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
A number of schools in Hunan, Anhui and Zhejiang provinces in China have recently started implementing a new policy of 2-day off week for high schoolers, and have sparked quite a debate among parents and netizens in China.
- High schoolers in Grade 10 and 11 will now get 2 days off per week, and Grade 12 students get to have 1 day off every week.
- Currently, there is no weekend for many high schoolers in China (the “higher ranking” a school, the tougher the routine), you get half a day off per week (~2 days off per month).
- A typical high school day looks like this: wakes up at 6am, arrives at class room at 7am, starts morning self-study routine, sits through the classes, stays for the evening self-study session, gets home at around 10pm, and if you’re lucky, gets to bed at around 12am. Rinse and repeat every day.
- As anticipated, many parents are not happy with the new policy: the gaokao (national unified exam) is so competitive that even a 1-point difference in scoring can make or break your chances of getting into university. Some parents in Hangzhou are worried that their kids might be disadvantaged if kids from the other cities don’t have as many days off.
- This has led to an explosive demand for private tuition on the weekends as parents send their kids to tuition classes instead. Previously, tuition was part of the school program and parents pay ~1000 yuan per semester. Now they have to pay an additional 1000-2000 yuan per month.
- Some private tuition companies have seen the business opportunity and have begun advertising “weekend packages” for parents, with such slogans as “you can go to work with a peace of mind. we will take over the duty of the school to take care of your kids instead.”
- One such “weekend package” as reported by the news which includes tuition for 6 subjects + physical education costs 3680 yuan per month, which is 47% of the monthly income for an average household.
- Some parents are now petitioning for the schools to keep their libraries open on the weekend and crowdfunding to pay for the teachers’ “weekend overtime fee”.
- Even more absurdity ensued, as some schools received “letters to volunteer to return to school on the weekends” by “very concerned” students.
China can be a magical place sometimes. The level of extreme competition has intensified in recent years to such an extent that it is taking a toll on everyone’s daily lives, and I don’t blame the people who want to emigrate to Western countries at all. I know many Chinese immigrants overseas who don’t want to put their kids through this.
That is so depressing to read, everything about it is sad.
A society doing this to their children is profoundly sick. (As are western societies, to be clear).
This is sadly common in East Asian culture.
South Korea is just as tough if not even worse. The CSAT started in 2006, and while gaokao exams took place over 2-3 days, for CSAT, students have to finish the exams for all 6 subjects in just over 8 hours.
There was a South Korean documentary made in 2016 (공부의배신 Betrayal of Study) that examined the lives of high school students. One girl slept only 4 hours every night, took 5-6 doses of coffee to stay awake, spent more than 10 hours practicing writing on exam papers that her fingers formed blisters and started to bleed. She ended up tying the pen to her finger with a knot and kept going.
I watched the documentary with Chinese subtitle but unfortunately couldn’t find any source with English subtitle, otherwise I’d link it because it’s quite revealing.
Parents spend tons of money to get their kids to private tuition classes. According to a survey, there are now 3 times more private tuition centers in South Korea than there are convenience stores.
For the students, this is their one shot to get a white collar job after graduation.
This was actually one of the themes explored in the film Parasite and there are layers that can be easily missed by the audience if you’re not familiar with the societal competitive pressure exerted upon the students.
For the students, this is their one shot to get a white collar job after graduation.
I think this is the key problem underlying all of this. Asian parents and students are not irrational, they are reacting rationally to a brutal system. You can not blame them for doing what it takes to achieve what is considered a good and materially safe life.
A society in which you only get one shot at “the good life” is inevitably going to promote this sort of behaviours.
A less severe variant of the same mechanisms can be seen in the west where increased social stratification has made the educational system more competitive and led to alarming levels of anxiety and other mental health issues among young people.
You can treat symptoms to some extent by banning private tuition or by making ad campaigns telling young people how awesome it is to get a trade job instead of pursuing academic training but it is always going to be a bandaid.
The radical response, the one that goes to the root of the problem, is to construct the economy in such a way that social recognition and material comfort is not a privilege for the meritorious few but a fact of life for the masses. An advanced economy needs engineers, doctors and accountants but it also needs carpenters, binmen and truck drivers. The idea of your kids growing up to have an average position in society should be comforting, not terrifying.
This reminds me of your post comparing the work conditions of car factories, with workers organizing to demand more hours from their bosses.
It seems like changing the gaokao and university entrance process is the only way to alleviate the concerns of giving kids more time off, which should be encouraged. I had heard school was competitive, but high schoolers at school for over 100 hours a week really puts it into perspective. How long is a school day before high school?
I went to elementary school in China for two years, in grade 2 + 3 (age 6-8). I arrived at school at 7:45am for pre-class prep, and left at 5:30 usually. I think classes were until 4:30 or 5. This was back in the mid 90s and I’m fairly sure it got worse after I left
Thanks for sharing your experience. Was there a lot of play and art and such things that could be considered fun by kids or did it already start feeling like preparing for academia at that age?
There was no play other than at break times, it was a full schedule of classes. In the summer we got an extra hour for lunch though so we could have a nap. It was funny because you had to have a nap in that time - at home room after lunch everyone who didn’t have a nap had to admit to it and explain why they didn’t 🤭
We had art classes - it was mostly learning to draw as I recall. The school didn’t have a lot of money for stuff like art supplies back then. The classes I remember were: Chinese (learning characters, making words, reading texts, memorising poems, writing short essays); maths (we had to memorise the times table up to 9 and each recite it individually for the headmaster who graded us on it - most terrifying moment of my life at the time! Also I remember doing basic algebra); civics (actually my favourite, it was mostly about learning to contribute to society and not being selfish); art; and PE. I’m sure there must have been science, history, and geography but I can’t remember them at all.
We had little red neck scarves made of silk which were a sign of your pride in the country / communism. I remember being so chuffed the day I got mine as I’d heard a rumour that you wouldn’t get one if you weren’t a good student and I didn’t know if I’d make the grade since I had moved home from abroad and was behind in everything. We also learned how to use an abacus to do arithmetic and calligraphy. We had flag raising every week and outdoor stretches every morning. There were ~50 kids in my class I think!
Our teacher was strict but super caring and kind. I remember every time when we got homework back from the teacher, she would ask everyone who got 100% to stand up and everyone else would admire them. One time in Chinese class she did that and I was the only one who stood up! Proudest moment ever. She then remarked to the rest of the class “this kid only started learning to write this year, y’all have no excuse” lolll suckers
Middle school (Grades 7-9) isn’t as intense, but in Grade 9 most students will take the admission tests for ordinary high schools (普高).
Only half of the middle schoolers will succeed in entering an ordinary high school, which will then set them off the path towards taking the gaokao, while the rest who failed will go to vocational or technical schools.
The pressure is still there, and some say it’s even harder than gaokao to get into a good ordinary high school (schools with resources that give greater likelihood for their students to succeed).
Thanks for this insight.
One more question I have, if you don’t mind humoring me: if parents in China didn’t care about pushing their kid to be successful via these metrics, can a child go through this education system without having to be put through such intense pressures? Does the school itself enforce as much as the parents are, or is it more an issue of parental pressure than baked into the education track ?
I’ve seen the study hours for the gaokao. It gets very, very intense.
Damn that’s sad. Definitely the Government should clamp down on cultural bads.
It seems this plan doesn’t address the root of the problem, so I can see how parents might get upset. It sounds like there needs to be some fundamental restructuring of the university system or something like that.
A typical high school day looks like this: wakes up at 6am, arrives at class room at 7am, starts morning self-study routine, sits through the classes, stays for the evening self-study session, gets home at around 10pm, and if you’re lucky, gets to bed at around 12am. Rinse and repeat every day.
this is child abuse. rare china L
To what extent is this caused by lack of access to higher education? Or, rather, would this problem be alleviated by more openings or are things so competitive that nobody cares to be the 2nd best student in the 2nd best med school in the country?
Around the year 2000, many Chinese universities began to massively expand their enrollment number. So, the competition occurred because there is now a chance for everyone to get into university. For the students, this is their one shot to get a white collar job after graduation.
As you know, education is very important in East Asian society, and being able to get a white collar job not only means higher pay but also reflects a certain status. This is exacerbated by the fact that many Chinese parents only have one child, so they’d do anything to make sure that their kids can have a shot to enter universities.
You can even see this kind of mentality persisted in Asian parents who have immigrated to Western countries which has become the Asian parent stereotype.
My impression is that competition for its own sake has become culturally endemic in the region and I was hoping to challenge that notion. Maybe, I reasoned, there are enough openings in East Asian universities to give everyone a chance, but crucially not enough to make that chance a reasonable one. Therefore if enrollment numbers increased even further, you’d still have competition for the top university spots but the competition wouldn’t be so fierce.
However, I suppose it doesn’t matter if everyone who wants to become engineers and doctors actually can when the competition is downstream from those guaranteed high status, high paying jobs.
In my experience it’s not about raw numbers or an endemic culture of competition so much as generational trauma and perfectionism. China is still only 2 generations out from the Cultural Revolution. My parents were in the first wave to go to university after it ended and for them, a difference of .5 marks meant falling 50 places in the rankings and losing their only shot. Even though I grew up in the west, that anxiety passed down in the way they raised me.
The other thing about Chinese culture is that we are obsessed with optimising. Everything should be done in the most efficient way possible. And so for a lot of kids the pressure isn’t so much about competition but about achieving an ideal of perfection. It’s taken years of work to unlearn that for me.
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The interesting part about the Imperial Exam in ancient China is that it was literally created for the Emperors to reassert their control over the feudal aristocrat classes.
China is a large country and throughout the dynasties and even periods within a dynasty, aristocratic factions (usually formed based on geographical boundaries) vie for control over the country and the entrenched class holds a lot of sway over the imperial policies, with the most prominent one being the Guanlong group that has massively entrenched over the late Northern/Southern Dynasty and the ensuing Sui and Tang dynasties.
Often times, when a new Emperor ascends to the throne, those with ambitions would want to establish their own power base, and the imperial examination was one such mechanism to recruit talents from the lower classes (寒门) to fill the ranks. Note that these officials who are born in the lower class are still treated as a different class in the Imperial Court even though they work directly for the Emperor. Such is the social structure of feudal societies.
I’m not too familiar with European history, but I would guess that the European nation states were too small to allow for such fierce internal division of aristocratic factions. The Emperor of China ruled over a huge territory and when one dynasty overthrows the other, the new government cannot simply replace the local provincial courts with its own people as that would quickly lead to rebellions. So substantive change has to take place slowly and insidiously, while at the same time, such arrangement naturally opened up the spaces for influential vested interests to form over time.
I’m not too familiar with European history, but I would guess that the European nation states were too small to allow for such fierce internal division of aristocratic factions.
They were tiny by comparison. The Kingdom of France was considered big by (Western) European standards and it was smaller than Nanzhao. The small size of European polities also meant they didn’t need a giant feudal bureaucracy.
In European history, aristocratic factions also very much existed based on regional power - eg anyone with the surname Dudley or Warwick had immense sway over who was on the throne of England for several hundred years, because they held military power in the form of private armies (retainers) and could choose whether to back up the king with that power or not.
How are these “weekend packages” skirting the ban on private tutoring that’s been in place since 2021? I assume it’s not that hard given the parents will do anything to get them and they’re not online so you can structure it as a club or something, but curious what the reaction of regulatory officials has been.
Short answer is the parents simply don’t care.
This is nothing new. South Korea has tried banning private tuition years ago. In fact, the South Korean government went so far as to canceling middle school and high school admission tests, and introduced a system that randomly allocates students to high schools to eliminate “elite schools” and to prevent parents from gaming the system.
This merely drove the parents to send their kids to private tuition, which the South Korean government also tried banning. None of this is going to work. In a system where securing a white collar job at Samsung is literally going to change your life, parents will do everything - no matter how illegal it is - to make sure their kids have a shot at this.
All the punitive tax through law enforcement on private tuition is only going to drive up the costs of education, with parents willing to dish out more and more of their monthly income to ensure that their kids can gain even a slight advantage over their peers. It also drives up administrative cost because good luck taking down all the illegal tuition centers (and many businesses have dozens of inventive ways to skirt the rules like turning them into “training courses for parents that happen to involve students”).
In a society where education is given the utmost priority, the end result is that your average household is going to spend even less on other stuff, and drags down the economy as a whole.
Without a true reform on the education system and the economic structure at large, you’re merely treating the symptoms.
theyre not, the police get kickbacks and look the other way so long as people upstairs arent pressured to ‘do something’
there are routine inspections but heads up will be given so people can clear out ahead of time
as demographics shift, the problem of education (elite overproduction) will fix itself to some degree (50% hs admittance cutoff already relaxing, blue collar work is more and more well compensated as labor pool shrinks), but it wont go away without massive reforms, which will likely not happen as there are too many people who benefit from the way it is currently set up, same as hukou
this case of education and its motivating factors is a great example of superstructure shaping base, how pecuniary emulation remains a relevant, perhaps even marxist, concept even today, and is a primary driver of why the asian diaspora, particularly in america, is so dependent on white supremacy for its continued existence
What does pecuniary emulation mean?
A different term for “social climber” basically. People putting themselves into situations where they devote their labor to climbing the ladder and emulating the lifestyles of those above them thereby reinforcing the current state of things.
The most extreme version of it would probably be the Wealth Gospel trend in America, where the actions of millions of proletarians are shifted into a form of emulation of the wealthy thereby algning their interests with the wealthy in practice. They will work against their own interests for the possibility of becoming their oppressor.
How much is the university entrance stuff “real” vs cultural high demand on kids/students? Like can people generally get into a college and get a good education but it just isn’t the super “prestigious” schools?
China announces plans for major renewable projects to tackle climate change
BEIJING, March 5 (Reuters) - China said on Wednesday it would develop a package of major projects to tackle climate change as it moves to bring its carbon dioxide emissions to a peak before 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060.
The world’s largest producer of climate-warming greenhouse gas said it would develop new offshore wind farms and accelerate the construction of “new energy bases” across its vast desert areas, the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s economic planner, said in an official report published on Wednesday.
“China will actively and prudently work towards peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality,” the report read.
Among the proposed projects cited in the report by the state planning agency was a controversial hydropower facility on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet, which has raised concerns in India about its potential impact on downstream water flows.
It also said it would develop a direct power transmission route connecting Tibet with Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong in the southeast.
However, coal will remain a key fuel, with the NDRC report saying the country will continue to increase coal production and supply this year even as it plans for trials of low-carbon technology at its coal-fired power plants and to promote initiatives aimed at substituting fossil fuels with renewables.
China has been struggling to strike a balance between fostering economic growth and meeting its environmental goals.
The NDRC said the 3.4% reduction in the amount of carbon emissions per unit of economic growth last year “fell short of expectations”, blaming rapid growth in energy consumption as well as extreme weather.
China is not expected to meet its five-year goal to bring carbon intensity down by 18% by the end of this year, and it has not yet announced an annual target for 2025.
It will also struggle to meet a separate target to cut the amount of energy consumed per unit of growth by 13.5% by the end of this year, despite exceeding expectations with a 3.8% reduction last year, analysts said.
“Despite the world record expansion of renewables, an inconvenient truth is that China’s economy hasn’t become much more energy efficient in recent years,” said Yao Zhe, global policy advisor with Greenpeace in Beijing.
The work report of the government from Third Session of the 14th National People’s Congress is out on March 5th, summarized below:
Looking back at 2024
- 5% GDP growth
- Food production reached 1.4 trillion pound for the first time
- New employment in the urban area: 12.56 million
- Alternative energy vehicle production breached 13 million annually
Target for 2025
- GDP growth at ~5%
- New employment in the urban area: >12 million jobs
- CPI to reach 2%
- Food production at ~1.4 trillion pound
- Energy consumption per unit GDP to fall ~3%
Important work for 2025
- Budget: deficit spending to reach ~4% (from 3%, or +1.6T yuan from previous year)
- Government investment: to arrange new local government bonds at 4.4T yuan (+500B yuan), combined government debt to reach 11.86T yuan (+2.9T yuan)
- Special debt: to issue special extra long term government bonds at 1.3T yuan (+300B yuan), and new special government bond at 500B yuan
- Consumption: to implement targeted policies to raise consumption, to arrange extra long term bond at 300B yuan to support consumption (subsidies to trade in older goods with new goods)
- Nascent industries: to further propel the development of nascent industries e.g. commercial airliners, low attitude airspace economy. To cultivate biotech production, quantum technology, embodied AI, 6G and other nascent industries. To accelerate the digital transformation of manufacturing sector. To develop AI networked EV, AI-powered phones and computers, AI-powered robots etc.
- Education: to increase the number of higher and middle education degrees, to gradually implement free pre-school education
- Market environment: to implement long term mechanisms to resolve problems with outstanding payments by corporations/companies, to increase law enforcement actions against corporate crimes
- Opening up: to push for the orderly opening up of internet and cultural spaces, to further the opening up of telecommunications, healthcare, education and various sectors
- Housing: to continue implement strong policies to slow the plunging real estate prices and stabilize the market. implement the redevelopment of provincial towns and aging residential housing units. to encourage purchase of stock houses (oversupplied units). to continue the good work on settlement/closing for housing purchases.
- Rural development: to revitalize the rural industries, to activate the central government coordinated inter-provincial food production compensatory policy, to increase support for food producing provinces, to expand on channels to improve farmers’ income.
- Urbanization: to push for guaranteed housing system for qualified citizens who are turning from farmers into urban workers. to continue the revitalization of urban and redevelopment of old neighborhoods in cities.
- Ecology: mechanisms to encourage healthy and green consumption, to encourage new green, low carbon production and lifestyles
- Employment: to enlarge the employment opportunities for high school graduates, to strengthen the welfare guarantee for gig workers and new hires. to improve benefits for tech talents.
- Healthcare: to optimize the drug procurement policy and strengthen the regulation and evaluation of drug quality (note: this was a huge scandal in China last year when many hospitals procured fake drugs to lower costs), to increase the per capita subsidies of citizens health insurance and basic public healthcare service by 30 yuan and 5 yuan, respectively
- Social welfare: to raise the minimum amount of urban citizen pension by 20 yuan, to formulate policies to encourage birth, to provide childcare subsidies
Overall, not that different from last year’s budget, with the exception on the new emphasis on AI. The budget deficit is still on the conservative side, breaking from the usual 3% to 4% this year. It may or may not be enough to boost the slumping consumption, but time will tell. Other than that, nothing indicates fundamental change from the usual policies.
South Korea air force jets accidentally drop bombs on homes, injuring 15
POCHEON, South Korea, March 6 (Reuters) - Fifteen people were injured in South Korea on Thursday after bombs dropped by fighter jets landed in a civilian district, damaging houses and a church during military exercises in Pocheon, the Air Force and the fire department said. The Gyeonggi-do Bukbu Fire Services said in a statement that 15 people were wounded, out of which two were seriously hurt. Pocheon is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Seoul, near the heavily militarised border with North Korea. South Korea’s Air Force said eight 500-pound (225kg) Mk82 bombs from KF-16 jets fell outside the shooting range during joint live-fire exercises. “We are sorry for the damage caused by the abnormal drop accident, and we wish the injured a speedy recovery,” the Air Force said in a statement. Residents in the area have protested about the disturbance and potential danger from nearby training grounds for years. Residents were evacuated around midday as authorities checked whether there were any unexploded bombs, Yonhap news agency said. Reuters’ photographs from the scene showed shattered windows and a church building strewn with debris. The defence ministry said earlier on Thursday that South Korea and U.S. forces were holding their first joint live-fire exercises in Pocheon, linked to annual military drills due to start next week.
South Korea and the United States will kick off their annual Freedom Shield exercise on Monday, said Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The joint drills, which will run until March 20, aim to strengthen the readiness of the alliance for threats such as North Korea, the JCS said. This year’s drills will reflect “lessons learned from recent armed conflicts” and North Korea’s growing partnership with Russia, it added. “Our planners look across the globe and identify the trends that are changing and we look at how we can incorporate that into our exercises,” Ryan Donald, a spokesperson for the United States Forces Korea (USFK), told a media briefing on Thursday. About 70 combined field training sessions are scheduled for this year’s exercise, said Lee Sung-jun, a spokesperson for Seoul’s JCS.
Petro wins, US military deportation flights suspended
https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-deportation-flights-paused-cost-c37c577a
Trump electronically repo’d HIMARS
Syria has already speedrunned the 2003-2006 consolidation stage of post-2003 Iraq straight into the free-for-all Call of Duty multiplayer stage of 2006-2007. It’s basically open war in the entire south and now the coast. A Hezbollah-Iran-backed group called the Military Council for the Liberation of Syria has suddenly appeared and they’ve done quite a major operation today against the new Jihadi regime, killing tens of fighters and kidnapping many more. I just wish Assad wasn’t a complete dumbass and was more effective in killing the Jihadi dreams earlier, look we’re today for the sake of Allah.
Derek Chauvin: Ben Shapiro launches effort to pardon Derek Chauvin - CNN
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro has publicly called for the president to pardon former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for federal crimes related to George Floyd’s 2020 death – drawing derision from the Minnesota attorney general who helped put Chauvin in prison but amplification from one of Trump’s most powerful advisers.
Shapiro’s proposal could spring to mind several questions, including: “Could a president do that?” (Answer: Yes); and, “What would it matter, since Chauvin also is in prison on state charges?” (Answer: It’s complicated).
Shapiro’s effort to solicit a pardon for Chauvin, a White man convicted of murdering a Black man in a case that sparked massive nationwide protests over the way police treat people of color, comes amid the Trump administration’s efforts to push back on diversity, equity and inclusion programs and what some see as gains made toward racial justice since Floyd’s death.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump touted his administration’s forceful crackdown on DEI programs, and vowed “our country will be woke no longer.” And a congressman recently introduced a bill that would withhold some federal funding in Washington, DC, if the mayor does not remove the district’s Black Lives Matter mural and rename the eponymous plaza located near the White House.
In an interview with CNN Thursday, one of Floyd’s brothers, Terrence, said the call to pardon Chauvin has been hard for his relatives who have slowly begun to heal five years after George’s death. “We were supposed to see progress,” Terrence Floyd said. “So many people promised things, especially if we (are) going to go with the DEI, so many things was promised to us as a people – not just to Black and brown people – as a people. And they’re backpedaling.”
Here’s what Shapiro has called for, how some have reacted, and what experts say could come of it: Shapiro casts Chauvin’s conviction as an injustice
At the end of Tuesday’s episode of his video podcast “The Ben Shapiro Show,” Shapiro called for Trump to pardon Chauvin of his federal conviction, essentially arguing, counter to what a state jury found, that Chauvin wasn’t responsible for Floyd’s death.
The roughly three-minute segment, which Shapiro also posted on X, urges viewers to sign a petition asking Trump to consider a federal pardon. Elon Musk, the billionaire helping lead Trump’s government efficiency initiatives, later reposted Shapiro’s segment, writing it’s “something to think about.”
Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck and back for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020, after officers responded to reports suspecting Floyd used a counterfeit $20 at a Minneapolis corner store. Floyd, 46, was handcuffed and lying face down on a street as he repeatedly pleaded, “I can’t breathe.” He was eventually taken away by an ambulance and declared dead at a hospital, authorities said.
A county medical examiner ruled Floyd’s death a homicide and identified the cause as “cardiopulmonary arrest” that occurred during “law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression” – findings he stood by at Chauvin’s trial. Heart disease and fentanyl use were contributing factors but not the direct cause, the medical examiner testified.
In April 2021, a Minnesota jury found Chauvin guilty on state charges of unintentional murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. He was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison on those state charges, and the US Supreme Court later rejected his appeal of the state conviction.
In June 2021, Chauvin was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to federal charges of depriving Floyd of his civil rights, and also depriving a 14-year-old of his civil rights by using excessive force in a separate 2017 case. Chauvin is now serving both terms concurrently.
When Shapiro addressed the case in Tuesday’s podcast, he conceded at the outset that pardoning Chauvin would be “incredibly controversial.” “But I think it’s absolutely necessary,” he said.
Chauvin shouldn’t have been convicted of murder, Shapiro argued, in part asserting some of what Chauvin’s defense attorney had claimed at trial: that Floyd died of factors other than Chauvin’s intervention, including preexisting health conditions.
Shapiro also argued “there was massive overt pressure on the jury to return a guilty verdict regardless of the evidence.” Floyd’s death and Chauvin’s conviction, Shapiro said, “led to vast chaos and it led to the destruction of racial comity in the United States.”
The White House declined to comment Thursday on whether Trump is considering a pardon for Chauvin.
Romanian shenanigans continue:
fascist isolationist guy is not registered for elections after getting first round (which he won) annulled.
On one hand, whatever, he is a fascist dimwit, on the other - shining illustration how well leftist parties can win elections without the power of a strike behind them.
Boy Boy just came out with a video where they interviewed an Australian who was tortured repeatedly removed, waterboarded, electric shocked to face and genitals, etc) for six months by the CIA at various US black sites all over the world including Guantanamo Bay. He said the Australian Ambassador to Pakistan was even present at one of the times he was tortured! https://youtu.be/xEqrm9OIqro
what the fuck. He said he saw other captives completely lose their minds and weren’t able to recall their own names. They accused him of training the 9/11 hijackers with kungfu which he was a practitioner of.
Death to America
The biggest problem I have with this quote is that Satan is America. It’s a global empire, focused on control and evil. America learned everything from the devil.
Me and Satan rn
Damn. They certainly do have a gift for sensitive humor centered around the darkest shit in human existence.
One creepy place my mind goes is…I mean, obviously this is a form of terrorism…but people just disappearing off the street is one thing, and knowing about the horrors you, too, could experience if you disappear off the street one day is another one entirely. Did the CIA actually let the leaks happen so that people could be made aware of just what U.S. “hospitality” is like? Like, you realize our outrage is part of the plan, right? type stuff. Fuckin’ bleak.
For the same reason, I can’t really figure out why the imprisonment and torture was indefinite. Seems like it would achieve its goals more effectively if people were released after a few years of hell-on-earth. Fascists psyching them selves out of being even more fascist in their petty racism and hate (“Can’t let these TERRORISTS go!”?)?
I think I don’t buy their terrorism hypothesis, at least not fully. If the point of the operation is to publicly appear as violent and terrifying as possible to extert control, i.e. psychological warfare, why does almost no one know about it? And yeah, obviously if you go to Iraq then many more people will be aware of the horrible things that were going on in CIA blacksites but it’s still not widely publicized. If the point was to terrorize them, why not get a picture of a prisoner being abused to every public location they can?
I feel like that’s the kind of tactics you see Israel engage in, and we usually get better media coverage of the horrible things Palestinian POWs were being subjected to. I don’t think it’s a coincidence, because the IDF is a terrorist organization. But I don’t know that the CIA was necessarily conducting these torture operations for that reason.
i.e. psychological warfare, why does almost no one know about it?
Maybe it is more well-known outside the West? Or, maybe it is particularly well-known in nations that are currently occupied?
Yeah I mean I’m sure if you go to the populations around the black sites they probably know that some really bad stuff is going on in that place, but if it takes so long for this information to leak its way to the English press I can’t imagine it’s widely publicized.
Yeah, but I mean - the West historically isn’t the population they’re trying to control through psychological warfare - they control the West through treats and chauvinism. I guess there is the notable exception of minorities; it would actually be pretty interesting to hear from a Western minority group that has attempted to organize (e.g. Black Panthers) weigh in on this.
Damn. Amazed he’s in a coherent state.
Linking to locked thread as a new thread is
excellence.also kallas saying openly “how can we defeat china” is some next level of diplomacy, too bad everybody has humiliation fetish
look, I’m fucking stupid okay
lmao
fastest sticky in the west tho
kallas
I hate the Demiurge
WTF is that??? Is this real?
Yes, this is the person from Estonia who openly says that Russia should be balkanised as her policy. It’s completely on brand for her and Estonian politicians.
I really want to know how a mid sized city plans to Balkanize a nation of 140 million people.
Istfg I want to visit the Baltics for a year just to see what the normal people there are like because there’s no way there entire population is as unhinged as their politicians.
Not openly but literally everything in Tallinn has been plastered in uKKKraine flags, including the Steinbeck House (Parliament) without interruption for the past 3 years, all politicians wear uKKKraine flags and reservists often are seen with uKKKraine flag patches. Even what little of the left-wing exists here are still on the “big bad p00tin is doing a genocide against wholesome chungus uKKKraine and saying anything to the contrary is Kremlin propaganda” bandwagon. This still from a local Palestinian group and the supposed “Left” party.
If you are cursed with ending up in the Baltics, Estonia is the least hitlerian of the three (which isn’t really saying much).
I immediately made this after KKKajakas posted her avatar:
I also made sure that the r/eesti moderators had to see this too on multiple occasions
good lord
yes she was doing a video promo for the NAFO convention some years ago. the convention featured one of the NAFO guy who posted online that he masturbated in a Death camp
Kaja Kallas is an Estonian politician and diplomat. She was the first female prime minister of Estonia, a role she held from 2021 until 2024.
Awards and prizes: Honorary NAFO “Fella”
This is literally her Wikipedia page, holy fucking shit, wtf is wrong with Estonia, reddit brain country.
Mickey mouse ass Nazi country
The Estonian military has a grand total of 6000 troops, zero tanks and zero fighter aircraft. The Estonian Air Force reportedly has 1500 airmen, but a grand total of two transport planes, two trainers, and no fighters! What do these 1500 people do all day? Play Ace Combat and Battlefield?
Chihuahua ass country.
heeeey those trainers can be armed with up to TWO short range air to air missiles each! that’s FOUR kills per pilot with a thousand ground crew to rearm them and get back in the fight!!
Argentines Are Concerned About the Presence of Israeli Soldiers in Patagonia - Telesur English
Article
Posing as backpackers, war criminals are carefree touring this South American country. Through social media, Argentine citizens have been reporting the growing presence of Israeli soldiers in the province of Chubut, in Patagonia.
The Israeli soldiers have been arriving in Argentina posing as ordinary tourists and staying in places such as the Onda Azul hotel, located in Lago Puelo.
Many of these soldiers are subject to international arrest warrants for crimes against humanity committed during the offensive against the Palestinian people in Gaza. However, under the indifferent watch of President Javier Milei’s administration, the Zionist soldiers freely roam Patagonia dressed as tourists.
In this regard, the Hind Rajab Foundation accused Israeli soldiers Yuval Vagdani and Saar Hirshoren, members of the Combat Engineering Battalion 749, for “their role in the intentional demolition of areas, cultural spaces, and vital infrastructure, violating the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute.”
“Israeli military presence confirmed in Patagonia. For the first time on television, Patagonian residents denounce the Israeli military presence in that part of Argentina, under the protection of tourist trips.” Currently, however, Hirshoren remains on the run from justice, while Vagdani managed to leave Argentina and return to his country.
“Argentina, as a ratifying country of the Rome Statute, has the obligation to investigate and prosecute individuals accused of serious crimes,” stated the Hind Rajab Foundation, which was named in honor of a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed during a Zionist offensive.
The complaint filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation is currently before Federal Court No. 3, led by Daniel Rafecas, who is on vacation during the current judicial calendar. As a result, the ruling on culpability has been left in the hands of Judge Ariel Lijo.
Two Alawite families that my mom knows from her university days have been killed in Baniyas. She’s in a facebook group with her old classmates and it’s just full of obituaries of old people that have been mercilessly slaughtered by the terrorists. I don’t know what to say, death just surrounds my people from all angles.
I’m sorry for your losses and the atrocities occurring. This is unacceptable and our western media will continue to prop up the idea of HTS as protectors of democracy
Italy: Pope Francis’ health condition showed a slight improvement, although his diagnosis requires him to continue to rest.
- Telesur English
Let us all pray for ill papa
