BruceVC

Good, I really didnt think you did tell people you woke. In fact do you know anyone in RL who ever calls themselves woke, have you ever met anyone who does? The words been hijacked and abused by some on the right and left but particularly on the Internet and in US political grandstanding and culture wars like when DeSantis says he is fighting "wokeness " or what Majorie Taylor Green says But it initially had a well meaning definition but thats gone now because it means different things now to different people and when words no longer have an agreed on definition they become meaningless or get thrown around on a whim I use it on Codex but thats because it has a specific meaning to make a certain point but thats only on Codex and in certain debates. And Im sure my definition is not the same as others on Codex

Please dont tell me you go around saying to people " Im woke " ....please dont tell me Imagine walking into a bar and saying to people "hi everyone, I just wanted to tell you Im woke "

Possibly but I dont think a screaming vile lunatic would make very convincing points but the suggestion made me laugh

Im not saying both sides are right in a debate, it depends on the topic and how people reflect on the issue And you definitely can agree to disagree in many debates and sometimes the truth is in between. For example "is the media an important and relevant institution" and there are many opinions that people have on this based on their experiences. I think the media is critical in any sustainable Democracy for numerous reasons that include public and private sector accountability and just informing people of news. But then you get examples of culture wars media where both the left and right peddle stories a certain way and thats not right or helpful IMO And then you get absolute truths and there are no grey areas or truths in between like Russian war atrocities committed in Ukraine or the clamp down within Russia on freedom of speech and a free media For me debates are not complicated, they just can be nuanced

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/25/south-africas-president-and-party-sow-confusion-over-leaving I have mentioned before that SA often makes inconsistent statements around our foreign affairs and foreign policy views Here is an example, our president yesterday at a media conference with the Finnish president said that SA is leaving the ICC again only for the ANC to retract that statement a few hours later with another statement, to quote "Ramaphosa told reporters on Tuesday: “The governing party, the ANC, has taken the decision that it is prudent that South Africa should pull out of the ICC largely because of the manner in which the ICC has been seen to be dealing with these types of problems.” Within hours however, his office issued a statement saying “The presidency wishes to clarify that South Africa remains a signatory (to the ICC).” The statement said the “clarification follows an error in a comment made during a media briefing held by the governing African National Congress.” I like our president, he means well and really tries to address our domestic problems but he must fire his speech writers and the people that update him on world events

Yes I was just joking, Sweden doesnt need the type of divisive media rhetoric that Tucker specializes in. Also do you have right wing or left wing dedicated media houses in Sweden? We dont in SA, all our local media houses are centralist with left wing\liberal leanings generally Besides he wont leave the US. It will be interesting to see where he ends up working, I predict it will be one of the more right media houses than Fox like Newsmax?

Maaaaaaalc....that sounds like cynicism creeping back into your posts, remember you said you were going to try not to be cynical?

https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-gets-offer-russia-state-media-1796379 Tucker has been offered a job in Russia and apparently he has been offered a VERY lucrative deal in Sweden @Azdeus and @Pidesco I know you guys arent big fans but its good to have alternative views on the news...less echo-chambers? He could really shake things up in Sweden and he said he likes Swedish food

The ultimate irony " Moscow’s chosen theme of “effective multilateralism through the defense of the principles of the U.N. Charter” Lets create own borders not recognized by anyone and invade Ukraine but we support the principles of the UN charter

Yes, I remember we have had these debates about Oz being less dependant on China. Obviously most countries trade with China and thats normal and expected but you definitely dont want all your eggs or too many eggs in a Chinese basket. The main difference between investing and trading with autocracies like China or Western countries is there much less legal recourse if some trade deal goes wrong, the CCP can intervene in any private sector deal and tell the Chinese company what they must do and you will have no way of meaningfully challenging this in any Chinese court And greedy Capitalist Australian and government companies are also responsible for Oz being economically beholden to China in certain ways. But you are diversifying and thats the most important thing

Its good that Oz is taking the Chinese hegemony threat seriously. But I cant see China ever invading Oz or any real military conflict in the future. China will use trade and economic measures to send messages to countries like Oz if you displease them and there is precedent of that already Thats Chinese biggest influence over countries like Australia

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2023-04-21-poll-should-we-be-concerned-about-not-getting-an-invite-to-the-g7/ South Africa use to generally be invited to G7 meetings but this year Japan didn't invite us and they invited the current head of the AU instead of SA directly Im not surprised, our inconsistent foreign policy statements are anathema to what we say is our value system and I expect to see more of this

True, good point I am watching this HBO series called the Leftovers, its about the biblical end of the world and where people suddenly vanish and then the people left behind have to move on and process how to survive in this new world where 20% of the population suddenly vanished and when I mean vanished I mean a husband\wife would vanish or some of the kids and not the whole family But its second time I am watching it, the first time I watched it I only watched the first season and I watched it during the first depressing and draconian month of lockdowns and the global response to the lockdowns. I had to stop watching it back then in 2020 because it started depressing me and making me anxious

Its impossible to realistically clarify what "fine " means unless you have an agreed on definition of what is not fine and what is fine and since the Russian economic data is mostly classified and the war is ongoing it would be difficult to understand the benchmark for "Russia will be fine " Its like saying during the worst stages of Corona and before we had vaccines " the world will be fine "...we all hoped that was the case but no one could say with 100% certainty because of virus mutations

" fight the informational war and gain the narrative was extremely poor " , thats undisputed. I agree But its a bit hard to gain the meaningful narrative when you in the wrong. Can you imagine trying to spin the Russian invasion reality especially after stating publicly " we not going to invade Ukraine, its just a training exercise " But there are still lots of people who believe the Russian propaganda narrative and still repeat the 3 N lies that include " Russia had no choice....they had to defend ourselves because of Nazi, Nukes and NATO" So I would argue the Russian narrative is as active and believable for Vatniks and pro-Putin people as its always been. But it doesnt change and never will change the reality of the consequence of the invasion which is Western sanctions and Western military aid for Ukraine But the outcome of the invasion will be decided by the appetite and fortitude of both Ukraine and Russia to continue to fight. And because Ukraine was invaded and its about there country and right to decide their own destiny they are much more committed and this war is almost existential to them at least around there own borders and what defines Ukrainian territory

But you haven't answered my fundamental question that I have been asking for years Why didnt Assange go to Sweden to face the rape charges? He skipped bail on these charges and ended up in the Ecuadorian embassy. The US didnt force him to do this, he made a choice and committed a criminal act

https://tvpworld.com/69347060/documents-show-kremlin-seeks-to-build-antiwar-coalition-in-germany-report @Lex More evidence of Russian interference and influence in German political parties, both far left and and far right

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wikileaks-assange-timeline-idUSKBN29B00I Here is a sequence of the timelines around Assange's current incarceration, he is currently imprisoned because he skipped his bail conditions around being extradited to Sweden back in 2012. He was kicked out the Ecuadorian embassy in April 11, 2019 and then UK law jailed him for 50 weeks for skipping the Swedish rape case. Thats UK law and nothing to do with the US Then on the June 11, 2019 the US formally applied to have him extradited but he is fighting the extradiation and he is being held because he has demonstrated he is a flight risk after how avoided the Swedish prosecution The timelines are clear in the link I provided. Assange wouldnt be in this situation if he had just gone to Sweden to face the rape charges And I assume you dont consider Sweden a proxy of the US so he would have got fair trial?

Wow, lots of very subjective things you are stating and also several inaccurate things Just one example, the US is not holding Assange. He has never been captive in the US. He is currently imprisoned in the UK fighting extradition to the US and then he will face a criminal trial

The Nando ad is very clever and raises how everyone is SA, except for SAN\Khoi, are " foreigners" . Dont you love the white people buying drugs from the Nigerian And the KFC ad is about that tire burnouts which is an unofficial activity in parts of SA, quite common but technically illegal But I still think the Colonialism ad is the cleverest because its such a funny reversal and parody of the history, Jan Van Riebeeck arrived in SA in 1651. So this has the black guy arriving in Netherlands in 1651 and the Dutch are still working out geography and then he names the place " Europe " based on the rope he sees. So he colonizes Europe But at the time the outrage and claiming to be offended was mostly because some people said it was racist towards black people. But its not racist at all, if anything its mocking towards white people.

South Africa has had several adverts banned\retracted after a backlash and I dont think any of these adverts should have been banned, they really clever and funny. My best one is the last one. Its a reversal of the history of Colonialism, I remember at the time people were saying its racist because its includes Colonialism but if anything its mocks Europeans\white people But all these adverts are really clever

Thats such a classic Hoonding thing to say

Why what do you think the share price drop is attributed to?

Yes but that is still considered a substantial loss in that time period But I know what you mean, it seems inconsequential but any company would be concerned especially if its because of a specific reason

This is probably one of the most cogent and well explained economic summaries of the current state of the Russian economy and the strength of the Ruble and why its been impacted and influenced by Russian sanctions. Its 30 minutes long but well worth it @Gorth @Mamoulian War you will appreciate it