The All Things Political Thread (The World and US Reunited)

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On 2/23/2021 at 4:43 AM, Zoraptor said:

Succession to a strongman is always difficult if it isn't hereditary. But in terms of a country's strength Russia and China under Putin and Xi are far stronger than under their predecessors, and they're both nationalist/ religious so long as you take China's 'communism' as a belief system. Of course for Russia it was a positively subterranean bar as Yeltsin's mouldering corpse would have been better than Yeltsin was since at least he couldn't actively ruin the country when dead as he did alive...

I don't think we really need to look far beyond Goering's quote for reasons why nationalism is so popular among strongmen.

but when it comes right down to it the strongmen in the example failed because... democracies convinced themselves that they were under threat, or knew better how to run those countries. In essence nationalism is the belief that your country is intrinsically better, and you can't get much more self righteous/ deluded about your country being better than believing your own press about being 'liberators' and the 'good guys' when in reality you've managed to completely and systematically asterisk up every country you've intervened in for the past 5? decades leaving every one worse than before you intervened.

The cause and effect is the big question. But end of the day if you're going into a country, smashing all its institutions and then saying that the reason for the ensuing anarchy is because the country is fundamentally 'weak' you're ignoring a certain step in that chain and presuming the reason for that weakness is not the fact you've gone in and smashed everything.

 

  

2 hours ago, Azdeus said:

Fremskrittspartiet in Norway is also making headway for what its worth.

 

2 hours ago, Pidesco said:

While India is not a fascist country, Modi's actions since elected are worrying for the state of democracy in India. It wouldn't be out of line to call him India's Orbán.

 

1 hour ago, BruceVC said:

One of the problems with using words like fascism is it gets  thrown  around so quickly nowadays its clear many people who use the word dont know what it means anymore

Its " woke " to use words like that, similar to some of the BLM responses where their is this objective to take down all statues that people think are linked to colonialism and racism even if these statues are about people who are not related to these things 

 

 

1 hour ago, BruceVC said:

And I dont consider any of those countries, including Norway, even remotely fascist 

 

1 hour ago, Pidesco said:

There's a clear case to be made regarding Hungary, I'd say. While it is not fascist in the strictest sense of the word, Orbán seems to be making an active and successful effort in making Hungary less democratic. I've seen his government called "soft fascism."

 

1 hour ago, BruceVC said:

Yes I share your concerns with Hungary, the only consideration  to his actions is would he have become so soft fascist if the initial refugee problem was not forced on all EU countries ? As far as I remember that is when he really started becoming more authoritative around  anti-EU laws and regulations 

 

1 hour ago, Maedhros said:

They're actually less popular than they used to be. They've seen up to 15% of the votes in earlier elections, now they're polled at around 8%.

As far as "far right" parties go, they're kind of mild and hard to categorize. They attract the nationalist loonies though, that's for sure, and I wonder how they'll fare with if Sylvi Listhaug ( https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-36102329 )becomes their new leader, which looks like it'll happen.

 

1 hour ago, BruceVC said:

Maedhros I am really enjoying the Norwegian series Lilyhammer, I even got some of family to watch it and they loving it

Is that series accurate around Norwegian culture ? Norway does seem like a great country to live in even if it is a little unusual for foreigners 

 

50 minutes ago, Pidesco said:

The inflection point was actually the economic crisis. It, with a little help from the refugee crisis, basically allowed right wingers everywhere to lean on foreigner scaremongering. "your life is in the crapper and it's their fault, vote for us"

 

46 minutes ago, Pidesco said:

I have it on good authority Beforeigners is more accurate. Time travel is a huge social issue in Norway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

The World and US Reunited

Oh no 

[Malcador]

The Globalist Lizardman Cabal has won.

[Guard Dog]

58 minutes ago, Malcador said:

The Globalist Lizardman Cabal has won.

It was never going to go any other way 

[Gromnir]

TikTokers pushing conspiracy theory that snow in Texas is ‘fake’

Some are convinced the strange phenomenon is the work of tech forefather and environmental activist Bill Gates, who recently backed a Harvard-led project to stave off climate change by snuffing out the sun.

“Thank you Bill Gates for trying to f - - king trick us that this is real snow,” said one TikTok user, whose video was later shared on Twitter and since amassed more than 138,000 views. “Snow don’t burn, snowf - - king melts.”

okie dokie

HA! Good Fun!

ps the "snuffing out the sun" bit is also misleading, but is a nypost article, so...

[Malcador]

The education system has failed.

[majestic]

Burning snow is usually used to "prove" Chemtrails. I had no idea that Bill Gates is involved with that too. Man... what doesn't he do?

[rjshae]

3 hours ago, majestic said:

Burning snow is usually used to "prove" Chemtrails. I had no idea that Bill Gates is involved with that too. Man... what doesn't he do?

He was a far more successful businessman than the former President, yet somehow people have him doing all this evil conspiracy theory stuff. Hmm...

[InsaneCommander]

12 minutes ago, rjshae said:

He was a far more successful businessman than the former President, yet somehow people have him doing all this evil conspiracy theory stuff. Hmm...

He is just a diversion. We all know George Soros is the real villain.

[Azdeus]

@MaedhrosI'm glad to hear it, I'll blame the misinformation on my Norwegian boss having outdated information

I just wish the Sweden Democrats could perform as poorly, but I don't know if you've had the same situation among your big parties that they're beginning to adopt some of the anti-immigrant rhetoric aswell?

[Gorth]

This is actually a misleading title. Shame on you BBC. It's Facebook vs. Rupert Murdoch (and his pet prime minister). Australia was just the collateral damage

 

Facebook v Australia: Who blinked first?

The former boss of Facebook in Australia is pretty clear.

"I'd say Facebook may have blinked a bit here," Stephen Scheeler told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"I think there's no question that global backlash against this was pretty stern.

 

"And I think Facebook probably observed that governments around the world were taking a harder line maybe than they had anticipated."

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56168843

 

 

 

[BruceVC]

3 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

He is just a diversion. We all know George Soros is the real viain.

Yeah, nothing more convenient and myopic than playing the old " lets blame the Jews and Soros  "card  for all the woes of the world

Only the " white, male privlidege " card nowadays gets played more  

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Gorth said:

This is actually a misleading title. Shame on you BBC. It's Facebook vs. Rupert Murdoch (and his pet prime minister). Australia was just the collateral damage

 

Facebook v Australia: Who blinked first?

The former boss of Facebook in Australia is pretty clear.

"I'd say Facebook may have blinked a bit here," Stephen Scheeler told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"I think there's no question that global backlash against this was pretty stern.

 

"And I think Facebook probably observed that governments around the world were taking a harder line maybe than they had anticipated."

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56168843

 

 

 

Good old Microsoft, I find myself generally aligning with what they stand for but in this case they were being a bit mischievous and taking advantage of the negative  public attention on FB. They have been subjected to similar scrutiny through the years so they know this environment very well 

Gorthfuscious who do you think is in the right overall with this whole Oz FB debacle? FB or Murdoch  

[BruceVC]

4 hours ago, rjshae said:

He was a far more successful businessman than the former President, yet somehow people have him doing all this evil conspiracy theory stuff. Hmm...

And his foundation the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation have donated and helped more countries and NGOs globally with venture philanthropy  than any other organization in the history of philanthropy including helping many African countries who lack public healthcare resources with eradicating and addressing diseases that dont exist in our countries 

Bill Gates has really become an example of how wealth can be used to make the world better, its a pity some  people cant or wont recognize this  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Melinda_Gates_Foundation

Edited February 25, 2021 by BruceVC

[Gorth]

45 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

Gorthfuscious who do you think is in the right overall with this whole Oz FB debacle? FB or Murdoch  

Both can go to hell?

The common people and small newsoutlets lose either way.

[BruceVC]

14 minutes ago, Gorth said:

Both can go to hell?

The common people and small newsoutlets lose either way.

Gorthfuscious, language !!!!! .....their are young people on this forum and you dont want to use bad words like " got to hell "

Remember us older forum members are highly respected and must provide a good example around decorum and etiquette for the youth 

[Darkpriest]

This is all too funny

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/feb/23/al-jazeera-rightwing-media-platform-conservatives-rightly

So will screaming left now target muslims in their worldview challanges?

[Gorth]

51 minutes ago, Darkpriest said:

This is all too funny

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/feb/23/al-jazeera-rightwing-media-platform-conservatives-rightly

So will screaming left now target muslims in their worldview challanges?

I completely fail to see a relation between your comment and the linked article

 

Al Jazeera is, if not officially, at least in its execution, a-religious btw. Even if they cover in more detail parts of the world ignored by most western media (like Africa, South America, Middle East, South Asia, The Far East and Russia).

[majestic]

10 minutes ago, Gorth said:

I completely fail to see a relation between your comment and the linked article

These alt-right types believe the left has a secret muslim agenda because they're not immediately engaging in blanket racism by assuming that every single muslim is a backwards, regressive dork with a little terrorist hidden inside that just wants to break free.

But I honestly have no idea what the big issue is that conservatives have with muslims. Muslims are just at a point where conservatives want to go back to all the time. Wife at home, not being allowed to go outside or work and just act as breeding machines and child reares, right? Plus they get to throw stones at the gays. Is that envy?

[Azdeus]

I don't know why it's become news now since it's been going on for years, I've even emailed what was last year, the Swedish Data Protection Authority, myself a long time ago but never got any reply. So many Swedish authorities use googles servers, because ofcourse they ****ing would, and they have things like analytics activated, places like 1177.se where they host medical information that you can search through, SCB.se, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration and many others.

Comments like "Oh, that was poorly done by us. I can't really say anything else" says the director of IT at the Swedish Prosecution Authority, scares the **** out of me with how blasé someone like that can be about data security.

You'll have to run the article through a translator of your choice; https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/myndigheter-lovar-anonymitet-men-skickar-ip-adresser-till-google

[213374U]

I'm not sure why the "screaming left" would do anything after AJ launches a new TV channel. I mean, AJ simply practices the same pragmatism as Qatar itself. If anyone from the left, screaming or otherwise, believes that Qatar works to advance anyone's interests but the Emir's, they only need to be reminded that Qatar is hosting the forward headquarters of USCENTCOM... while simultaneously providing funding to a variety of Islamist groups throughout the ME. In short, Qatar gon' be Qatar.

So AJ launching a new product to fill what they perceive is a niche left untargeted by the rest of the msm establishment is fairly ho-hum.

[Darkpriest]

2 hours ago, Darkpriest said:

This is all too funny

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/feb/23/al-jazeera-rightwing-media-platform-conservatives-rightly

So will screaming left now target muslims in their worldview challanges?

 

1 hour ago, Gorth said:

I completely fail to see a relation between your comment and the linked article

 

Al Jazeera is, if not officially, at least in its execution, a-religious btw. Even if they cover in more detail parts of the world ignored by most western media (like Africa, South America, Middle East, South Asia, The Far East and Russia).

It's about the conflict of interests more than anything, especially at times, where there were voices to remove some more right leaning news networks from cable

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/539868-house-democrats-press-cable-streaming-companies-for-carrying-misinformation

Given the possible content of the new TV, would it also appear there? 

I wonder what will be its content and I'm sure there will be some conflict of interests in dealing with a TV, that seems to be aimed at Trump supporters. 

Hence I expect a lot of 'screaming' at some point. 

I stopped taking notice and care of US "culture" - recently i only had a look at Disney related news, but did not even delve into the whole fired actress debacle. 

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

These alt-right types believe the left has a secret muslim agenda because they're not immediately engaging in blanket racism by assuming that every single muslim is a backwards, regressive dork with a little terrorist hidden inside that just wants to break free.

But I honestly have no idea what the big issue is that conservatives have with muslims. Muslims are just at a point where conservatives want to go back to all the time. Wife at home, not being allowed to go outside or work and just act as breeding machines and child reares, right? Plus they get to throw stones at the gays. Is that envy?

I dont think its as simple as that, Conservatives and people on the right are concerned with Islamic extremism and their established culture being eroded in the interests of integration. But you dont find that same effort to integrate when  you go work or live in the ME so their is a sense of double standards

But I dont think just because you have concerns with these points you are a racist or Islamophobic? 

 

[Zoraptor]

6 hours ago, Gorth said:

Al Jazeera is, if not officially, at least in its execution, a-religious btw.

AJ English is not religious, or at least not overtly so but their more in depth world coverage tends to focus a lot more news of situations where muslims specifically are being oppressed and gloss over 'bad' Muslim stories. Unlike the vast majority of Arab media they're not overtly anti Iran and anti Shia, but definitely as  part of Qatari political positions- eg they cover Bahrain and Saudi executing Shia for political reasons because it's politically embarrassing for those countries, not out of a sense of outrage.

OTOH, Al Jazeera Arabic is hardline sectarian garbage which will happily push Sunni exceptionalism and Sunni victimhood as hard as anything from Saudi does. At least theoretically it does broadly support support 'democracy' (generally via Ikwhan/ Brotherhood, so political Islam) which is why they got banned by Saudi and pals who aren't exactly fans of that idea. Of course, neither is Qatar, at home.

[Gorth]

@Zoraptor would it surprise you, if I told you it's easier for me to follow AJ English than AJ Arabic?