The All Things Political Thread (One thread to rule them all and in the darkness bind them)

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I saw my mom tonight, and her response to the Gaetz scandal was "Look at his face, of course he pays for sex".

[Malcador]

Gaetz was pretty funny, ranting about the "deep state" on his case and how "they're not after me, they're after you! I'm just in the way" which I am still confused at the meaning of.  He does look like That Guy that'd tell you about his porn at work, though.

[ComradeYellow]

The fact that almost half of congress are filled with these characters really reflects the intelligence of Americans.

China may be a fascist ****hole but they certainly aren't that stupid...

[Malcador]

4 hours ago, ComradeYellow said:

The fact that almost half of congress are filled with these characters really reflects the intelligence of Americans.

China may be a fascist ****hole but they certainly aren't that stupid...

Probably is true for a lot of countries. 

[ComradeYellow]

3 minutes ago, Malcador said:

Probably is true for a lot of countries. 

We're supposed to be better than "a lot of countries" according propaganda.

We so special and gifted.

[ComradeYellow]

Russians: if you attack us, we will sink most of your navy, we will destroy your key command posts and we might even strike the continental USA with our conventional (non-nuclear armed) long range weapons.

US Americans: nah, there is noooooo way you can do that, you drink too much vodka and you are bluffing.  We are the most powerful military in the history of the galaxy – have you not read Tom Clancy?!

Russians: don’t you understand what the consequences of a major war in the Ukraine will be for the European continent and your NATO “allies”?!

US Americans: you are authoritarians, we are democrats and democracies always prevail against authoritarian regimes!

Russians: but, don’t you feel any pity for your European “allies”?!

US Americans: we can and will protect them, we are the most powerful military in the history of the galaxy!!

Russians: and how do you propose to protect anybody from our hypersonic weapons?

US Americans: We are the USA. Lower your defenses and surrender your forces. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile (yes, that is the mental level of these TV-educated ignoramuses).

[InsaneCommander]

On 4/9/2021 at 6:08 PM, Zoraptor said:

China has been preparing to invade Taiwan for 70 years now. It's always been their aim. They're a lot more likely to salami a few ancillary islands 'peacefully'- as they seem to be doing again and have done previous in the Philipine Sea- than go for an extremely risky invasion.

Recently I learned that some islands just a few km to China belong to Taiwan. How did this last this long? I understand they couldn't invade Taiwan after the revolution, but why didn't they take these islands?

What will happen if China takes them like Russia did to Crimea? Maybe this will happen first, like you said, as a test to see how other countries will react.

[rjshae]

4 hours ago, Malcador said:

Probably is true for a lot of countries. 

Our best and brightest do not go into politics. Not to say that we don't have idiots, but China has plenty of knuckleheads as well.

[Skarpen]

5 hours ago, rjshae said:

Our best and brightest do not go into politics.

Or maybe we are all kidding ourselves with that statement?

[Gorth]

Did I mention that Australia is, at times, very much a backwater place?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-08/government-responds-sexual-harassment-respect-at-work-report/100055070

"The federal government will amend the Sex Discrimination Act to include politicians and judges, who have previously been exempt from the laws.

More than a year after receiving the Respect at Work report, the government has announced it will adopt the 55 recommendations either in full, in part or in principle.

Of the 55 it has agreed to 40, agreed in principle to five, agreed in part to one and noted nine."

 

No kidding. Up until now, politicians and judges were immune to prosecution for sexual harassment. The Taliban sends its regards...

 

 

[Gorth]

Just calling out "The West" on a bit of its hypocrisy. In this case the otherwise impressive and charismatic Navalny, who the EU thinks is the natural born leader to take over Russia from Putin...

So, who is this saviour of democracy and all things right and good?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56181084

"Amnesty strips Alexei Navalny of 'prisoner of conscience' status

Amnesty International has stripped the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny of his "prisoner of conscience" status after it says it was "bombarded" with complaints highlighting xenophobic comments that he has made in the past and not renounced."

"Some of the calls to revoke Navalny's prisoner of conscience status quoted a Twitter thread by Katya Kazbek, a freelance columnist published by the pro-Kremlin channel RT amongst others. She reposted Navalny's controversial videos after his arrest in January, describing him as an "avowed racist" and accusing supporters of "whitewashing" his nationalism."

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/24/amnesty-strips-navalny-of-prisoner-of-conscience-status

"Amnesty International took an internal decision to stop referring to [Alexey] Navalny as a prisoner of conscience in relation to comments he made in the past. Some of these comments, which Navalny has not publicly denounced, reach the threshold of advocacy of hatred, and this is at odds with Amnesty’s definition of a prisoner of conscience,” the statement said, without specifying what those comments were.

Navalny has previously advocated for nationalist, anti-immigrant policies and is regularly accused by his critics on social media of being a white supremacist.

Fifteen years ago, Navalny filmed a pro-gun rights video in which he compared people from the North Caucasus, home to many Muslims, as “****roaches” and then pretended to shoot one with a pistol."

 

As for what it's all about...

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/25/navalny-has-the-kremlin-foe-moved-on-from-his-nationalist-past

Muslim ‘****roaches’

In a 2007 pro-gun rights video, Navalny presents himself as a “certified nationalist” who wants to exterminate “flies and ****roaches” – while bearded Muslim men appear in cutaways.

He whips out a gun and shoots an actor wearing a keffiyeh who tried to “attack” him.

The 42-second video was released by the Russian National Liberation Movement, a nationalist group Navalny had just co-founded with Zakhar Prilepin, a renowned novelist who later fought for pro-Russian separatists in southeastern Ukraine and joined a pro-Kremlin socialist party earlier this year.

Shortly before releasing the video, Navalny was kicked out of Yabloko, Russia’s oldest liberal democratic party, for his “nationalist views” and participation in the Russian March, an annual rally of thousands of far-right nationalists, monarchists and white supremacists.

A veteran human rights advocate recalled falling out with Navalny over his views at the time.

...

"The participants of the Russian Marches rallied against the influx of labour migrants from ex-Soviet Central Asia and Russia’s mostly-Muslim Northern Caucasus region.

Some protesters sported closely cropped hair and raised their hands in a Nazi salute."

 

Tl;dr; he's a right-wing ultra nationalist and white supremacist... and a charismatic one at that. Would make a nice populist despot. I still don't get it why the west is so keen to support him.

[Guard Dog]

Boogaloo extremists destroy evidence in probe of cop murder

Not to make light of this story because it is pretty terrible. But I think the “boogaloo movement” is a conspiracy to see how many times they can get the “serious media” to say the word boogaloo 

[Darkpriest]

A bit different topic. I haven't seen it, but I will probably watch it. Seaspiracy at Netflix. 

I'm genuinly interested how that was made, after I read some thoughts on overall ESG topic  in this blog post

https://morningporridge.com/blog/blains-morning-porridge/greenwashing-the-ugly-truth-about-oceans/

I realize, we seem to give the fishing industry a bit of a pass in general, as a lot of people do not treat a fish as an animal (and certainly not the  shrimps as such) 

 

[Gorth]

1 hour ago, Darkpriest said:

A bit different topic. I haven't seen it, but I will probably watch it. Seaspiracy at Netflix. 

I'm genuinly interested how that was made, after I read some thoughts on overall ESG topic  in this blog post

https://morningporridge.com/blog/blains-morning-porridge/greenwashing-the-ugly-truth-about-oceans/

I realize, we seem to give the fishing industry a bit of a pass in general, as a lot of people do not treat a fish as an animal (and certainly not the  shrimps as such) 

 

i haven't seen Seaspiracy (hadn't even heard about it before now), but I do think it's a problem, treating the oceans as part the world sewer and part an inexhaustible source of fishy proteins. Of course it is neither of which. Will the next land war between USA and China be fought on the big plastic island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?

Chinese fishing armadas are busy scooping up fish from the entire Pacific Ocean, systematically emptying it of fish all the way down to Antarctica, down both Australia's and Chile's coastlines (the latter now categorically sinking them every time they trespass into their territorial waters)

No idea what the US fishing fleets are up to to be honest. They could be better or worse than the Chinese for all I know (and I really don't know, never looked it up), although US consumers may not like the plastic bottle/bag flavour from seafood caught in those waters.

These "shock documentaries" only addresses the symptoms though, not the underlying cause. Which is, there are about 6 billion too many of us for a planet this size if we want sustainable, good qualify life for all of us (or at least a chance at achieving such).

 

Edit: Now where was that glove with those fancy gem stones in it?...

[213374U]

4 hours ago, Gorth said:

I still don't get it why the west is so keen to support him.

He's our bastard.

[ShadySands]

Seaspiracy: Netflix documentary accused of misrepresentation by participants. NGOs and experts quoted in film say it contains ‘misleading’ claims, erroneous statistics and out-of-context interviews

Quote

David Phillips, the director of the IMMP, said the film had chosen to “grossly distort and mischaracterise” the aims of the label. In a statement, Phillips said: “The Dolphin Safe tuna programme is responsible for the largest decline in dolphin deaths by tuna fishing vessels in history. Dolphin-kill levels have been reduced by more than 95%, preventing the indiscriminate slaughter of more than 100,000 dolphins every year.”

Phillips said Seaspiracy did a disservice to organisations doing “critical work to protect oceans and marine life”.

Prof Christina Hicks, an environmental social scientist at Lancaster University who was interviewed for the film, tweeted: “Unnerving to discover your cameo in a film slamming an industry you love and have committed your career to.”

A spokesperson for the Marine Stewardship Council said that while the film drew attention to “known problems” in the fishing industry, it included “misleading claims” including that there is no such thing as sustainable fishing and that MSC certification was not credible.

Obviously there are problems with fishing and how we treat the ocean in general but be warned before you watch this type of thing.

[ComradeYellow]

5 hours ago, Gorth said:

Tl;dr; he's a right-wing ultra nationalist and white supremacist... and a charismatic one at that. Would make a nice populist despot. I still don't get it why the west is so keen to support him.

We don't now, he's been exposed.  It's just sometimes our hatred towards the Russian government clouds our judgement and you get desperate for an "enemy of my enemy".

[rjshae]

10 hours ago, Skarpen said:

Or maybe we are all kidding ourselves with that statement?

No, I'm being realistic. A political career requires that you have enough intelligence to do the job, but not enough that you are bored by it. Believe me, I've met plenty of people who are a lot brighter than our typical political hack.

[BruceVC]

6 hours ago, Gorth said:

Just calling out "The West" on a bit of its hypocrisy. In this case the otherwise impressive and charismatic Navalny, who the EU thinks is the natural born leader to take over Russia from Putin...

So, who is this saviour of democracy and all things right and good?

Well those are your words with the suggestion that Navalny is the savior of Democracy and how he is the assumed " Western " replacement for Putin

The support for Navalny is more about Putins numerous attempts to undermine and eliminate  any opposition to his autocratic rule and the principle of what defines a free and fair environment where opposition leaders of political parties are allowed to campaign without being arrested or poisoned

So the support you see for him is because their is no real Democracy in Russia and what happened to Navalny represents this symbolically. But its far from him being seen automatically as the next Russian PM or president. That can only be decided by the Russian people in a transparent election but since Putin does not allow this so we have no idea what the real aspirations of the Russian people are

 

 

[Darkpriest]

10 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

Well those are your words with the suggestion that Navalny is the savior of Democracy and how he is the assumed " Western " replacement for Putin

The support for Navalny is more about Putins numerous attempts to undermine and eliminate  any opposition to his autocratic rule and the principle of what defines a free and fair environment where opposition leaders of political parties are allowed to campaign without being arrested or poisoned

So the support you see for him is because their is no real Democracy in Russia and what happened to Navalny represents this symbolically. But its far from him being seen automatically as the next Russian PM or president. That can only be decided by the Russian people in a transparent election but since Putin does not allow this so we have no idea what the real aspirations of the Russian people are

 

 

You'd be surprised how many Russians actually support Putin

[BruceVC]

30 minutes ago, Darkpriest said:

You'd be surprised how many Russians actually support Putin

No I wouldnt be surprised, I know he has supporters. But I am not sure how this means Putin allows Democratic elections?

I am sure you are familiar with his latest changes to the Russian Constitution so he can stay in power for another 12 years...so basically another " leader for life " pretending to claim he governs by the " will of the people " ....please its  a joke and travesty of the principles of Democracy 

https://news.yahoo.com/putin-signs-law-allowing-him-140531192.html

[ComradeYellow]

56 minutes ago, Darkpriest said:

You'd be surprised how many Russians actually support Putin

He reached his peak support around 2015-16 but his overall support has waned a bit.

Last I checked he retains a solid 60% support in Russia, and 40% of Russians want new leadership.

The only thing I don't know is the age brackets of his support, I'm assuming it's younger Russians who support him most because another poll showed that a significant amount of old timers in Russia want the U.S.S.R. back, and young Russians want no part of that.

[Zoraptor]

9 hours ago, Gorth said:

Tl;dr; he's a right-wing ultra nationalist and white supremacist... and a charismatic one at that. Would make a nice populist despot. I still don't get it why the west is so keen to support him.

Like Bolsonaro, Anez, Pinochet, Gaultieri, etc etc who had the fulsome support of the west? Right wing despots are bread and butter to us. Or of course the case study of literal CIA sponsored genocide of Mayans in Guatamala.

To be fair they probably would have preferred Nemtsov over Navalny, but you use what you have available. Ironically the media coverage is so poor and so laced with overt russophobia that it's lowering support for Navalny not increasing it. I particularly enjoyed the Newsweek(?) article on 'mass' pro Navalny demonstrations across Russia where the mass crowd was literally outnumbered by western journalists...

1 hour ago, ComradeYellow said:

The only thing I don't know is the age brackets of his support, I'm assuming it's younger Russians who support him most because another poll showed that a significant amount of old timers in Russia want the U.S.S.R. back, and young Russians want no part of that

Most of the 40% who want new leadership want either the Commies or 'Liberals' (Zhirinovsky, so not liberal in any western sense). Younger demos who don't remember Yeltsin tend to favour the Liberals if uneducated, and Navalny or other reformists if educated/ professionals. Very very few who remember Yeltsin want anything to do with anyone seen as western aligned, the overt western sponsored fraud in the 1996 elections to get Yeltsin re-elected, massive decline in living standards and life expectation plus collapse in international prestige and outright bankruptcy saw to that.

Edited April 11, 2021 by Zoraptor

[ComradeYellow]

1 hour ago, Zoraptor said:

 Right wing despots are bread and butter to us. 

Were.  But I got a feeling we'll be going left soon, because the East is going right.

On that note, I would bust out laughing if Zhirinovsky did wind up as the next Russian President (well, that is until WW3 hit), him and Xi would be like best buddies in the world.

[Zoraptor]

Not really were. Anez/ Bolivia was less than 18 months ago (just).

Doesn't matter how many precautionary tales there are of sponsored right wing figures like Noriega or Honduras' Hernandez 'going rogue' (and given the CIA's history with drug running the 'rogue' part may just have been selling to the wrong people or not giving the CIA their cut...) they'll always go back to that well. Same with Islamists after Afghanistan in the 80s; CIA sponsored a variety of loony tune head choppers in Syria that went as far as fighting Pentagon backed forces, and ambassador emeritus Jim Jeffrey's best buds in Syria were whacky Turkish sponsored ethnic cleanser jihadis- at the expense of the leftist Kurds who'd fought alongside the US- and he wanted the US to reconcile with Al Qaeda's Syrian branch.