International Politics Thread - Disease and Disaster

[brob]

subs in the cc if they aren't enabled by default.

[Kara]

Wow, can't believe no one congratulated Lukashenko on winning a tough Belarusian presidential campaign itt. Grats Papa Luka! You only got like 85% of the vote, so don't rest on your laurels.

[Broseidon]

Congratulations, Batka

[benjipwns]

Western anti-democracy groups spread lies:

Observer of the United Civil Party Viktar Malochka stated about the overestimation of the turnout at polling station No. 24 in Salihorsk by almost 400 electors.

“I had learned working with the numbers while I was lieutenant colonel working in the economic crime department. There is no discrepancy in the number of voters during the early voting. However, dring the election day I counted just 808 people, whereas the commission's number is 1,190. I stayed at the polling station whole day, counting every elector,” says Viktar Malochka. “It's quite interesting that the number of electors was also counted by a girl, who seemed to have been nominated by the authorities. When she discovered that large discrepancy, she got scared and said that she didn't want to know anything and would no longer engage in it all, and ran away without waiting for the posting of the protocol of voting.”

After the announcement of the official results Mr. Malochka warned members of the PEC about the considerable mismatch and warned them he would have to address the prosecutor's office on this issue. However, he doesn't believe the prosecutor's office will do anything about it. PEC No. 24 is headed by the notorious head of the first mine of the open JSC “Belaruśkali” Aliaksandr Harbachou, with whom the prosecutor's office has already held a prophylactic talk regarding his public statement about the intention to control the turnout of workers of “Belaruśkali” at the elections.
http://spring96.org/en/news/80699

The regional coordinator of the campaign “Right to Elect” Taisiya Kabanchuk continues collecting and analysing information from observers. However, she is already able to state a large overestimation of the turnout at virtually all polling stations.

“Members of PEC No. 26, where I observed the voting, prohibited observers to come close to the place where the votes were counted (in the photo). As a result, there are 398 “extra voters” in the final protocol. At polling station No. 54 they added 260 people, at polling station No. 55 – as many as 632,” says Mrs. Kabanchuk.

The observer says that there cannot be any mistakes on her own part or on the part of her colleagues, because the voters were calculated by two independent observers at each polling station.
http://spring96.org/en/news/80696

After the end of the vote counting at polling station No. 57 in Barysaŭ the members of the PEC refused to inform the observers about the results. As reported by an independent observer Pavel Daineka, nobody was let out of the polling station, while the chair of the commission was phoning either to the executive committee or a higher election commission to report about the results of the calculation.

When the results were announced for the first time, the number of votes for Tatsiana Karatkevich was 219, but after the talk it decreased to 77. When the observer asked how it could happen and asked to show him the final protocol, deputy chair answered that she had passed the protocol to the chairman and the latter had taken it to the territorial election commission.
http://spring96.org/en/news/80701

It's like they don't even stop to think that maybe it's the anti-democratic anti-Papa Luka forces that are putting in the fraudulent votes, that seems far more likely than a popular people's candidate being democratically opposed and needing to cheat.

[Rufus]

Remember the Doctors Without Borders hospital that was mistakenly attacked with a drone strike? Now someone drove a tank into it...
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/15/us-tank-enters-ruined-afghan-hospital-putting-war-evidence-at-risk

[Samson Manhug]

Is this like when the Taliban calls MRAPs tanks?

[Rufus]

I thought about that too. Very well could be.

[Kara]

Glad Der Spiegel puts out articles like this.

http://m.spiegel.de/international/world/a-1056400.html

[Fifstar]

Glad Der Spiegel puts out articles like this.

http://m.spiegel.de/international/world/a-1056400.html

I love how the german version of the spiegel homepage has become total garbage while the international version puts out translated versions of the magazine articles that are actually worthwhile. Although the mag has seen better times as well.

[Brehvolution]

My mother in law is over in Europe right now. One of the texts she sent was that some of French people she came across didn't like Americans. This threw my fox news loving father in law into a seething rage, "How can they hate Americans?" Like it was blasphemy or something.

[Samson Manhug]

Glad Der Spiegel puts out articles like this.

http://m.spiegel.de/international/world/a-1056400.html

'"None of my friends has a job anymore," says Sahli. "Some are saving money for the traffickers, while others are going to Syria to make money. They have two choices: the boats or Islamic State. Eventually you Europeans will also get the message. The tragedy didn't begin on June 26. The tragedy is beginning now."'

[VomKriege]

My mother in law is over in Europe right now. One of the texts she sent was that some of French people she came across didn't like Americans. This threw my fox news loving father in law into a seething rage, "How can they hate Americans?" Like it was blasphemy or something.

There's definitely people with a chip on the shoulder about the USA. In my experience it's mostly wild generalisations and contempt, not "hate", but I think it could easily be taken as rude were an American present, considering it often strikes a nerve with me.

[Brehvolution]

I'm sure you are right with it being rudeness and not hate. The rudest people often take the most offense when someone is rude to them.

[Rufus]

Anti-american sentiments are on the rise among the rightwing groups that have popped up here in Germany. We're a protectorate of the USA, the refugee crisis is a conspiracy to divide and weaken Europe, Putin has a lot of rights ideas, yadda yadda.

[Kara]

Well Putin did spend a lot of time in Germany.

OK not "Germany," but my joke still stands.

[Joe Molotov]

Well Putin did spend a lot of time in Germany.

OK not "Germany," but my joke still stands.

You know who else spent a lot of time in Germany?

[Brehvolution]

David Hasslehoff?

[Joe Molotov]

Exactly.

[Brehvolution]

Look at the devastation Baywatch left Volkswagen in.

[Rufus]

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151013/11125332527/uk-goes-full-orwell-government-to-take-children-away-parents-if-they-might-become-radicalized.shtml

[Rufus]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/21/netanyahu-under-fire-for-palestinian-grand-mufti-holocaust-claim

Dude's lost his mind.

[VomKriege]

Kind of revealing on the motives of his policies towards Palestine and Europe. Dude is straight bonkers.

[brawndolicious]

I get really tired hearing any news about the middle-east but it sounds like he suggested Jews would have been better off making some German territory into their new country rather than going to Jerusalem.

[Kara]

When even a Jewish Israeli prime minister can't talk about the Holocaust in an adult manner the world truly has gone mad.

[Broseidon]

[Dickie Dee]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/21/netanyahu-under-fire-for-palestinian-grand-mufti-holocaust-claim

Dude's lost his mind.

The German government said on Wednesday that responsibility for the Holocaust lay with the Germans, after Israel's prime minister sparked controversy before a visit to Berlin by saying a Muslim elder had convinced Adolf Hitler to exterminate Jews.

"All Germans know the history of the murderous race mania of the Nazis that led to the break with civilization that was the Holocaust," Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said when asked about Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks.

"This is taught in German schools for good reason, it must never be forgotten. And I see no reason to change our view of history in any way. We know that responsibility for this crime against humanity is German and very much our own."

Whatever you want to say about Merkel, that's some of the realest shit I've heard someone say in forever.

[Mupepe]

Can you imagine any US politician saying something like that about any American atrocity? 

Hell, when I watched the Ken Burns documentary The West a few weeks back and they discussed the genocide of Native Americans every single person interviewed (except the Native Americans of course) basically said "Yeah it was awful but it's so hard not to look back at the conquest of the west and get excited about all the good that came out of it!"  That's like the equivalent of those that say "so much medical progress was made because the Nazis weren't held back by silly morals or ethics."  Disgusting, basically.

[Madrun Badrun]

The Germans totally own it when it comes to the Nazis. 

[Kara]

The Germans totally own it when it comes to the Nazis.

Not really, especially in regards to denazification.

[Madrun Badrun]

You saying there are still Nazis in public office in Germany?  Cause if so, those medical advancements are pretty spectacular. 

[Rufus]

The Germans totally own it when it comes to the Nazis.

Not really, especially in regards to denazification.

Yeah, "totally" is definitely a bit of an overstatement, but the official stance is fairly unique.

[Kara]

The NPD can't be shut down because the BfV is LARPing The Man Who Was Thursday, Arvie.

[Madrun Badrun]

I recognize some of those characters in that sentence. 

[Rufus]

I recognize some of those characters in that sentence. 

NPD = National Democratic Party of Germany, far right nutters who claim to be totes not racist at all.
BfV = Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, whose modus operandi seems to be to pay a salary to select neo-nazis in exchange for information. The NPD is apparently chock full of these, which makes it difficult to prosecute them since it's unclear how much influence the informants had on the direction of the party. Also like to accidentally shred files destroy evidence when it looks like one of their precious informants did a boo boo, suggesting that the BfV may have at the very least known about the boo boo.

The NPD can't be shut down because the BfV is LARPing The Man Who Was Thursday, Arvie.

The BKA (our FBI) and the BfV might get more funding soon to deal with the growing number of right wing and neo-nazi groups. I'm sure that will go well.

Ironic side note: the right wing nutter who recently stabbed a mayoral candidate in the neck for her support of refugees is rumored to have worked as an informant for some time.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

She's in stable condition and has won the election. Eat shit, assholes.

[close]

[Joe Molotov]

I recognize some of those characters in that sentence. 

NPD = National Democratic Party of Germany, far right nutters who claim to be totes not racist at all.

And that's why GAF boycotts their sales figures.

[Kara]

I don't want to sound ungrateful about what Merkel said, btw. In a time/place where something as comparatively banal as gun control becomes an opportunity to exploit the victims of the Holocaust and the embarrassing prime minister of the state that claims to represent all Jewry tries to justify his own school of Zionism's failed policies by going, "s/he hit me first," except with attempted ethnic cleansing instead of hitting, it's refreshing to see the leader of the country that was one of the most responsible parties for the Holocaust stepping up and saying, "y'all is some wack-ass knickerbockers." It just rings kind of hollow given a variety of postwar factors and in an ideal word that's what would stand out instead.

[Rufus]

The marketing campaign for AssCreed Syndicate has gone a little too far.

[Madrun Badrun]

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/30/condom-shares-fall-in-china-after-plan-to-end-one-child-policy

[Samson Manhug]

I can't imagine using a condom with your wife. What is the point of getting married?

[Madrun Badrun]

I can't imagine using a condom with your wife either. 

[brob]

http://www.businessinsider.com/hundreds-of-suicides-in-india-linked-to-microfinance-organizations-2012-2

the best kind of development aid is the for-profit one.

[Kara]

http://www.businessinsider.com/hundreds-of-suicides-in-india-linked-to-microfinance-organizations-2012-2

the best kind of development aid is the for-profit one.

All I could think about while reading this is that Akula means shark in Russian. (Shark, loan shark et cetera.)

It's OK for aid to get pocketed by corrupt private citizens operating within the framework of capital, but not OK if it gets pocketed by corrupt public officials. It's the law.

[VomKriege]

Wasn't "micro" finance hailed as the savior of developing countries a few years ago ?

[curly]

Wasn't "micro" finance hailed as the savior of developing countries a few years ago ?

Yup. A microfinance bank even got a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, yet more evidence that the Nobel committee is .

[Samson Manhug]

The whole concept of "social entrepreneurship" really bothers me. Exploit the disadvantaged as a marketing gimmick, socially conscious brehs.

[Kara]

If it didn't have (at best) minimal positive impact and in more likelihood the creation of small scale employment with personal debt, you'd almost have to laugh at the theoretical underpinnings of microcredit. It's like a bunch of people actually believed the Smithian alternate history of enclosure and decided to make a lehrstucke out of it.

[benjipwns]

How bout them Polish parliamentary elections? Goodbye "United Left" and welcome, a punk rocker who doesn't actually have a party to fill his 42 seats won.

Belize votes today and Croatia and Myanmar (you may know it as Burma, but it will always be Myanmar to me) on Sunday.

Croatia has a new coalition called Successful Croatia. How could you not vote for that? Clearly the other parties oppose success. Why else would the coalition name itself that?

Myanmar has a provision making sure that democracy succeeds even if the ruling party (formally the party of the junta) loses half of its 212 seats as 110 of the 440 seats in the lower house are appointed by the military. They won the last election with 77% of the vote, so hopefully they are prepared for a tough election.

[Kara]

Law and Justice won? Sweet, I can go back to being embarrassed of my Polish heritage again instead of my laundry list of personal failures.

[benjipwns]

A majority too! Gained 101 seats!

And these guys gained 42, while the United Left lost all of theirs!

Kukiz'15 is a right-wing political party in Poland led by punk musician Paweł Kukiz. It is not formally registered as a political party, as one of they key postulates is "destroying particracy"
...
The movement is particularly popular among young people, with Kukiz having won 42% among voters aged 18 to 29 in the Presidential elections 2015.[6]

In the 2015 parliamentary election Kukiz'15 cooperated with the far-right National Movement, about one quarter of Kukiz' 42 parliamentary seats will be held by members of the National Movement

The Second Congress of the National Movement took place May 3, 2014 in Warsaw. The congress passed the following demands of the program:[3]
...
re-equip the Polish Army

the introduction of a universal territorial defense unit and a watchtower in every borough

widen the access to weapons

ensure the constitution guarantees national ownership of Polish land

denunciation of the Treaty of Lisbon and replace it with a "Sovereignty Treaty"

termination of the energy-climate agreements and the European Fiscal Compact

promotion of Polish history in the world (including the fight against the term "Polish concentration camps")

public combat of the ideology of gender

striving for energy independence (support for the extraction of shale gas and nuclear power plants)

Wow, this movement is full of new ideas:

As adopted in the January 2013 declaration of ideology, the decision-making council of the National Movement has indicated its three main components: identity (nation, family, people), sovereignty (the state, culture, economy) and freedom (of speech, management, people); identified the awareness and commitment of the young generation of Poles as the strength of the National Movement and pledged to work on the transformation of the homeland, emphasized the idea of the nation, understood as a cultural community formed by generations.

I feel at one with the nation and ready to combat the ideology of gender!

[Kara]

They're labeled as libertarian btw, just another libertarian moment.

[benjipwns]

At this rate there won't be any governments left to have libertarian moments in.

[Rufus]

https://theintercept.com/2015/11/06/ttp-trade-pact-would-give-wall-street-a-trump-card-to-block-regulations/

Just what we need.

[benjipwns]

The Trump Card is that he'll make them pay to build the Wall Street.

[benjipwns]

i'm sorry

[Phoenix Dark]

Why worry? Dodd Frank fixed the financial industry forever and makes sure no institution will ever be too big to fail again. 

[brob]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-declares-all-atheists-are-terrorists-in-new-law-to-crack-down-on-political-dissidents-9228389.html

better get on your deen wrath

[VomKriege]

DP.
Nevermind.

[VomKriege]

I have no solutions but I think a lot of people could do well to revisit World War I and its aftermath.

That the Entente should have gone to Germany instead of finishing the job 27 years later ? 

[Samson Manhug]

Joshua Landis has been saying for a few years that the current situation in the Middle East is most similar to him to the Balkans prior to WWI. Imperial borders giving way to new nation states, great powers picking sides according to their interests, the potential for snowballing. . .

[VomKriege]

Joshua Landis has been saying for a few years that the current situation in the Middle East is most similar to him to the Balkans prior to WWI. Imperial borders giving way to new nation states, great powers picking sides according to their interests, the potential for snowballing. . .

I think the difference is that in the 1910's, the great powers were primed to go at it over that lynchpin (That's more or less the exact terms of the French commitment to Russia). I don't see it here although the Ukrainian crisis is a concern as far as how heated Russian antagonism could get.

Messy situation to be sure. I imagine Shadow Mod thought of the Ottoman Empire evisceration. That statu quo is well and certainly dying.