International Politics Thread - Disease and Disaster

[Rufus]

"Should the EU deny Britons all benefits of EU membership?"

Business and political elites say "ah-yup, totes".

[VomKriege]

Third passage at the national assembly of the french labor reform I mentioned a couple time, third use by the prime minister of the 49.3 procedure to force it through without debate.

Democracy !
 

[Rufus]

http://qz.com/736291/watch-john-kerry-try-not-to-smile-as-his-press-corps-rips-into-boris-johnson/

[VomKriege]

http://qz.com/736291/watch-john-kerry-try-not-to-smile-as-his-press-corps-rips-into-boris-johnson/

Johnson: Such a rich thesaurus of things I've said… take me too long to engage in a full global itinerary of apology

 

[benjipwns]

http://indy100.independent.co.uk/article/some-conspiracists-think-theresa-may-and-angela-merkel-are-in-the-illuminati-because-of-a-hand-gesture--WJPfhk5mLb

[Rufus]

The gesure has its own Wikipedia entry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkel-Raute

[VomKriege]

Munchen now, fucking hell.

[Rufus]

Six dead so far. Allegedly three shooters with rifles, who are still at large. Nothing else known yet.

Some people seem almost giddy that something's finally happened in Germany.

Police have just asked people to stop speculating on social media. Presumably to keep the number of rumours floating around manageable.

[brob]

hmu when u wanna get gaymarried for the asylum rufus  i got u

[Rufus]

B-brob-kun...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

_

[close]

[VomKriege]

Six dead so far. Allegedly three shooters with rifles, who are still at large. Nothing else known yet.

Some people seem almost giddy that something's finally happened in Germany.

Police have just asked people to stop speculating on social media. Presumably to keep the number of rumours floating around manageable.

Hopeful that the casualties will stay that low (that's terrible but the standard have gone drastically up). The whole schadenfreude thing is a bit counfounding, I would hope it's obvious to everyone that all Europe, and particulary Western Europe, is together in this (whether Islamic terror or far right epidemia, which are the two main possibilities as far as political motivations go this day).

[VomKriege]

Munich police cautiously optimistic that there was a single gunman and he offed himself a few way away from the mall. Seems more consistent with the level of harm inflicted, early reports of several shooters brought back memories of the terrible carnage in Mumbai. If true, I guess the investigation will soon give us the identity of the killer and his potential motives.

Speaking of which, credit where it is due, some elements about the Nice truck killer seems to indicate he had some accomplices (a man was with him in the truck two days prior, apparently scouting the target area, the killer asked by mobile phone someone for more guns), may have plotted for a long time (photos on his phone of last year's July 14th and August 15th fireworks in Nice) and maybe a thin veneer of vague islamist ramblings.

Whatever ends up being the profile of the Munich shooter(s), one can't help but feel that a form of disinhibition towards mass killings has happened somewhat recently in Europe. Terrorism always was a thing, did sometimes reach such heights in Western Europe (Bologna rail station bombing come to mind) and there was cases which were apparently unpoliticized (The mysterious "Brabant Killers" of the 80's) but it seems nowadays that every nutcase can be emboldened to mass murder at the level or even beyond the most prominent action of the pasts, with looser helps and goals than before. Anarchists did prove as destructive in a number of cases, but they mostly seemed to obey to some form of target selection.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

All things considered this has been one of the most stable periods in recorded European history.

[Rufus]

Munich police cautiously optimistic that there was a single gunman and he offed himself a few way away from the mall. Seems more consistent with the level of harm inflicted, early reports of several shooters brought back memories of the terrible carnage in Mumbai. If true, I guess the investigation will soon give us the identity of the killer and his potential motives.

18-year-old Iranian-German, who acted alone by all indications. No terrorist motive, only a mentally unstable guy with a pistol. The stuff about three people with rifles turned out to be rubbish. People were probably cofusing plain-clothes police rushing to the scene with accomplices. 10 dead, inlcuding the killer (suicide, but may have been shot at by said plain-clothes officers as well). Could have been much worse.

There's a video of him on a roof, just before he started shooting (?) after he shot up the fast food place. He's arguing with locals (who are throwing abuse at him, some of which racist), ranting somewhat incoherently about his past and "people like (them) bullying (him) for 7 years". He also says that he had been in treatment.
Almost looks like he could have been talked down, but that's very easy to believe after the fact.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/24/world/ansbach-germany-blast/index.html

(CNN)An explosion occurred in Ansbach, Germany, Sunday evening, according to German media. At least one person is dead and as many as 10 others are wounded, German media is reporting.

Developing story - more to come

Edit: Apparently it may have been accidentally detonated so it could have been much worse

[Rufus]

Looks like he was on his way to the Ansbach Open festival. It's fortunate that he didn't get to kill anyone but himself.

edit: He couldn't get into the festival, because he didn't buy a ticket. For once, praise be to stupidity. Also, he's tried to kill himself twice and was in treatment because of it. Guess he wanted his death to mean something this time. Well, good riddance.

[VomKriege]

They also fucked Kaboul in the meantime, because reasons Shia something something not believing the one true way something something.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Yet another socialist success story: http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/29/news/economy/venezuela-decree-farm-labor/

Venezuela's new decree: Forced farm work for citizens

Venezuela once had a robust agricultural sector. But under its socialist regime, which began with Hugo Chavez in 1999, the oil-rich country started importing more food and invested less in agriculture. Nearly all of Venezuela's revenue from exports comes from oil.

Chavez was always a fuckup and a failure who just benefited from the rising oil prices in the 2000s.

[Broseidon]

Saw Venezuela referred to as "Ayn Rand antagonist socialism" the other day and it's pretty spot on 

[fizzel]

[Madrun Badrun]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/08/09/an-entire-generation-of-a-citys-lawyers-was-killed-in-pakistan/

[Rufus]

This fits much better in here:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/08/court-us-seizure-of-kim-dotcoms-millions-and-4-jet-skis-will-stand/

In the US civil forfeiture case, which was brought 18 months after the initial criminal charges brought against Dotcom and Megaupload, prosecutors outlined why the New Zealand seizure of Dotcom’s assets on behalf of the American government was valid. Seized items include millions of dollars in various seized bank accounts in Hong Kong and New Zealand, multiple cars, four jet skis, the Dotcom mansion, several luxury cars, two 108-inch TVs, three 82-inch TVs, a $10,000 watch, and a photograph by Olaf Mueller worth over $100,000.

...

In its court filings, prosecutors argued that because Dotcom had not appeared to face the charges against him in the United States, he is therefore susceptible to “fugitive disentitlement.”

Did they just export civil forfeiture? 

[Madrun Badrun]

wtf

[Madrun Badrun]

business might like this

[T-Short]

https://twitter.com/afuahirsch/status/768229097931702272

Of course the tone of this tweet is a bit provocative, but this dictate from France is definitely #problematic if the purpose is to get rid of terrorism

[Cerveza mas fina]

Banning burkinis is so fucking stupid and demeaning, it should be your goddamn right to dress how you want to dress, every woman is free in France and can't be forced to do it anyway, but now the government mandates how you can dress? At least you can leave and divorce your man if he is an ass and tries to force you to dress this way but you can't divorce your government.

Covering the face might be problematic for security reasons, but this is just reactionary shit.

Really sad these kind of laws are passing in Europe.

[Rufus]

Can't marginalize Muslims directly, so they ban one of the most conspicuous aspects instead. It is sad, but they have the public's backing for this right now.

[Cerveza mas fina]

The arguments for this are so weak too when I look at user comments on the Guardian for example

"men should were them too if the female does" "culture of opression"

No one stops to think our western values do exactly the same but opposite where the women are showing off their body in ads and everywhere selling sex to men. Or women wear thongs on the beach but men wear shorts.

Maybe we should force men to wear thongs too then. Or how about we forbid women to diet, as clearly it s a sign of oppression. Too. If a woman on the beach is too skinny the police should ask her to eat a burger so that she is not oppressed by society.

OR MAYBE WE CAN FUCKING GET ALONG AND TALK ABOUT THINGS INSTEAD

Can't marginalize Muslims directly, so they ban one of the most conspicuous aspects instead. It is sad, but they have the public's backing for this right now.

I'd say this is pretty direct and thinly veiled as progressive

because how can banning some clothes really be progressive

[Fifstar]

Really sad - those girls would and will be sitting at home instead of participating in swimming classes or meeting other youths.

[fizzel]

Witnessing collateral damage from a clash of civilisations, and its only gonna get worse.

Banning burkinis is so fucking stupid and demeaning, it should be your goddamn right to dress how you want to dress, every woman is free in France and can't be forced to do it anyway, but now the government mandates how you can dress? At least you can leave and divorce your man if he is an ass and tries to force you to dress this way but you can't divorce your government.

Covering the face might be problematic for security reasons, but this is just reactionary shit.

Really sad these kind of laws are passing in Europe.

Honour killings, acid attacks, FGM and forced marriage. Millions of women are trapped by the bearded fucks.

[Rufus]

Which is one of the reasons I'd rather pull them in than push them out, regardless of dress. Don't want muslim women running back to their communities when that's what they're faced with.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Clearly a fashion item is a slippery slope to an acid attack or an honour killing

Like a girl in a bikini is basically asking for rape

 

[chronovore]

Can't marginalize Muslims directly, so they ban one of the most conspicuous aspects instead. It is sad, but they have the public's backing for this right now.

Yeah, it's a coward's method, and it's sad that the mob will rally behind this kind of fear-driven logic.

[Kara]

Big ups to Western societies for using the last decade or so to remind us all that they are 100% full of fucking shit wrt individual freedom (not relating to the accumulation of capital).

[Cerveza mas fina]

To be fair individual freedom was never a real thing in Europe, any kind of freedom given to people here has always been after a bloody mess (1792, 1918, 1945) , or to prevent a bloody mess (1848, 1990) and usually involved maintaining the status quo in the end as much as possible.

[Rufus]

https://twitter.com/JulesDrmnn/status/768455562073772032

If your French is as worthless as mine, the president of the region where those pictures where taken is threatening lawsuits against people disseminating those photographs on social media. Because it's endangering those officers.

Empowering racists is presumably fine, though.

[VomKriege]

Those Burkinis debates are bullshit top to bottom, it's a miniscule problem being blown out of proportion, without too much surprise on the south east coast where the far right is doing well and the "republican" right is pretty extreme itself. My own opinion is that infringing of the law upon those matters should be kept at a minimum and that beaches do not fall under the same categories as public schools or administrations (where some rules can be enforced in the name of secularity). Don't know how it is in other countries but France is being burdened under law after law adressing too specific issues or piled up on top of already existing legislation.

Another current example of agitation passing for political action is the new measures for preventing attacks on schools which runs the gamut from common sense (increased security presence) to borderline cuckoo (a specific alarm sound inside the school for attacks  ).

[fizzel]

Which is one of the reasons I'd rather pull them in than push them out, regardless of dress. Don't want muslim women running back to their communities when that's what they're faced with.

Agree complete, these women aren't the problem. They're being forced to wear that shit, and now being forced to take it off. It's distinguished mentally-challenged.

[Joe Molotov]

Big ups to Western societies for using the last decade or so to remind us all that they are 100% full of fucking shit wrt individual freedom (not relating to the accumulation of capital).

Trust other people states.

[VomKriege]

A "Burkini ban" was invalidated in the highest administrative court in France, so all current municipal bans could be challenged soon. Argument is that it infringes too much on fundamental freedoms.

[CatsCatsCats]

Because it's fucking stupid and the optics of armed police telling a woman to take her clothes off aren't great

[VomKriege]

Sarkozy (which is SPOILER ALERT now a candidate for the next election) is riding hard on the subject. We can unfortunately expect it to continue grabbing headlines in the near future.

[Momo]

Kinda politics

https://www.facebook.com/UniJustKidding/videos/vb.520995971308707/1142565662485065/?type=2&theater

This fucking woman.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Don't have a facebook account, maybe a public link?

[VomKriege]

The results of the presidential election in Gabon are in at last, and sitting president Ali Bongo -son of the late Omar Bongo who held office for 42 consecutive years- won the single-round election (by a few thousand votes, 49,80% against 48,23% - participation rate 59,46%) despite his opponent Jean Ping managing to create a large coalition front with the other opposition figures.

The final counting took 4 days to be announced by the electoral commission, that only gave the numbers at the region level : In the Haut-Ogooué district, voters turnout was over 99% and Bongo won around 95% of the votes.
 

Cue riots, especially in the second largest city Port-Gentil, the national assembly being partially burnt, and the army in the streets if not outright attacking Mr Ping headquarters with sadly already a handful of casualties. Situation is pretty tense, the EU (including France) & USA are demanding for all results at the booth level to be made public (denied by the electoral commission on pretext of the law down there) and expatriates are advised to stay indoors at the moment.

Opposition leader Jean Ping is a 72 years old high level diplomat who studied in Paris, the son of a Gabonese mother and a Chinese father (brought here probably through a French colonial emigration program), former State Minister of Bongo Sr. for over 15 years and also former companion of the oldest sister of Ali, Pascaline Bongo. So it's more a whisper than a wind of potential change...

Gabon is a small country on the west coast of the continent, below Cameroon, and for long (and still, a few hundred French soldiers are still stationed permanently near the presidential palace) the shining example of "Françafrique" post-colonialism* with French public and private interests having shares in the oil, the maritime transit and the uranium.  It's mineral rich for a small population, so in theory and average Gabonese are somewhat a bit more well off than most of Africa. The Bongo clan has a tight grip over power but I guess you could say that in this domain too Gabon is slighty better off than some of its neighbors : they are far from the bloodliest leaders  .

* A famous quote by Omar Bongo, pictured below : "Africa without France is like a car without a driver... France without Africa is a car without gas."
A true Friend of France™, Omar always made sure to ship very generous contributions to French presidential candidates...

[Rufus]

1.5 million in a country that's roughly the size of Poland. Whew.

[benjipwns]

The Bongo clan has a tight grip over power but I guess you could say that in this domain too Gabon is slighty better off than some of its neighbors : they are far from the bloodliest leaders  .

The neighbor directly to the north has always been a personal favorite in this regard.

Belarus goes to the polls on the 11th to elect their House of Representatives. True Democracy continues under Papa Lukashenko hopefully, currently 105 of the 110 seats are controlled by his supporters. Also, the legislature can't pass any laws without his permission.

Then a week later is democracy in Russia!

AND THEN A WEEK AFTER THAT an election is being forced on Somalia to elect a Parliament. The first "free" elections since 1969. (Technically there were some inbetween but it was a one-party state so they were true elections unlike the liberal sham to come.)

[VomKriege]

1.5 million in a country that's roughly the size of Poland. Whew.

Yeah "small" by current standards in Africa.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Africa is such a fucking mess.

[Rufus]

They'll get there. Eventually.

[Cerveza mas fina]

I hope so, but it won't be soon.

[Momo]

Don't have a facebook account, maybe a public link?

neither do i, but it worked for me

[benjipwns]

stop lying that the Soviets invaded Poland guys

[Madrun Badrun]

well that's embarrassing. 

[VomKriege]

Gotta admire how Soviets bargained for all it was worth their participation in the Nuremberg trials.

[Cerveza mas fina]

stop lying that the Soviets invaded Poland guys

 

[VomKriege]

Also textbook example of why History shouldn't be left to courts and the problem with laws against negationism.

EDIT :

Gabon is still locked, as both candidates still claim fraud from the other and to have won.

http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2016/09/02/gabon-a-quel-jeu-joue-la-france_4991307_3212.html

Article in French, obviously, so the bullet points :

- "Everybody cheated but Jean Ping has obviously won" according to anonymous French sources.
- Official stance from France is that election results by booth should be publicized. Which in a way indicates France is not endorsing Ali Bongo : France was silent last election in Gabon and more recently in Tchad and Congo-Brazzaville, all of which were as sketchy as this one. Other statements and recent events attest that the French establishment (at least the Socialist Party) wouldn't mind an alternance.
- The 450 strong permanent french garrison in Libreville received orders from Paris to stay in their barracks.

The article ends with a quote that boils down to :
"Gabonese people still think everything is decided in Paris but those days are over really"

Those statements always sounds weird to me. Each French president in my life basically took office perpetuating the running joke that "Françafrique" was now a thing of the past but while things might be more hands off or indirect, France still very much have the soft & hard means to prop up any government in the Ivory Coast - Tchad - Gabon crescent. It's exactly what was done with Ouattara. If Bongo can't shut that thing down quickly it will be to his detriment...

Oh well. Bongo is a true friend of France. Ping will also be a true friend of France should he ascend to power. The enemy of my friend is my friend too. Most Francophone african elites don't sound very eager to end that state of affairs, to be fair. Better the white devil you know, especially if he has good food and accomodation ?

[VomKriege]

Speaking of french-speaking Africa, two recent blog posts from an US anthropologist living in Bamako, Mali.

Is Mali heading back into the abyss ?

An analysis of the French military intervention

The second link is fairly interesting in trying to piece up the motives (though it doesn't mention that while Mali itself is mineral poor; neighboring Niger provides a third of the French uranium for our very extensive network of nuclear power plants. So called electricity "self sufficiency" is a major cornerstone of the domestic strategy) and provide an accurate depiction of the current state of the French army : still one of the largest force projection force currently existing yet mired with systemic issues. "Hegemony on a shoestring" is a great encapsulation.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Merkel's CDU got BTFO in her own home state, coming in third behind SPD and AFD: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37274222

[Rufus]

"Is Germany's AfD racist?"



Yes, yes they are.