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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: mamselle on May 27, 2019, 09:21:27 AM

Title: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on May 27, 2019, 09:21:27 AM
So, given the abysmal coverage the US journalistic network usually offers of things happening outside our borders (largely--there are exceptions, of course), I'd like to see and hear from those who either live, have lived, study, or have studied some aspect of a situation that is covered elsewhere but not here.

For starters, I'm interested in the two (seemingly similar) events in the UK and India at present.

Theresa May is out, and the residual Indian government at the moment seems to be in turmoil because of election losses.

   https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/disquiet-in-congress-ranks-as-rahul-insists-on-resigning-fate-of-rajasthan-and-karnataka-governments-uncertain/articleshow/69524169.cms

I know about some of the practices--if a leader loses some certain level of credibility, they don't wait for regular elections, they resign--but not the deeper rationale behind these traditions (doesn't that make for a lot of upheavals?)

Or...does the resulting fluidity lead to better governance? Or not?

I'd be interested in further discussion on this topic, and would leave the thread open to those who'd like to post other non-US national news items of interest that we really could do well to know more about.

For example, until I got to France one year, I'd known nothing of the Bulgarian nurses' plight (the Libyan government, in denial over the severity of the AIDS/SIDA epidemic there, accused them of injecting 438 babies with the virus, not wishing to recognize that they were in fact caring for that number who were already ill, imprisoning and torturing them and the doctor involved:)

    http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/International/2007/07/24/001-bulgare-libye-infirmiere.shtml
and
    http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,495974-2,00.html
and
    https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2000/06/04/libye-cinq-infirmieres-bulgares-jugees-pour-propagation-du-sida-se-sont-plaintes-d-avoir-ete-torturees_3605579_1819218.html?xtmc=sida_bulgares&xtcr=1

Also of interest to me (if prompts are wanted/needed) are the reasons the US news isolates its readers from such materials, while making a big deal of some of the most inane local issues conceivable.

Any continent, any country (except the US) any issue of interest.

Be polite.

M.
   
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: spork on May 28, 2019, 09:34:38 AM
In part you can blame the French, since "parliament" comes from parlement, an institution that allowed the aristocracy to challenge any royal edict deemed to be a violation of customary practice. From there we eventually got, as I think you're alluding to, the UK's Westminster model of parliamentary government. In the Westminster model, the legislative branch can be dissolved at any time, through:


Political parties emerged not too long after parliaments became the de facto form of national government. In the Westminster model, the executive branch (the "government" in UK political lingo) is formed by whatever political party wins a majority of parliamentary seats in an election, or whichever party can, via the construction of a coalition between parties, can prevent the other parties from establishing a majority bloc. The prime minister (head of government/executive branch) comes out of parliament from the majority or coalition-leading party.

With the above said, there are all sorts of ways in which parliamentary governments operate. Some resemble the UK's much more than others. But there is data indicating that a parliamentary systems are less likely to lead to dictatorships than presidential systems.

Don't know if this answers your question. I hope it doesn't come across as mansplaining.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on May 28, 2019, 07:20:30 PM
Very helpful. Thank you.

Not mansplained,* but well-explained to someone who wanted to know.

(When I talk to my British and Belgian cousins I like to have a sense of how things work, just a bit!)

In India, then, is there any danger of decentralization or a rupture of the national structure? Since it's sort of stitched together from so many different parts of the subcontinent, I've wondered if it would ever come to such a point that some kind of secession could happen.

Do areas like Chennai and Bangalore, which have a stronger technical/industrial base, for example, have so much less in common with some other parts? Or do they each have underlying complimentary strengths that I'm unaware of?

M.
-=-=-=-

*(My quick-n-dirty version of mansplaining is when a) the other person hasn't asked for information--which I did--and b) the other person knows as much or more about the subject at hand, and the mansplainer is ignoring strong cues being given to point this out--which you are not doing, either....

And I have been mansplained to...recently I had to interrupt a new acquaintance and ask, "Are you explaining this to me, or to yourself? Because I already know  how it works..."
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: spork on May 29, 2019, 05:09:16 AM
I would say that the risk of outright disintegration for India is extremely low to nonexistent. There is a Maoist rebel movement in a few of the poorest areas that ebbs and flows, but in general it's kept in check by security forces. (Pakistan, however, could very well devolve into an anarchic environmental and economic disaster.)

After independence, India took three years to work out a constitution and borrowed heavily from the British. It has a federal system (some powers held by the national government, some by the states, and some shared by both levels) and a bicameral parliament. Two things that helped solidify India's political system: state borders were redrawn to coincide with India's linguistic regions, and the plan to make Hindi the sole national language was abandoned in favor of education in Hindi, English, and the local predominant ethnic language. Particular social groups, including castes that had been previously discriminated against, were provided with constitutional protections.

The end result (borrowing from Arend Lijphart here) was a democratic system with the following features: cultural autonomy for all major linguistic and religious groups, national government requires the construction of a coalition among representatives of those groups, political representation and civil service appointments are distributed in proportion to the relative population size of these groups, and minorities can exercise veto power in regard to matters that affect minority rights and autonomy.

Modi and the BJP have moved Indian politics more into a Hindu nationalist direction, which is a bit worrisome, but I see India's main problem as still one of economic development -- the middle and upper class has expanded by a few hundred million people, but there are still a half billion or so who are  wretchedly poor. Getting all those people to a level of material well-being that is both ethically appropriate and environmentally friendly is tricky.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on May 29, 2019, 06:28:28 AM
I worked for someone (decades ago) who did policy advisement on resource development of tropical rain forests. They had to work with both an indigenous population that lived fairly lightly on the land there, and a growing group of developers who wanted to saw down huge hunks of the forest and make money.

Your remarks make me wonder how that worked out. It didn't go well in Brazil or Indonesia, where the "smog" that summer was from widespread burning of trees for supposed farmland (but I wasn't sure if the farmlands then failed because of soil/water issues not aligning well, or if it ended up being worth all that destruction.)

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on June 03, 2019, 05:14:43 PM
The execution of a North Korean diplomat recently has been bothering me.

Death, for what seemed to me to be a poorly-reasoned sense of causality, seemed like a high toll to pay.

Can anyone comment?

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on June 10, 2019, 06:28:44 AM
Hong Kong demonstrations point up what I imagine are realistic concerns about PR/China. A 99 years' lease is a tenuous thing.

Friends from Taiwan have similar concerns. Planting cat's paw Han agitators seems to be the trick of the moment (it worked for Hitler...for awhile)


In this hemisphere, of concern to me is a weird kind of instability in the Dom. Republic, which (I thought, for awhile) had settled down. Most recently upsetting was the shooting of retired baseball player Ortiz, visiting at home, and possibly stalked by the shooter (thankfully, Ortiz will survive, per the latest reports).

But it followed on three unexplained situations with US visitors, involving 4 fatalities, if I'm reading aright, also in the DR, and that's worrisome as well.

Other comments?

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: backatit on June 10, 2019, 10:22:29 AM
I also thought the Dom Rep had settled down so I'm following that with interest. Most of my surfer friends have stopped going there, and the people I know who were living there on a temporary basis have all pulled out (not for political or safety reasons - they were transferred by their comidpany to other areas such as Belize) so I'm not getting a lot of news out of there at the moment. So I'll be following the news in that area with interest.

Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on June 11, 2019, 04:28:30 AM
I'm going to have to go back and do some catch-up reading; in the 70s/80s people left to avoid upheavals in DR government, but in the past 10-20 years that seemed to have abated.

Do current issues connect to that earlier time, or is this a backlash, or...?

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on June 20, 2019, 01:58:56 PM
While the DR problems seem to be continuing (and the attack on Ortiz is now said to be due to "mistaken identity," the Middle East and its nearby regions are both seeing a stronger-spined U.S. Congressional vote against arms sales, and a U.N. determination on Kashoggi's death (which we have wimped away from condemning).

To say nothing of the downed drone....has its exact location been divulged yet?

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on June 21, 2019, 07:24:05 AM
It's interesting (and perhaps a sign of something, but I'm not yet sure what, exactly) that a return strike was planned, then aborted.

Definite relief....but sort of unexpected, to my mind.

Was that an actual sign of considered wisdom in heeding those who said, "Back away from this"?

Is there some commercial leverage to be gained in staying buds with Iranian power brokers that resides under the table and far away from the public's awareness?

Both? Something else?

Can anyone here comment from a position of researched knowledge--or off-the-cuff gut response?

Just wondering, again.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on July 04, 2019, 12:24:57 PM
Anyone with an understanding of recent EU issues who can define "Spitzenkandidat" and--maybe more to the point, explain WHY that system was sidestepped?

I have a cousin in Belgium and friends in Strasbourg, all of whom are either puzzled, angry, or both.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: writingprof on July 04, 2019, 02:05:43 PM
Quote from: mamselle on June 03, 2019, 05:14:43 PM
The execution of a North Korean diplomat recently has been bothering me.

Death, for what seemed to me to be a poorly-reasoned sense of causality, seemed like a high toll to pay.

Can anyone comment?

M.

Are you joking?  It's a Marxist prison state built on torture and state terror.  Yes, they execute people for poor reasons.  Perhaps you thought this was Republican propaganda.  Alas, no. 

Stalin also murdered people from time to time.  I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on July 04, 2019, 04:34:59 PM
Ummmm....I knew all of that, was more focused on the "why now," since it seemed as if their leader was trying to curry favor here. I realize that in itself is a fluid, unstable desire, and that human responsibility wasn't invented yesterday (having studied medieval history in several climes, among other things).

I was also hoping for some courteous, more in-depth analysis on this thread, more generally, but I realize the OP doesn't get to control the ways the threads are woven...

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: writingprof on July 04, 2019, 04:55:16 PM
Quote from: mamselle on July 04, 2019, 04:34:59 PM
Ummmm....I knew all of that, was more focused on the "why now," since it seemed as if their leader was trying to curry favor here. I realize that in itself is a fluid, unstable desire, and that human responsibility wasn't invented yesterday (having studied medieval history in several climes, among other things).

I was also hoping for some courteous, more in-depth analysis on this thread, more generally, but I realize the OP doesn't get to control the ways the threads are woven...

M.

My apologies. Some folks on the left still hold a candle for the Kims, and I mistakenly read your question as issuing from that weird perspective.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on July 04, 2019, 04:59:30 PM
Thanks.

No, no vetted interests on my part, just a wish to know more of the backstory to the paltry international tidbits that make their way through the narrowly filtered American reportage seive.

Tell me more about the issues with the Kims, though. That sounds like something I should know more about.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: spork on July 08, 2019, 01:55:06 PM
Why was the recent firing of Turkey's central bank governor a news-worthy event in the U.S. (headline/blurb appeared for a few hours in some news outlets)? Here's a good summary:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/08/business/turkey-economy-crisis.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/08/business/turkey-economy-crisis.html).

Continuing depreciation of the lira = good time for foreigners to visit.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: sandgrounder on July 08, 2019, 03:18:20 PM
Quote from: mamselle on July 04, 2019, 12:24:57 PM
Anyone with an understanding of recent EU issues who can define "Spitzenkandidat" and--maybe more to the point, explain WHY that system was sidestepped?

I have a cousin in Belgium and friends in Strasbourg, all of whom are either puzzled, angry, or both.

M.
The idea was that each political group in the European Parliament would choose a lead candidate or Spitzenkandidat and the candidate of the group that got the most seats in the election would become the European Commission president. It first was used in 2014 and was how Juncker got the job. There were many politicians who would have been better than Juncker so it wasn't a great outcome. His party group, the EPP chose another problematic candidate, Manfred Weber (why when there was a good choice open to them in Alexander Stubb beats me). Weber is both uncharismatic and unprincipled, having decided his best chance of the top job was to keep the Hungarian party Fidesz in his group, despite their leader Victor Orban trampling over Hungary's democracy and system of checks and balances and refusal to respect EU policy on human rights. The national heads of government ( meeting as the European Council) were unimpressed with Weber, but although other Spitzenkandidaten (Timmermans for the social democrats and Vestager for the liberals) were thought decent they didn't have a majority. So the solution was to find an acceptable German EPP candidate i.e. Ursula von der Leyen. Whether the European Parliament will vote to confirm her nomination is unclear.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on July 08, 2019, 04:10:09 PM
Thank you.

I can see better now why my cousins and friends are upset.

How does all this interact with the Brexit issues?

Does it worsen the EU's position, not to have as strong a leader, or do they hold so many of the cards already that it doesn't really matter?

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: sandgrounder on July 09, 2019, 08:53:21 AM
Quote from: mamselle on July 08, 2019, 04:10:09 PM
Thank you.

I can see better now why my cousins and friends are upset.

How does all this interact with the Brexit issues?

Does it worsen the EU's position, not to have as strong a leader, or do they hold so many of the cards already that it doesn't really matter?

M.

I don't think it makes any difference.  The withdrawal agreement is agreed (and the fantasies of UK politicians that this is not the case are fantasies) but can't get past the UK parliament. The fate of the UK is in the hands of UK politicians (God help us as I live there) or if a second referendum / election is called, the UK voters. The only decision that the EU may have to take is whether to grant a further extension at the end of October - I think they would for a vote but not otherwise. That would be handled by the new Council President, Charles Michel.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on July 09, 2019, 10:27:15 AM
That had been my sense, as well, that all those trying to use Brexit to further all kinds of other agendae were delusional: the EU layout was pretty clear.

But I was hearing from others that May's failure to vet the agreement "among the powers boys that be" was the issue behind the issue, which I can also understand, but it still wouldn't change the overall picture.

I hope all the turmoil doesn't create such instability that other things start to become more difficult as well.

But then those of us sitting on this side of the frog pond wonder that about the bullfrog tooting away on this lilypad, too...

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: backatit on July 09, 2019, 12:47:16 PM
Big news today as MP's in the UK vote to extend marriage and abortion rights to Northern Ireland, despite the lack of a standing government in Stormont. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jul/09/mps-vote-to-extend-same-sex-marriage-to-northern-ireland
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on July 09, 2019, 01:24:41 PM
Whoa. I didn't realize the UK's structure didn't already extend (or obtain) there.

I know the "RC/S. Ireland" divorce laws changed many years ago (I'd have to look it up, but I recall it was awhile back); I don't imagine abortion laws have changed there, but I guess I didn't realize that Northern Ireland was still in limbo as well.

Thanks--I suspect I need to think of NI more like Wales or Scotland than I've been doing (and we have Scots-Irish ancestors as well; you'd think I'd have caught onto this by now).

Wondering: was it actually "because of" or "despite" the lack of a Stormont government?

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: backatit on July 09, 2019, 01:50:54 PM
They need a standing government in Stormont to ratify it, but they wouldn't be likely to get it past that government. So the answer is likely...both, it's complicated. So the compromise is that if the NI govt doesn't get its act together and ratify this, the larger UK government will "recognize" any marriages done as legitimate. As with anything to do with NI, it's always going to be complex.

I'm not terribly well-versed in NI politics (I have a friend who is, and he and I discuss it from time to time but it's REALLY convoluted - I am pretty used to the Parlimentary system and can follow the UK political scene fairly easily but then you throw NI in and I'm always like "is the govt standing yet?" because sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren't and when they're not, it gets really confusing).
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on August 25, 2019, 09:55:31 AM
So, what's the take on the current Brexit process?

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: backatit on August 25, 2019, 10:16:17 AM
BJ is an a%% and everyone has given up and is waiting for the inevitable recession. The mood in London last week was pretty grim, but resigned. The politicians will, as always, do what they will.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on August 25, 2019, 08:42:56 PM
So, is it accurate to say that May was right, and the agreement scenario is as she depicted it?

In other words the only gain was B. Johnson's ability to say he's been PM of the UK now?

Or...

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: backatit on August 26, 2019, 05:59:05 PM
So I keep trying to come up with an intelligent answer to this, and I don't think there ARE any. May didn't get much help, but she also didn't have to invoke article 50, although there probably would have been a revolt had she not.

Honestly, I am starting to think my MIL is getting the PM she deserves because she won't shut up about BJ being the second coming of some sort of Brave New England, although god help the rest of us. I only hope my partner is right that his industry is as recession proof as it has been in the past.

I'm not very coherent about it lately - I think everyone is just sick of it, and frustrated, and not really quite sure what to do. The people in the office just kind of walk around shaking their heads and doing the same sort of incoherent grumbling I'm doing now. Everyone is holding their breath waiting for October, and trying to not read the news.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on August 28, 2019, 09:43:46 AM
And now the Queen has approved the prorogation of the British Parliament...curtailing discussion until a few days before the October exit:

My Twitter feed said:

"The Queen has approved for Parliament to be shut down for a period of around a month, to start "no earlier than Monday 9th September and no later than Thursday 12th September until October 14th."

I don't plan to follow "#StoptheCoup" but it did bring phrases like "Star-Chamber" to mind...

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: archaeo42 on August 28, 2019, 10:24:42 AM
Quote from: mamselle on August 28, 2019, 09:43:46 AM
And now the Queen has approved the prorogation of the British Parliament...curtailing discussion until a few days before the October exit:

My Twitter feed said:

"The Queen has approved for Parliament to be shut down for a period of around a month, to start "no earlier than Monday 9th September and no later than Thursday 12th September until October 14th."

I don't plan to follow "#StoptheCoup" but it did bring phrases like "Star-Chamber" to mind...

M.

I'm wondering why it was approved for that long. It seems odd given the (greater?) likelihood of a No Deal Brexit.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on August 28, 2019, 12:55:48 PM
Quote from: archaeo42 on August 28, 2019, 10:24:42 AM

I'm wondering why it was approved for that long. It seems odd given the (greater?) likelihood of a No Deal Brexit.

Well, she doesn't have much choice. She theoretically has the power to say 'no', but that would provoke a constitutional crisis. (See, e.g., the kerfuffle in Canada in 2008 over the Conservative prorogation to avoid a non-confidence vote they would have lost. IMO the crisis was the lesser of two evils at the time, because proroguing in that case seriously subverted democracy. But I digress.)

It kinda looks like Johnson's idea is to force a no-deal Brexit, though.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: archaeo42 on August 29, 2019, 05:24:16 AM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on August 28, 2019, 12:55:48 PM
Quote from: archaeo42 on August 28, 2019, 10:24:42 AM

I'm wondering why it was approved for that long. It seems odd given the (greater?) likelihood of a No Deal Brexit.

Well, she doesn't have much choice. She theoretically has the power to say 'no', but that would provoke a constitutional crisis. (See, e.g., the kerfuffle in Canada in 2008 over the Conservative prorogation to avoid a non-confidence vote they would have lost. IMO the crisis was the lesser of two evils at the time, because proroguing in that case seriously subverted democracy. But I digress.)

It kinda looks like Johnson's idea is to force a no-deal Brexit, though.

Okay thank you. Despite years of trying I still don't fully understand how British government works so the constitutional crisis aspect was missed by me.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on August 29, 2019, 12:11:29 PM
As a rule of thumb, the Queen always does as she's told by Parliament/the PM, because she's supposed to be above and outside and beyond politics. She has the power to intervene, but can't really exercise it without precipitating a crisis. That's the trouble with unwritten constitutions and the rule of precedent.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: ergative on September 04, 2019, 01:15:09 AM
Okay, so something happened last night. What does it mean for the PM to 'remove the whip' from rebel Tories? Surely the BDSM-related images arising in my head from that headline are not (fully) accurate?
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: backatit on September 04, 2019, 04:25:09 AM
Haha, yes, can see your point.

This article explains it better than I could but it's basically the power granted to a party member to influence other party members.

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/whip-party-what-withdrawn-mean-boris-johnson-tory-mps-no-deal-brexit/
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: backatit on September 04, 2019, 04:30:35 AM
And I'm not sure whether this current event is a good thing or not (well, it is maybe better than what was going on before). It may allow Boris Johnson to fracture the Tory party and if he is supported in the general election to consolidate his power base (there was a good article in The Guardian yesterday about how he could do that). If this rather bold move by conservatives fails, they will be worse off than before, but hopefully they can get some progress this time. The problem is that even people who voted remain have lost confidence in government, and are so sick of it that they are ready for it to be over, and to just get on with things, whatever that means. BJ is not stupid - he timed his original takeover well.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: ergative on September 04, 2019, 04:57:14 AM
Thanks! That was extremely helpful.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on September 04, 2019, 05:14:21 AM
Dare I say that between the bluster and the hair, a certain other individual comes to mind?

Except the MPs seem to have more spine in standing up to your guy than most of our reps (Pelosi and a few others excepted) do to our loudmouth.

M.

Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: ciao_yall on September 04, 2019, 09:46:19 AM
And Parliament just handed Johnson  his arse on a platter. (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/sep/04/brexit-crisis-boris-johnson-mps-bill-blocking-no-deal-eu-no-deal-parliament-politics-live)
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on September 04, 2019, 05:53:53 PM
Quote from: ciao_yall on September 04, 2019, 09:46:19 AM
And Parliament just handed Johnson  his arse on a platter. (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/sep/04/brexit-crisis-boris-johnson-mps-bill-blocking-no-deal-eu-no-deal-parliament-politics-live)

<cackles>

That's not at all what I expected. Nor, I expect, what His Putschiness expected.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on September 04, 2019, 06:35:42 PM
Well, you know, the UK's had more time to work out the kinks in its governance model than the US has.

I mean, Magna Carta dates from 1215; the US Declaration of Independence (or the Constitution, if you prefer) is several hundred years younger than that...

But, yeah, I was impressed...

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: nebo113 on September 05, 2019, 05:18:21 AM
I am completely confused about what's happening in Britain.  I get that Bad Boris was handed three defeats, canned Churchill's grandson, and even his own brother quit in disgust.  And that the British MPs have more guts than US Republicans.  But can someone explain what it all means??
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Anselm on September 05, 2019, 05:57:49 AM
Quote from: nebo113 on September 05, 2019, 05:18:21 AM
I am completely confused about what's happening in Britain.  I get that Bad Boris was handed three defeats, canned Churchill's grandson, and even his own brother quit in disgust.  And that the British MPs have more guts than US Republicans.  But can someone explain what it all means??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGL-XJPuCuo

A good explanation
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: nebo113 on September 06, 2019, 04:02:56 AM
Quote from: Anselm on September 05, 2019, 05:57:49 AM
Quote from: nebo113 on September 05, 2019, 05:18:21 AM
I am completely confused about what's happening in Britain.  I get that Bad Boris was handed three defeats, canned Churchill's grandson, and even his own brother quit in disgust.  And that the British MPs have more guts than US Republicans.  But can someone explain what it all means??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGL-XJPuCuo

A good explanation

Thanks.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on September 06, 2019, 08:29:20 AM
It's sounding as if there's support for reinstating those who left within their parties, although some have in fact crossed the aisle so will be following other paths.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: archaeo42 on September 11, 2019, 05:26:43 AM
Any thoughts on the most recent happenings around Brexit?

I found this WaPo article interesting: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/scottish-court-rules-johnsons-suspension-of-britains-parliament-was-illegal/2019/09/11/84265a36-d40a-11e9-8924-1db7dac797fb_story.html?wpisrc=al_world__alert-world&wpmk=1 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/scottish-court-rules-johnsons-suspension-of-britains-parliament-was-illegal/2019/09/11/84265a36-d40a-11e9-8924-1db7dac797fb_story.html?wpisrc=al_world__alert-world&wpmk=1)
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: backatit on September 11, 2019, 07:46:51 AM
I'm still on Brexit strike because it's too insane. I will read the news occasionally and we talk to people in my partner's office and our colleagues in Germany and Ireland, but it's just too much to even contemplate. There is too much unknown - if there is a vote on something we will be there, but other than that...
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on September 11, 2019, 07:56:20 AM
I was coming over to post the Scots decision as well as to reference the Boyle merry-go-round here.

"May you live in interesting times" seems to be the active imprication of the moment...

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: spork on September 11, 2019, 10:05:19 AM
Quote from: archaeo42 on September 11, 2019, 05:26:43 AM
Any thoughts on the most recent happenings around Brexit?

[. . .]

My thought is . . . the Brits are fucked. Thank you, David Cameron.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on September 11, 2019, 10:49:18 AM
Friends of mine sort-of knew him, apparently, socially, and were both elated when he entered office...and when he left it.

She was very discouraged, in particular, they'd seen him as such a refreshing change from John Major.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Scotia on September 11, 2019, 02:35:17 PM
Quote from: archaeo42 on September 11, 2019, 05:26:43 AM
Any thoughts on the most recent happenings around Brexit?

I found this WaPo article interesting: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/scottish-court-rules-johnsons-suspension-of-britains-parliament-was-illegal/2019/09/11/84265a36-d40a-11e9-8924-1db7dac797fb_story.html?wpisrc=al_world__alert-world&wpmk=1 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/scottish-court-rules-johnsons-suspension-of-britains-parliament-was-illegal/2019/09/11/84265a36-d40a-11e9-8924-1db7dac797fb_story.html?wpisrc=al_world__alert-world&wpmk=1)

Quote from: archaeo42 on September 11, 2019, 05:26:43 AM
Any thoughts on the most recent happenings around Brexit?

I found this WaPo article interesting: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/scottish-court-rules-johnsons-suspension-of-britains-parliament-was-illegal/2019/09/11/84265a36-d40a-11e9-8924-1db7dac797fb_story.html?wpisrc=al_world__alert-world&wpmk=1 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/scottish-court-rules-johnsons-suspension-of-britains-parliament-was-illegal/2019/09/11/84265a36-d40a-11e9-8924-1db7dac797fb_story.html?wpisrc=al_world__alert-world&wpmk=1)

"Sources in Number 10" now seem to be suggesting that Scottish judges are politically biased. This is not going down well, including with several Conservatives, and particularly not with Scots (the Scottish legal system is independent of the system in England and Wales). More and more people I know are eyeing up Scotland becoming independent as an attractive option when they look at the willingness, and likely attempts, of Johnson and his coterie to break the law in order to force through Brexit on their terms. Those people are include two acquaintances who have until now been staunchly unionist Conservative voters.

Meanwhile, people who funded Johnson's leadership campaign are reportedly making a lot of money on the currency markets.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on September 11, 2019, 05:46:23 PM
QuoteMeanwhile, people who funded Johnson's leadership campaign are reportedly making a lot of money on the currency markets.

How does that work? I'm muddled.

They've bet on his departure, or...?

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: quasihumanist on September 11, 2019, 06:52:08 PM
Quote from: mamselle on September 11, 2019, 05:46:23 PM
QuoteMeanwhile, people who funded Johnson's leadership campaign are reportedly making a lot of money on the currency markets.

How does that work? I'm muddled.

They've bet on his departure, or...?

M.

If Brexit happens (and particularly if hard Brexit happens), then there will be fewer people buying UK goods, because UK goods will be subject to a tariff.  In order to buy UK goods, one has to buy pounds.  Hence, if Brexit happens, there will be less demand for pounds, so the pound will be worth less.

People who buy and sell currency for a living obviously don't want to wait for Brexit to actually happen to actually sell their pounds - because then they would suddenly lose a lot of money all at one shot.  Therefore, the pound is already worth quite a bit less than it was a few months ago.

A few months ago, the people who funded Johnson's campaign borrowed a lot of pounds, sold them for dollars or Euro or yen, and bought US/Euro/Japanese bonds with the money.  These people have made a lot of pounds, because the 10 million Euro they bought for 8.7 mil pounds 3 months ago is now worth 8.9 mil pounds.  Note that, if you want to borrow 8.7 mil pounds to sell for 10 million Euro, you only need to put up about 450,000 pounds of your own money - the bank will lend you the rest (using the Euro you buy as collateral).

If you live in the UK, and hence your wealth is effectively measured in pounds (because that's what you'll be spending to buy your next yacht), you could've added about 44% to your wealth (for every 450,000 pounds you have, you made 200,000 more) in a mere 3 months - certainly you can afford to give a few pounds to Johnson's campaign to help make that happen.

It's thought that, if hard Brexit actually happens, the 10 million Euro might end up being worth as much as 10 million pounds.

Of course, this analysis completely ignores the fact that some of the people who were funding the campaigns of rivals to Johnson were making the opposite bet - borrowing Euro to buy pounds in the hopes that Brexit would become less likely and the pound would become more valuable.  So far they have lost.  If they had won, we might be hearing about that instead.

Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on September 30, 2019, 12:58:41 PM
Thanks to the above explanation I actually understood an article on this when it turned up on my newsfeed this AM.

So, beside the ongoing drama in the UK, I'm becoming seriously upset about China's increasing military presence in, at, and near Hong Kong.

The menacing stance worries me, and if Tienamen Square repeats itself because, once again, a high-ranking politico has commercial interests in China, I fear we will have lost any shreds of international credibility/integrity we have left.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: quasihumanist on September 30, 2019, 05:22:49 PM
The following is my opinion only.  My kindergarten level Cantonese does not make me any better informed on the subject than anyone else.  Neither does having spent part of my childhood (from when I was 4 until I was 8 - this was before handover to China was seriously on the horizon) in Hong Kong.  The closest family connection I have there is some in-laws of some cousins.

The Chinese government sees democracy in Hong Kong as an existential threat.  They can and will 'reeducate' every one of the 7 million people in Hong Kong before they allow it.  If some other country intervenes, they are willing to start nuclear war.  (Frankly, if they couldn't reeducate all of Hong Kong, they'd be willing to nuke it.  All those folks in surrounding areas of Guangdong who would also die are the descendants of anti-revolutionary Nationalists anyways.  (Guangdong was the last part of China to be taken over in the Chinese Civil War.))

Of course they want to economic benefits that Hong Kong brings (not just to itself but to all of China), and they are perfectly willing to tolerate a good deal of day-to-day freedom and self-governance for Hong Kong as long as they remain clearly in control.  (Also, at some point, they were hoping that being a friendly government for Hong Kong would help in convincing Taiwan to accept similar arrangements, but that hope is now gone for a generation at least.)

Maybe the UK could've negotiated a better deal for Hong Kong in the 90s, but that ship has long sailed.

There is a reason that every rich person in Hong Kong basically bought and still maintains at some cost residency in one of UK/Australia/Canada/US.  I don't know how you could get this data, but I think you could get a better handle on the seriousness of the situation by seeing how many of the rarely occupied (i.e. owned by someone who usually lives there a couple weeks a year) condos in Vancouver or Perth are actually now occupied than by just about any other measure.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on September 30, 2019, 05:43:25 PM
And the very worst, it would seem to me, is that China would kill the goose that laid the golden egg just to own the nest the goose sits on, thinking that's what produces the eggs....

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: quasihumanist on October 01, 2019, 03:47:45 PM
I'm not sure if you misunderstood.

I don't think the Chinese government has any special desire to control Hong Kong.  Rather, they fear that democracy is contagious, and that completely free elections in Hong Kong would lead to greater demands for the same in the rest of China.

I think they would be happy for Hong Kong to be independent if it were a place like Singapore, where most of the citizens are genuinely happy with one-party rule and implicit limits to political freedoms, but the recent history of Hong Kong suggests that a majority of its citizens would not be happy with mostly-free elections.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on October 01, 2019, 05:02:49 PM
Well, no, I do understand, but I'm thinking that as politically "pure" (by its terms) as the Chinese may want to be, it's always a toss-up in my mind whether that's the real issue, or just a convenient cladding for an excuse to seek economic leverage.

Or maybe both.

But, you could well be right.

Ideology and economy are both powerful forces, whether for greater ease in governing ones populace or on their own terms. Maybe I'm just being to cynical....

That's helpful input, indeed.

Thanks.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on October 07, 2019, 04:01:20 PM
Double a few days later...

A. There will always be an England...

                                                                            Hong Kong

                                                                                                             Kurdish (Peace Alley) nation

                                                                                                                                                                 Taiwan....

What's next?

B. Maybe the "lighthouse beam" from the center of the galaxy has curved around in time to meet us now and THAT'S why we have such benighted leaders at present.

Going around and playing "You'n'me Against Them" with the smaller EU nations is not going to sit well with Macron and Merkle--Booris seems a bit like he's trying to tear the thing apart for his own means...not smart, wise, or kind....

M.



               
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on October 16, 2019, 06:03:15 PM
Fourteen days and counting.

Or not.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on October 21, 2019, 12:25:58 PM
Ten days to...?what??

  I'm thinking of friends and family in the UK and hoping they're doing OK with the strain.

    Also forumites past and present across the pond.

It's challenging to stay focused and get ones own work done, but that probably contributes more to the sanity of the universe than anything else, except involvement where warranted, productive, and positively actionable.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: spork on January 03, 2020, 02:01:13 AM
Looks like I won't be vacationing in Iraq any time soon.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on January 03, 2020, 11:59:21 AM
Can anyone spell "Viet Nam"?

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: spork on January 04, 2020, 11:54:07 AM
Việt Nam

?
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on January 04, 2020, 01:29:19 PM
Quote from: spork on January 04, 2020, 11:54:07 AM
Việt Nam

?

The implication was, a hairball of a war started from a flimsy premise that didn't have to happen the way it did.

To my mind, it's a smoke-and-mirrors attempt at distraction from the more recently released smoking gun emails that pin the order to hold the Ukraine funds to the POTUS, and other entertaining materials....which tie up the removal case rather neatly.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Ruralguy on January 04, 2020, 02:27:53 PM
There's always some really bad guys somewhere who can easily be used as props for a pseudo-war someone is looking to cook up for some reason or another. I'm inclined to agree with Mamselle here 
as to the particular reasons for cooking this up now.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Stockmann on January 04, 2020, 03:34:12 PM
Question: Saudi Arabia spends more than, say, Israel on its military. Yet it's proven unable to guard key oil facilities effectively and it's been less than a brilliant success in Yemen, and clearly not due to humanitarian restraint, and that's just recent failures. Clearly none of this is due to budgetary constraints. So why is its performance so poor? Is it the sort of military that's world-beating when it comes to torturing and "disappearing" dissidents but useless at fighting the nation's wars, like Argentina's at the time of the Falklands War? Or is it just bogged down by corruption and inefficiency (like, allegedly, Ukraine)? If the latter, is that due to all the senior people getting the post through their judicious choice of ancestors or is it something else?
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: spork on January 05, 2020, 02:23:06 AM
Saudi Arabia is a corrupt rentier petro-state. Those in charge don't dirty their hands with actual work. Only foreigners and the poor work in the oil fields. What prince who is 327th in line for the throne wants to die in combat when he can vacation in Monaco? Luckily Saudi Arabia has the USA to fight and die on its behalf.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Economizer on January 09, 2020, 07:57:56 AM
Quote from: mamselle on January 04, 2020, 01:29:19 PM
Quote from: spork on January 04, 2020, 11:54:07 AM
Việt Nam

?

The implication was, a hairball of a war started from a flimsy premise that didn't have to happen the way it did.

To my mind, it's a smoke-and-mirrors attempt at distraction from the more recently released smoking gun emails that pin the order to hold the Ukraine funds to the POTUS, and other entertaining materials....which tie up the removal case rather neatly.

M.

Let me 'splain it to you:

The U.S. was a member of SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization).  As of then the independent nation of South Viet Nam was also a member.  There were quite evident intentions by the Chinese Peoples Republic (a communist nation) through involvement by North Viet Nam (a communist nation as well), to, through of military force and guerrilla warfare to do a takeover of South Viet Nam.  The U.S. and other SEATO members were obligated, by treaty to help SVN to deter the aggression. The U.S., for other reasons as well, attempted to do that. Chief among those reasons were the aggressive actions by Communist Nations to take over more territories and, thus, control of their peoples, globally.  These insurgencies were termed by political scientists and statesmen alike to be described as being a part of a DOMINO Theory.  In that, more nations that, by one means or another, would fall to communism and the pace of that change would occur more quickly as the takeovers resulted.  A result that there would eventually be a challenge to those takeovers which would be military by nations opposed to it and that challenge would amount to global warfare (another world war).

Well, at an earliest enough point, the opposing nations acted and, as all have of have witnessed, the expansion was deterred to the extent that there has been no such global conflict for a period of some 75 years, so far.  Yes, there have been wars since, but nothing to the geographic scope of a world war and nothing that caused the deaths of some 25 million people as WWII did.

There were options, at that time, that if chosen, in any war, that might have extended conflicts or shortened them that were not used.  I am very proud of my service during that period and hold great respect for the nations, men, and those who died that joined the fight in the Viet Nam Era. 
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: apl68 on January 09, 2020, 08:35:43 AM
Quote from: Ruralguy on January 04, 2020, 02:27:53 PM
There's always some really bad guys somewhere who can easily be used as props for a pseudo-war someone is looking to cook up for some reason or another. I'm inclined to agree with Mamselle here 
as to the particular reasons for cooking this up now.

Not so certain that this was the case here, but this administration is unfortunately one that's easy to suspect such things of.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on January 09, 2020, 09:23:06 AM
The undeclared unilateral activity was the other parallel I had in mind with VN....that seems to have been forgotten, too....

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Economizer on January 10, 2020, 09:03:42 AM
 
In reply #68:  My apologies for sentence structure errors. I was doing this in a school library and I was due to cover a class within moments. 

By the way, what of the news that the U.S. had exact electronic footprints of the Iranian launch of two missiles and the hit of at least one of those to the Ukrainian passenger jet that was downed in Iran. It is my unasked for opinion that the event might bring down the current regime in Iran. Any opinions?
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on January 10, 2020, 09:23:22 AM
Unrelated to the above (and admittedly, less serious, but it's filling up my newsfeed....)

If the Sussexes want to tone things down and are willing to take the financial hit, good on 'em.

I've been thinking that the real underlying issue was that the Cambridges' noses were being put out of joint by the cheerful liveliness characterizing the first few years of a new family's life together, and someone on the Palace press team turned things over to the wolves and said, "attack, and get back to focusing on the succession, not the 'spares'."

The Palace was not very supportive at all when issues were exaggerated, and the usual snide diatribe got out of hand. I respect Harry, in particular, for seeing clearly how things can go and doing something about it.

Canada's gain, it looks like to me....

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Economizer on January 11, 2020, 10:22:01 AM
RE: Reply #73

Perhaps the complicated situation sparked by the intentions of the Prince and and his bride could be mitigated if only Canada would rejoin the Commonwealth of Nations.  I do believe that the Queen of England is still the Head of State in 20+ of those members, and that she could find a suitable role for the Sussex'es within the Commonwealth protocol even if they spent a majority of their time impersonating "Canucks".  Uhh.. maybe the Canadian PM, Mr. Trudeau, could be made a Marquis or something?
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on January 11, 2020, 10:37:57 AM
Quote from: Economizer on January 11, 2020, 10:22:01 AM
RE: Reply #73

Perhaps the complicated situation sparked by the intentions of the Prince and and his bride could be mitigated if only Canada would rejoin the Commonwealth of Nations.

...We're still part of the Commonwealth.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Thursday's_Child on January 12, 2020, 07:49:15 AM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on January 11, 2020, 10:37:57 AM
Quote from: Economizer on January 11, 2020, 10:22:01 AM
RE: Reply #73

Perhaps the complicated situation sparked by the intentions of the Prince and and his bride could be mitigated if only Canada would rejoin the Commonwealth of Nations.

...We're still part of the Commonwealth.

It's getting so much press b/c this is much safer and more fun to hash over (for the royal family supporters, at least) than the antics of Andrew.....
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on January 12, 2020, 08:03:52 AM
And for the Royal Family as well, perhaps...

I do think the press isn't helping (surprise) by taking every nuance and honing in on it with vigor and vitriol.

They'll drive wedges to sell copy, and that's been their mode since the 1800s or before. Amory's study of fame and celebrity seems pertinent, too.

I just think Harry is wise for avoiding some of the issues tied to "brand Windsor," and I highly respect the two of them for taking steps to have a healthy family life from the start.

I also wonder if Desmond Tutu gave them support and advice while they were in Africa... he's a wise man in many ways (he preached at a church I attended in the 1980s and I was impressed with him then).

And the "suddenness" issue is apparently false, too. Discussions had been underway when it became clear a leak was imminent, and the only way to retain media control of the topic was to break the news first.

I've written for journalism, and I'm dismayed by the tabloids' bloodthirstiness.

It quashes rather than enhances their image.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Economizer on January 12, 2020, 02:47:14 PM

Re: reply #76:

I thought that during last spring the subject couple were discussing, in the press anyway, taking up residence in Africa (somewhere).  Now, if South Africa were to rejoin the ...
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Economizer on January 17, 2020, 06:42:54 AM

In the news today, Khomeini harshly labeled President Trump.  Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon, and now Ayatollah Khomeini.  Next thing you know even the Brit, James Cordon, will be knocking him!
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: spork on January 17, 2020, 07:24:52 AM
Khomeini is dead.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Economizer on January 19, 2020, 11:07:57 AM

Then google news was incorrect?
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on January 19, 2020, 11:26:14 AM
Quote from: spork on January 17, 2020, 07:24:52 AM
Khomeini is dead.

Quote from: Economizer on January 19, 2020, 11:07:57 AM

Then google news was incorrect?

Ayatollah Sayyid Musavi Ruholla Khomeini died in 1989. Since then, Iran's supreme leader has been Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei.

Different dudes, similar surname.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Economizer on February 20, 2020, 09:49:07 AM

So, the President of Afghanistan and our diplomats are confident enough that the Afghani leadership has enough control over Taliban militias to work out cease fire and peace accords?  That would be a truly great thing for all concerned, if so!
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on August 10, 2020, 02:05:59 PM
Thinking of any and all affected by the Beirut explosion last week.

   https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-middle-east-53722909

I had meant to post about it earlier, but was awaiting a clearer sense of the causality narrative.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on September 14, 2020, 05:04:02 PM
Belarus and Hong Kong may have few other things in common, but they are both rallying around initiatives/hopes/dreams/determination to steer clear of outside overrule.

   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/13/belarus-100000-join-rally-against-lukashenko-on-eve-of-putin-showdown
 
M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on September 29, 2020, 09:56:46 AM
My Figaro news feed just delivered this note:

   https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/attaque-de-paris-les-mensonges-de-l-assaillant-20200928?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20200929_Audience_Actu_&utm_content=nm&een=6403d0036934722637f059ed3897e038&seen=6&m_i=jbyjuNW9HZaqClBRrrepNvzb98K5UEztOxcCqBHW5Fl0xlNXrVEh_K4y4HTKZY8IezUW2DO3pTbVZu05nm0yyDkAgpvh5qMzuR

I have to teach right now, so will look for a translated version later; any comments appreciated.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on February 02, 2021, 07:39:58 AM
Insights on yesterday's events in Myanmar vary, depending on your affiliations:

China has an investment in materiel, as well as the political process: They're in wait-and-see mode, it seems:

   https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/after-myanmar-coup-china-muted-while-u-s-condemns-military-n1256455

The US and other Western nations have condemned the coup:

   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55902070

Others?

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: spork on August 15, 2021, 08:08:46 AM
I'm in touch with some people who have connections to the unfolding events in Afghanistan. Typical American overseas shitshow.

Good way to help: contact a local refugee resettlement organization and offer support. There already is an Afghan exile community in the U.S., and it's going to get substantially larger in the near term.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on August 15, 2021, 10:12:44 AM
Thanks, agreed, good idea.

The local Red Cross and/or American Friends' Service Committee (Quaker) offices often know where those centers are in any given town.

Money, clothes, teaching and reading materials and basic first-aid stuff (Band-aids, gauze, elastic bandages, etc.) may be especially welcome.

Some faith communities' adjunct housing and adult day-care centers for elders may be pressed into service, too.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on August 15, 2021, 04:56:28 PM
Update, question, a few hours later.

This article,

   https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/bidens-betrayal-of-afghans-will-live-in-infamy/619764/

Mentions a nonprofit,

Miles4Migrants

   https://miles4migrants.org/

...by which one can donate travel miles for asylum-seekers.

Does anyone have any experience with them, or others like them?

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: BourbonRose on August 16, 2021, 12:01:58 AM
They also accept donations of money. I gave after reading the Packer article and seeing they'd arranged tickets for a family trying to get out. I don't know anything else about the organization.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: spork on August 16, 2021, 02:55:35 AM
No one is getting into the USA without a visa or special parolee status, except for those who were already greenlit for emergency evacuation a few days ago. U.S. consular operations in Afghanistan don't exist anymore. Refugees will come from camps outside of Afghanistan, and that won't start happening for a while because the bureaucratic gears grind slowly.

There are plenty of well-established organizations that have a long history of refugee aid and resettlement, such as CRS, IRC, and HIAS. Sending cash to someone running a website that you've never heard of is usually a dumb idea.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on August 16, 2021, 04:20:12 AM
Quote from: spork on August 16, 2021, 02:55:35 AM
No one is getting into the USA without a visa or special parolee status, except for those who were already greenlit for emergency evacuation a few days ago. U.S. consular operations in Afghanistan don't exist anymore. Refugees will come from camps outside of Afghanistan, and that won't start happening for a while because the bureaucratic gears grind slowly.

There are plenty of well-established organizations that have a long history of refugee aid and resettlement, such as CRS, IRC, and HIAS. Sending cash to someone running a website that you've never heard of is usually a dumb idea.

Agreed...I was exploring whether my AA and Delta travel miles might be transferable and useful to people in dire situations. I'm guessing they (AA and Delta) have ways to vet the organizations in question, yes?

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: BourbonRose on August 16, 2021, 09:29:49 PM
You can look them up on GuideStar. Or you can decide to trust journalists at The Atlantic, NYT, and WaPo, as I did.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: hmaria1609 on August 17, 2021, 09:18:59 AM
There are Afghans are their way here to the metro DC area:
https://wtop.com/local/2021/08/how-you-can-help-afghans-settling-here-in-the-d-c-area/ (https://wtop.com/local/2021/08/how-you-can-help-afghans-settling-here-in-the-d-c-area/)
Includes a link to Lutheran Social Service's DC chapter if you'd like to donate.
From WTOP Radio online (8/17/21)
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on September 19, 2021, 12:11:21 PM
The Canary Islands have a volcano brewing.

Lead-up here:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBKVeMwjP-Q

Eruption here (live streaming now):

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOw8OQOHtkM

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on September 21, 2021, 04:51:15 PM
Quote from: mamselle on September 19, 2021, 12:11:21 PM
The Canary Islands have a volcano brewing.

Lead-up here:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBKVeMwjP-Q

Eruption here (live streaming now):

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOw8OQOHtkM

M.

Mt. Etna has also erupted. I wondered if it were a coincidence, but it appears that possibly it's not.

One poster on a news channel noted:

"The African Plate is putting up pressure up north against Europe - meaning La Palma and Etna could be the result of the same movement - if the hot springs on Kos Island go off as well, we know something big is going on! (that would be on the same line...)"

Do we have any geologists left on the fora? (There used to be some, I think, not sure if they're still posting...)

Just curious why there hasn't been an discussion of this, with graphic maps, etc., online.

It would seem just a bit significant....or maybe not?

Just curious.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on October 12, 2021, 09:36:55 AM
Besides missing the geologists (did the geoscience decline wipe them all out?--interthreaduality), we don't have many French-based folks here as far as I can tell. 

But this came through on my Figaro feed this AM (sorry, I don't seem to be able to embed it, I did try!):

   https://www.lefigaro.fr/faits-divers/eh-le-coran-poussez-vous-madame-une-enseignante-de-seine-et-marne-projetee-a-terre-par-un-eleve-20211010?utm_source=CRM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20211012_Audience_Actu_&utm_content=nm&een=6403d0036934722637f059ed3897e038&seen=2&m_i=lq4Etx7Efz9oqB225ybRZ4K2GoXDUE7g6BrjdeFq%2BeWw6%2B9PCYJP1WaMa9GPRXosZrxonCknHdq9as0UkgfLMX8kpPTJ9vNxzC

....and it struck me that, in addition to the issues discussed here with regard to a general decline in literacy and comprehension of instructional directions, students here as well as there may be dealing with a kind of PTSD-induced sense of unreality that makes the kinds of orderly behaviours such rules rely on seem unrealistic or impossible to imagine--so, a kind of cognitive discontinuity, perhaps.

I'm surprised to see it occurred in Melun, which I've visited a few times, to use the library, eat dinner, and wander around before catching the train to Sens. Schools in any given town can be quiet or active without pattern or warning, and the Charli-Hebdo issues were recently exacerbated so there could be a back-story to this we don't see or hear about as well.

-=-=-=-=-

Re; the Canary/La Palma volcano, it has opened more vents and at least one (by today, possibly two) streams of lava have reached the Atlantic Ocean, where they're merrily churning out toxic sulfur dioxide gases and adding what will become a rich delta of soil for growing more bananas, someday:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANyb-w7KFqk

it's also pulling in more tourists, since it affects only the southwest quadrant of the island. 

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzni_wFwEAE

And this fellow remains my favorite for his in-person commentaries:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy_wvg5Ej7U

Of course, Iceland and Hawaii are also seeing eruptions, but they appear to be slower and steadier at present.

Just FYI...for those who want something else to think about for a bit....

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on November 06, 2021, 08:26:45 PM
Updates for anyone interested in the continuing eruption of the La Palma volcano (day 49):

Good, balanced scientific reporting:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ-SrxpXF1c

Good, balanced human interest reporting:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueAekByfB_8

Just FYI.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Anselm on November 07, 2021, 03:46:27 PM
Iceland's tourist boom has been credited to the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull.  It was a short event but the news generated interest in the island.   Now, people are going there to witness the slow eruption of the current active volcano.

Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on November 07, 2021, 05:44:01 PM
Quote from: Anselm on November 07, 2021, 03:46:27 PM
Iceland's tourist boom has been credited to the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull.  It was a short event but the news generated interest in the island.   Now, people are going there to witness the slow eruption of the current active volcano.

Yes, I watched a bit of footage on that awhile ago; I think the New Yorker also had an article on it.

There's activity on one of the Hawai'ian islands, and with Mt. Etna, as well...

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on January 25, 2022, 09:48:38 AM
Two hours ago, US citizens were urged to leave Ukraine via commercial or private transportation:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plb_h0a-vgk

No evacuation is currently advised, but coordinated planning is strongly requested.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on January 25, 2022, 10:55:26 AM
With everyone's focus exclusively on Ukraine, Kazakhstan's dropped out of the news entirely. What's going on with Russia there?
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on January 25, 2022, 10:57:39 AM
Good question.

Also suggests the possibility of gaslighting, doesn't it?

Not that Putin would ever consider anything like that...

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Anselm on January 25, 2022, 11:08:07 AM
Is anyone else a little bit concerned that the USA might be angering the only nation that can destroy us in 30 minutes?  Don't we have things here at home to worry about?
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on January 25, 2022, 11:35:38 AM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on January 25, 2022, 10:55:26 AM
With everyone's focus exclusively on Ukraine, Kazakhstan's dropped out of the news entirely. What's going on with Russia there?

At the moment, nothing is showing up on Russian activity there, but a huge energy blackout has hit the Central Asian area, including K'stan.

   https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/power-blackout-hits-kazakhstan-kyrgyzstan-uzbekistan-2022-01-25/

Quote from: Anselm on January 25, 2022, 11:08:07 AM
Is anyone else a little bit concerned that the USA might be angering the only nation that can destroy us in 30 minutes?  Don't we have things here at home to worry about?

Umm....dominoes?

In the past century, while Viet Nam and Afghanistan are not good examples, earlier efforts at 'appeasement,' 'ignoring it and it will go away,' and 'isolationism' have all backfired....we end up going in later, when it's harder to resolve the issues, costs more, takes more lives, and leaves more allies holding the bag so long they resent us when we finally do get around to extracting our heads from the sand (that's why the French are still mad at us)...

So, whatever issues we have going on here, it would be as if I said, "No, I can't pay attention to my checkbook right now, I have this paper to write"...* we have to be both internally and externally responsible.

The Ukraine/NATO thing could be a serious problem if it's not addressed, it seems to me...and getting tourists and workers out while things are still quiet is simple good sense.

M.

*maybe also not the best example...a-hem...
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on January 25, 2022, 03:08:34 PM
The "Us" is larger than just the U.S.A., by the way: it's a NATO concern, overall:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drNBNuLG07E

M>
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Langue_doc on February 06, 2022, 02:22:58 PM
Photos of Queen Elizabeth, going all the way back to 1929:

https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-60279300
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on February 14, 2022, 03:30:54 PM
Trudeau is invoking the Canadian Emergencies Act to deal with the border blockades.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T6J7KgjGd4

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on February 14, 2022, 03:59:09 PM
Quote from: mamselle on February 14, 2022, 03:30:54 PM
Trudeau is invoking the Canadian Emergencies Act to deal with the border blockades.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T6J7KgjGd4

M.

I imagine it's largely due to American pressure.

I'm not sure I'm happy about it (though, again, I have nothing but disdain and contempt for the people it's being used against). The precedent seems like a bad one.

It does remind one of his father invoking the War Measures Act. Sigh.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Stockmann on February 15, 2022, 06:54:15 AM
It seems to me that when an apartment building full of people was set on fire with the door blocked, the authorities just threw up their hands and did nothing, but when big corporations were inconvenienced the cops were suddenly able and willing to act and the politicians turned to emergency legislation.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 07:33:56 AM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 14, 2022, 03:59:09 PM
Quote from: mamselle on February 14, 2022, 03:30:54 PM
Trudeau is invoking the Canadian Emergencies Act to deal with the border blockades.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T6J7KgjGd4

M.

I imagine it's largely due to American pressure.

I'm not sure I'm happy about it (though, again, I have nothing but disdain and contempt for the people it's being used against). The precedent seems like a bad one.

It does remind one of his father invoking the War Measures Act. Sigh.

The terrorists did murder Pierre Laporte.

So there's that.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: traductio on February 15, 2022, 07:42:04 AM
I tend to avoid political topics on the Fora, so I'll limit my comments here other than to say, yes, Trudeau's evocation of business interests before the welfare of citizens in his announcement yesterday caught my attention, to say the least. Some of my reaction comes from living in Ottawa (we live in a fairly central part of the city, but not in the affected neighbourhoods), where people's frustrations with police inaction, if not outright complicity, have risen to exceptionally high levels. I walk to school with my kids watching for trucks whose drivers have been harassing kids for wearing masks. (That much has reached into my neighbourhood, but not my kids' schools.)

It would not have been necessary to invoke the Canadian Emergencies Act if the municipal and provincial police had done what they were supposed to do.

I'm stopping now because I have no desire to participate in a political discussion here.

The protestors are digging in downtown.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on February 15, 2022, 07:54:11 AM
Quote from: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 07:33:56 AM

The terrorists did murder Pierre Laporte.

So there's that.

The invocation of the WMA remains controversial to this day.

But let's be clear: Laporte was murdered the day after it was invoked. It was invoked in response to his and Cross's kidnapping (despite years of bombing mailboxes in Westmount), not his murder.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 08:03:39 AM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 15, 2022, 07:54:11 AM
Quote from: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 07:33:56 AM

The terrorists did murder Pierre Laporte.

So there's that.

The invocation of the WMA remains controversial to this day.

But let's be clear: Laporte was murdered the day after it was invoked. It was invoked in response to his and Cross's kidnapping (despite years of bombing mailboxes in Westmount), not his murder.

The government certainly cracked down quickly on those leftists, didn't they.
And after just a couple of kidnappings; talk about over-reaction!

Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on February 15, 2022, 08:24:58 AM
Quote from: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 08:03:39 AM


The government certainly cracked down quickly on those leftists, didn't they.
And after just a couple of kidnappings; talk about over-reaction!

This is perhaps not the thread to have this discussion in, but I would contend that this is the sort of thing the police deal with every day. I would even go so far as to suggest that they're better equipped to deal with it than the Canadian Armed Forces, then and now.

I would also suggest--and I know this is controversial--that bombings and kidnappings are not the same thing as protesting, and that if someone thinks invoking the War Measures Act wasn't warranted in the former case, consistency seems to demand that they not think its modern equivalent is warranted in the latter. You may be comfortable with hypocrisy, but I try to avoid it.

That said, I will gladly concede that blasting mechanically-amplified noise for sixteen or more hours a day in a residential neighbourhood, camping overnight for weeks on end, and harassing members of the public goes beyond the normal and acceptable bounds of protest. Whether it warrants invoking the Emergencies Act, however, is another matter. We'll see what the automatic inquiry says, but my understanding of the legal requirement is that it's on pretty shaky ground, this not actually being a dire national emergency with a clear and present danger to the country. I'm also not really clear on what new powers it grants that are not currently available to various levels of government, which makes it hard to determine how necessary it is. The Prime Minister has certainly not done a good (or even adequate) job of communicating that.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on February 15, 2022, 08:53:42 AM
QuoteThis is perhaps not the thread to have this discussion in...

Actually, while no-one can control how a thread goes once they've started it, this seems like a discussion consistent with the thread's title.

Starting another thread on the Canadian issues would also make sense.

But there are certainly enough interested parties on this forum for a respectful, multivalent discussion, so I don't see a problem with it either way.

M. 
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 09:04:58 AM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 15, 2022, 08:24:58 AM

I would also suggest--and I know this is controversial--that bombings and kidnappings are not the same thing as protesting, and that if someone thinks invoking the War Measures Act wasn't warranted in the former case, consistency seems to demand that they not think its modern equivalent is warranted in the latter. You may be comfortable with hypocrisy, but I try to avoid it.

If "protesting" includes intimidation and harassment, (like of people at the soup kitchen by protesters wanting free food), looting and burning, (as happened in some places in 2020), and basically crippling the economy (which is not just about "business; people wind up losing jobs, not paying rent, and becoming homeless,) not being able to get to hospitals, etc., then it's a very fine distinction between that kind of extortion and actual kidnapping.

I don't care if people are doing it to try and stop child pornography, or any other noble cause. Once the methods undermine the democratic process, it's a problem.

MLK, Ghandi, etc. based their actions on defining what lines they would NOT cross; i.e. violence. Their ultimate success came from the public seeing that and admiring their high moral standards, NOT their willingness to just make life as unbearable as possible for as many people as possible.




Quote
That said, I will gladly concede that blasting mechanically-amplified noise for sixteen or more hours a day in a residential neighbourhood, camping overnight for weeks on end, and harassing members of the public goes beyond the normal and acceptable bounds of protest.

Every protester ever has had their own definition of what this is.

Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on February 15, 2022, 09:56:47 AM
You know that MLK advocated direct action and civil disobedience, right? And that while he didn't think rioting was useful, he did sympathize with rioters, saying thatheir anger was justified?

I don't support these people in any way. But that doesn't mean I think they need to be brutalized. Where you're concerned, I worry that no protest an ever meet your criteria for being "peaceful". (This is a general concern, not one about these neo-nazi-truckers.)
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 10:16:03 AM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 15, 2022, 09:56:47 AM
You know that MLK advocated direct action and civil disobedience, right? And that while he didn't think rioting was useful, he did sympathize with rioters, saying that their anger was justified?

NO-ONE likes wearing a mask.
NO-ONE likes travel restrictions.
NO-ONE likes having to show vaccine passports to enter places.
...
I haven't heard ANYONE say they don't understand the protester's frustration.What is at issue IS THEIR BEHAVIOUR.

Quote
I don't support these people in any way. But that doesn't mean I think they need to be brutalized. Where you're concerned, I worry that no protest an ever meet your criteria for being "peaceful". (This is a general concern, not one about these neo-nazi-truckers.)

Any protest that relies on forcing compliance with the protesters' will, rather than on convincing a majority of people of the merit of their cause, is a problem. When extortion overcomes the rule of laws made by democratically-elected governments, then you basically have mob rule.

Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: aside on February 15, 2022, 10:19:38 AM
Quote from: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 10:16:03 AM

NO-ONE likes wearing a mask.
NO-ONE likes travel restrictions.
NO-ONE likes having to show vaccine passports to enter places.


At least one of these is incorrect.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 10:23:47 AM
Quote from: aside on February 15, 2022, 10:19:38 AM
Quote from: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 10:16:03 AM

NO-ONE likes wearing a mask.
NO-ONE likes travel restrictions.
NO-ONE likes having to show vaccine passports to enter places.


At least one of these is incorrect.

Many people find these reasonable under the circumstances. That's not the same as saying they would voluntarily do them otherwise.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Stockmann on February 15, 2022, 11:22:07 AM
Quote from: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 10:16:03 AM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 15, 2022, 09:56:47 AM
You know that MLK advocated direct action and civil disobedience, right? And that while he didn't think rioting was useful, he did sympathize with rioters, saying that their anger was justified?

NO-ONE likes wearing a mask.
NO-ONE likes travel restrictions.
NO-ONE likes having to show vaccine passports to enter places.
...
I haven't heard ANYONE say they don't understand the protester's frustration.What is at issue IS THEIR BEHAVIOUR.

Quote
I don't support these people in any way. But that doesn't mean I think they need to be brutalized. Where you're concerned, I worry that no protest an ever meet your criteria for being "peaceful". (This is a general concern, not one about these neo-nazi-truckers.)

Any protest that relies on forcing compliance with the protesters' will, rather than on convincing a majority of people of the merit of their cause, is a problem. When extortion overcomes the rule of laws made by democratically-elected governments, then you basically have mob rule.

Regarding these particular protests, it's not just the issue of mob rule, it would be mob rule and rule by their foreign sponsors, since a lot of their funding comes from people who are neither Canadian citizens nor residents, as are some of the participants on the ground. This has been public knowledge for a while, but the Canadian authorities have been unable or unwilling to do much about it.

Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 15, 2022, 08:24:58 AM
....I'm also not really clear on what new powers it grants that are not currently available to various levels of government, which makes it hard to determine how necessary it is. The Prime Minister has certainly not done a good (or even adequate) job of communicating that.

Even more critically, what powers does it grant that the authorities would actually use?
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 12:07:00 PM
Quote from: Stockmann on February 15, 2022, 11:22:07 AM

Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 15, 2022, 08:24:58 AM
....I'm also not really clear on what new powers it grants that are not currently available to various levels of government, which makes it hard to determine how necessary it is. The Prime Minister has certainly not done a good (or even adequate) job of communicating that.

Even more critically, what powers does it grant that the authorities would actually use?

Here's one (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-protest-occupation-trucks-move-wellington-1.6351501):
Quote
One power under the act, invoked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Monday, gives the federal government the ability to compel essential service providers to fulfil their contracts.

The City of Ottawa has had trouble convincing the companies it has under contract to tow any vehicles out of the protest zone. At least one company has already been threatened for moving an illegal structure at the request of convoy organizers.

The government being able to force companies to tow the trucks is big. The police can arrest anyone who tries to interfere with the towing.

Impound all the trucks and see how many change their minds.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on February 15, 2022, 12:21:08 PM
Quote from: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 10:16:03 AM

NO-ONE likes wearing a mask.
NO-ONE likes travel restrictions.
NO-ONE likes having to show vaccine passports to enter places.
...
I haven't heard ANYONE say they don't understand the protester's frustration.What is at issue IS THEIR BEHAVIOUR.


You seem to think I disagree with you. I don't. I am not at all sympathetic to these people.


Quote
Any protest that relies on forcing compliance with the protesters' will, rather than on convincing a majority of people of the merit of their cause, is a problem. When extortion overcomes the rule of laws made by democratically-elected governments, then you basically have mob rule.

Again, I think you're missing some very important nuance. But more germanely to the point at hand: even if we agree about this, it does not follow that they should be violently dispersed.

What I find deeply troubling is that the police are quick to resort to violence against most protests--which are much better behaved--but have been nowhere in sight until recently, and even then have been quite gentle. There's a double-standard at work, and it looks pretty ugly.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 12:41:02 PM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 15, 2022, 12:21:08 PM
Quote from: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 10:16:03 AM

NO-ONE likes wearing a mask.
NO-ONE likes travel restrictions.
NO-ONE likes having to show vaccine passports to enter places.
...
I haven't heard ANYONE say they don't understand the protester's frustration.What is at issue IS THEIR BEHAVIOUR.


You seem to think I disagree with you. I don't. I am not at all sympathetic to these people.


You pointed out that MLK was "sympathetic" to rioters, saying their anger was understandable.
Expressing "sympathy" does not require any support for the actions of protesters.

Quote
Quote
Any protest that relies on forcing compliance with the protesters' will, rather than on convincing a majority of people of the merit of their cause, is a problem. When extortion overcomes the rule of laws made by democratically-elected governments, then you basically have mob rule.

Again, I think you're missing some very important nuance. But more germanely to the point at hand: even if we agree about this, it does not follow that they should be violently dispersed.

I'm not sure where anything I said suggests they should be "violently dispersed". Impound their trucks, revoke their commercial licences - there are lots of things that can be done that don't involve violence. (Although if the protesters use violence to oppose the police, then they open the door to direct use of force.)


Quote
What I find deeply troubling is that the police are quick to resort to violence against most protests--which are much better behaved--but have been nowhere in sight until recently, and even then have been quite gentle. There's a double-standard at work, and it looks pretty ugly.

I seem to recall all kinds of protests like blockades of rail lines all over the country "in sympathy" with protests in other parts of the country that went on without intervention for some time.

Certain groups on the left get a lot of slack. I'd be happy with a consistent approach REGARDLESS of whatever group or "cause" is involved.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on February 15, 2022, 01:31:07 PM
Quote from: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 12:41:02 PM

You pointed out that MLK was "sympathetic" to rioters, saying their anger was understandable.
Expressing "sympathy" does not require any support for the actions of protesters.

He defended the rioters as expressing justified anger against a racist state. He thought nonviolence was morally and practically a better tactic, but he absolutely defended them. And again, note that the direct action he advocated and organized is exactly the sort of thing you don't support as a legitimate protest tactic.



Quote

I'm not sure where anything I said suggests they should be "violently dispersed". Impound their trucks, revoke their commercial licences - there are lots of things that can be done that don't involve violence. (Although if the protesters use violence to oppose the police, then they open the door to direct use of force.)

Perhaps I misunderstood what you meant by so doggedly disagreeing with me here about invoking the War Measures Act in 1970, and in the other thread when I said that the bar for state-sanctioned violence should be high, and that I'm not sure they've met it. If so, mea culpa.

That said, the bar for the Emergencies Act is much higher (whether force is invoked or not), and it's not at all clear to me that it's been met.



Quote

I seem to recall all kinds of protests like blockades of rail lines all over the country "in sympathy" with protests in other parts of the country that went on without intervention for some time.


Sure, although you'll recall that the previous Indigenous blockade in 1990 saw the army called in, protesters were beseiged and starved, the UN got involved, citizens who opposed them stoned retreating women and children, and a soldier bayoneted a 13 year-old girl in the chest. Small surprise they might take a different tack the next time around, when we're supposed to be engaged in Reconciliation. But even then, that wasn't true in 2020 at the original site of protest, where the RCMP got violent almost immediately.

And I, for one, remember being kettled during a perfectly peaceful protest, remember on another occasion seeing a prof clubbed in the head as he passed nearby to pick up his kids from daycare, etc. I remember when the police managed to arrest 1118 people (most of whom they released without charge) over the course of a couple days. I remember that a yearly homecoming event at a university in Ontario packs thousands of students into a three-block area (8000 in 2021), and that hundreds of cops are bussed in for it.

It's just that when the organizers are white-supremacists, and with weeks of advance warning, apparently they're outnumbered and powerless. And if towing companies can't be bothered, well, apparently we need the Emergencies Act, because it's not as if there are any other ways. God forbid we should offer them a large bounty for every truck towed.

So, to reiterate: it worries me.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: kaysixteen on February 15, 2022, 09:01:53 PM
This emergency powers law that Trudeau has invoked, what exactly does it allow the government to do, and can a court, even the Canadian supreme court, interfere with his powers under it?   I have no sympathy with the truckers, but the act itself does sound, if I understand the snippets of info given on US tv, like it would be more or less blatantly unconstitutional in the US...
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on February 16, 2022, 05:48:39 AM
Quote from: mamselle on January 25, 2022, 03:08:34 PM
The "Us" is larger than just the U.S.A., by the way: it's a NATO concern, overall:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drNBNuLG07E

M>

Starting to wonder...is the "team" that's so fond of football analogies in cahoots with Putin somehow, trying to make an end-run around Biden?

Just struck me...

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: marshwiggle on February 16, 2022, 05:51:34 AM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 15, 2022, 01:31:07 PM
Quote from: marshwiggle on February 15, 2022, 12:41:02 PM

You pointed out that MLK was "sympathetic" to rioters, saying their anger was understandable.
Expressing "sympathy" does not require any support for the actions of protesters.

He defended the rioters as expressing justified anger against a racist state. He thought nonviolence was morally and practically a better tactic, but he absolutely defended them. And again, note that the direct action he advocated and organized is exactly the sort of thing you don't support as a legitimate protest tactic.


Quotations from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial (https://www.nps.gov/mlkm/learn/quotations.htm)
Quote
"Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."
"We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."
"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

"Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in."
"I oppose the war in Vietnam because I love America. I speak out against it not in anger but with anxiety and sorrow in my heart, and above all with a passionate desire to see our beloved country stand as a moral example of the world."
"If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective."
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
"I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits."
"It is not enough to say 'We must not wage war.' It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but the positive affirmation of peace."
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
"Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies."
"We are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs 'down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.'"
"We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience."
"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."

Whatever he may have felt about rioters, none of that is reflected in the quotations on his memorial. His message that lasted was about non-violence and recognizing everyone's common humanity.

Highly obnoxious protest behaviour doesn't change peoples' minds; it may get some sort of momentary capitulation, but that is fleeting and usually disappears as soon as the pressure is off. Real long-term change comes from protestors giving a better moral example.

Rosa Parks didn't blockade a bus. She didn't prevent the bus from operating. She didn't prevent anyone from coming onto the bus or taking a seat. She didn't refuse to get off the bus until change happened, or chain herself to it, or go on a hunger strike, etc. The power of her protest came precisely from the fact that her actions didn't unravel the fabric of the universe. The fact that her actions were so mundane made the fact that they were considered "unacceptable" seem ridiculous.

Protesters who engage in thuggish behaviour, regardless of their cause, just generate contempt among the people they should be trying to win over.

Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on February 16, 2022, 09:05:05 AM
Quote from: marshwiggle on February 16, 2022, 05:51:34 AM

Whatever he may have felt about rioters, none of that is reflected in the quotations on his memorial. His message that lasted was about non-violence and recognizing everyone's common humanity.

[...]

Highly obnoxious protest behaviour doesn't change peoples' minds; it may get some sort of momentary capitulation, but that is fleeting and usually disappears as soon as the pressure is off. Real long-term change comes from protestors giving a better moral example.

Rosa Parks didn't blockade a bus. She didn't prevent the bus from operating. She didn't prevent anyone from coming onto the bus or taking a seat. She didn't refuse to get off the bus until change happened, or chain herself to it, or go on a hunger strike, etc. The power of her protest came precisely from the fact that her actions didn't unravel the fabric of the universe. The fact that her actions were so mundane made the fact that they were considered "unacceptable" seem ridiculous.

Protesters who engage in thuggish behaviour, regardless of their cause, just generate contempt among the people they should be trying to win over.

If that's how you want to move the goalposts, sure. Just recognize that the kind of direct action he (rightly) advocated is (again, rightly) a serious inconvenience. You may be familiar with his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, which is chock full of important reflections. I'll just highlight a few pertinent to this issue:


QuoteYou may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. [...] The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.

QuoteI have hope that Mr. Boutwell will be reasonable enough to see the futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals. We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Let me end with another quotation from the letter, which I think rings as true today as in 1963 (again, let's be clear: I'm talking about protest in general, not this particular group of white supremacists and nazis in Ottawa):

QuoteI must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens' Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.


Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on February 24, 2022, 09:21:07 AM
I almost feel like this belongs on the RIP thread: the death of peace in Eastern Europe...

   https://youtu.be/AjzMrDla0OA

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: kaysixteen on February 24, 2022, 11:13:20 PM
I have been wondering for days now, and esp since Vlad the Great rolled the tanks, does anyone with no-how regarding the situation there think the Ukrainians could win this, if by defining 'win' we mean keep the Ivans from overrunning their country and  imposing Vlad's will?
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on February 25, 2022, 10:48:08 AM
Um, if you're referring to Vlad the Impaler, he was Romanian, not Russian.

Bit of a difference...

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on February 25, 2022, 11:21:17 AM
Quote from: mamselle on February 25, 2022, 10:48:08 AM
Um, if you're referring to Vlad the Impaler, he was Romanian, not Russian.

Bit of a difference...

M.

There's also Novgorod the Great, so-named (if memory serves) after Vladimir the Great, Prince of Novgorod.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on February 25, 2022, 02:27:19 PM
Ah, OK, I missed him.

Apologies.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Hibush on February 25, 2022, 02:30:37 PM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 25, 2022, 11:21:17 AM
Quote from: mamselle on February 25, 2022, 10:48:08 AM
Um, if you're referring to Vlad the Impaler, he was Romanian, not Russian.

Bit of a difference...

M.

There's also Novgorod the Great, so-named (if memory serves) after Vladimir the Great, Prince of Novgorod.

If one wants to refer to the current wannabe Russian tsar with an accurate and clever reference to the past or to popular culture, what would be the soundest nickname?
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: jimbogumbo on February 25, 2022, 02:41:37 PM
Newsmax had a picture of Putin on the (January?) cover and referred to him as Vlad the Great.

The NY Post recently c termed him Vlad the Mad. Don't know if they meant angry or crazy though- I'm not a reader, just a Googler.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on February 25, 2022, 06:23:07 PM
Quote from: Hibush on February 25, 2022, 02:30:37 PM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 25, 2022, 11:21:17 AM
Quote from: mamselle on February 25, 2022, 10:48:08 AM
Um, if you're referring to Vlad the Impaler, he was Romanian, not Russian.

Bit of a difference...

M.

There's also Novgorod the Great, so-named (if memory serves) after Vladimir the Great, Prince of Novgorod.

If one wants to refer to the current wannabe Russian tsar with an accurate and clever reference to the past or to popular culture, what would be the soundest nickname?

In Québec, we have always pronounced his surname the same way we say 'poutine'.

Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: ergative on February 26, 2022, 01:41:54 AM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 25, 2022, 06:23:07 PM
Quote from: Hibush on February 25, 2022, 02:30:37 PM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on February 25, 2022, 11:21:17 AM
Quote from: mamselle on February 25, 2022, 10:48:08 AM
Um, if you're referring to Vlad the Impaler, he was Romanian, not Russian.

Bit of a difference...

M.

There's also Novgorod the Great, so-named (if memory serves) after Vladimir the Great, Prince of Novgorod.

If one wants to refer to the current wannabe Russian tsar with an accurate and clever reference to the past or to popular culture, what would be the soundest nickname?

In Québec, we have always pronounced his surname the same way we say 'poutine'.

I seem to recall hearing that in France they add an e onto his name (so it's spelled Putine), because otherwise it's spelled the same as a word that means 'whore', and is commonly used as a curse. French-knowers, is that correct?
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on February 26, 2022, 08:05:31 AM
That is correct, although we don't use that curse at all, and they more commonly say 'pute'.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on February 27, 2022, 07:18:56 PM
The US Embassy in Moscow is telling US citizens to leave Russia while they can:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYiIiuCwWoE

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on February 27, 2022, 08:49:32 PM
Interedting dynamic analysis: one correspondent suspects Putin will "subcontract the repression out," by governing through a puppet warlord as he has in Chechnya...

   https://youtu.be/sU8tZIl4G84

Why dirty (or bloody) your hands, indeed, when you can get someone else to do your bidding?

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on February 28, 2022, 06:16:02 AM
I am impressed by Zelensky's courage, and I have already begun to mourn his almost-certain death in the upcoming days.

Offered a way out of Kiev, he is reported to have replied, "The fight is here. I need ammunition. I don't need a ride."

Beauty pageant winner Miss Ukraine has signed out a rifle and is staying to fight.

I am not normally in favor of using guns, bombs, or other lethal weapons, but I am impressed with the resolve people have shown in the face of an idiotic monster bent on their destruction.

Civilian death toll last night was 352. Of those, 14 were children.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on March 01, 2022, 04:53:22 PM
Who among you, when your brave colleague asks for a no-fly zone, gives them a standing ovation...(but little else)?

This morning, I looked up the words to the Mourner's Kaddish.

I pray not to have to use it.

In happier times...

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywdrLaTmE3U

This joyful, full-of-life man, and all his compatriots, deserve life.

Not death.

M
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on March 19, 2022, 01:07:07 PM
This fellow, likewise, impresses me. As corrupt as he well may have been, can you see our most-recent-former -President in a flak jacket at the barricades, saying pretty much word-for-word what his successor has been saying, and never breathing a word of recrimination or self-glorification?

   https://www.businessinsider.com/former-ukraine-president-fighters-arent-waiting-for-nato-troops-2022-3

Reminds me of Jefferson and Adams: they had their differences but they fought together against a serious present foe--and not each other--when it counted.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on April 08, 2022, 03:39:57 PM
Two good pieces of news in an otherwise awful situation:

1) EU Commission President has visited Bucha, Ukraine, as well as Kiev.

Speaking with President Zelensky, she advanced more sanctions and a fast-tracked application to the EU.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TLETXE_35Y&list=PLT6yxVwBEbi0Q8wAkcLl8el1T3LLM41Yq&index=2


and

2) The UN has voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Commission.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IV-BgtcHSw

Russia tried to claim they'd already quit, but the Ukranian ambassador had it in a nutshell: "You don't resign after you're fired...."

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on April 10, 2022, 01:57:50 PM
Interesting results in the first-round elections in France:

M. Macron will face Mme. Le Pen in the run-off; a third-party contender came up very close behind the more extreme right-standing Le Pen.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXJx9ifH2hk

Mme.'s father started the far-right party, which had a shadow existence for many years, before 2002, when he got to the 2nd round for the 1st time.

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on April 24, 2022, 06:26:34 PM
Mais, oui, c'est Macron:

   https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/24/europe/french-election-results-macron-le-pen-intl/index.html

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: ergative on May 13, 2022, 02:29:11 AM
So, what's just happened with cryptocurrency? It crashed? Do we know why? Something something juice slurps? What? Is this really the beginning of the end of crypto, as some catastrophists are alternately bemoaning or rejoicing, depending on their politics? Or is it just another market fluctation in a wildly unstable product?
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Parasaurolophus on May 13, 2022, 06:51:56 AM
Since its only value lies in finding someone in the future who wants to buy your crypto at a higher price, I imagine the boom was fuelled by people having some pandemic cash to burn, and the crash is due to fewer little people having the money to spare to keep buying. Ukrainians were big into crypto, too, with somwthing like 40% of the population owning some, so I suspect that's not helping.

I wish it were the beginning of the end for this scam, but I doubt it.

Just remember: crypto is inflation-proof!!111
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: ciao_yall on May 13, 2022, 07:28:40 AM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on May 13, 2022, 06:51:56 AM

Just remember: crypto is inflation-proof!!111

It may or may not be inflation-proof, but it is still subject to market forces.

So, you can still lose your shirt.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on June 09, 2022, 05:51:26 AM
One Russian town in the far east has gone on record as opposing the war in Ukraine.

   https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-primorye-parliament-war-dissent/31871358.html

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on June 17, 2022, 11:51:57 AM
Ukraine's candidacy request has been accepted by the EU:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyYgsVLAV1Q

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: dismalist on June 17, 2022, 04:47:38 PM
Quote from: mamselle on June 17, 2022, 11:51:57 AM
Ukraine's candidacy request has been accepted by the EU:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyYgsVLAV1Q

M.

Asking, as Uncle Joe Stalin of the Pope asked, how many divisions does the EU have?
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on July 05, 2022, 01:10:13 PM
After being submitted to a confidence vote a month ago, and having one cabinet appointee resign in disgrace last week, the UK's Boris Johnson's lies have occasioned the resignations of two more ministers, leading to questions about his government's viability.

   https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/05/uk/rishi-sunak-sajid-javid-resignation-boris-johnson-intl/index.html

Things could get interesting...

M.
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on July 07, 2022, 05:51:54 AM
So, I dislike Johnson for many reasons, but is it fair to wonder if Putin is behind any of this?

Or did he, as it appears, aim the gun at his own foot and fire without any help?

A worrying consequence over his departure--if and when--could indeed be supply hiccups in the aid he's offered Ukraine.

Or perhaps that's just coincidental.

M.

ETA: He's resigned....leaving in a week.

   https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/07/boris-johnson-resigns-as-uk-prime-minister.html
   
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: Langue_doc on July 08, 2022, 05:26:39 AM
Johnson's resignation was an expected outcome of his behavior. Among other infractions, he had been hosting parties during the Covid lockdown.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-62070422

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/world/europe/boris-johnson-lies-britain-parliament.html
Title: Re: International News Events: Asked and Answered...
Post by: mamselle on July 08, 2022, 06:06:32 AM
Indeed, and several other things, besides.

As I said, I never liked him and thought his Brexit nonsense was all grandstanding, without the homework needed to make the thing functional.

Now he's saying he'll stay until Fall and others say, "No, you won't!"...should be interesting...

In other international news, Japan's Abe has been killed.

RIP

M.