[Non-US] News That Makes You laugh/cry/neither...

[Neo Phonelobster Prime]

It was a war crime the moment they invaded a sovereign country. Just ask CONDOLEEZZA RICE. Yes THAT Condoleezza Rice. She actually said that. The western media, including the interviewer she said it to didn't even blink.

[Kaelik]

I mean it is true. That is a war crime. If only we could draw any other conclusions from that fact.

[Zaranthan]

I doubt anyone here is a Russian shill, Tussock is always wrong but he's not a propagandist. He'd be significantly more convincing if he was a propagandist, or at least I'd fucking hope.

New headcanon: Tussock is a paid shill, he's just really bad at his job. But his dad is the VP of the organization that the Kremlin is contracting its social media work out to, so he never gets fired.

[NOTNOThyzmarca]

But you know, they CAN commit war crimes and target most of an adult population as combatants without having an outright ethnic cleansing agenda. It's just harder to talk about because that's what we normally do and when we do it we rationalize, justify, and shuffle it under the rug.

But gee sure is nice propaganda to instead say it's an outright war of ethnic extermination instead.

Of course. But someone once said that you should listen to people when they tell you about what they intend.

When Putin gets on TV and tells the whole world that Ukraine isn't a real country and that Ukranians are just delusional Russians, I believe that he believes that. When Putin gets on TV and tells me that Ukranian culture is a fabrication created by the West to destroy Russia, I wonder what he's been smoking but I'm willing to accept that he believes that. When Russian government media starts using the phrase "deUkranization" synomously with "deNazification," I believe them. When they say that deNazification actually means the complete destruction of Ukranian culture, I believe them.


Hitler got up in front of the entire world and told them that he wanted to kill all the Jews. No one believed him. Then he tried to kill all the Jews.
Putin got jup in front of the entire world and told everyone that he wants to destroy the Ukranian people, their culture, their identity. I believe him. I believe that his plans include a mix of terror, gulags, reeducation camps, and general brutalization as well as mass murder, but that he's less efficient doesn't make his intention any less genocide.

[Kaelik]

Of course. But someone once said that you should listen to people when they tell you about what they intend.

When Putin gets on TV and tells the whole world that Ukraine isn't a real country and that Ukranians are just delusional Russians, I believe that he believes that. When Putin gets on TV and tells me that Ukranian culture is a fabrication created by the West to destroy Russia, I wonder what he's been smoking but I'm willing to accept that he believes that.

"I believe the things Putin told me in the same speech where he said he only hates Nazis, it's a limited war to protect the Donbas, and that he has to because Ukrainians are trying to get WMD" is a weird place to take this.

Especially because what he ACTUALLY said is "Ukraine was invented by communist Lenin, and so I'm doing denazification AND anti-communism" in that speech.

[Neo Phonelobster Prime]

Of course. But...

Did he say he was doing ethnic cleansing?

Because you accused Russia of doing ethnic cleansing.

You SEEM to be trying to walk back ethnic cleansing to be war crimes, civilian casualties and even cultural genocide. Which are different things.

Do you... not know what ethnic cleansing is by any chance?

Oh and then you just went off the deep end and started accusations about a bunch of things you even in your own mind just IMAGINE will happen based on... PURE EVIL... and... less "efficiency" than Hitler?

So much of what you say just tells on some of your own very strange internal ideas doesn't it. Less efficient than Hitler. Fucking hell you numpty.

[Kaelik]

Turns out the US DOES understand the concept of military alliances having effects on third countries.

The US literally threatening military action if China and the Solomon Islands enter into a security agreement, in case anyone was ever seriously confused about whether the US sees NATO as a confrontational offensive military pact.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... on-islands

Almost like Russia and the US are both bad guys, and people pretending the US was advancing democracy instead of the interests of US empire were wrong just like every other time that has ever been proposed as a question.

This news obviously is related to the bad faith posturing on Ukraine, but like, in case it isn't clear, the US initiating military action against the Solomon Islands would be bad. The point is not that Russia is good. The point is that the US is telling us how they see NATO, and so Russia's concerns about NATO were not entirely unfounded. It does not follow that invasion and war are an appropriate response, but it also follows that the US's refusal to negotiate on NATO membership for Ukraine even while privately telling Zelensky it would never happen was also an inappropriate response since it seemed pretty calculated to bait a war that the US apparently wanted.

[Neo Phonelobster Prime]

I can tell you a whole bunch of stuff about the Solomon Islands thing since that's been local news and an ongoing story for about a year, with causes going back a decade directly tied to Australian government actions.

Anyway. Short story, the five nations in that one alliance that is all that remains of "The West these days pretty much all simultaneously cut aid funding to smaller nations about tenish years ago.

But Australia ESPECIALLY cut funding. Especially to Pacific Islands nations.

You see the Liberal Nationals are in charge you see and every time Labour gets in and builds strong international relations with our Asian and Pacific islands neighbors the liberals then take over and set it all on fire because they only want to trade with the US and the UK like that's a viable plan at the far end of the globe. To the point that most of the major diplomatic and trade groups in the Pacific and SE Asia were founded by Australia... and subsequently became massive successes that Australia either reduced participation in or just flat out walked away from under Liberal governments.

Also a few years after at a major conference our then prime minister laughed at a joke our local red skull minister made about how pacific islands were sinking beneath the water (oh, and just to help out also that brown people are lazy). Which was caught on microphone. That prime minister was over thrown internally pretty much THAT WEEK. But the Pacific islanders might still be angry about that, in part because the one who told the joke is now the most powerful politician in the country, and the third guy in group that noticed they were on microphone... is the current Australian Prime minister.

Anyway, China meanwhile is like. "Yo you guys like trade relations, diplomatic ties and various aid programs? We want to do those things and we not only will replace what Australia and friends cut, we will do it bigger AND better!"

So now we run scare campaigns about China buying influence because we are but hurt that they didn't just let us abandon and fuck over and make fun of every nation in the Pacific without consequences.

And in the Solomon Islands the local government looked at what being an ally of US/Australia/Taiwan offered compared to... joining actual the main stream international standard on how to treat Taiwan in return for better ties with China, that had done a lot for them.

They went with China. Why wouldn't they? China does stuff for them.

Funny how a violent coup movement of rioters suddenly turned up. Chosen coup movement... an outlying island local government branch run by a wildly religious fanatic whose movement is primarily one of christian extremists ready to burn shit down when they don't get their way democratically (which they did not). Think like, the state of Alabama turning on the federal government and sending klan members to burn the capital until they get them to withdraw a statement about the legitimacy of the Crimean annexation... and hand over total control of the nation.

Solomon islands government guys, the legitimate ones... they make it pretty clear in statements that they know that Taiwan and the USA are basically backing this. And I mean. The USA did basically openly offer large amounts of returned funding... but only to the oddly pro Taiwan extremist christian fanatics.

Anyway. Riots in the capital, you know how the USA regime change script is supposed to go. But, well Australia does have a mutual defense pact, and actually last time an island nation on a major trade route had an externally backed regime flip it almost totally collapsed and actually hurt Australia trade wise what with being an immediate neighbor on our major sea trade routes and all.

So for whatever reason Australian forces turn up. Late. And actually help the democratically elected government stay in power and quell the riots.

But for SOME REASON the Solomon islands government isn't grateful!

Australia keeps saying in public "Don't you dare get closer to China!". The US is even "Hey we might re-open the embassy we closed 29 fucking years ago". Which I mean fucking hell Solomon islands, don't let them do it, that's the command center for the next coup, that's the script, they will probably even send you the coup guy as ambassador like they have repeatedly and openly done for decades.

Anyway. Now they are looking to sign with China basically the same mutual defense treaty they have with Australia.

That shouldn't be a problem. But it is because of course since China has been marked for destruction by the USA it is. And we are pretending this is a foreign army base on our border in the pacific. I mean. The USA is allowed that. But only them. And WE explicitly host US army bases in Australia, that were explicitly founded with public announcements that they were built specifically to threaten China.

So maybe Australia should send it's foreign minister... nope she was "having a business dinner" and couldn't go. Right up there in the best excuses that one. So then our actual prime minister actually said the foreign minister didn't go because she is to senior in our government and it would be seen as bullying to send her to do her fucking job and politely ask other nations to do the things we would like them to.

Anyway, then it comes out, from the former Solomon Islands prime minister that the reason they think it might be useful to have an "extra" defense treaty. Aside from Australia turning up late and reluctantly. Was because when we DID turn up our forces said to the faces of Solomon islands government officials that "We are not here to defend Chinese assets" and then rioters conveniently targeted Chinese funded stuff that the local government actually cared about.

Like for instance how they set fire to the capital city China Town. Twice.

Australia of course denies this. But lets face it, it obviously did in fact happen. Because diplomatically shooting ourselves in the foot and making it much more likely that the Solomon islands would sign an agreement with China that we don't want them to is EXACTLY our international MO under the Liberals.

Like the Ukraine thing, this is the result of more than a decade of fucking childish incompetent foreign policy from that one alliance of five "western" nations that for some reason decided they rule the world in the face of increasing evidence that we don't, largely because we needlessly fucked up our chance to in an endless series of unforced errors.

[Thaluikhain]

To add to the above, the current Liberal government is the most ineffectual, corrupt and alienating in living memory (I think that last but one government also could claim that at the time). I previously argued that Scomo was less bad than Trump or Bojo, but I was totally wrong about that.

[Neo Phonelobster Prime]

Yeah wow the scandals so stupid you wouldn't believe them are never ending here.

Like just the latest Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial. The one we all have to remind ourselves daily that Ben Roberts-Smith started entirely voluntarily to defend his reputation. After what seems like a year of non stop lurid and unlikely but incredibly well supported accusations from numerous witnesses on the stand, his own lawyers just finished with the first witness THEY got to pick essentially in his defense (though, remember, his side is effectively the prosecution?).

The witness was then immediately arrested by what amounts to a war crimes investigation squad that then charged him with essentially obstructing an investigation and assaulting an officer of the law. Further details remain... mysterious.

I'm not sure if the USA has... anything... quite like Ben Roberts-Smith.

Then there is the prayer room thing. With the ministers and the prayer room and the male prostitutes in parliament house. The one where they instead went after the whistle blower, who also outed liberal party staffers for aggressively masturbating onto female co workers desks. And they raided that guys house with the AFP accusing him of "revenge porn" for going to the media with evidence.

And Minister Potato Skull's cocaine car dealership buddies.

The Prime Minister having media so biased in his favor they gave him an hour long "news" promo for the election and let him murder a ukulele and a song about Cuba, which I'm sure he is in full support of bombing.

Hell pretty sure those ones were all in give or take the same week. I think that scandal critical mass is now a requirement for us to start a new week here, more so than Sunday is.

[Kaelik]

People who make election decisions based on "electability" should stop doing that for a lot of reasons. But one reason is because it turns out in 2017 when Corbyn's Labour was running even in all the polls with Tories, YouGov spiked the conventional polls showing that, released one with "a new method" that showed it, which was widely condemned for using a new method, then a Tory MP part of the internal PM's policy group who founded YouGov called them and told them they would all lose their jobs, so they changed their methodology to get the result they wanted, Tories winning, and then released only polls showing that from then on.

https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/statu ... 9460206592

[Stahlseele]

Russia wages War in the East,
Rheinmetall gives Germany a
new Panther:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTBA5tQ ... LL&index=4
"And if i sit by the stream for long enough, the body of my biggest enemy will float by'"

[Thaluikhain]

The actions by the Q Queen of Canada make me want to support the real Queen of Canada. And I hate the royal family.

[RobbyPants]

The actions by the Q Queen of Canada make me want to support the real Queen of Canada. And I hate the royal family.

I'm kind of glad I never heard of this, but I kind of feel like I should be following this. I'm curious of any of her cultists are aware of the utter failure of the sovereign citizen movement in the US.

[Thaluikhain]

The actions by the Q Queen of Canada make me want to support the real Queen of Canada. And I hate the royal family.

I'm kind of glad I never heard of this, but I kind of feel like I should be following this. I'm curious of any of her cultists are aware of the utter failure of the sovereign citizen movement in the US.

And (mostly jokingly but not totally), what's the rules on what citizens of countries with the Queen as the head of state are supposed to do when someone else claims they are going to be the monarch from now on? Cause that's high treason or something, and all the usurper Queen's followers are traitors. Despite the current absurdity, historically that's about as serious as things get, I feel that someone should be going round ringing a bell and calling everyone to rally behind the loyalist banner or something.

[Stahlseele]

Considering a german satirist/comedian had to go to court because we still have outdated laws like insulting royalty . . i would be very surprised if those laws were not still around . .

[Kaelik]

Macron is apparently coalitioning with not just the right win non Le Pen parties, but with Le Pen.

This is what it means to vote for neoliberals. You are always voting for fascists.

[Dogbert]

Is all fucking lost everywhere?

[The Adventurer's Almanac]

Damn, I haven't seen a high-profile assassination in a while! Abe Shinzo got his ass blown out. I wonder what this means for Japan.

[Kaelik]

Damn, I haven't seen a high-profile assassination in a while! Abe Shinzo got his ass blown out. I wonder what this means for Japan.

Realistically? Probably he gets replaced by an identical guy.

[Omegonthesane]

Shinzo Abe hasn't been prime minister of Japan since 2020, so while this is an assassination of a relatively famous fascist, it doesn't mean Japan needs to immediately replace their head of state or anything.

[Kaelik]

Shinzo Abe hasn't been prime minister of Japan since 2020, so while this is an assassination of a relatively famous fascist, it doesn't mean Japan needs to immediately replace their head of state or anything.

Damn yeah, replaced by two guys with basically identical policies since he retired from Prime Minister already.

[The Adventurer's Almanac]

Yeah, but generally the ruling class doesn't take kindly to one of their own getting his back blown out by four pipes, a circuit board, and some pachinko balls.

[Stahlseele]

a.) this shows amazing levels of inventiveness.
b.) the pachinko balls are a sadly ironic thing too, since that is basically the circumvention of their gambling laws.

[Kaelik]

Jovenel Moïse was a piece of shit US puppet and he suspended parliament to rule be decree as dictator and refused to have elections. Ariel Henry the prime Minister is credibly linked to his assassins.

Imagine for a moment there were three candidates for president in Haiti, one who expressed the will of the people, one who was guaranteed to bring about prosperity for the nation and its inhabitants, and a third who promised to accept all deportations from the US millions and nothing else.

Which one of those would become president and how?

After figuring out the extremely obvious answers to the above hypothetical, people should keep that in mind while the US government provides weapons to the Haitian police to help them better put down protests demanding an election and the US contemplates sending in the US military at the request of the guy who promises to keep accepting deportations from the US as long as he is in power.

Funny I thought I remembered hearing that is was bad for cops to beat up protestors and it meant your government should be overthrown in 2022. Well I guess we are back to the 2020 status quo where it's good to brutalized protestors into submission.