What's going on in *insert location here*

[Biffer]

World's gone batshit. I can't keep up with everything that's going on.

Ukraine, Israel, Syria, Korea, France for a start.

Georgia going to shit too

There's an unknown flu like virus in the DRC that's killed about eighty people.

The military junta in Niger is seizing overseas assets

Chinese navy trying to sink a Filipino coast guard vessel

Revolution in Myanmar

Someone tried to assassinate the Bolivian president

Head of United Health are assassinated in New York

And Diageo is limiting the amount of Guinness pubs can order in the run up to Christmas.

[Sandstorm]

I’m giving blood on Monday. Doing my part.

“Would you like to know more?”

[laurent]

Cheering on the Government collapse

[Biffer]

Cheering on the Government collapse

Looking forward to the far left - far right coalition tackling the new pandemic in the midst of Russia invading Poland then?

[laurent]

Cheering on the Government collapse

Looking forward to the far left - far right coalition tackling the new pandemic in the midst of Russia invading Poland then?

There is no far left in the french parliament (none of the elected left are in that bracket).
There will not be a coalition between them and the far right.

What Macron attempted was a right / far right coalition though.

[Raggs]

Romania just put a previously completely unknown far right, Russia supporting guy through to the final round for presidential elections. And now it's been found that Tiktok was boosting his videos (illegally presented videos) and suppressing his opponents.

[Biffer]

Romania just put a previously completely unknown far right, Russia supporting guy through to the final round for presidential elections. And now it's been found that Tiktok was boosting his videos (illegally presented videos) and suppressing his opponents.

Shockeroonie

[Hugo]

CIA working overtime.

All jokes aside, as US power (and prestige*) declines the more unstable the world will become since a) the US will do desperate things to try and stay top dog and b) some bad actors will be emboldened to chance their arm.

* The invasion of Iraq in 2003 and US support of Israel in Gaza have pretty much destroyed this notion of rules based order that at least created this perception that the international system was orderly rather than anarchic.

[Jethro]

World's gone batshit. I can't keep up with everything that's going on.

Ukraine, Israel, Syria, Korea, France for a start.

Georgia going to shit too

There's an unknown flu like virus in the DRC that's killed about eighty people.

The military junta in Niger is seizing overseas assets

Chinese navy trying to sink a Filipino coast guard vessel

Revolution in Myanmar

Someone tried to assassinate the Bolivian president

Head of United Health are assassinated in New York

And Diageo is limiting the amount of Guinness pubs can order in the run up to Christmas.

Pales into insignificance compared to the current Hooping cough outbreak in the Taree school system, Wife has immediately blamed the anti immunology crowd.

[mat the expat]

Pales into insignificance compared to the current Hooping cough outbreak in the Taree school system, Wife has immediately blamed the anti immunology crowd.

Creating the Double Bay/Byron triangle

[Slick]

I was just thinking about this last night. I think historical precedent tells us that there is a kind of mass resetting at intervals, usually as a great empire starts to wane.

Was hoping to not live through that, but here we are.

[SaintK]

World's gone batshit. I can't keep up with everything that's going on.

Ukraine, Israel, Syria, Korea, France for a start.

Georgia going to shit too

There's an unknown flu like virus in the DRC that's killed about eighty people.

The military junta in Niger is seizing overseas assets

Chinese navy trying to sink a Filipino coast guard vessel

Revolution in Myanmar

Someone tried to assassinate the Bolivian president

Head of United Health are assassinated in New York

And Diageo is limiting the amount of Guinness pubs can order in the run up to Christmas.

Bloody hell the world is going to hell in a handcart!!!!

[epwc]

The flipping Bahamas!!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cvg7xp1v7l3o

[Uncle fester]

CIA working overtime.

All jokes aside, as US power (and prestige*) declines the more unstable the world will become since a) the US will do desperate things to try and stay top dog and b) some bad actors will be emboldened to chance their arm.

* The invasion of Iraq in 2003 and US support of Israel in Gaza have pretty much destroyed this notion of rules based order that at least created this perception that the international system was orderly rather than anarchic.

I maintain that the lies and deception in the run up to the second Iraq war were a key contributor to the lack of trust in authority that has fed into the rise of groups like qanon and conspiracy theories.

[fishfoodie]

CIA working overtime.

All jokes aside, as US power (and prestige*) declines the more unstable the world will become since a) the US will do desperate things to try and stay top dog and b) some bad actors will be emboldened to chance their arm.

* The invasion of Iraq in 2003 and US support of Israel in Gaza have pretty much destroyed this notion of rules based order that at least created this perception that the international system was orderly rather than anarchic.

I maintain that the lies and deception in the run up to the second Iraq war were a key contributor to the lack of trust in authority that has fed into the rise of groups like qanon and conspiracy theories.

In the US, a lot of people draw the line at Watergate, or the Pentagon papers, because there in black & white they could see the lies that the "Elite" know for decades, but still sent kids go off to die, in an exercise they knew was doomed to fail. It completely destroyed any trust that a Generation had in their Government.

[Uncle fester]

CIA working overtime.

All jokes aside, as US power (and prestige*) declines the more unstable the world will become since a) the US will do desperate things to try and stay top dog and b) some bad actors will be emboldened to chance their arm.

* The invasion of Iraq in 2003 and US support of Israel in Gaza have pretty much destroyed this notion of rules based order that at least created this perception that the international system was orderly rather than anarchic.

I maintain that the lies and deception in the run up to the second Iraq war were a key contributor to the lack of trust in authority that has fed into the rise of groups like qanon and conspiracy theories.

In the US, a lot of people draw the line at Watergate, or the Pentagon papers, because there in black & white they could see the lies that the "Elite" know for decades, but still sent kids go off to die, in an exercise they knew was doomed to fail. It completely destroyed any trust that a Generation had in their Government.

Others would lay the blame at the foot of the Reagan era which is when the ordinary Joes really started to struggle.

[Slick]

CIA working overtime.

All jokes aside, as US power (and prestige*) declines the more unstable the world will become since a) the US will do desperate things to try and stay top dog and b) some bad actors will be emboldened to chance their arm.

* The invasion of Iraq in 2003 and US support of Israel in Gaza have pretty much destroyed this notion of rules based order that at least created this perception that the international system was orderly rather than anarchic.

I maintain that the lies and deception in the run up to the second Iraq war were a key contributor to the lack of trust in authority that has fed into the rise of groups like qanon and conspiracy theories.

I'd agree with this. They were lying, we knew they were lying, and they still did it.

[sockwithaticket]

I maintain that the lies and deception in the run up to the second Iraq war were a key contributor to the lack of trust in authority that has fed into the rise of groups like qanon and conspiracy theories.

In the US, a lot of people draw the line at Watergate, or the Pentagon papers, because there in black & white they could see the lies that the "Elite" know for decades, but still sent kids go off to die, in an exercise they knew was doomed to fail. It completely destroyed any trust that a Generation had in their Government.

Others would lay the blame at the foot of the Reagan era which is when the ordinary Joes really started to struggle.

That's when whatever was left of the New Deal era social contract was torn up and ghouls like Milton Friedman were able to push their nightmarish vision of economics virtually unchallenged. Unfortunately for us, Thatcher *spit* was fully aboard that train.

[Paddington Bear]

End of an era essentially. Things fall apart

[assfly]

I was just thinking about this last night. I think historical precedent tells us that there is a kind of mass resetting at intervals, usually as a great empire starts to wane.

What does a mass resetting look like?

[Slick]

I was just thinking about this last night. I think historical precedent tells us that there is a kind of mass resetting at intervals, usually as a great empire starts to wane.

What does a mass resetting look like?

Saffers get humility, Dupont is crowned King of the World. That kind of thing.

[assfly]

Cool.

[Uncle fester]

I was just thinking about this last night. I think historical precedent tells us that there is a kind of mass resetting at intervals, usually as a great empire starts to wane.

What does a mass resetting look like?

I'll leave Laurent post the guillotine pic.

[Biffer]

End of an era essentially. Things fall apart

Things don’t always fall apart at the end of an era. E.g end of the Cold War.

It’s about having leaders with some vision to steer the world in a new direction, against those who want to rip it up for their own benefit. There are ideas and strategies out there that the West can pursue, but it seems no one is brave enough to actually do it, and instead they want to cling to the global rules based order, unipolar, unassailable west dominance of the last 30 or so years.

Things like

https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/wp-content/ ... -FINAL.pdf

https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/mult ... rld-order/

And other ways to address international relations in ways that you collaborate and compete at the same time (key to the Western relationship with China, and indeed Iran).

Revitalising western economies with things like Doughnut economics, novel societal growth models etc. We need to maintain ourselves as the most advanced societies in the world, and that doesn’t necessarily mean driving to be richer and richer, rather to be better and better. They’re not the same thing.

[laurent]

I was just thinking about this last night. I think historical precedent tells us that there is a kind of mass resetting at intervals, usually as a great empire starts to wane.

What does a mass resetting look like?

I'll leave Laurent post the guillotine pic.

sure but you give it back We need it ...

[Paddington Bear]

End of an era essentially. Things fall apart

Things don’t always fall apart at the end of an era. E.g end of the Cold War.

It’s about having leaders with some vision to steer the world in a new direction, against those who want to rip it up for their own benefit. There are ideas and strategies out there that the West can pursue, but it seems no one is brave enough to actually do it, and instead they want to cling to the global rules based order, unipolar, unassailable west dominance of the last 30 or so years.

Things like

https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/wp-content/ ... -FINAL.pdf

https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/mult ... rld-order/

And other ways to address international relations in ways that you collaborate and compete at the same time (key to the Western relationship with China, and indeed Iran).

Revitalising western economies with things like Doughnut economics, novel societal growth models etc. We need to maintain ourselves as the most advanced societies in the world, and that doesn’t necessarily mean driving to be richer and richer, rather to be better and better. They’re not the same thing.

We were the victors of the Cold War, I dare say there are a lot of people not from the West who would strongly disagree that things did not fall apart!

[Rhubarb & Custard]

For whom did things fall apart wherein they were previously together?

[Rhubarb & Custard]

CIA working overtime.

All jokes aside, as US power (and prestige*) declines the more unstable the world will become since a) the US will do desperate things to try and stay top dog and b) some bad actors will be emboldened to chance their arm.

* The invasion of Iraq in 2003 and US support of Israel in Gaza have pretty much destroyed this notion of rules based order that at least created this perception that the international system was orderly rather than anarchic.

I maintain that the lies and deception in the run up to the second Iraq war were a key contributor to the lack of trust in authority that has fed into the rise of groups like qanon and conspiracy theories.

I'd agree with this. They were lying, we knew they were lying, and they still did it.

'tis interesting that if you go through UK papers from the time yes they wanted to support America, but too they wanted to cut off a need for migration to Europe and principally the UK from countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, and the thinking was they could help. things could hardly have worked out better for such ambition

[Hugo]

End of an era essentially. Things fall apart

Things don’t always fall apart at the end of an era. E.g end of the Cold War.

It’s about having leaders with some vision to steer the world in a new direction, against those who want to rip it up for their own benefit. There are ideas and strategies out there that the West can pursue, but it seems no one is brave enough to actually do it, and instead they want to cling to the global rules based order, unipolar, unassailable west dominance of the last 30 or so years.

Things like

https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/wp-content/ ... -FINAL.pdf

https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/mult ... rld-order/

And other ways to address international relations in ways that you collaborate and compete at the same time (key to the Western relationship with China, and indeed Iran).

Revitalising western economies with things like Doughnut economics, novel societal growth models etc. We need to maintain ourselves as the most advanced societies in the world, and that doesn’t necessarily mean driving to be richer and richer, rather to be better and better. They’re not the same thing.

Western nation states have been hollowed out over the past thirty years due to globalisation.

Neoliberalism, austerity, deindustrialisation and immigration have all degraded the nation state and the ability to organise and accomplish things on the basis of appeals to national sentiment.

[tabascoboy]

Romania just put a previously completely unknown far right, Russia supporting guy through to the final round for presidential elections. And now it's been found that Tiktok was boosting his videos (illegally presented videos) and suppressing his opponents.

Romania's constitutional court has annulled the result of the first round of voting in the presidential election just days before the second round was due to take place.

It means the process will be restarted from scratch, with the government due to decide a date for a new vote.

The first round was won by Calin Georgescu, an almost unknown far-right Nato-sceptic who has previously praised Vladimir Putin.

The court's decision comes after intelligence documents were declassified, suggesting Georgescu benefitted from a mass influence operation – conducted from abroad – to interfere with the result of the vote.

Outgoing Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said the court's decision to annul was "the only correct solution after the declassification of the documents... which show that the result of the Romanians' vote was blatantly distorted as a result of Russia's intervention".

The judges of the court met on Friday morning, despite having announced the previous night that they would not discuss new information regarding possible external influence on the elections until the second round of voting.

The law stipulates that, in the event of the annulment of the elections, they should resume on the second Sunday after the date of the annulment - which would have meant on 22 December.

However, the court has decided to ask the government to rerun the entire electoral process, and therefore the electoral campaign.

Last week, the court had ordered a recount of votes cast in Sunday's first round following allegations that social media platform TikTok gave "preferential treatment" to the surprise winner, Calin Georgescu.

Georgescu, a radical with no party of his own, campaigned mainly on TikTok. The platform said it was "categorically false to claim his account was treated differently to any other candidate".

He won 23% of the vote, with 19% for the runner-up, Elena Lasconi, of the opposition Save Romania Union and Ciolacu of the governing Social Democrats in third.

[Biffer]

End of an era essentially. Things fall apart

Things don’t always fall apart at the end of an era. E.g end of the Cold War.

It’s about having leaders with some vision to steer the world in a new direction, against those who want to rip it up for their own benefit. There are ideas and strategies out there that the West can pursue, but it seems no one is brave enough to actually do it, and instead they want to cling to the global rules based order, unipolar, unassailable west dominance of the last 30 or so years.

Things like

https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/wp-content/ ... -FINAL.pdf

https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/mult ... rld-order/

And other ways to address international relations in ways that you collaborate and compete at the same time (key to the Western relationship with China, and indeed Iran).

Revitalising western economies with things like Doughnut economics, novel societal growth models etc. We need to maintain ourselves as the most advanced societies in the world, and that doesn’t necessarily mean driving to be richer and richer, rather to be better and better. They’re not the same thing.

Western nation states have been hollowed out over the past thirty years due to globalisation.

Neoliberalism, austerity, deindustrialisation and immigration have all degraded the nation state and the ability to organise and accomplish things on the basis of appeals to national sentiment.

That doesn't disagree with anything I've posted so I'm not really sure what your point is

[Hugo]

Things don’t always fall apart at the end of an era. E.g end of the Cold War.

It’s about having leaders with some vision to steer the world in a new direction, against those who want to rip it up for their own benefit. There are ideas and strategies out there that the West can pursue, but it seems no one is brave enough to actually do it, and instead they want to cling to the global rules based order, unipolar, unassailable west dominance of the last 30 or so years.

Things like

https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/wp-content/ ... -FINAL.pdf

https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/mult ... rld-order/

And other ways to address international relations in ways that you collaborate and compete at the same time (key to the Western relationship with China, and indeed Iran).

Revitalising western economies with things like Doughnut economics, novel societal growth models etc. We need to maintain ourselves as the most advanced societies in the world, and that doesn’t necessarily mean driving to be richer and richer, rather to be better and better. They’re not the same thing.

Western nation states have been hollowed out over the past thirty years due to globalisation.

Neoliberalism, austerity, deindustrialisation and immigration have all degraded the nation state and the ability to organise and accomplish things on the basis of appeals to national sentiment.

That doesn't disagree with anything I've posted so I'm not really sure what your point is

In the modern era there is no collectivist mindset that you can draw upon to make societies "better and better".

"There is no such thing as society" because neoliberalism and multiculturalism ensure that everyone is pitted against everyone else. In place of society today all you have is mobs.

[Biffer]

Western nation states have been hollowed out over the past thirty years due to globalisation.

Neoliberalism, austerity, deindustrialisation and immigration have all degraded the nation state and the ability to organise and accomplish things on the basis of appeals to national sentiment.

That doesn't disagree with anything I've posted so I'm not really sure what your point is

In the modern era there is no collectivist mindset that you can draw upon to make societies "better and better".

"There is no such thing as society" because neoliberalism and multiculturalism ensure that everyone is pitted against everyone else. In place of society today all you have is mobs.

The logical extension of that is that humanity is fucked so why bother doing anything, yeah?

[epwc]

Multiculturalism pits everyone against everyone?