NPR

laurent wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2024 9:02 pm Cheering on the Government collapse

Biffer wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2024 9:10 pm

laurent wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2024 9:02 pm 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?

Raggs wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2024 9:40 pm 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 wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2024 8:31 pm 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.

Jethro wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:55 am
Pales into insignificance compared to the current Hooping cough outbreak in the Taree school system, Wife has immediately blamed the anti immunology crowd.

Biffer wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2024 8:31 pm 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.

Hugo wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:10 am 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.

Uncle fester wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 5:00 pm

Hugo wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:10 am 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 wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 5:08 pm

Uncle fester wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 5:00 pm

Hugo wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:10 am 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 wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 5:00 pm

Hugo wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:10 am 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.

Uncle fester wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 9:20 am

fishfoodie wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 5:08 pm

Uncle fester wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 5:00 pm

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 wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 9:42 am 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.

assfly wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 10:25 am

Slick wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 9:42 am 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?

assfly wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 10:25 am

Slick wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 9:42 am 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?

Paddington Bear wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 10:21 am End of an era essentially. Things fall apart

Uncle fester wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 11:51 am

assfly wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 10:25 am

Slick wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 9:42 am 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 wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 11:58 am

Paddington Bear wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 10:21 am 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.

Slick wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 9:43 am

Uncle fester wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 5:00 pm

Hugo wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:10 am 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.

Biffer wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 11:58 am

Paddington Bear wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 10:21 am 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.

Raggs wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2024 9:40 pm 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.

Hugo wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 3:16 pm

Biffer wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 11:58 am

Paddington Bear wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 10:21 am 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.

Biffer wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 3:39 pm

Hugo wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 3:16 pm

Biffer wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 11:58 am

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 wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 4:22 pm

Biffer wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 3:39 pm

Hugo wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 3:16 pm

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.

epwc wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 4:31 pm Multiculturalism pits everyone against everyone?

Hugo wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 4:51 pm

epwc wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 4:31 pm Multiculturalism pits everyone against everyone?

You authored a thread "Angry white men". What was it's purpose other than anti white tribalism?

Hugo wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 4:51 pm

epwc wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 4:31 pm Multiculturalism pits everyone against everyone?

You authored a thread "Angry white men". What was it's purpose other than anti white tribalism?

epwc wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 5:53 pm

Hugo wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 4:51 pm

epwc wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 4:31 pm Multiculturalism pits everyone against everyone?

You authored a thread "Angry white men". What was it's purpose other than anti white tribalism?

I'm not anti white, I'm married to a white, half my family are white and my kids are half white. I'm very pro multi culturalism, unlike the Angry (whatever colour) men. The reason I created that thread was to try and understand what specifically is the big issue that has in the past few years made our politics swing quite far right and in places end up in racist violence.

sturginho wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 6:14 pmThat's far too nuanced for this place

epwc wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 5:53 pm

Hugo wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 4:51 pm

epwc wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 4:31 pm Multiculturalism pits everyone against everyone?

You authored a thread "Angry white men". What was it's purpose other than anti white tribalism?

I'm not anti white, I'm married to a white, half my family are white and my kids are half white. I'm very pro multi culturalism, unlike the Angry (whatever colour) men. The reason I created that thread was to try and understand what specifically is the big issue that has in the past few years made our politics swing quite far right and in places end up in racist violence.