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OT: World Politics

remind me when did a) Xi first take over and b) change the constitution to let him stay indefinitely?
 
I've actually been worried that technological improvements have made centrally-run economies more feasible and effective, so a smart authoritarian could plausibly make it work in a way it never has before.

But being an authoritarian requires so much dependance on lackeys instead of professionals that I guess it can never really be competitive with an open system in the end.
 
Xi has also always wanted to make China much more isolationist. He started out with a lot of “the Chinese dream” propaganda, which some initially interpreted as a reference to the American Dream and the idea that China would keep opening up. But he’s been explicit from the beginning that China does not need other countries to be great. Trumpism and global decoupling from China have fast forwarded everything.
 
Climate change and global pandemics require coordinated global action. Isolationism is delusional.

And just wait when we’re contacted by aliens.
 
so two big developments:

1. The ICJ gave their main ruling today, and while south africa and others are claiming that this is a huge win for them, i think this is mostly a win for israel tbh. a) The court refused to call anything that has happened "genocide", though they say that it is "plausible" that israel might have or will violate some of those criteria and they haven't thrown out the case for it completely. b) The court didn't call for a ceasefire, which tbh surprises me, though i think that might be because Hamas is a non-state actor so can't be subject to a ceasefire. c) the court ordered Hamas to release all hostages. For me all 3 of those seem to be wins for Israel. The court did order three things: 1. israel must do everything possible to avoid genocidal acts. 2. israel must prevent and punish public incitement of genocide. 3. israel must do everything to encourage humanitarian aid. To me those seem to be things which Israel can do without changing their strategy too much. I was expecting much worse from the ICJ overall tbh.


2. Turns out that a bunch of members of the UN Relief organization for Palestine, the guys in charge of distributing humanitarian aid, were actually involved in the Oct.7 attacks themselves. The aid agency itself already admits this and has terminated them. In terms of PR this is a huge boon to Israel's stance, and a huge blow against much of the UN's stance.
 
zeke said:
2. Turns out that a bunch of members of the UN Relief organization for Palestine, the guys in charge of distributing humanitarian aid, were actually involved in the Oct.7 attacks themselves. The aid agency itself already admits this and has terminated them. In terms of PR this is a huge boon to Israel's stance, and a huge blow against much of the UN's stance.
Click to expand...


That’s so fucked up.

And you just know those pieces of shit must have been re-directing aid from civilians to Hamas fighters & leadership.
 
zeke said:
so two big developments:

1. The ICJ gave their main ruling today, and while south africa and others are claiming that this is a huge win for them, i think this is mostly a win for israel tbh. a) The court refused to call anything that has happened "genocide", though they say that it is "plausible" that israel might have or will violate some of those criteria and they haven't thrown out the case for it completely. b) The court didn't call for a ceasefire, which tbh surprises me, though i think that might be because Hamas is a non-state actor so can't be subject to a ceasefire. c) the court ordered Hamas to release all hostages. For me all 3 of those seem to be wins for Israel. The court did order three things: 1. israel must do everything possible to avoid genocidal acts. 2. israel must prevent and punish public incitement of genocide. 3. israel must do everything to encourage humanitarian aid. To me those seem to be things which Israel can do without changing their strategy too much. I was expecting much worse from the ICJ overall tbh.


2. Turns out that a bunch of members of the UN Relief organization for Palestine, the guys in charge of distributing humanitarian aid, were actually involved in the Oct.7 attacks themselves. The aid agency itself already admits this and has terminated them. In terms of PR this is a huge boon to Israel's stance, and a huge blow against much of the UN's stance.
Click to expand...
yeah the ICJ did more or less what I thought and mostly expected them to do. not a full dismissal, but also not a full win for SA.

SA going on a victory lap reinforces my view that this was always a political exercise for them though and may be found to be an abuse of process of sorts when all is said and done.

and re UNRWA, Israel has for years and years and years gone on about how UNRWA actively supports Hamas, its employees are members, etc. so this is nothing new for folks who have been paying attention but glad UNRWA had to fall on their sword on this.
 
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