Cold war 2.0

[Virtual ghost]

 

[Virtual ghost]

Russian anti-war TV protest journalist given 8+ years in prison

It’s time Europe reduced its defense reliance on the US, Czech president says

Trump is no ghost of the past — he’s haunting Ukraine’s present

France will send military gear to Armenia

EU, Russia and US held secret talks days before Nagorno-Karabakh blitz

US-China 'tech war': AI sparks first battle in Middle East

Russian textbook claims German unification was 'annexation'

 

[The Cat]

 

[Red Herring]

Ukranians have shown impressive sisu, you've got to give them that.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Ukranians have shown impressive sisu, you've got to give them that.

What Ukrainians are doing is basically just standard for those that live in Eastern Europe or close to it. In this part of the world you simply can't count that you can search justice on court or that the neighbors wouldn't invade. This isn't how the game works. So personally or as a country you need to learn how to physically and mental go through difficult terrain. Plus you have to learn how to collaborate with others when the tide really hits, since it will sooner or laterr. When I was a kid I got exactly same cards as Ukrainians now. Full scale invasion of the red army under the premise of de-nazification. The fact that I was 6 at the time didn't really save me from anything. So in the end I had to sleep in the bathtube in the basement with my 4 year neighbor. Our parents put us there since their though that this is the safest place and they turned the tub into the bed. What overall is still nothing next to other kids that lost their entire house or latge chunks of their family (and I knew a fair amount of those). What is because the whole cities were leveled to the ground and for survives they organized concentration camps. This is exactly why millions and Ukrainian woman and children fled country at the first sign of trouble. Because when a communist supreme leadder starts to throw around "de-nazification" it is known how that should look in practice. Nothing that is going in Ukraine right now is something that the region didn't see quite a few times. What is perhaps the sadest part in all this. For me this is all "been there, done that".


The fact that I have this blog/thread is far from any kind of coincidence.

 

[Virtual ghost]

 

[The Cat]

 

[Virtual ghost]

Israel under fire amid massive air and ground attack by Hamas

Moldova’s President Sandu: Prigozhin wanted to overthrow me

Zelenskyy to visit Romania amid Russia’s ongoing border attacks

Slovakia halts Ukraine aid after pro-Russia Fico’s election win

Ukrainian attacks force Russia to relocate Black Sea fleet

Xavier Bettel’s last stand

How to watch Germany’s state elections like a pro

Ecuador: Suspects tied to candidate's murder killed in jail

What will France's troop withdrawal mean for Niger?

 

[Virtual ghost]

 

[The Cat]

Books will be written. Comedies will be made.
Faces have been palmed.​

 

[SensEye]

I predict we won't hear a peep from the Republicans about not being willing/able to support Israel because there is a bigger crisis on the southern border. A blank check will be provided if necessary.

If there was truth in politics, I think Republicans would say: it does me no harm (and maybe even helps) my political career to ignore Ukraine. It is suicide for my political career to ignore Israel. Since I am only motivated by what is good for my own power, that's how I determine my positions.

Democrats are pretty much the same, but at least they support Ukraine and Israel (some squad members notwithstanding on the latter), so I won't call them out on it in this instance.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I predict we won't hear a peep from the Republicans about not being willing/able to support Israel because there is a bigger crisis on the southern border. A blank check will be provided if necessary.

If there was truth in politics, I think Republicans would say: it does me no harm (and maybe even helps) my political career to ignore Ukraine. It is suicide for my political career to ignore Israel. Since I am only motivated by what is good for my own power, that's how I determine my positions.

Democrats are pretty much the same, but at least they support Ukraine and Israel (some squad members notwithstanding on the latter), so I won't call them out on it in this instance.

Did you expect anything different? Isn't the AIPAC pledge still very much a thing?

 

[Virtual ghost]

Israel updates: Netanyahu says war 'will take time'

Iran’s support for Hamas fans suspicion it’s wrecking Israel-Saudi deal

Israel’s Netanyahu vows ‘mighty vengeance’ against Hamas after attack


I presume this will dominate headlines in incoming days.

 

[Virtual ghost]

 

[ceecee]

Did you expect anything different? Isn't the AIPAC pledge still very much a thing?

lol Right. I have read and watched people fall over themselves to scream that Hamas is now Palestine. These are the same people that insist that criticism of the Israeli government is antisemitism. Which makes the position of unwavering support for Israel (after paying $$$ of course) that much more ridiculous and bad policy for the US and Americans. But for any moron that simply assumed the Palestinians would continue to be murdered, bombed and beat on without let up or so much as a whimper can go fuck themselves. If someone is willing to cry about Israel having the right to defend themselves, then so does Palestine. The good thing in all this is that attitudes and positions on the matter have been changing and will continue to do so. Young Jews don't support Israeli apartheid, I don't personally know a single one that does. Some of those young Jews get to Congress and buh-bye funding.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Pentagon to send ships, aircraft closer to Israel in show of force

Israel war with Hamas escalates; death toll for both sides tops 900

Israel formally declares 'state of war' against Hamas

How did Israel miss what Hamas was planning?




Germany: Exit polls put CDU/CSU ahead in Bavaria and Hesse

Spain: Protest against Catalan amnesty deal draws huge crowd

Azerbaijan leader: ‘France would be responsible’ for any new conflict with Armenia

 

[The Cat]

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Pentagon to send ships, aircraft closer to Israel in show of force

Israel war with Hamas escalates; death toll for both sides tops 900

Israel formally declares 'state of war' against Hamas

How did Israel miss what Hamas was planning?




Germany: Exit polls put CDU/CSU ahead in Bavaria and Hesse

Spain: Protest against Catalan amnesty deal draws huge crowd

Azerbaijan leader: ‘France would be responsible’ for any new conflict with Armenia

AfD is doing numbers in Bavaria and Hesse.

Bavaria election results: Scholz coalition dealt a blow

In both regions, conservative and right-wing populist parties used the election campaign to bash Olaf Scholz' national government over migration and energy policy. It paid off.
In Hesse, according to initial predictions, the conservative incumbent CDU scored 34.5% of the vote, a substantial gain on its solid win last time.
The far-right AfD also upped its previous score by a couple of percent to a predicted 18%, which would be the AfD's highest score in a western German state election and put the party in second place.

All three parties in Scholz' national coalition have slipped a couple of percentage points, with both the Greens and Olaf Scholz's centre-left SPD at around 15%, and the free-market liberal FDP hovering at 4.9% and may miss the 5% threshold to stay in parliament.

On a local level, in some eastern regions where the AfD has won local leadership posts, there are signs that the conservative firewall banning cooperation with the far-right could be crumbling.
The success of both the AfD and the Free Voters will influence the national debate, and is likely to encourage some conservatives, particularly CDU leader Friedrich Merz, to become even more hard-line on issues like migration.
Meanwhile the poor performance by all three parties in Olaf Scholz' federal coalition will mean leaders will be under pressure to fight for core values, making it even more difficult to paper over differences between three very disparate coalition partners.

If the CDU actually moves rightward due to Free Voter and AfD influence I will admit I was wrong as I didn't think that would ever happen. Thought CDU would go down with the open borders ship. I also never thought that the firewall keeping the AfD out would ever begin to falter.

It's interesting being wrong sometimes.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Also Hamas is conducting a looney-tunes ass war.

 

[Virtual ghost]

AfD is doing numbers in Bavaria and Hesse.

Bavaria election results: Scholz coalition dealt a blow

If the CDU actually moves rightward due to Free Voter and AfD influence I will admit I was wrong as I didn't think that would ever happen. Thought CDU would go down with the open borders ship. I also never thought that the firewall keeping the AfD out would ever begin to falter.

It's interesting being wrong sometimes.

None of this is really that surprising if you know the situation on the field and how EU style democracy works. Currently there is a massive shift to the right all over Europe (at least when it comes to social issues). What is evidently due to multiple crisis going on around the continent. In other words center right parties realized that if they don't move rightward that the far right will hammer them to the point that maybe they will never recover. So in a sense they didn't really have a choice, the alternatives were/are kinda suicidal options. Especially because even with these moves the far right is still visibly expanding.

While on the other hand countries in Europe have multi-party system and in that system the number of your seats can be reduced to 0 if you don't listen to the voters. This is exactly what has happened to the far left and center party in Hesse in these elections. If you suck it is 0 seats for you, better luck next time. What is basically the main reason why I like this style of political system. Because it solves some problems pretty well, since you have to answer to the voters on the long run.

Plus it is worth mentioning that Merkel ega is over and the same can be said for free trade on global level. Therefore with new era come new paradigm (or the old ones are put back on the table). The war in Ukraine has caused reset in pretty much every aspect of the system.