Cold war 2.0

[Virtual ghost]

 

[Red Herring]

The thing is that, at least in the public arena and as far as I can tell, this thing has lead to people discussing about Musk and his meddling with our elections rather than whatever he actually wrote in his article in Die Welt or any of his tweets. The message that stuck with the majority of people is: powerful foreign billionaire is attacking our country and our institutions". Some might welcome his support for the AfD and cheer him on but in an ideal scenario this could actually help mobilize democratic forces.

I am also annoyed at Musk "predicting" Scholz will loose the upcoming elections. No shit, Sherlock. He was/is a weak chancelor whose coalition just fell to pieces and the opposition is leading in the polls by almost twenty points. But this being a consensus and cooperation based democracy the CDU will need someone on the left to govern with. So policywise this would be a slight move to the right but more in the sense of "back to a Merkel style CDU lead coalition". Musk's favorite, the AfD, would have to more than double its base to be able to rule and so far nobody will touch them with a ten foot pole.
But when the inevitable happens and the next chancelor is the equally unfit Merz, Musk will put on his best Goldfinger laugh and think he did this.

 

[Red Herring]

Who is Robert Habeck?

Head of the Greens (well, co-head together with foreign minister Anna-Lena Baerbock), Germany's current vice-chancelor and minister for the economy and the Green's official candidate for chancelor.

I mentioned him a while ago. He is the highly educated guy with quite a bit of experience that the far-right is often referring to as "the childrens book author Habeck" and whose appeal to women voters caused one conservative MP to call him a "marriage fraudster". It is consensus by now that the Greens would have fared even better in the last elections If he had run instead of Baerbock.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Head of the Greens (well, co-head together with foreign minister Anna-Lena Baerbock), Germany's current vice-chancelor and minister for the economy and the Green's official candidate for chancelor.

I mentioned him a while ago. He is the highly educated guy with quite a bit of experience that the far-right is often referring to as "the childrens book author Habeck" and whose appeal to women voters caused one conservative MP to call him "marriage fraudster". It is consensus by now that the Greens would have fared even better in the last elections If He had run instead of Baerbock.

Marriage fraudster? LOL.

I read about him in Wikipedia just now, and he sounds like a fascinating guy.

 

[Virtual ghost]

But when the inevitable happens and the next chancelor is the equally unfit Merz,

I am sorry if I am asking something that looks "obvious" but why exactly do you think that Merz will be bad at doing top job ?

I have seen many make this clam all over the internet, however very little of all that says exactly why this could be the case. While media that I follow the most also seem to be pretty light on the content about him.



Btw. I am hopping that CDU and SPD will have enough to make a stable government. These aren't the times for experiments and wide coalitions.

 

[Red Herring]

I am sorry if I am asking something that looks "obvious" but why exactly do you think that Merz will be bad at doing top job ?

I have seen many make this clam all over the internet, however very little of all that says exactly why this could be the case. While media that I follow the most also seem to be pretty light on the content about him.



Btw. I am hopping that CDU and SPD will have enough to make a stable government. These aren't the times for experiments and wide coalitions.

I'm a bit pressed for time right now but the short answer is that his political plans are mostly all about returning back to the 90s and a bit of culture war windowdressing. He is a relic of the past and too concerned about his own profit and vanity to be a good leader. I hope I am wrong though.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Austrian Chancellor Nehammer to resign after coalition talks collapse

It seems there will be major drama before this is over.
Objectively speaking the mainstream parties had literally one job and it seems they will fail at it.

Btw. in this case "far right" isn't an empty insult.
The "problem party" from this story was founded by ex SS officers in 1950s (from what I understand).


Austria — 2024 general election

And all of that while the party is surging.
Over 1/3 of voting Austrians now sees itself as nationalist right.

 

[Red Herring]

This whole Ellon Musk Editorial for the AfD thing just keeps getting weirder. Several analytical tools (including X's own AI) suggest he didn't even write his opinion piece himself but had a frigging AI tool write it for him. The frigging balls on this guy and his lack of respect for anything or anyone but himself are downright caricaturesque.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

This whole Ellon Musk Editorial for the AfD thing just keeps getting weirder. Several analytical tools (including X's own AI) suggest he didn't even write his opinion piece himself but had a frigging AI tool write it for him. The frigging balls on this guy and his lack of respect for anything or anyone but himself are downright caricaturesque.

Wow. You know, there's a decent chance I could distinguish between an AI and a human. Especially if I saw the same thing on Meta last night, lol

 

[Virtual ghost]

Austrian conservative leader open to talks with far right

It seems that Austria at the end of the day will get it's most right wing government since the 1940s.



Hundreds of North Korean troops dead in Kursk, Ukraine estimates

Ukraine updates: Kyiv launches fresh Kursk offensive

Poland’s PiS hopes its underdog presidential candidate defeats the odds

South Korea: Thousands protest for and against Yoon's arrest

Disinformation campaigns could push Syria back to civil war

 

[Virtual ghost]

 

[Virtual ghost]

Austrian conservative leader open to talks with far right

It seems that Austria at the end of the day will get it's most right wing government since the 1940s.

As expected, some people are kinda freaking out about this.


Poland’s changing population mix turns political

Only 14 percent would welcome migrants from all over the world, while 35 percent were sympathetic only toward migrants from Belarus and Ukraine.

With these numbers the centrist government has no option but start closing the door. The alternative is doing noting and expecting that the the people will elect hard right to do it. Therefore it is better to do it yourself. After all in the whole central Europe mass immigration is becoming very very unpopular concept after just a few years of "experiments". Pretty much everywhere you look the numbers on the issue look like these.



How a Gorilla devoured democracy in Slovakia

More than a generation later, in 2025, those earnest hopes seem fustily quaint. Former Communist Party member Robert Fico is now in his fourth term as prime minister of independent Slovakia. Meanwhile, in Czechia, Andrej Babiš — who also served in the Communist Party and even with Czechoslovakia’s ŠtB state security — is on track to return to the premiership in fall 2025 elections, with his populist ANO party.

When I say about Communism coming back in central Europe I really mean it. In many countries there is open media push to engineer this.
In the article it is explained what is "gorilla" in this case.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Knifeman arrested outside Belgian PM office

Taiwan suspects China of latest attack on undersea cables

South Korea set to renew efforts to detain impeached Yoon

 

[SensEye]

With these numbers the centrist government has no option but start closing the door. The alternative is doing noting and expecting that the the people will elect hard right to do it. Therefore it is better to do it yourself. After all in the whole central Europe mass immigration is becoming very very unpopular concept after just a few years of "experiments". Pretty much everywhere you look the numbers on the issue look like these.

Seems obvious to me (and has for quite some time). Will 'centrist' governments get the message though? The shrieking from the left will be ear splitting, and the mass of voters in the center tend to remain quiet about their true feelings in fear of being branded racist. The politicians usually respond to the squeaky wheel (which in this case may mean pulling back from any immigration reform) and then voters quietly express their true opinion at the ballet box.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Seems obvious to me (and has for quite some time). Will 'centrist' governments get the message though? The shrieking from the left will be ear splitting, and the mass of voters in the center tend to remain quiet about their true feelings in fear of being branded racist. The politicians usually respond to the squeaky wheel (which in this case may mean pulling back from any immigration reform) and then voters quietly express their true opinion at the ballet box.

Polish centrist government includes the green progressive party and labor party. However since the ruling coalition gathers everyone but hard right parties it is generally called "centrist". Since that is kinda the sum of everyone from a progressive zone to center right. I mean the wider center has 52% and hard right has 45% at this point. What many still consider to be too close for comfort, so it is better not to provoke certain voters too much. On the other hand if only 14% of people are open minded toward the migration coming from third world that means that only the biggest wokers and neoliberals are open to the idea. Since that number implies that even the left isn't into the concept all that much and this provides very little of extra voters (while it can push away plnety of them in a blink). In general throughout the Slavic world the word "racist" simply isn't all that powerful as insult. It simply doesn't have the same cultural and histroic weight as in North America (or even Western Europe). Which is exactly why only 14% said that is genuienly open to idea of mass immigration. Therefore the whole central Europe is fairly openly rejecting the concept of mass migration (which was intruduced from Western Europe some 10 years ago). The idea is kinda incompatible with the colletivism that is present in the region for centuries and centuries.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Azerbaijan president ramps up pressure on Putin over deadly plane crash

Macron says Ukraine needs to be ‘realistic’ on territorial issues

Two Baltic Sea cables repaired after suspected sabotage

 

[Virtual ghost]

 

[Virtual ghost]

EU to pro-Russian Moldovan separatists: Just take the gas

Slovakia bending truth about Russian gas talks, says Ukraine

Musk or no Musk, Farage has a plan to capture Britain

Jean-Marie Le Pen, father of the French far right, is dead at 96

Ivory Coast shifts French military partnership

 

[Lark]

I wonder if the world will transcend cold wars at any point or if its just totally engrained in the DNA of some nations like Russia and China?

I mean they should be able to learn the lessons of history as much as any of the other formerly colonial empires, you would think, or I would think anyway, conquest just breeds its inevitable defeat in time, voluntary association lasts and if it proves impossible you have to ask serious questions as to why that's so.

 

[Virtual ghost]

NATO sends a fleet to guard Baltic Sea cables