Random Politics Thread

[Virtual ghost]

Alas, learning isnt the point of the exercise. Damnation is.

Ukraine freaks out as US and Russia push for elections

Pretty much.

I mean how on Earth do you even organize elections in this situation ? How do you campaign under constant enemy fire that is searching for "important faces" ? What is with the people that have left the country as refugees ? What is with those that remained stranded on occupied territories ? How do you prevent rigging the election by hitting numerous polling stations ?

 

[SensEye]

Ukraine freaks out as US and Russia push for elections

“In most democracies, elections take place even during wartime. I think it’s important. I believe it’s good for democracy. The beauty of a strong democracy is having more than one potential candidate.”

Words Netanyahu has never heard from the US administration.

In any event, if an election is forced in Ukraine via threats to end aid or the like, I hope, despite all the election interference that Russia will no doubt introduce, Ukrainians soundly re-elect Zelensky. I know there have been a few corruption scandals and whatnot, but with Ukraine having been under Russian control for so much of it's time, that kind of thing just creeps into the culture.

Trump is doing a bang up job of introducing it into mainstream US culture.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Words Netanyahu has never heard from the US administration.

In any event, if an election is forced in Ukraine via threats to end aid or the like, I hope, despite all the election interference that Russia will no doubt introduce, Ukrainians soundly re-elect Zelensky. I know there have been a few corruption scandals and whatnot, but with Ukraine having been under Russian control for so much of it's time, that kind of thing just creeps into the culture.

Trump is doing a bang up job of introducing it into mainstream US culture.

From what I understand the pro Russian political parties are formally crippled in the country (for obvious reasons). Therefore whoever is elected should more or less continue the path of Zelensky. Who is formally a pro business centrist that ended up to be war time president. From what I saw his party is leading the polls but not by too much. Therefore he will probably need a coalition with center right to govern the parliament. Since the left tends to be not so reformed communists that are pro Russians (and thus they got legally crippled). While his personal rating is probably better than the rest of the party and there probably isn't a person that can push him out in this key moment. Since ousting of pro Russian president in 2014 Ukraine has this center/center right approach that is unlikely to fundamentally change.


All of this is also why it is kinda pointless to push elections in the current situation. The war first has to end before elections trully make sense. Due to this and already mentioned problems.

 

[The Cat]

Pretty sure this is the real coup.​

 

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

 

[Red Herring]

I strongly dislike the way videos are increasingly replacing the written word here on the forum and elsewhere in the world. It's a dumbing down. Especially if it is "citizen journalism". I am aware of many of the shortcomings of professional journalism but the answer should be better professional journalism, not unprofessional journalism. Again, dumbing down.

Some algorithm recently recommended me a video by The Meidas Touch about how Danish parliamentarians were supposedly laughing at Trump. The video material used however had nothing to do with Trump, it was from a speech about how taxpayer money had been used to buy an animal from a public zoo because it was supposedly friends with another zoo animal but then it turned out the animals weren't friends at all. It had zero to do with Trump and the video was trashy clickbait.

If you don't trust American "mainstream media" look for good Canadian or British sources. They also cover US topics, but in a more professional and trustworthy way.

I'm not saying shit isn't seriously hitting the fan, because it obviously is, but to stop paying attention to that swamp of political content on social media. Much of it is put out by people whose guess is as good as yours, with misleading clickbaity titles and few sources. It is bad for your mental health and not really informative.


This is not directed at any person or persons in particular but more of a general observation.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Trump's tariffs: China strikes back with levies of up to 15%

 

[The Cat]

I miss fountain pens myself.
But it is as they say, an imperfect universe.
​

 

[Red Herring]

I miss fountain pens myself.
But it is as they say, an imperfect universe.
​

Fountain pens still exist. My husband uses them every day. My daughter uses one at school (where they also still write cursive) and for her homework. My younger daughter can't wait to get one of her own. I prefer gel pens myself but own one or two fountain pens and do get the appeal.

Just because something has fallen out of fashion doesn't mean it has ceased to exist or be available. Reread your serenity prayer and change the things you can change if that makes life better for you but also keep what you can keep if that makes life more bearable. It's hard enough as it is.

 

[Virtual ghost]

It seems that the whole thing of putting tariffs on neighbors will end with a deal. What is common sense.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Totenkindly]

Cybersecurity, government experts are aghast at security failures in DOGE takeover

Elon Musk’s takeover of key systems across the government is ignoring decades of laws, regulations and procedures, experts told CyberScoop.

cyberscoop.com

 

[ceecee]

It seems that the whole thing of putting tariffs on neighbors will end with a deal. What is common sense.

My husband and I have been talking about the "tariffs" for awhile and we both came to the conclusion that these are more along the lines of "Schrodinger’s Tariffs" (Trump says they exist and credits them for any benign changes that occur in the economy but they are never actually enforced or collected). Of course Justin Trudeau and Claudia Sheinbaum are going to release statements about how awesome the "deals" are. It all fits in with the conservative/GOP/right wing fantasy world they inhabit.

This is the kind of actions that are going to have terrible impacts that have been drown out by the "tariff" shit.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/03/climate/trump-california-water-dams-reservoirs/index.html

The US Army Corps of Engineers opened two dams on Friday in Central California and let roughly 2.2 billion gallons of water flow out of reservoirs, after President Donald Trump ordered the release with the misguided intent to send water to fire-ravaged Southern California.

Trump celebrated the move in posts to Truth Social post on Friday and Sunday, declaring, “the water is flowing in California,” and adding the water was “heading to farmers throughout the State, and to Los Angeles.”

Farms are on fire?

There are two major problems, water experts said: The newly released water will not flow to Los Angeles, and it is being wasted by being released during the wet winter season.

“They were holding extra water in those reservoirs because of the risk that it would be a dry summer,” said Heather Cooley, director of research for California water policy organization the Pacific Institute. “This puts agriculture at risk of insufficient water during the summer months.”

On Friday, Trump posted that 1.6 billion gallons was being released adding that “in 3 days, it will be 5.2 billion gallons.”

They're gonna be. In July.

 

[SensEye]

It seems that the whole thing of putting tariffs on neighbors will end with a deal. What is common sense.

I'm not as optimistic as you that this circus is over yet. Trump doesn't know what he is doing. It's like his greatest healthcare plan the world has ever seen (from Trump 1.0) that is still in the concept stage. He likes tariffs but is clueless as to how they really impact economies.

There is already a "deal". It was NAFTA and in Trump's first term (2016) it was renegotiated as USMCA and all parties were satisfied at the time but apparently Trump's negotiators did not know what they were doing and Canada and Mexico were ripping the USA off. Yeah, right - the most successful capitalist economy is the world had it's negotiators snookered by cagey maple syrup drinkers and taco eaters. The notion America is getting ripped off is pure Trump b.s. But if orange jesus says so, it must be true!

The USMCA runs until 2026 (these deals usually go for 10 years). Trump is tying the deal to border security because to renege on it is illegal except there is a loophole for national security issues.

Until such time as Trump says, fine, let the USMCA run it's course and they we will negotiate a new deal (hopefully, in good faith, but that doesn't really apply to anything Trump does). I won't believe this is over.

I agree a trade deal is common sense. When has Trump ever demonstrated he has any of that?

 

[Virtual ghost]

I'm not as optimistic as you that this circus is over yet. Trump doesn't know what he is doing. It's like his greatest healthcare plan the world has ever seen (from Trump 1.0) that is still in the concept stage. He likes tariffs but is clueless as to how they really impact economies.

There is already a "deal". It was NAFTA and in Trump's first term (2016) it was renegotiated as USMCA and all parties were satisfied at the time but apparently Trump's negotiators did not know what they were doing and Canada and Mexico were ripping the USA off. Yeah, right - the most successful capitalist economy is the world had it's negotiators snookered by cagey maple syrup drinkers and taco eaters. The notion America is getting ripped off is pure Trump b.s. But if orange jesus says so, it must be true!

The USMCA runs until 2026 (these deals usually go for 10 years). Trump is tying the deal to border security because to renege on it is illegal except there is a loophole for national security issues.

Until such time as Trump says, fine, let the USMCA run it's course and they we will negotiate a new deal (hopefully, in good faith, but that doesn't really apply to anything Trump does). I won't believe this is over.

I agree a trade deal is common sense. When has Trump ever demonstrated he has any of that?

The key word in my claim is "seems".
My point was simply that the situation as it seems wouldn't blow up right away. What leaves the odds that this situation can be managed.
But to be honest I do think that only the tariffs on China are genuine. While everything else is more of a weird negotiating tactic with neighbors.

 

[ceecee]

The key word in my claim is "seems".
My point was simply that the situation as it seems wouldn't blow up right away. What leaves the odds that this situation can be managed.
But to be honest I do think that only the tariffs on China are genuine. While everything else is more of a weird negotiating tactic with neighbors.

Or they already agreed to all of this back in November (at least where Canada is concerned). So it's just a performance for the MAGA rubes.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Or they already agreed to all of this back in November (at least where Canada is concerned). So it's just a performance for the MAGA rubes.

We can't know that for sure. Especially since there are plenty of potential details in mix.
But some vague concept of a deal probably was made back then.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Global fury builds over Trump’s plan to turn Gaza into the Middle East ‘Riviera’

Middle East: Trump's Gaza takeover remarks met with backlash


He just threw the whole canister of gasoline into the fireplace (together with canister).

 

[The Cat]

eesh. >_<​