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Vincent Van Goatse posted:There's a substantial number of Americans who still think most of Eastern Europe lives either in the 16th century or that village from Borat. You could probably convince them you can tie a donkey up next to any major legislative building in Moldova. and yet actual kazakhstan come full circle on being very mad about borat to embracing it as part of their official tourism promo ads i very much want to see that print ad, but i do not have an NYT archival sub or the time to try and figure out when exactly it ran
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May 3, 2024 00:01
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Vincent Van Goatse posted:There's a substantial number of Americans who still think most of Eastern Europe lives either in the 16th century or that village from Borat. You could probably convince them you can tie a donkey up next to any major legislative building in Moldova. And even more substantial number of Western Europeans (looking at you Netherlands).
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May 3, 2024 00:02
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Bright Bart posted:Yeah I would be thankful to learn that this is an intricate take but I got the joke just being the showerthought lol imagine if the prizes on gameshows were stuff we have, take for granted, or consider mid- at best, it would suck but winning them would probably make the day of people in say Moldova I'm pretty sure I learned the Russian names for household appliances by watching Pole Chudes as a kid in the very early 1990s. Remembering the excitement of the participants when they won a vacuum cleaner or a juice press, I could kind of, sort of see where that stereotype is coming from. That was more than 30 years ago, though. Also, I'm still sort of mad at Germans running the Deutsche Welle Polen gag in TV Total.
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May 3, 2024 09:32
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You watch TV Total? That's kind of a self own tbh. The only good TV is Arte and the Kika Nachtschleife with Bernd das Brot.
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May 3, 2024 10:10
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Bright Bart posted:e: If anyone not from Poland is confused about why I don't just register myself as living where I do, it's not that simple. Registering somewhere indefinitely requires you to either own/control the property or have permission from the person who does. And if you don't own the property you are basically out of luck unless you have a family member who likes you who owns property nearby. No landlord would consider allowing you to register in a million years. They often put up roadblocks to even temporarily registration. Basically during part of Communism apparently being registered as living somewhere meant a right to live there (because your registration was the allocation of a domicile). And even at other times there were certain rights like you might not own the house/flat or have the right to live there, but the owner needs your permission to sell the property. So actually even family who like you might not do it for you if they're old and remember commie days. Interesting, in Czechia you always have the right to register yourself in a rented flat, you just have to bring the contract. Lot of contracts try to do the usual BS of "akshually you can't register permanent residence here", but that's illegal and unenforceable.
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May 3, 2024 12:07
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Well the elections lady told me it was Permanent Registration that was the goal, since the impetus was to stop people from renting a place for a day where they thought they could vote strategically. As in people in one party's stronghold voting in a swing ward. (It would still have done nothing to prevent people from getting friends or family to register them at their place on that ward. Registering is quick and painless you just need proof of ownership or permission.) Temporary registration can be done against the landlord's will but is a pain. Maybe some of the details I have wrong but from what I gather you submit your lease and a statement saying that you are using that address for registration purposes but have asked the landlord to write you a statement of permission and they have refused. iirc they inform the landlord that someone has registered at that address (which on its own is reasonable; I'd want to know if someone is claiming to be living in my house) and this can obviously cause lots of drama up to not having your lease renewed but colder relations for sure. As for tenously enforceable agreements, just after COVID restrictions eased I came to see a few rentals and the agents asked for a signed, notarized (!) statement from a family member saying that at any point in time you have their permission to move in with them and stay indefinitely, along proof that the relative owns that property. They were worried that the government might just make it harder to evict people even if they don't pay rent or are disruptive so long as they have nowhere else to go. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 12:40 on May 3, 2024 |
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May 3, 2024 12:33
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Bright Bart posted:As for tenously enforceable agreements, just after COVID restrictions eased I came to see a few rentals and the agents asked for a signed, notarized (!) statement from a family member saying that at any point in time you have their permission to move in with them and stay indefinitely, along proof that the relative owns that property. They were worried that the government might just make it harder to evict people even if they don't pay rent or are disruptive so long as they have nowhere else to go. Yeah, that one's the new meta. The notary is a necessary element of pulling off this legal trick, which is essentially removing safeguards on evicting you. This, in itself, is fairly reasonable: if you acted in really bad faith about reneging on the contract and just squatting in the place the landlord can't quite just call the cops and throw you out and it'd all become a nasty extrajudicial spat of changing locks, cutting off power etc. unless you fancy a legal case that goes as long as any legal case in this country while they're probably using the rent to pay off mortgage because Poles don't have a better idea for how to invest their savings crumbling against the inflation. For the vast majority of the time it's just a regular rear end social protection for people not to get kicked to the curb after missing a payment after 10 years in a place, but of course the people are concerned about getting saddled with that one actual bad faith case. Much like some don't want to rent to foreigners because what if they just gently caress off abroad and any overdue payments become unenforceable. But in this case there's a readymade legal trick that costs you next to nothing and makes the hypothetical bad faith tenant actually evictable, and it's become a de facto market standard so nobody will be really able to turn you down over it - so it becomes a no brainer to do it just for the peace of mind. It's kind of like with the civil law contracts supplanting actual employment agreements: they come from a place that's not completely unreasonable, but it sure sucks that they've become the new standard.
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May 3, 2024 18:28
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Antigravitas posted:You watch TV Total? That's kind of a self own tbh. Watched, around the turn of the millennium. ARTE concerts kick rear end however.
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May 3, 2024 18:40
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The thing with “najem okazjonalny” is it also doesn’t guarantee anything - the tenant confirms via a notary that they have an address that will take them in should they be evicted. However, the tenant is not obligated to inform the landlord that they’ve lost the eviction address and there’s no way for the landlord to confirm the place even exists. Furthermore, the whole eviction proceeding can be basically blocked. https://www.bankier.pl/amp/wiadomos...zepisow-8481241
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May 3, 2024 19:22
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Question: Has anyone been to a warm country (when it was warm)? We had close to thirty degrees here in April and it was hotter in Berlin or Warsaw than in Madrid or Ankara on several days. But you get what I mean. I've travelled Europe north of the Alps pretty intensively. Basically just Denmark and Ireland left on my list. But nothing further south. Don't get me wrong I think Alicante and the Greek islands have more beauty than anything here, I just presume they're full of partying tourists. Same reason I haven't been to Zakopane. But now I really want to see all eight major Canary islands. I've learned that no they're not just Mediteranian islands but off Africa. Sure there are beaches and palm trees but they're basically overworldly with landscapes that look like the moon and Mars aside from rainforests and deserve eithin just an hour away from each other. Stuff I'll probably never see unless I go there. If you want to get jealous like I am go to https://www.hellocanaryislands.com ON MOBILE (key) and look up the individual island profile.
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May 6, 2024 10:39
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Bright Bart posted:Question: Has anyone been to a warm country (when it was warm)? We had close to thirty degrees here in April and it was hotter in Berlin or Warsaw than in Madrid or Ankara on several days. But you get what I mean. There is a lot of Greece that is not a party island full of tourists, you just need to avoid the dry periods (since it will be wildfire season). If you never went south of the alps there is also Italy to see. Everyone that i know that went to the canaries told me that it was fun but felt as artificial as going to Disneyland.
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May 6, 2024 13:46
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I can understand that sentiment, because the photos do look like an artificial big-budget park like 'Moon Land' and 'Mars Colony' or 'Land of a Thousand Natural Pools' or 'The Mummy Caves'. But it's formed naturally and much of the islands have some of the lowest levels of human development in Europe. I'm sure some of it feels artificial, like getting a camel ride from basically domesticated animals through a dessert where help is on location, or trekking through routes that have been build up. I've heard some folks consider Everest to feel artificial as well even though almost by definition it shouldn't. If they mean it was crowded with sightseers and families then I also get that but from what I understand there is a lot of land that has very few visitors, including beaches where you won't see any other people around. As for Italy, yeah I'd love to go but even then I dream of the Dolomites and Lombardia. So technically south of the Alps but absolutely not what I think of when I think of a 'hot country' and even culturally Mitteluropean to some extent.
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May 6, 2024 14:00
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Things were kind of screwy last year! The Mediterranean was unseasonably wet, with spells of cold showers hitting anywhere from Sardinia to Greece. That is then punctuated by spell of extreme hit, with places like Sicily getting up to 42C. Travelling in the summer across the south can become unbearable quick! The great thing about the Canary Islands, Madera or most of Greece is they're out in the middle of the ocean/sea, so however hot it gets, the wind keeps things moving. Now, if you take that same heat and apply it to Italian, Spanish or French cities and towns, they are just a horrible oven full of angry tourists and you won't be able to really do anything for most of the day due to the heat. The rule of thumb is avoid going anywhere from late July to early September. Conversely, a great time to go is June or September, especially now with the shifted/extended seasons. Note that every place will have it's own quirks and the climate changes are much more rapid than, say, in Canada - Turin and Milan will be completely different from Genoa, despite being 200km away.
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May 6, 2024 14:46
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A Polish judge has defected to Belarus. lol I don't know how well that will go for him. White Russia likely doesn't have either the need or patience for milking the PR beyond the very short term, since he's just a judge. They also lack the resources to make a defector live the high life for aforementioned PR. They won't make him a judge or give him a cushy spokesperson job even as far as those exist for anyone but the dictator's closer pals. I suspect They might provide him with an apartment and a few months rent and call it a day. But I guess it beats being in a literal prison here in Poland if he were convicted of what he's accused of having done.
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May 7, 2024 11:57
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Bright Bart posted:
Which is?
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May 7, 2024 12:02
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Polish security forces found listening devices in the rooms to be used for meetings in Katowice. No word on whether they suspect rogue journalists, nutty people, blackmailers, or a foreign power (which sadly could mean either an enemy's or an ally). This is the kind of investigation that is on the one hand eminently solveable. Other than the camera recording the hall, lists of people who accessed the buildings, receiving a tip, you could take the harder route and trace the devices. Eminently solveable but I'm not sure it will be solved. It's not even that I doubt the security agencies. It's that the work involved might be too much for most anyone.
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May 7, 2024 12:03
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Comte de Saint-Germain posted:Which is? Participating in a smear and intimidation campaign against judges who didn't support the then ruling party. Of itself that sounds like freedom of speech or a civil issue of him breaking his obligation to be non-partisan. But it was organized to the degree it seems like an actual attempt to interfere with the course of justice.
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May 7, 2024 12:04
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Bright Bart posted:A Polish judge has defected to Belarus. lol There was a Polish soldier, Emil Czeczko, who defected several years ago and told everyone how he and his squad mowed down literally hundreds of migrants at the border. He was a Belarusian state media darling for like a month for revealing the truth about European nazi monsters and all that. He later committed suicide. Or 'committed suicide'. There's a street named after him now in Hrodna where the Polish consulate is located, lol.
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May 7, 2024 12:33
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Bright Bart posted:Participating in a smear and intimidation campaign against judges who didn't support the then ruling party. I remember when Warsaw was plastered with posters of dead fishes in judge's robes.
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May 7, 2024 12:33
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Bright Bart posted:
Tenerife is amazing! 15-25 Celsius all year long, constant wind so it doesn't feel stuffy. Also you can start at sea level, take a scenic route up and be at 2000m plateau that is at 5 C. Also one side of the island is green, other arid. Yellow sand beaches, black sand beaches, everything you would want. As long as you avoid a couple cities (Puerto de Santiago and areas around that) you won't be exposed to Brit expats/tourists. Just be prepared to rent a car, public transport exists but isn't too useful.
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May 7, 2024 13:19
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Bright Bart posted:Question: Has anyone been to a warm country (when it was warm)? We had close to thirty degrees here in April and it was hotter in Berlin or Warsaw than in Madrid or Ankara on several days. But you get what I mean. Do not go during summer, it is literal hell during that time on top of everywhere being flooded with tourists. May, second half of September or first half of October is the optimal time to go. Weather is highly likely to still be nice, but much less crowds. In terms of countries I've been to, my list of recommendations would be: Portugal > Italy > Croatia > France > Spain > Monaco (lol) > Turkey.
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May 8, 2024 09:37
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Bright Bart posted:Question: Has anyone been to a warm country (when it was warm)? We had close to thirty degrees here in April and it was hotter in Berlin or Warsaw than in Madrid or Ankara on several days. But you get what I mean. I live in Malta. It's hellish during July and August. Scorching heat, approaching and exceeding 40C, high humidity, rolling blackouts due an overwhelmed electrical grid and too many tourists. Also constant fireworks. April to May and October to November are the best times to visit, should you be inclined to.
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May 8, 2024 09:50
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Hey, got any off-the-beaten-path recommendations for sandy beaches in Malta/Gozo? Or are there really only the 2-3 places everyone recommends? I’ve been to Malta 10 years ago, and back then with no kids to indulge, lack of beaches wasn’t a deal breaker too too much.
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May 8, 2024 11:04
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Sandy beaches and kid friendly areas are in short supply. Ramla beach in Gozo is nice, but not exactly off the beaten path.
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May 8, 2024 12:00
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Oh, I've been to that one last time. It looked way better tourist/crowd wise than beaches on Malta at least. I guess the tickets are bought already so we'll see for ourselves.
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May 8, 2024 13:31
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Yeah, September is the new August and June is the new July. Skip high Summer if you can. I'd recommend Autumn over Spring because the sea will be much warmer. Also, there's a travel thread for this. https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3318901
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May 8, 2024 15:07
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I'm in Corfu right now and it's exceeding expectations. Gorgeous countryside, perfect weather for my preferences (24ish), good food, friendly people. Secondinh the advice to avoid the summer months and major tourist hubs, but there's a vast amount of countryside around all these places in the Mediterranean still.
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May 8, 2024 16:43
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Tbilisi protests have escalated, with opposition protest leaders getting attacked by mobs https://twitter.com/revishvilig/status/1788672023989788737 https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/georgia-makes-six-delayed-arrests-after-rallies-against-foreign-agents-bill-2024-05-09/ commentary around georgia's particular weird situation re the NGOs in question having an outsize role in providing civic services and thus limiting the ability of the electorate to direct them: https://lefteast.org/unrest-georgia-foreign-influence-transparency-law/ this isn't really saying the law is good though: > Georgian Dream, the party that has been in power since 2012, has no intention to eradicate all foreign funding from the Georgian political economy. Quite the contrary, they are perfectly happy with the continued flow of foreign aid and how the donor-NGO-industrial complex churns out policies and (sort of) services. Georgia’s politics may be notoriously polarized, but Georgian Dream and most of the opposition parties are remarkably unanimous in their ideology: they all believe in technocratic, neoliberal, de-politicized governance, in which policies are designed by (foreign) experts drawing on supposedly objective data and technology. The more public services can be given over to the market, the better.
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May 10, 2024 05:04
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Qtotonibudinibudet posted:https://lefteast.org/unrest-georgia-foreign-influence-transparency-law/ I only did a skim but that article barely stops short of "CIA organized protests"
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May 10, 2024 10:11
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Feeling Blessed - At the Habsburg convention in Plano This was a fun read. quote:Closer to home, the United States, for all its faults, is a fabulous mix of cultures and peoples bound together by a tradition of republican pluralism and not the bafflingly complex family tree of an inbred polycule of medieval origin.
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May 10, 2024 12:51
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Hannibal Rex posted:Feeling Blessed - At the Habsburg convention in Plano Don't worry, the trumps are trying to create the American Habsburgs. They even have the baroque aesthetic down
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May 10, 2024 13:21
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steinrokkan posted:Don't worry, the trumps are trying to create the American Habsburgs. They even have the baroque aesthetic down Well if you are looking for inbreeding, the USA South is a good place to start your research.
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May 10, 2024 16:50
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Arzachel posted:I only did a skim but that article barely stops short of "CIA organized protests" Rochowanski at least im familiar with and isn't really going for that angle, she's been getting a lot of poo poo on twitter for essentially ignoring the protesters and trying to look at the issue solely with regard to Georgia's particular weak state/strong NGOs situation, it's more a both sides are kinda poo poo in their own particular way
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May 10, 2024 19:50
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Qtotonibudinibudet posted:Rochowanski at least im familiar with and isn't really going for that angle, she's been getting a lot of poo poo on twitter for essentially ignoring the protesters and trying to look at the issue solely with regard to Georgia's particular weak state/strong NGOs situation, it's more a both sides are kinda poo poo in their own particular way Rochowanski is myoptic about a bunch of things (such as thinking Sachs or Sakwa are serious people), but at least she has a ton of personal experience working in NGO ecosystems in EE and the Caucasus Her criticism that NGOs focus on issues they can get funding for rather than on those locals want addressed the most, with the attendant risk of them becoming increasingly out of touch with ordinary folks, is certainly valid. The problem is, giving an oligarch the means to selectively apply these new laws against NGOs critical of him isn't a beneficient solution to that problem.
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May 10, 2024 22:17
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Hannibal Rex posted:Rochowanski is myoptic about a bunch of things (such as thinking Sachs or Sakwa are serious people), but at least she has a ton of personal experience working in NGO ecosystems in EE and the Caucasus yeah, but i can kinda understand the damned if you do, damned if you don't sentiment anyway, most optimistic estimate has like 16% of the population of Tbilisi out against the law https://twitter.com/iamdenya_de/status/1789388739728249342 https://eurasianet.org/georgia-old-political-patterns-of-intimidation-and-violence-repeating-themselves quote:Opponents of the “foreign agents” law are now gearing up for a major rally on May 11. Georgian Dream has announced that parliament will begin debating the draft law for the third and final time on May 13.
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May 12, 2024 05:28
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doubleposting in the thread's "everyone in poland is on vacation at present" lull because ey why not the domestic violence murder trial of former qazaq economy minister Quandyq Bishimbaev has concluded in a guilty verdict and a sentence of 24 years imprisonment the case has been seen as a test of the Toqaev regime's adherence to rule of law versus the Nazarbayev-era untouchability of senior officials alongside increasing attention to domestic violence in the national zeitgeist https://twitter.com/eurasianet/status/1790146898650898922 https://eurasianet.org/kazakhstan-former-minister-found-guilty-in-high-profile-murder-case https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/former-kazakh-minister-gets-24-years-prison-murdering-his-wife-2024-05-13/ in continued georgia news, neither the protesters nor parliament are backing down https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/georgia-police-push-protesters-away-ahead-foreign-agent-bill-debate-russias-tass-2024-05-13/ ed because tripleposting would be too much, the law has passed, it has not gone well: https://twitter.com/AlecLuhn/status/1790351764060774453 https://twitter.com/JAMnewsCaucasus/status/1790309463422857696 Qtotonibudinibudet fucked around with this message at 18:24 on May 14, 2024 |
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May 14, 2024 01:21
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Slovak PM Fico was shot and transferred to hospital https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg6761ggxz1o?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Binforadio%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D
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May 15, 2024 14:21
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Apparently there has been assassination attempt on Slovakia prime minister edit: ninja'ed
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May 15, 2024 14:22
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You lot are fast
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May 15, 2024 14:24
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Is anything known about the shooter? I saw he was detained, but I haven't seen anything more yet.
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May 15, 2024 14:25
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