|
steinrokkan posted:Well, the previous Czech prime minister is currently awaiting trial for bribing politicians by offering them lucrative positions in the public service and the government. That's certainly a good start. HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:From the Trump campaign thread, seems relevant.
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2016 17:29
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 00:34 |
|
|
Dwesa posted:True, I forgot about it (I have only shallow insight into Czech politics). Maybe I should talk about things I know/remember more about. Oh, I wasn't disputing anything you were saying, I just thought it was something worth adding 
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2016 17:43
|
|
|
It's pretty fascinating (and depressing) to me that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" thinking is causing both the far right and far left to sidle up to Russia. I used to be a lot more politically active, and a lot of my activist buddies that I'm still in contact with love Russia, part because they're not the West, and part because they started following RT when RT was the only one giving Occupy anything close to fair news coverage and then ate up stuff about the CIA in Ukraine and whatever. I guess the right's into Russia because Putin snubs Obama regularly and also hates gays.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2016 18:00
|
|
|
BattleMaster posted:It's pretty fascinating (and depressing) to me that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" thinking is causing both the far right and far left to sidle up to Russia. I used to be a lot more politically active, and a lot of my activist buddies that I'm still in contact with love Russia, part because they're not the West, and part because they started following RT when RT was the only one giving Occupy anything close to fair news coverage and then ate up stuff about the CIA in Ukraine and whatever.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2016 18:07
|
|
|
mobby_6kl posted:^^^
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2016 18:36
|
|
|
Dwesa posted:Unless your friends are anarchists or other similar left movement, far right and far left have a lot in common. Mainly dictatorship and a role of state in former or current communist states and in fascist/nazi states was similar. Not so much my friends but I've run into some really hardcore left wing authoritarians who probably kept lists of people they'd put up against the wall if their revolution happened. The ones I'm still in contact with seem to just be willing to overlook the bad things Russia does because they too are opposed to the same governments.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2016 18:37
|
|
|
Happy to know that I've asked a good question  mobby_6kl posted:I don't think this is ever a problem, is it? Tons of people/parties run on on an "anti-corruption" platform and people loving love it, but of course one they get into power, poo poo-all gets done actually because they now stand to benefit from that corruption. As you say, the critical part is getting an independent agency to manage the efforts, as otherwise everything would get obstructed in the regular courts. You are right, but perhaps I should have said it a bit better in that the population needs to not just support but also enforce such measures if need be by civil action. Again with my vague recollections of Romania, the government tried to go back on the project but were then removed by the people. My memory is getting so terrible... At the very least I get a sense from everyone's posts that things are generally getting better in EE for this issue. Look like Russia is caught in a straight-jacket however as the state and the corruption has become one and the same and they sure as hell will never allow another body in to clean things up. Christ, they're still using open assassination of critics and opposition figures. Are there any examples of a new political party being formed that is a grassroots party for anti-corruption that has had success in EE? It just seems like such a crippling issue for a country to have that it would be easy to use it to reach electoral success even on a shoestring budget.* *Rigged elections excepted of course. _______________ BattleMaster posted:It's pretty fascinating (and depressing) to me that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" thinking is causing both the far right and far left to sidle up to Russia. I used to be a lot more politically active, and a lot of my activist buddies that I'm still in contact with love Russia, part because they're not the West, and part because they started following RT when RT was the only one giving Occupy anything close to fair news coverage and then ate up stuff about the CIA in Ukraine and whatever. This is a very depressing thing, an old friend of mine told me that I was supporting fascism by supporting Ukraine instead of Russia. That I needed to "not be so naive in believing NATO propaganda". Unfortunately many people seem to have gotten so utterly loving hung up on Anti-American Imperialism that they have created their blind spots for Russian and Chinese imperialism. I mean, for gently caress sake he excused Russia's actions because "Ukraine has always been a part of Russia's sphere of influence", which is incredibly lovely reasoning that I last saw in regards to the USA loving with South America. I'm not sure where I saw it elsewhere on these forums but I agree with this sentiment: "As a leftist, If the only alternatives to the USA are two terribly corrupt poo poo-holes with even more awful human rights records, then I am all the loving way with Uncle Sam."
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2016 21:11
|
|
|
I feel the best lever for getting folks who have gone into Amerikkka useful idiot territory is to give them, in detail, how press freedom works in the fascistic dictatorship they've chosen. I don't lead with the programmatic killing of dissenting journalists- that comes toward the end. If you lead with the killings, the morons will think that Snowden or Assange or Greenwald is a meaningful counterargument. I usually start with a litany of state-run media operations, specifically the ones targeted within the country. I only tell them these are the internally facing ones at the end of the list. Then I give them the ones targeting outside countries-at that point they start recognizing the names they've been relying on. Emphasizing the government agencies that run the propaganda shops is useful here- you don't want to let them convince themselves that this is a "free state-run press". I try to move to the killings before they get all tu quoque, and I try to use aggregate numbers (X dissident journalists dead in X years). I emphasize the individual cases that occur outside their country. If I get some buy-in, I can then follow up in the Russia case with a description of Russia's history of loving with US politics over time.
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2016 04:54
|
|
|
Yes but you see the press went along with lies about the Iraq war and are all in the pocket of kkkorporations so america's press is also corrupt so no examples of Russian "propaganda" can be ignored.
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2016 05:05
|
|
|
Xerxes17 posted:Which countries have taken on corruption and have managed to clear it out? What has worked and what has not?
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2016 09:36
|
|
|
Budzilla posted:Georgia was quite successful in dealing with corruption. The previous president, Saakashvili, fired 85%+ of police officers in Georgia and asked for US assistance in training new recruits - he threw the baby out with the bath water. Saakashvili did other reforms too, he does have critics who say he overstepped his powers as President but I'm guessing he will be remembered well. I don't think getting American training is really going to alleviate corruption and brutality among officers...
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2016 13:05
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:I don't think getting American training is really going to alleviate corruption and brutality among officers...
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2016 13:19
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:I don't think getting American training is really going to alleviate corruption and brutality among officers... American police are severe for a western nation, however in a global sense they're boy scouts. Police in Philippines have killed something like 700 people (mostly drug addicts) extra judicially since May, BOPE in Brazil murders street children, and police forces around the world are routinely involved in massive human rights violations, baldfaced corruption and various other atrocities. Not saying America is a shining beacon of how to do policing, but its important to keep a perspective.
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2016 13:33
|
|
|
The Queen of Romania died in Switzerland. Always find it puzzling there are people claiming to be Romanian royalty. http://www.romania-insider.com/queen-anne-romania-dies-hospital-switzerland/
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2016 18:18
|
|
|
HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:The Queen of Romania died in Switzerland. Always find it puzzling there are people claiming to be Romanian royalty. Why is it puzzling? The last reigning Romanian king is still alive.
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2016 18:26
|
|
|
Paladinus posted:Why is it puzzling? The last reigning Romanian king is still alive. Sadly he's 94 and has cancer. I think him and the tsar of Bulgaria are the only two leaders from WW2 still alive, although Simeon II was like 6 when he got the throne.
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2016 18:31
|
|
|
slavatuvs posted:Sadly he's 94 and has cancer. I think him and the tsar of Bulgaria are the only two leaders from WW2 still alive, although Simeon II was like 6 when he got the throne.
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2016 02:31
|
|
|
A bit of metanews from Ukraine that likely won't result in much due to optics: either hack or accidental leak of "DPR" internal documents suggested that a couple of a bit.... Russia-friendly channels were running their "news reports" by DPR "security officials" before running them.
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2016 16:27
|
|
|
OddObserver posted:A bit of metanews from Ukraine that likely won't result in much due to optics: either hack or accidental leak of "DPR" internal documents suggested that a couple of a bit.... Russia-friendly channels were running their "news reports" by DPR "security officials" before running them. Which channels? What's your source? I'm having fun making rudimentary sketches of the different Russian propaganda efforts/entities.
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2016 16:39
|
|
|
Discendo Vox posted:Which channels? What's your source? I'm having fun making rudimentary sketches of the different Russian propaganda efforts/entities. Inter and Ukraina --- those are TV channels within Ukraine aligned with Russia-friendly oligarchs, not part of the RTctopus. There are links to dumps around on twitter (too lazy to dig out oh my phone...), and Novaya Gazeta's Kanygin confirmed that at least his correspondence in them is real (it involved them complaining about his coverage, and him complaining about being detained).
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2016 17:06
|
|
|
Igor Plotnitsky, head of the LNR, is in critical condition after his car was blown up this morning. I guess he pissed off his masters.
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2016 16:55
|
|
|
slavatuvs posted:Igor Plotnitsky, head of the LNR, is in critical condition after his car was blown up this morning. Let's be fair- that could be the US.
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2016 18:34
|
|
|
So, Russia Today had a nice dinner yesterday in which Putin made an appearance. Who was also there? Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein and Donald Trump's military advisor Michael Flynn... https://twitter.com/zatchry/status/762055852991713280
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2016 14:23
|
|
|
Worrisome stuff in Crimea: Russia has briefly closed border crossings and is shipping in military HW after making attempts that some military personnel(?) got attacked.
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2016 16:12
|
|
|
OddObserver posted:Worrisome stuff in Crimea: Russia has briefly closed border crossings and is shipping in military HW after making attempts that some military personnel(?) got attacked. Where are you getting this from? This is the second post with no source.
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2016 16:18
|
|
|
HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:Where are you getting this from? This is the second post with no source.
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2016 16:28
|
|
|
HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:Where are you getting this from? This is the second post with no source. see e.g. the last view posts on Myroslava Petsa's (Channel 5 reporter) twitter: https://twitter.com/myroslavapetsa/status/762288482849026048 https://twitter.com/myroslavapetsa/status/762290953965150208 https://twitter.com/myroslavapetsa/status/762291693723017216 https://twitter.com/myroslavapetsa/status/762292669708132352 or some reports from UP: http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2016/08/7/7117088/ http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2016/08/7/7117057/ http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2016/08/7/7117059/ http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2016/08/7/7117076/
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2016 16:29
|
|
|
My friend linked me this twitter that has been tweeting a lot about Russian movements near/in Ukraine in the last 12 hours https://twitter.com/DEFCONWS Not sure how credible it is but anyway. https://twitter.com/DWSIntel/status/762409506525642752 Trogdos! fucked around with this message at 07:27 on Aug 8, 2016 |
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2016 07:24
|
|
|
I can't imagine the forces in Transnistria to amount to much, despite the big scary red patch. They're deployed against Moldova, not Ukraine. ...or are they?!? Would be a baller move to secretly assemble a mechanized army group there.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2016 11:34
|
|
|
https://www.thenation.com/article/donald-trump-isnt-the-presidential-candidate-we-should-be-worried-about/ Is this an accurate picture of PiS?
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2016 13:52
|
|
|
I don't know about America, but I really dislike this lazy division into "Poland A" and "Poland B". PiS won the parliamentary elections in *every* age and social group, in villages and in large cities. Their rhetoric and political slogans fit perfectly into the current Polish zeitgeist - we are oppressed/under attack from the EU/Russia/Germany/islam/Jewish cabal/homonazi liberals, Poland stronk, etc.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2016 20:40
|
|
|
szary posted:I don't know about America, but I really dislike this lazy division into "Poland A" and "Poland B". PiS won the parliamentary elections in *every* age and social group, in villages and in large cities. Their rhetoric and political slogans fit perfectly into the current Polish zeitgeist - we are oppressed/under attack from the EU/Russia/Germany/islam/Jewish cabal/homonazi liberals, Poland stronk, etc. Well, the total amount of votes for them compared to voting population was quite small was it not?
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2016 21:54
|
|
|
Zudgemud posted:Well, the total amount of votes for them compared to voting population was quite small was it not? You could say that about every government since the fall of communism. Poland is remarkably apathetic in regards to exercising its right to vote and turnouts are usually right around or under 50%. The highest turnout ever for parliamentary elections was 53% and the lowest was 40%. Turnout's a little higher in presidential elections, but since the power of the president in Poland is very restricted they're actually less important.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2016 22:07
|
|
|
Nenonen posted:I can't imagine the forces in Transnistria to amount to much, despite the big scary red patch. They're deployed against Moldova, not Ukraine. Russian forces in Moldova you say? https://www.rt.com/in-motion/354779-saber-guardian-2016-romania/
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2016 12:56
|
|
|
I read articles like this and seriously wonder what purpose they serve. Poland seeks to become mediator in pursuing closer relations between the EU and Belarus quote:Poland seeks to become mediator in pursuing closer relations between the EU and Belarus And Poland always wants a seat on the security council next year.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2016 13:44
|
|
|
I guess Poland is trying to get in the news for something else than their awful government.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2016 15:23
|
|
|
HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:I read articles like this and seriously wonder what purpose they serve. Poland is acting very friendly towards Belarus lately. There are talks about simplifying the process of issuing Polish visas for Belarusians, huge programmes for exchange students, days of Polish culture in Minsk. It's nice, but so far Belarus was doing very little in return, as far as I know. I guess the security council seat explains it at least a bit.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2016 15:38
|
|
|
Tangentially related because of Russia, Hilary Clinton is ahead in the polls in North Carolina of all places, but a keen insight can be gleaned from their polling breakdown...Public Policy Polling posted:Vladimir Putin has a 9/63 favorability rating with North Carolinians, and Russia as a whole comes in at 14/51. By a 49 point margin they're less likely to vote for a candidate Russia is perceived to prefer for President, and by a 33 point margin they're less likely to vote for a candidate seen as friendly toward Russia. This issue is not doing Trump any favors.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2016 18:43
|
|
|
Young Freud posted:Tangentially related because of Russia, Hilary Clinton is ahead in the polls in North Carolina of all places, but a keen insight can be gleaned from their polling breakdown... Thank God for cold war indoctrination.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2016 19:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 00:34 |
|
|
Trump's real/perceived connections with Russia might be his actual Achilles heel. If it becomes a focus in the campaign it could turn the tide.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2016 20:54
|
|
