Mantis42 posted:

idgi

sinky posted:

OhFunny posted:

Armenia, Turkey agree to open border for third-country citizens

Armenia and Turkey have reached an agreement for the partial opening of their borders. Along with an agreement to allow direct air cargo trade at the earliest possible date.

Tankbuster posted:

https://twitter.com/mark_lynas/status/1545345583262695424

No u

mawarannahr posted:

https://twitter.com/armbreakingnews/status/1545500923199459330?s=21&t=nY8V0YRWYlRFbPRNApnx-A

mawarannahr posted:

yup. there’s been the usual friendly banter online about it

https://twitter.com/_akin1/status/1543091753200357376

the following posts offer a plausible explanation as to why now:

https://twitter.com/mungancagan/status/1543196506576003072

https://twitter.com/armbreakingnews/status/1545500923199459330?s=21&t=nY8V0YRWYlRFbPRNApnx-A

redneck nazgul posted:

I feel like Japan might benefit from becoming destabilized.

I just wanted to point out that destabilization might not be a bad thing in a particularly stagnant political culture, though obviously not destabilization to the point of civil war or whatever.

Crusader posted:

redneck nazgul posted:

I feel like Japan might benefit from becoming destabilized.

quote:

GT: You have said that the US is preparing for a war with China and "hoping that China suffers the same fate as the Soviet Union." Could you elaborate on that? What challenges does the US pose to the security situation in and around China?

Becker: There are two important aspects of this question but they are both very interconnected. The US is obviously planning and preparing for a military confrontation with China. But the goal is not war itself although that could happen. The US goal is to create a process inside of China similar to that which collapsed the Soviet Union. That could only happen if China lost its internal unity. This is the US plan and it's not really a secret: The US seeks nuclear primacy and military supremacy. The goal of this military buildup, naval and air provocations, the secret sending of military forces to Taiwan is designed to raise the specter of the containment or isolation of China. The real goal of the US is to create so much pressure on China that it will lead to political fractures within China with the hope that the government will lose its existing internal unity. It was the loss of unity inside the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) that led to the tragic and completely unnecessary dissolution of the Soviet Union.

US policymakers are operating out of a strategic playbook that is premised on the actual course of events in the 1980s that led to the shocking breakup of the Soviet Union, which - let us remember - was the second largest economy and military power. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the US government embarked on a very aggressive military buildup. The US refused new arms treaties. It placed advanced weapons all around the Soviet Union. The US military budget was nearly doubled. The US launched an effort to gain military supremacy in outer space and end the era of military parity between the two countries. The US consciously created a pressure cooker situation. This created fear inside the USSR that war was coming, and it led to a loss of confidence within the leadership and it aided a political current inside the leadership that sought to appease the US. Failure to properly deal with this aggressive posture and to properly manage political reforms led to the breakup of the unity within the CPSU and ultimately led to a counter-revolutionary overturn. I do not believe this will happen in China. This is an imperial fantasy. China is well aware of this strategy. But the US is playing a dangerous game by escalating toward war and confrontation and extinguishing the different cooperative parts of the US-Chinese relationships that have existed in the previous 40 years.

Cpt_Obvious posted:

Ok, so, ummm...

It is pretty clear that posters in the bad thread have googled "lead" and "china" and have now posted an FDA list of ceramics that contain lead.

gradenko_2000 posted:

Japan is a prison of nations and should be balkanized to free the Ainu and Ryukyuan people.

OK baizuo posted:

RIP

Tankbuster posted:

https://twitter.com/tara_chara/status/1545271352504078336?t=5kdyQIieAo2QeG9hr3QYNg&s=19

quote:

Amid grieving in Asia for Japan's Shinzo Abe, Chinese nationalists celebrate
The killing makes the People's Daily website top stories, while netizens post hateful comments.

Amid grieving in Asia for Japan's Shinzo Abe, Chinese nationalists celebrate
UPDATED at 12:40 a.m. EDT on 2022-07-08

The shooting death of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe Friday prompted grief across Asia, but mixed reactions on China's tightly controlled internet, with nationalistic Little Pinks openly celebrating Abe's death and government censors blocking a cryptic hashtag that could be a reference to public anger at the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s own leaders.

The news of Abe's death following a shooting by a gunman in Nara during an election campaign made it to the front page of the CCP's official People's Daily newspaper online edition, but as a fairly small headline below a plethora of stories about CCP leader Xi Jinping.

The paper carried a factual news report from state news agency Xinhua in full. However, its Japan channel also carried a Xinhua article about relations with South Korea dated July 6 and titled "From forced labor to 'comfort women,' Japan's human rights misdeeds cannot be denied."

China's nationalistic Global Times newspaper quoted Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida's reaction, condemning the "barbaric" attack, and Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian as saying that China was "shocked" by the incident.

"After Japan's announcement of Abe's death, Chinese Embassy in Japan also mourned Abe's passing and extended condolences to his family," the paper said.

It quoted "analysts" as saying that "Japanese right-wing forces may use this incident to push forward the trend of conservative transformation in Japanese politics ... bringing more security risks to the geopolitics of Northeast Asia."

It quoted Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, as saying that Abe's death could boost nationalistic sentiment in Japan.

"Japanese nationalism is also likely to be further strengthened by the incident," Da said. "People may have concerns about whether the volume of calls in Japan to return to the path of war will increase further."

Hateful comments

Some online comments reacting to Abe's death on Chinese social media platforms were nakedly hateful, according to The Great Translation Project Twitter account, which translates and curates social media commentary in China.

"The people of Shaanxi extend our warm congratulations to this," the account translated one comment as saying. Several other comments followed with the exact same wording, but referring to different parts of China.

Meanwhile a hashtag #kexibushini, which translates as "a pity it wasn't you," but could also be read as hinting at the wording "but Xi it wasn't you" in a possible reference to CCP leader Xi Jinping, was blocked on social media platforms.

One comment read: "These censors seem to know [what we mean] better than we do!" while another replied: "It's so funny. Everyone knows."

"Someone is likely getting scared in Zhongnanhai," another comment read, referring to the headquarters of the CCP leadership in Beijing.

Abe, 67, was shot from behind minutes after he started his speech in Nara, the Associated Press reported.

He was airlifted to a hospital for emergency treatment but was not breathing and his heart had stopped. He was later pronounced dead despite emergency treatment that included massive blood transfusions, the agency quoted hospital officials as saying.

Police arrested the suspected gunman at the scene of the attack, while prime minister Fumio Kishida and his cabinet ministers rushed back to Tokyo to respond to what Kishida called a "dastardly and barbaric" attack.

Sunday's parliamentary elections will go ahead as planned, he said.

Territorial, historical grievances

China and Japan have been at loggerheads over a disputed island chain, visits by Japanese politicians to the Yasukuni shrine, where some Japanese war criminals are interred, and an ongoing war of words over Tokyo's recognition of past military aggression and human rights abuses in East Asia.

In 2012, a tense diplomatic standoff with Japan sparked nationwide protests and anti-Japanese riots over the Senkaku, or Diaoyu, Islands, while China held war drills in waters near Japan after then opposition leader Shinzo Abe visited the controversial Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo which honors Japan's war dead, including Class A war criminals.

The CCP later launched a crackdown on "irrational" forms of nationalism at home, after thousands of people took to the streets in a wave of mass protests in Chinese cities that lasted for several weeks.

On the democratic island of Taiwan, where former president Lee Teng-hui was known to have a close relationship with Abe, President Tsai Ing-wen severely condemned the violence of the attack.

"Japan ... is an important democratic partner of Taiwan ... and former prime minister Abe was committed over the long term to deepening friendly ties between Taiwan and Japan," Tsai said.

A similar statement was issued by the office of former president Ma Ying-jeou.

Ko Wen-je, chairman of the Taiwan People's Party, said Abe's death was "a great loss for Taiwan-Japan relations."

Praise from Tibetans, Uyghurs, Southeast Asian leaders

In contrast to China, Tibetans and Uyghurs expressed grief for Abe and gratitude to him for championing their causes as people living unwillingly under oppressive Chinese rule.

The Dalai Lama wrote to Abe's widow Akie Abe offering his condolences.

"I am deeply saddened to hear that my friend, Mr. Abe Shinzo has passed away following a gunshot attack this morning," the Tibetan exiled spiritual leader wrote. "I pray for him and offer my condolences to you and members of your family."

"As you know, your late husband was a steadfast friend of the Tibetan people. I very much appreciated his friendship and support of our efforts to preserve our rich Buddhist cultural heritage and identity," the letter said.

The Germany-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) expressed shock at the killing of Abe, calling him a "genuine ally of the Uyghur people, by listening to their voices and defending the cause in international fora."

WUC President Dolkun Isa said Abe "always inspired great values, and he was a fervent supporter of the Uyghur cause, before and during his time as Prime Minister of Japan."

Further afield in Southeast Asia, leaders remembered Abe for his active diplomacy in the region that helped balance China's growing influence.

In strife-torn Myanmar, both the military junta that took power in a February 2021 coup and the shadow administration formed by members of the deposed civilian government hailed Abe as a friend to the Southeast Asian country.

"Myanmar's people will never forget the support and help which Mr. Abe offered to us. The people of Myanmar stand in solidarity with the people of Japan during this time of sorrow,” said Zin Mar Aung, foreign minister of the National Unity Government.

Military junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, speaking before Abe's death was announced, said the regime "denounced the act" and was "deeply shocked.".

"Former Prime Minister Abe is an old friend and good friend of Myanmar," he said.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed grief for Abe, who he called a ""a long-time good friend of mine and Cambodia."

"I was extremely shocked and deeply saddened to learn about the passing of His Excellency Abe Shinzo, resulting from the daylight assassination."

Abe, he said, "was an outstanding Japanese statesman who had been widely acknowledged and praised for his able leadership to move Japan forward and for his active contribution to peace, stability and prosperity in the region and beyond."

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. voiced “shock and deep sadness” at Abe’s death and sent condolences to his family and the Japanese people.

“He was a devoted friend and a supporter of the Philippines, and it was during his leadership that the Philippine-Japan relations truly flourished,” he added.

Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said Abe “will be remembered as the best role model for all” in a message of condolences.

“It is with utmost grief that I mourn the passing of a great friend,” said Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha.

“If there could be any consolation to this senseless tragedy – it is the fact that Prime Minister Abe made his beloved nation and the world a better place with his lifelong dedication to public service,” he added.

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Abe “had played an important role in strengthening the ties between Malaysia and Japan” while foreign minister Saifuddin Abdullah noted that as prime minister, he had “visited Malaysia three times and played a key role in advancing and diversifying further bilateral relations with Malaysia.”

In Bangladesh, which said it will observe a day of state mourning on Saturday in Abe’s memory, foreign minister A.K. Abdul Momen said "Shinzo Abe was a close friend of mine and he was also a friend of Bangladesh.”

State media in Vietnam carried Abe's killing as top news, publishing photos of Hanoi's top leaders meeting Abe, who had stepped up Japanese diplomacy in Southeast Asia and cultivated ties with Vietnam as a counter to China.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed sorrow to Japan and to Abe's family and appreciation for the support Abe extended to Vietnam, including his forging of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

In Laos, state media also reported Abe's death, while the government had yet to release any reaction on Friday.

mawarannahr posted:

How could the CCP do this hateful act to Japan in its time of bereavement?

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/polygraph-loyalty-07042022131133.html posted:

Chinese researchers develop device they say can test loyalty of ruling party members

An artificial intelligence institute in Anhui says the device is based on facial scans and a polygraph.

Researchers in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui say they have developed a device that can determine loyalty to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) using facial scans.

A short video uploaded to the Weibo account of the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center on June 30 said the project was an example of "artificial intelligence empowering party-building."

The Weibo post was later deleted, but a text summary of the video, produced in honor of the CCP's July 1 anniversary, remained available on the Internet Archive on Monday.

"Guaranteeing the quality of party-member activities is turning into a problem in need of coordination," the text said.

"This equipment is a kind of smart ideology, using AI technology to extract and integrate facial expressions, EEG readings and skin conductivity ... making it possible to ascertain the levels of concentration, recognition and mastery of ideological and political education so as to better understand its effectiveness," the description said.

"It can provide real data for organizers of ideological and political education, so they can keep improving their methods of education and enrich content," it said.

It said the device relies on "emotionally intelligent computing," among other methods, to measure to what extent subjects "feel grateful to the CCP, do as it tells them and follow its lead."

In the video, as reported by Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper, a researcher in white walks into a room and sits in front of a screen to take a test, before receiving a test score and analysis onscreen.

Big Brother

Before the post was deleted, some comments slammed the idea as "high-tech brainwashing," while others referenced George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984, saying that "Big Brother" would be watching them.

Anhui-based sociologist Song Da'an said the post had been removed due to its political sensitivity.

"Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center has been using biotechnology to measure the loyalty of party members and cadres," Song said. "This shows that the CCP is becoming more and more totalitarian."

"In the logic of a totalitarian society, more and more emphasis is placed on refining controllability, and party members are regarded as screws [that could come loose] and potentially cause damage; they are the enemy of the machine," he said.

Song said the technology was based on the polygraph, used by security services to detect lying, which was itself based on the word association experiments of Swiss psychiatrist C.G. Jung.

"They are using this technology to treat all party members as potential anti-CCP agents," he said. "The use of these technology on officials demonstrates the sorry state of affairs within party ranks."

A Jiangxi-based current affairs commentator surnamed Zhang agreed.

"They are consolidating their power to better hold onto it," Zhang said. "That's what these people want; to consolidate their position."

"Would a regime that served the people be afraid of losing political power?"

'All-seeing eye'

A call to the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center on Monday resulted in a recorded message saying "Sorry, the person you have called isn't authorized to take your call. Goodbye."

In 2018, authorities in Zhejiang province installed an "all-seeing eye" in a high-school classroom to spot students who weren't paying attention or who fell asleep in class, official media reported.

The new system at the Hangzhou No. 11 High School links up a surveillance camera to facial recognition software that tracks students' movements and facial expressions, according to the Zhejiang Daily newspaper.

The technology was part of a trial of software and surveillance systems that could be rolled out elsewhere as part of the development of "smart campuses," the paper said.

"The system ... can perform statistical analysis on students' behaviors and expressions in the classroom and provide timely feedback on abnormal behaviors," the report said.

Data collected by the system will be analyzed by the software, and overly inattentive or sleepy behavior will generate a prompt to the teacher to admonish the offender, it said.

The data could also be used to evaluate teachers' performance in the classroom, the report said.

Steve Yun posted:

https://twitter.com/nezumi_ningen/status/1545544332559749121?s=21&t=mLm0CwnHoaLV4pJCasdG_Q

He named the cult to the cops but they haven’t named it to the press so people are speculating it’s either Unification Church or Soka Gakkai

gradenko_2000 posted:

what the gently caress

gradenko_2000 posted:

what the gently caress

gradenko_2000 posted:

what the gently caress

gradenko_2000 posted:

Japan is a prison of nations and should be balkanized to free the Ainu and Ryukyuan people.

Al-Saqr posted:

oh my good when it hit me it hit HARD lol

Al-Saqr posted:

Even though I'm an optimistic socialist my face says 'nihilistic blackpilled anarchist crazy person' written all over it so I'm hosed.