The point is I have no issue with revolution, even if it turns violent. But the movement must come and be maintained from within, and the word "must" is not negotiable.


How is Albanese? I knew you weren't a big fan of Shorten, even if you still supported him over Morrison. Do you think Albanese is better than Shorten?

Albanese is fine. I think he and Morrison are two sides of the same coin, to be honest. He does seem a little more level-headed than Morrison, though. As for being better than Shorten, well, I don't really know. Shorten never became prime minister and did his absolute best and still lost. I hope that's not the case this time.

Morrison has very little support in this country, if general sentiment is to be believed. I think he's a liar and a hypocrite, and his party have worsened conditions in Australia over the last 8-10 years. Albanese might not be any better, really, but voting Morrison back in will tell him that his behaviour and policies were okay. They're not okay. A change in government is sorely, sorely needed.

Australia still has it better than most countries around the world today, but there's been a dip and it's time for the dip to end.

I mean, really, this is the guy who wants to be re-elected:

A minor copesetic if Le Pen manages to do the unthinkable. I see this as basically only possible if either Le Pen wins or only narrowly loses:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... -melenchon

Macron won, but it's not the blowout 2017 was. 41% for the far right is not unconcerning.

Yeah, it's not great. On the other hand, my understanding of the French presidency is that incumbency is actually not an advantage (only two French presidents had won reelection in six decades of elections before Macron) the way it's often thought of in American politics and Macron's reelection was never going to be the landslide it was in 2017. I wouldn't be surprised if a large chunk of Le Pen's vote came from people all over the spectrum who weren't voting for the far right, just against Macron because he was the guy who happened to be in charge at the time and Le Pen was the only other choice in the second round.

That's just speculation though, I'm sure any French users here would have better insight.

In other, more positive news, today in Slovenia a right-wing populist Viktor Orban-lite was toppled by a green liberal party that will most likely form a center-left coalition and assume a majority.

If Le Pen's unhinged, rambling debate performance is what did her in in 2017 I can't help but wonder if her doubling down on a hijab ban kept her from doing even better this time. Even among many American Republicans who despise Islam, using government to ban something so personal would not fly.

lollllllllll

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/07/10915100 ... ransgender

https://thehill.com/changing-america/re ... to-adults/

What? Do you live in a vacuum somewhere in another dimension?

Today's Reoublicans don't have anything even resembling a set of values. They're also more openly theocrats, they would 100% support a ban on the hijab. Maybe not on a federal level right before an election, but on a state level? Absolutely. I'd see DeSantis do it to gain Brownie points form the chuds.

In what universe is Le Pen's islamophobia not one of her primary selling points?

Do you not realize what right-wing movements fundamentally are?

As someone with a mental disorder, I would like to distance myself from the debate performance of a racist demagogue.

Fuck. Ableism is a tough habit to kick; while it's easy to perish the r-word and 'mong' variants from your vocabulary, mentally ill, spastic, moron and cretin can fall through the cracks for a millenial conditioned on the 00's internet. I sort of like the invective "Philistine" because they no longer exist so it's hard to be worried about punching down, but then everyone just thinks I'm Chabad or something. I apologize, I'll edit.

Anyway, my point was that banning religious clothing is what you do when you've consolidated power, are deep into your term, have passed multiple less outwardly grotesque laws against the religion you oppose and have an activated religious population. Modi is an example of this, but even Modi knows to roll it out more slowly. Stepping into an allegedly secular society (even one wracked by a refugee "crisis" as well as others) like France and saying, "hey yo, I wanna get elected and also let's use state power to prevent Muslim women from wearing cloth" is like a Republican Presidential candidate trying to get elected by rolling out a proposal for federal legislation to make it a felony to not wear clothing associated with the sex on your birth certificate. Republicans are on this path now but they're doing it smartly; like Morrigan posted they're introducing bans on gender affirming care for childen, then on younger adults, then presumably a ban on gender affirming care altogether (to protect kids from "groomers," no doubt) and THEN, assuming they actually managed to pass all of that garbage without getting shellacked electorally or a literal revolution, THEN you get to ban the rest. Banning hijabs in France is the move you take to prepare the ground for mass deportations, not to get elected.

That move to me seems just as boneheaded as the shit she pulled in 2017.

( ICYMI )

Election day in Australia! Scott Morrison likely to lose but will not confirm anything until results are in. I'm Atheist but praying to anything out there that he's kicked out.

It's looking a little dicey. Polls have narrowed in the days leading up to the election and surveys consistently seem to find voters like Morrison better than Albanese (even if they prefer Labor as a party). Here's hoping there isn't another 2019 surprise around the corner.

Yeah that's what I'm hoping, too- no 2019 surprises. I'm nervous about those close polls - how a corrupt "leader" like ScoMo could have any support baffles me - but I'm still hopeful of a Labor win. Either way, I'm having a big drink tonight.

Congrats to Aussies for kicking the Morrison out!

Shit guys, do you know what you voted for???



While this wasn't an official ad for Morrison, it's safe to say Aussies have been taking notes from us yanks.

Thank you! I'm extremely happy that Scott Morrison is gone! He has been a bugbear of our country for too long.


I have seen that billboard a couple of times when driving. I always found it funny rather than daunting.

For now, I'm very happy with the election result. Enough Australians had seen enough.

Anthony, over to you now....

^Labour both sides of the ditch now Mikey. Be interesting to see if Labour can hold on for a 3rd term here.

I hope so. Ardern is well-loved outside of New Zealand, however I know she's facing more criticism within. Maybe Labor on both sides will rejuvenate the political friendship between us - a friendship Morrison was doing his best to sabotage.

It seems like everywhere has been slipping backwards lately, so I'm happy to see the results in Australia.

The election results in Australia were really interesting. While Labour won, and seem likely to form a majority government, virtually every seat saw a voting swing away from both major parties. Australia had a slew of independent candidates win seats from both parties. The real story of the Australian election isn't Labour winning, it was the clear disenfranchised voting off the Australian people. Nobody liked Scott Morrison, but nobody was inspired by Anthony Albanese. People have no belief in the major parties. People are tired of two party politics in this country.

Shinzo Abe was assassinated this morning.

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/08/11104405 ... abe-killed

Very shocking news for a country with such a low crime rate.

On a similar note, the former president of Angola has also died today. Don't know too much about him, gotta check more information then.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-61426699

Congratulations Brazil for kicking Bolsonoro out.

Seconded! It was still a very close call, and Lula has his issues, but any day fascism loses is a damn good day.

Thirded. It won't magically solve the problems in Brazil but it's the best damn start they could've had. Fuck Bolsonaro.

I bet Brazil loves that Trump set this precedent. This shit continues to blow my mind. It's not easy to admit it, but I'm less depressed/feeling doom etc these days than going back into the process of feeling amazement that there are this many cognitively challenged + hateful people in the world. It was sad enough that Trump is permanently in the US history books, but to think the world will be hearing this guy's name potentially forever as well is beyond words. And Bolsonaro will be a mere footnote, though not insignificant. It's too bad all the boomers who are supporting these degenerates aren't going to be around to see the fruits of their selfishness and xenophobia.

I agree. The old fuckers are content to set the world ablaze, and leave us to clean up the mess after their appendixes finally rupture.

Apparently New Zealand have a new interesting policy to prevent smoking. It's illegal for anyone born in 2009 or later to buy tobacco, and it will stay that way for the rest of their lives. This means that the age limit for buying tobacco will get increasingly higher. So in 50 years, you have to be 63 or older to buy tobacco there.

So it looks like Israel will kick off the new year by instigating WW3 now that Netanyahu is back in power and has ushered in with him a far-right, totalitarian coalition government, which seeks to topple their sham of a democracy. I say "sham" because Israel was never a democracy to begin with, but rather a racist and hyper-ethnocentric apartheid regime; only this time, the religious loonies, equivalent to ISIS in their ambitions, are now able to freely impose their theocratic beliefs onto others without any opposition.

yeah but ask yourself: why did Hamas shoot rockets? it's like if I punch the guy that is invading my home and he replied by shooting me with a rpg, killing my whole family

Coming from one 5-10 minute news piece, and the only time I've heard anyone talk about it, what is happening in Slovakia is a bummer. From working with a group from there, I could tell a little that they were outliers, but I thought they were appreciative of the EU, being free, and not being under Russian rule any longer.

I haven't heard one American politician mention the atrocities happening in Nagorno-Karabakh. Is no one going to do anything?

A few have spoken up about it. Bob Menendez and Adam Schiff especially. I don't anticipate much of anything will happen though. All eyes are on Ukraine and eastern Europe more broadly and there isn't much appetite to get involved in what many will perceive to be just another fight over land in western Asia (especially given some of the incredibly basic misrepresentations of history mainstream western outlets have been making). As an Armenian-American, 'disappointing' isn't nearly a strong enough word, but that's just the reality of it. At the very least I hope the west will help Armenia expand its capacity to deal with the tens of thousands of refugees who are flooding into its borders fleeing Azeri violence.

Well, the Nagorno-Karabakh situation is a perfect example of one of the un-intended consequences of a geopolitically weakened Russia. I don't know how some people here in the western op-ed community relished the thought of this, thinking that Russia remains in some sort of vaccuum that doesn't affect anywhere else. Russian soft-power and threat of something more overt kept the Azerbaijanis in line.

That being said, I think that a good deal COULD have been cut for the Armenian ethnic group within a "united" Azerbaijan, if the Armenian political body accepted the inevitable and didn't hang all their hats on the EU and NATO, which they did, and as you can see, nothing came of it. Another dangled carrot. There was a real lack of realpolitik happening with this one.

I'm certain those people would have preferred that Russia didn't tank its position by invading Ukraine.

Pretty crappy geopolitical analysis. Russian soft power didn't 'keep the Azerbaijanis' in line, Russia worked to basically freeze the conflict by playing both sides. If it perceived one or the other to be gaining the upper hand, it lent a little more weight to its opponent, because a conclusive resolution didn't serve Russia's interests. Why let the issue rest when keeping it alive keeps one or both countries reliant to varying extents on Russia and prevents either of them from wandering out of its sphere of influence?


You seem entirely unaware that to many Armenians, 'the inevitable' you're referring to is ethnic cleansing. After what happened in 1915, after the waves of mass violence against Armenians in Baku and other places in the late 80s, after the constant refusals by the Azeri government simply to guarantee the safety of ethnic Armenians, after the brutality and acts of desecration shown by Azeri soldiers against captured and killed Armenian soldiers, after Azeri violations of ceasefires and agreements, do you really think Armenians are in the habit of assuming that Azerbaijan will do anything in good faith?

And before you try and paint that as all in Armenians' collective head, multiple outside sources, from third party governments to the International Criminal Court, have regarded Azerbaijan's actions as tantamount to genocide and ethnic cleansing. So kindly don't do us the disservice of lecturing us about cutting a deal with people who have never played coy about their desire to see us functionally exterminated from what they consider to be 'their land.'