World News Random, Random

[ashkor87]

Now Xi is purging high ranking officers in his military..people like Xi do crazy things when they feel threatened..this is a very dangerous time for the world..until Jan 20..the transition from a weak lame-duck US president to a crazy one...

[ti-amie]

Now Xi is purging high ranking officers in his military..people like Xi do crazy things when they feel threatened..this is a very dangerous time for the world..until Jan 20..the transition from a weak lame-duck US president to a crazy one...

The situation in Asia, especially with regard to Taiwan is precarious to put it mildly.

Did you see Tiny invited Xi to his inauguration and Xi declined the invite?

[ashkor87]

Now Xi is purging high ranking officers in his military..people like Xi do crazy things when they feel threatened..this is a very dangerous time for the world..until Jan 20..the transition from a weak lame-duck US president to a crazy one...

The situation in Asia, especially with regard to Taiwan is precarious to put it mildly.

Did you see Tiny invited Xi to his inauguration and Xi declined the invite?

yes, a bit scary...

[ponchi101]

Yeah, a weak, lame duck president. Who has rebuilt the economy of his country after the pandemic faster than any other country. and has put down the Russian army in a distant world without a single American casualty, and who has re-established America as the premier leader of NATO.
I can't get it how people are unable to see that this guy has been damn good. Except at self promotion. But we live in a world of self promotion, so he sucks.
Beats me.

[ti-amie]

Russia to prepare for war with NATO
Putin warned that Western help for Ukraine is reaching a “red line” for Russia.

December 16, 2024 8:14 pm CET
By Veronika Melkozerova
Russia has to prepare for war with NATO as well as complete its war against Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov told the Defense Ministry on Monday in a joint meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

“The Ministry of Defense of Russia must be ready for any development of events, including a possible military conflict with NATO in Europe in the next decade,” Belousov said.

The Russian comments come as United States President-elect Donald Trump called for a rapid end to the fighting, saying on Monday: “We’re trying to get the war stopped, that horrible, horrible war that’s going on in Ukraine, Russia, Ukraine. We’re going to get a little progress, it’s a tough one, it’s a nasty one, it’s nasty.”

Trump added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "should be prepared to make a deal."

But Moscow shows no sign of giving up the fight it launched over two years ago.

Belousov said that Russia has taken the initiative in the fighting and aims to fully conquer Ukraine's Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Donetsk regions by next year. He claimed that Ukrainian troops are exhausted and the Russian army has been rapidly advancing on all fronts.

He added that Russia has managed to recruit more than 427,000 troops this year — or an average of 1,200 a day.

He also warned that Russia has to prepare to fight NATO due to the threat posed by the alliance.

“This is evidenced by the decisions that were taken at the North Atlantic alliance summit held in July this year. It is also reflected in the doctrinal documents of the U.S. and other NATO countries,” the minister added.

At the same time, Putin blamed the U.S. for “scaring people with a mythical Russian threat” while sending “instructors” to help Ukraine; there is no evidence of Ukraine's allies sending instructors into the country.

“Due to this, Russia is approaching the red line, through which it can no longer retreat and begins to respond," Putin said.

He put the blame for tensions with the West on NATO.

“NATO countries increase military spending and presence near Russian borders. The number of American servicemen in Europe has already exceeded 100,000,” Putin said.

https://www.politico.eu/article/russia- ... mir-putin/

If Tiny succeeds in pulling the US out of NATO will he send US troops to help his handler?

[ti-amie]

German Chancellor Scholz loses no-confidence vote, paving way for election
By Friederike Heine and Andreas Rinke
December 16, 20243:21 PM ESTUpdated 2 hours ago

Summary

Scholz's coalition collapsed after Free Democrats quit over debt
Merz leads conservatives, well ahead in opinion polls
Scholz remains interim chancellor, election likely to be on Feb. 23
AfD complicates coalition possibilities, mainstream parties refuse to govern with them

BERLIN, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The German parliament accepted Chancellor Olaf Scholz's invitation to withdraw its confidence in him and his government on Monday, clearing the way for an early election on Feb. 23 necessitated by the collapse of his government.

Scholz's three-party coalition fell apart last month after the pro-market Free Democrats quit in a row over debt, leaving his Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens without a parliamentary majority just as Germany faces a deepening economic crisis.

Under rules designed to prevent the instability that facilitated the rise of fascism in the 1930s, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier can only dissolve parliament and call an election if the chancellor calls, and loses, a confidence vote.

The debate preceding the vote also opened serious campaigning for the election, with party leaders trading ill-tempered barbs.

The chancellor and his conservative challenger Friedrich Merz, who surveys suggest is likely to replace him, charged each other with incompetence and lack of vision.

Scholz, who will head a caretaker government until a new one can be formed, defended his record as a crisis leader who had dealt with the economic and security emergency triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

If given a second term, he said, he would invest heavily in Germany's creaking infrastructure rather than making the spending cuts he said the conservatives wanted.

"Shortsightedness might save money in the short term, but the mortgage on our future is unaffordable," said Scholz, who served four years as finance minister under a previous coalition with the conservatives before becoming chancellor in 2021.

Merz told Scholz his spending plans would burden future generations and accused him of failing to deliver on promises of rearmament after the start of the Ukraine war.

"Taking on debt at the cost of the young generation, spending money - and you didn't say the word 'competitiveness' once," said Merz.

Neither mentioned the constitutional spending cap, a measure designed to ensure fiscal responsibility that many economists blame for the fraying state of Germany's infrastructure.

CONSERVATIVES IN CLEAR LEAD IN OPINION POLLS

The conservatives have a comfortable, albeit narrowing lead of more than 10 points over the SPD in most polls. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is slightly ahead of Scholz's party, while the Greens are in fourth place.

The mainstream parties have refused to govern with the AfD, but its presence complicates the parliamentary arithmetic, making unwieldy coalitions more likely.

Scholz has outlined a list of measures that could pass with opposition support before the election, including 11 billion euros ($11 billion) in tax cuts and an increase in child benefits already agreed on by former coalition partners.

The conservatives have also hinted they could back measures to better protect the Constitutional Court from the machinations of a future populist or anti-democratic government and to extend a popular subsidised transport ticket.

Measures to ease unintended burdens on taxpayers could also pass if regional governments agree, but Merz rejected a Green proposal to cut energy prices, saying he wanted a totally new energy policy.
Robert Habeck, the Greens' chancellor candidate, said that was a worrying sign for German democracy, given the growing likelihood in a fractured political landscape that very different parties would again have to govern together.

"It's very unlikely the next government will have it easier," Habeck said.

AfD leader Alice Weidel called for all Syrian refugees in Germany to be sent back following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ge ... 024-12-15/

[ti-amie]

Andy Lim
‪@andysaulim.com‬
New US sanctions on North Korea (1/2)

individuals, entities

Financial facilitators
- Golden Triangle Bank
- Korea Mandal Credit Bank
- Choe Chol Ryong
- Kim Myong Jin

Military support
- Ri Chang Ho
- Ju Chang Il
- Kim Yong Bok
- Pak Jong Chon
- Im Song Jin
- Kim Geum Cheol
- Ro Kwang Chol

Russian companies shipping petroleum to North Korea
- Vostok Trading LLC
- DV Ink LLC
- Novosibirskoblgaz LLC
- Sibregiongaz, AO
- Okryu Trading Company


Treasury Sanctions Key Facilitators Behind North Korea’s Illicit Financial Activities and Military Support to Russia
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today sanctioned nine individuals and seven entities that have provided financial and military support to the...
home.treasury.gov
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2751

[ti-amie]

‪Martyn Williams‬ ‪@martynw.bsky.social‬

More sanctions. This time, the EU is sanctioning a bunch of Russians, but also No Kwang Chol, North Korea's minister of defense and, Kim Yong Bok, the army general reportedly leading North Korean soldiers who are fighting alongside Russia. www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pre...



https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/pres ... -measures/

[ti-amie]

Re the above:



And Tiny will be the titular head of the US government. SIGH.

[ti-amie]

South Koreans blame president’s ‘Lady Macbeth’ for martial law
Critics suggest Yoon Suk-yeol made his disastrous decision in part to protect his wife Kim Keon-hee from investigation and potential prosecution


Kim Keon-hee, 52, has lent much-needed glamour to Yoon Suk-yeol, her 63-year-old husband, since his emergence on the political stage five years ago
JUNG YEON-JE/AP

For her Machiavellian politicking, she has been called “Korea’s Lady Macbeth”; for her obvious love of luxury she has been compared to Marie Antoinette; and for her extensive cosmetic surgery to Michael Jackson.

As President Yoon of South Korea fights an increasingly desperate battle for political survival, angry attention is focusing on the part played in his embattled presidency by his wife, Kim Keon-hee.

On Saturday the national assembly voted to impeach Yoon, 11 days after his sudden and abortive attempt to impose martial law. The motives for this disastrous move are not completely clear but many South Koreans suspect that, at least in part, it was a means of protecting his wife from investigation and potential prosecution.

Kim, 52, has lent much-needed glamour to her 63-year-old husband, a solemn and austere former prosecutor, ever since his emergence on the political stage five years ago. But from the beginning she has been a controversial figure, whose ambition, pronounced tastes and strong opinions have often eclipsed the conservative political agenda pursued by her husband.

Some of this may be down to prejudice towards a rich, outspoken, childless woman in a conservative society of traditional gender roles. But again and again, Kim has compromised herself in ways that can only alienate her from ordinary South Koreans.

The latest incident was the publication of a video of Kim flirting with a male journalist after reading his palm. “You have a lot of women around you,” she tells him. “That’s not a bad thing.”

After commenting on his “rough, soldierly” appearance, she tells him: “Your virility is strong.”

The controversies surrounding Kim began before she became first lady. She owns Covana Contents, a company that mounts big art exhibitions and cultural events. With personal assets of close to 50 billion won (£28 million) in 2018, her wealth eclipses that of her husband.

During the presidential election campaign in 2021, she apologised publicly for “exaggerating” her academic achievements. The same journalist who was praised for his manliness released recordings of conversations with Kim, in which she implied that she was the power behind the throne and would remain so if he was elected president.

“Have you heard of ‘the second VIP?’” she asked, referring to the role of first lady. “I don’t think Yoon Suk-yol is really the president. That fool is just a puppet.”

She spoke of her interest in “dosas” or spiritual gurus. Her doctoral dissertation was about fortune tellers, and all of this played into claims, always denied, that Yoon was employing supernatural techniques on the campaign trail, such as writing a mystically charged Chinese character on his hand, and even consulting an “anal acupuncturist”.

Among other remarks, she promised to take revenge on journalists who criticised Yoon. “If I make it to the [presidential palace], I will put them all in prison,” she said — a threat that has not been carried out.

She also caused outrage with her remarks about a left-wing politician who was imprisoned for raping a female secretary. She said that she and Yoon were on his side, and that the reason liberal politicians had been exposed more often than conservatives for sexual assault scandals was because they failed to “pay off” their victims.

She said: “MeToo incidents occur because they don’t pay, surely. They [the women] want to play around but have no money. I understand.”

But none of the most serious allegations against Kim have stuck. A group of scholars set out details of alleged plagiarism in her thesis, but her alma mater, Kookmin University, dismissed them as merely “shortcomings” and “insufficiencies”.

A court ruled that bank accounts belonging to her and her mother had been used to manipulate stock prices, but she was not charged. This year, she was filmed accepting a gift of a £1,700 Christian Dior handbag from a man who was seeking to influence her husband’s policy on North Korea.

Opponents of her husband insist that the reason such cases have never been pursued is not because they have no merit, but because Kim is married to a man who was South Korea’s chief prosecutor and is now its president.

In April the opposition defeated Yoon’s party to take control of the national assembly. Since then they have passed three separate bills to establish a special prosecutor to investigate the first lady but each one has been vetoed by the president.

Yoon claimed his attempt to impose martial law had been motivated by “the threats of North Korean communist forces”. But it also came after a fourth vote to prosecute his wife. Now that he has been impeached, it would be up to the prime minister, now the acting president, Han Duck-soo, whether to take the incendiary decision to veto it for a fourth time.

Yoon’s loyalty to his wife is impressive. He became enraged during the election campaign when a famous singer, An Chi-hwan, released a song entitled Lady who looks like Michael Jackson. Although it did not name her, everyone knew it was about Kim, who has made no secret of her extensive plastic surgery.

“My wife has been suffering a lot because of my political career, including public attention to how she looks,” Yoon said. “I feel sorry for my wife that, because of my political campaign, she has had to suffer a lot in this unworthy attack.”

But his greatest sympathy seemed to be elsewhere. “It feels grotesque,” he said, “to see Michael Jackson being used in this undeserving way.”


https://www.thetimes.com/article/south- ... -jt9fzqfgf

[ti-amie]

Tom Phuong Le‬ ‪@tomphuongle.bsky.social‬
·

eastasiaforum.org/2024/12/21/t...

Check out this new piece I wrote with a student on what the political shakeups in East Asia might mean for US-Japan-ROK relations.



Trump’s return debunks the natural alliances myth

https://eastasiaforum.org/2024/12/21/tr ... nces-myth/

[ti-amie]

Guardian US‬ ‪@us.theguardian.com‬
·
10m
US colleges and universities are issuing warnings to their international students to return to campus before Donald Trump assumes office as president in preparation for a repeat of potential travel bans seen during his first term.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... MP=us_bsky

[ti-amie]

Aaron Rupar
‪@atrupar.com‬
I’m sorry, Panama



Obviously not written by Tiny...

[ponchi101]

The COUNTRY OF PANAMA has a vested interest in the secure. efficient and reliable operation of the Panama Canal.
Why are these lunatics even bringing this up?

[ti-amie]

The COUNTRY OF PANAMA has a vested interest in the secure. efficient and reliable operation of the Panama Canal.
Why are these lunatics even bringing this up?

Weird isn't it?