Second day of shelling of civilian targets in Armenian cities. Media coverage in the West: "fighting broke out". Condemnations from EU governments: Luxembourg 1 - rest 0.

Burnwinter wrote:

The coverage on this in Australia is absolutely buried. Reading about it it sounds like the alignment relative to Ukraine means Armenia is going to be hung out to dry by Europe.

New York Times said "clashes broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh". People care so little they can't even get the geography right  😆

This is a good read on this topic: [url=https://evnreport.com/opinion/of-useful-idiots-western-supremacists-and-white-monkeys/]Of Useful Idiots, Western Supremacists and White Monkeys - EVN Report[/url]

jones wrote:

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-us-considers-china-sanctions-deter-taiwan-action-taiwan-presses-eu-2022-09-13/

Remember when this was all just posturing and nothing would come off it? Yeah when your Playstation or whatever video game is in vogue these days won't arrive in the mail and the tears are flowing it'll start to sink in.

I think we're still tracking 3 as the most likely options - very little has come of it. The disentanglement of US and Chinese economies (it must be stressed that they are still very interlinked) started far before Pelosi's visit to China and will continue into the next decade regardless.

Secondly, I think you continue to underestimate how keen every other country in the region welcomes US involvement in the South China Sea as a counter balance

Mirth wrote:

There's 3 possible outcomes

1) China does nothing (unlikely) - and the US and every other country in the region gain from that

2) China invades - highly unlikely and we all lose.

3) China raise tensions and Taiwan will have to recognise that an invasion at some point is a possibility (Most likely). That's probably a win for the US, since it's been trying for ages to get Taiwan to take the prospect of an invasion seriously - meaning invest in asymmetric capabilities rather than useless warships. As you say, the US won't write a blank check to guarantee Taiwan's security because China won't be pleased but the US needs Taiwan to be an unappealing target for China.

Good read, Gurgen. I appreciated the author's critique of both sides of naive imperialism and naive anti-imperialism, though I think his own argument about the West shows there's been no symmetry between those sides.

It's really disgusting and saddening that the same enthusiasm that leads people to put Ukrainian flags in their Twitter usernames and cheer on the current "eastern counter-offensive" will also add up to a blind eye to Azeri hostility against Armenia, or worse yet, some sort of dogmatic anti-CSTO chauvinism that holds Armenia to account for Russian aggression—which is complex enough. 

We can't place faith in nation states and empires, they're the formations that generate these wars. 

Gurgen wrote:

https://eurasianet.org/azerbaijan-launches-wide-ranging-attacks-against-armenia

The EU's new "reliable energy partner", replacing Russia who have been kicked out for attacking a sovereign country, attacks a sovereign country.

World: "we urge both sides to de-escalate".

Disappointing but not entirely surprising either the EU/Western response.

I can’t remember the exact details but isn't Armenia surrounded by mostly hostile countries? 

Mirth wrote:
jones wrote:

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-us-considers-china-sanctions-deter-taiwan-action-taiwan-presses-eu-2022-09-13/

Remember when this was all just posturing and nothing would come off it? Yeah when your Playstation or whatever video game is in vogue these days won't arrive in the mail and the tears are flowing it'll start to sink in.

I think we're still tracking 3 as the most likely options - very little has come of it. The disentanglement of US and Chinese economies (it must be stressed that they are still very interlinked) started far before Pelosi's visit to China and will continue into the next decade regardless.

Secondly, I think you continue to underestimate how keen every other country in the region welcomes US involvement in the South China Sea as a counter balance

I don't really follow your first argument, to paraphrase Klaus until the day something happens nothing will have happened. You could've made the argument that nothing happened in Ukraine/Russia either up until February 2022 but very obviously US, EU and of course Russian involvement there even before 2014 have had a massive hand in what's happening today.

As to the second point I don't necessarily disagree, unlike Jazz and you seem to assume I don't have any love for the Chinese government - they're talking multilateralism for as long as it suits them. I just think the US is a much bigger threat in the region and elsewhere and being honest dodgy governments in SE Asia welcoming US involvement doesn't change my mind on that - I might not know as much about that part of the earth, but plenty of corrupt governments in Africa and the Arab world welcoming US presence never meant it's ever done any good to the people there. There are ways to battle encroaching from China without calling the world's greatest arsonist into it.

JazzG wrote:
Gurgen wrote:

https://eurasianet.org/azerbaijan-launches-wide-ranging-attacks-against-armenia

The EU's new "reliable energy partner", replacing Russia who have been kicked out for attacking a sovereign country, attacks a sovereign country.

World: "we urge both sides to de-escalate".

Disappointing but not entirely surprising either the EU/Western response.

I can’t remember the exact details but isn't Armenia surrounded by mostly hostile countries? 

Yes, two of which (Turkey and Azerbaijan) are openly genocidal. But these are friends of the West so then it's fine.

Burnwinter wrote:

Good read, Gurgen. I appreciated the author's critique of both sides of naive imperialism and naive anti-imperialism, though I think his own argument about the West shows there's been no symmetry between those sides.

It's really disgusting and saddening that the same enthusiasm that leads people to put Ukrainian flags in their Twitter usernames and cheer on the current "eastern counter-offensive" will also add up to a blind eye to Azeri hostility against Armenia, or worse yet, some sort of dogmatic anti-CSTO chauvinism that holds Armenia to account for Russian aggression—which is complex enough. 

We can't place faith in nation states and empires, they're the formations that generate these wars. 

Essentially they first throw you to the wolves and then say: "why are you hanging out with wolves?"

The clip has English subtitles. Sonneborn is the founder and head of a satire party, basically shithoused his way into the European parliament by taking the piss out of all established parties yet he's by far the most brutally honest politician you'll find anywhere.

This was a brilliant speech.

Yeah ... if you believe that mortality of 1,500 ... I'd say it'll turn out to be at least thousands directly and tens of thousands more indirectly.

Massive human displacement through flooding in south Asia is the paradigmatic, textbook example of how climate change has been predicted to have social, economic and ultimately probably military consequences for the past couple of decades at least.

It's been scary hearing these incredibly muffled reports of this arriving as if it were inevitable and of little import. Feels like the global death drive has never been stronger.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220905005440/en/President-H.E.-Volodymyr-Zelenskyy-rings-bell-at-NYSE-to-signify-Ukraine-is-open-for-business

Unreal picture 😆

This is the result of the multinational conference in Lugano Switzerland from July then. Labour laws have already been gutted last month so open season now for exchange traded companies to hunt for Ukrainian state owned assets. Damn I reeeally wonder how this will turn out

Now, if only they will begin to be as forceful when it comes to Israel…

Sweden is a bit of a special case amongst the Nordic countries. A bombing in Norway would be huge news all over the country, and I mean a singular one, not one per night.

Of course electing a bunch of neonazis isn't going to help.

If that is true what is the point in going through all that effort, just fill the ballots in yourself!

flobaba wrote:

https://www.commonsense.news/p/two-bombings-in-one-night-thats-normal

Is this an increasingly prevalent sentiment in other parts of Europe?

Scary feature and I don't dispute its reporting at face value, but I'm also aware we're reading a Quillette stable journalist on Bari Weiss's Substack. Be good to read something from a trustable source on this, if anyone's got anything.

a month later

Was he arrested or was he taken out due to medical reasons? Seems to be both stories going around about it.

He was escorted in by the same guy that took him out. So either medical reasons or he was already arrested before the start of the session.

Came back and made a speech so it seems like it was a medical thing.

10 days later

Not just Bibi, this time the kingmakers in Tkuma are basically Nazis.

3 months later
20 days later

https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream

So the US and Norway bombed Nord Stream and NS2. @QuincyAbeyie disgraceful you wouldn't share this piece of news beforehand with your Tolly buddies.

Germany's news outlets have been outdoing each other today trying to tear down Hersh's reputation 😆 perfectly normal response to a journalist revealing who attacked your own federal facilities.

    Seymour Hersh, now that is a name I've not heard in a while.

    Charlie Hebdo is still classy as always.

    5 days later
    22 days later

    I wonder how much if any of this timidity in the tech markets is LLM and AI related, as opposed to just the long-awaited further unfolding of all the crypto and bubble losses of the past year and a bit.

    As someone who does a lot of "bespoke" software work AI seems to be casting a fairly long shadow on perceptions currently.

    9 days later

    SVB was the canary in the coal mine

    Good thing all those revised accords and prudential regulations went in after 2008—should make it a certainty none of these institutions are so over-leveraged they're vulnerable to contagion. It's great how well the whole system works these days.

    Disclaimer: I know less than nothing about this but I daresay no one has a grasp of the full picture anyway.

    It seems like the US/UK GSIBs have benefited from the post 2008 regulation and are actually not too vulnerable to contagion. They'll likely benefit from this as more power flows to them (e.g. like UBS and HSBC have) and away from the other banks.

    4x greater capital requirements, RFB, CASS, etc. definitely ensures that the banks aren't able to repeat the mistakes of 2008. However, if sentiment turns and markets get spooked then it doesn't really matter, because it markets will fall regardless.

    2 months later

    I feel like he's getting more blatant with his racism now. He's always been a massive dick, but he used to at least try to hide it, making the meme kids think he was going to save the world etc.

    a month later

    Anyone following the Titanic disaster news? Absolute mind boggling the lack of safety features and escape functions for the participants.