alanjjohnstone
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Rather than move recent off-topic posts, i have left them.
But this thread is really about the international geo-political threats rather than the civil unrest (of course, there may be an overlap)
Use the other Iran thread on the prospect of revolution and the Iranian state’s repression. (yes, i know i also was at fault but i am trying to correct the mistake)
Courts in Iran’s capital have handed prison terms of up to 10 years to 400 people arrested at anti-government protests, a judiciary official says.
Tehran’s prosecutor-general said 160 “rioters” were sentenced to between five and 10 years, 80 to between two and five years, and 160 to two years or less,
Another 70 were fined,
“In fact the young Romanians I have met are likewise bigoted against Roma.”
Our blog, Socialism Or Your Money Back, has drawn attention to Roma prejudice and if you use the search facility very many posts come up.
Mick Lynch critiques the BBC
Listen to the radio interview
Varoufakis promotes his version of anti-capitalism
“Enough of their hypocrisy, their war-mongering, their financialization of lives, and the privatization of our commons,” Varoufakis declared. “Progressives of the world refuse to take sides on this new ‘cold’ hot war. We are instead building a new non-aligned movement to fight for humanity’s survival by working for peace, solidarity, and cooperation,”
To end “the tyranny of capital over people” and reclaim “plundered commons on land, in the oceans, in the air, and soon in outer space,” Varoufakis called for two key reforms.
The first is to ensure that “corporations belong to the people who work in them on the basis of one person, one share, one vote,” said Varoufakis.
The second is to deny “banks a monopoly over peoples’ transactions.”
Once that happens, banks and profits will “wither as society’s main drivers,” the political economist argued, “because the banks will be defanged” and the distinction between profits and wages erased.
“The simultaneous euthanasia of the labor markets and the share markets, along with the defanging of the banks, will automatically redistribute wealth and as a magnificent byproduct, remove the main incentives for waging war.”
Liberal commentator Chris Hedges on Israel’s new government
He quotes Haaretz
“…there’s the new government, set to be formed in the next week or two. A kakistocracy extraordinaire: government by the worst and least suitable collection of ultranationalists, Jewish supremacists, anti-democrats, racists, bigots, homophobes, misogynists, corrupt and allegedly corrupt politicians. A ruling coalition of 64 lawmakers, of whom 32 are either ultra-Orthodox or religious Zionist…No incoming government in Israel’s history was greeted with so much attention, alarm, anxiety, jitters, resentment and end-of-days doomsday scenarios, based solely on predicted and expected policies.”
Australia’s paradox
China is Australia’s largest trading partner worth more than Japan, the United States, and the Republic of Korea combined. Since 2009, China has been Australia’s largest destination for exports as well as the largest single source of Australia’s imports.
Yet Australia participates in several military pacts against China.
Zelensky on Monday proposed a special summit, which he called the Global Peace Formula Summit, “to determine how and when we can implement the points of the Ukrainian Peace Formula”, which would secure Ukraine’s security and territorial integrity.
A genuine move towards peace or a token gesture to placate those critical of Ukraine’s intransigence?
40% of the global population across 95 countries is convinced that witches exist.
In Tunisia, it is around 90%, in Germany just 13%.
https://www.dw.com/en/why-do-many-people-still-believe-in-witches/a-64066804
Majidreza Rahnavard, 23, was hanged early on Monday in the city of Mashhad, the judiciary said.
A court convicted him of “enmity against God” after finding he had stabbed to death two members of the paramilitary Basij Resistance Force.
Rahnavard was hanged just 23 days after his arrest.
Mohsen Shekari – the first known protester to be executed – who was hanged on December 8. Sherkari, 23, was convicted of “enmity against God” after he was accused of attacking a Basij member with a machete in Tehran.
Over the last few days I have been watching this pop vox channel of street interviews with Russian people.
https://www.youtube.com/@1420channel/videos
A surprising range of opinions but overall reflects that the government retains the loyalty of its citizens which isn’t at all surprising.
What are ordinary Russian’s thinking?
“Russians do not much like the war but do not want to be defeated.”
Two people have died and four have been injured during protests in Peru demanding general elections following the ousting of former president Pedro Castillo over his attempt to dissolve Congress. Demonstrators, many of them Castillo supporters, have for days demanded that Peru hold elections rather than allow Boluarte to stay in power until Castillo’s term ends in 2026.
Thousands of demonstrators took to streets across the nation again on Sunday, including hundreds in Lima, the capital, where riot police used teargas to push protesters back.
