news

Wondering whats gonna happen with this Guyana thing.

Your Friday Briefing

If the German election was held today, Scholz' party would receive only 14% of the vote - the lowest since June 2021. 17% of eligible voters say that they are satisfied with the SPD-led government, the lowest approval rating of a German chancellor since polls began in 1997 - though there have been worse German chancellors.

Slovakia's opposition is warning that Fico's government is working to gain absolute control of the arms industry, which... uh, yeah? That's how... war typically works...?

Armenia and Azerbaijan have reportedly had a breakthrough, and are exchanging prisoners and working towards normalization. Meanwhile, a US diplomat visited Azerbaijan and was received positively, although it doesn't seem like the hunt for US spies will be curtailed. And Aliyev warned that India and France arming Armenia will increase the chances of more war.

Putin has announced that he is indeed running for re-election in March 2024. Putin has also said that tech-sharing with China has no limits, not even military limits.

Burkina Faso's government has revised the constitution to ban French as an official language, demoting it to the role of "working language".

China is banning new steel plants in order to cut atmospheric pollution, and is working on converting factories creating blast furnace-produced steel into factories creating electric furnace-produced steel, which involves the import of scrap steel from abroad and has lower emissions (69% of US steel production uses this method). In Hebei, the top steel producing province, the number of iron and steel companies have been cut by 70% over the years to meet local targets, which has dramatically cut particulate emissions.

China has granted tariff-free access to Angola, Gambia, DRC, Madagascar, Mali, and Mauritania, in order to boost agricultural imports from Africa. They join 21 other African countries with similar tariff cuts. Xi says that he plans to import products worth $300 billion from Africa by 2024; in 2023 so far, total trade was $234 billion and imports to China a "mere" $91 billion. Meanwhile, Chinese global exports have edged up for the first time in seven months, increasing by 0.5% year-on-year to $291 billion, probably due to exporters cutting prices.

Thousands of protestors have rallied against the new far-right government of New Zealand, organized by the Maori Party, due to the anti-Maori policies that they are proposing. The co-leader of the Maori Party has said that the laws would take New Zealand "back to the 1800s."

Most Americans have depleted their excess savings accumulated during the pandemic, and 99% of Americans will be financially worse off than pre-pandemic by mid-2024. I'm still not entirely sure whether this whole "excess savings" thing is even an actual thing that has existed, because most Americans seem exceptionally unhappy about the economy and going into major debt to continue survival and have been for many months, which contradicts the idea that they had much savings at all.

Famous penis owner, Hunter Biden, has been indicted on new federal tax evasion charges, following previous charges of tax evasion and unlawfully owning a gun.

Zelensky is going to attend Milei's inauguration, which is so freaking epic. It's like that scene in Endgame where Captain America (more like Captain Ukraine!) is like, standing there, and then the dude comes flying out of the portal behind him, and they're like, about to fight Thanos's army, but Putin is Thanos and the army is worldwide communism. Thanks for the gold, kind stranger!

Fuck. No Vermin Supreme on the U.S. "Libertarian" Party primary ballot this time around?!

5m ago (08:00 GMT)

Israeli army says Jabaliya camp in Gaza surrounded

The Israeli army says it has surrounded the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza after destroying what it called “terrorist infrastructure”.

Jabaliya camp, the largest in Gaza, has already been the target of Israeli air attacks multiple times since October 7, resulting in the killing of hundreds of people and destruction of infrastructure.

- Al Jazeera

🚨BREAKING: Al-Qassam (Hamas) announced:

Detonation of a large barrel bomb, targeting dozens of occupation soldiers and causing all of them either dead or wounded in the Ma'arri area, northeast of Khan Yunis.

After some time, Hamas advanced towards that force that was hit by a large barrel bomb in the Ma'arri area, the force consisted of 15 IOF soldiers. Hamas found them dead, except for 2, whom they eliminated afterwards, and the fighters returned to their bases safely.

https://nitter.net/AryJeay/status/1733874744569508210

Israeli flag raised in symbolic Palestine Square in Gaza City, video shows

An Israeli flag has been raised in the middle of the symbolic Palestine Square in Gaza City, a video filmed by an Israeli photographer shows.

CNN has geolocated the video.

A journalist in northern Gaza, Khader Al Za’anoun, told CNN on Thursday that Israeli tanks were in the square.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant asserted on November 14 that Hamas had lost control in northern Gaza, including in Gaza City.

But on November 30, during a temporary truce, Hamas militants were seen around Palestine Square handing over two Israeli hostages to the Red Cross.

- CNN

There's no video and there's no photo. I googled and I found an unsourced photo and I decided not to share it because it might be AI I don't want to share that crap.

Here's a Financial Times article about how Israel is attacking the tunnels. I only read the last bit where the author finally got to the point. He's a ghoul: "thermobaric weapons... are controversial because of the broader impact of the explosions, especially in populated areas." He also ignores the fact that using sea water to flood the tunnels is literally salting the earth - Israel will probably literally salt the earth in Gaza. - Hexbear

archive.today • Military briefing: How Israel is attacking Hamas’s vast tunnel network

The next step is to destroy the tunnels. Localised explosions cause only limited fall-ins, which can be cleared away or bypassed by surviving fighters. To fully demolish a tunnel, engineers and military experts said, required explosives set down along long portions of the underground passageways.

Kfir said one method was to use liquid explosives that fill the tunnel space and then detonate. Another possibility, he said, was thermobaric weapons, which suck in oxygen to generate a high-temperature explosion that flows around obstacles. But these are controversial because of the broader impact of the explosions, especially in populated areas.

Pumping in seawater from the Mediterranean at high pressure is a third option, and one that Israel has reportedly already started to use. Richemond-Barak said this technique had the advantage of already being used in the oil and gas industry. But, she added, the problem with flooding is "that you don't know how much you have achieved".

The amount of water required depends on the size of the tunnels and ground absorption, she said: "In the past, using water has not produced a 'hard kill'."

Another possibility, which would pose less risk to the hostages than flooding or explosions, is for the IDF to dig tunnels that intercept Hamas's network and burst into its control nodes.

"Israel should... get to the heart of the Hamas system not from above, but from below," Kfir said. "You would need something like automated excavating machines . . . that would dig towards the target."

Such science fiction-like approaches highlight the difficulties and time needed to destroy Hamas's underground realm. They also explain why some officials regret that Israel did not complete the task years earlier.

"We should have destroyed it all when it [Hamas's tunnel network] was smaller. We had all the intelligence," said the former senior security official.

ExxonMobil Shares Fall for the Third Day in a Row

The fall took place after Venezuelan announcements on the defense of the Guayana Esequiba territory.

On Friday, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez drew attention to the three consecutive days of decline in the value of ExxonMobil shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

At the close of trading on Wall Street, the shares of this oil multinational were trading at US$100,44 on Tuesday, at US$99.11 on Wednesday, and at US$98.42 on Thursday.

Currently, ExxonMobil is attempting to illegally exploit oil and gas fields in a maritime area pending delimitation near the Guayana Esequiba, a territory that the United States and the United Kingdom stripped from Venezuela through the 1899 Paris Arbitral Award.

Despite being an area pending delimitation, the Government of Guyana granted oil concessions to the U.S.-based transnational company and other energy multinationals.

On Dec. 3, in a message of unity and determination to defend the Venezuelan sovereignty, over 10 million citizens voted in favor of the YES in the Essequibo consultative referendum.

After this democratic process, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro presented a bill for the defense of the Guayana Esequiba to the National Assembly. Approved in the first discussion, this bill includes measures to advance the peaceful resolution of the territorial dispute.

"Respect international law, respect law, respect good neighborliness, and respect coexistence," the Bolivarian leader said, giving energy companies three months to leave the area pending delimitation.

Maduro also reminded Guyanese authorities that the resolution of the dispute must be carried out through political-diplomatic means as stipulated in the 1966 Geneva Agreement.

"We are willing to negotiate. Peacefully, everything. With force, nothing," he stated, reaffirming the Venezuelan foreign policy that has been based on the "Peace Diplomacy" principle.

According to economist Alejandro Moncada, the value of ExxonMobil shares is falling because international markets have recognized Venezuela's firm stance regarding the defense of the Guayana Esequiba.

"I think they will think it over very carefully," he said, referring to international investors trading with shares of energy companies.

"Venezuela has not only the legitimate right but also the support of major countries like China, Russia, Turkey, or Belarus... Venezuela is not alone; it has people to defend it," Moncada emphasized to explain recent stock market behavior.

tfw your useless soldiers can't even do the Hannibal Directive correctly and just started shooting at random cars: https://nitter.cz/intifada/status/1732094398182117830

The dog girl did an interview!!!

https://nitter.cz/abierkhatib/status/1732454550856974471

https://twitter.com/abierkhatib/status/1732454550856974471

They're from Sweden, Switzerland, Brooklyn, California, but they "only have one country" - I just don't think they realise how this sounds to other people.

twitter | nitter

Data from Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority cited by Hebrew newspaper The Times of Israel shows that nearly half a million Israelis have fled Israel since 7 October.

About 470,000 Israelis have left since the beginning of the war, and it is unclear if they will return or not, the report says.

The data also indicates a significant decline, around 70 percent, in the number of Jews immigrating to Israel.

In November, 2,000 Jewish immigrants arrived in Israel compared to the 4,500 coming each month since the start of the year.

https://new.thecradle.co/articles/nearly-500000-fled-israel-since-7-october

I find it amazing that in 30 countries of europe only one politican managed to arrive in their office with a human brain. The rest has empathy of chatbots

News outlet condemns 'humiliating' treatment of journalist it says Israel has detained

The news outlet Al-Araby al-Jadeed has condemned what it describes as the "humiliating" detention of its Gaza correspondent Diaa Kahlout by Israeli forces earlier today. In a statement, it said Kahlout's brothers, relatives and a large number of civilians were also detained by the Israeli forces in Beit Lahia, a city in the north of Gaza.

It adds soldiers forced them "to disrobe, and subjected them to invasive searches and humiliating treatment upon their arrest, prior to transporting them to undisclosed locations". The outlet "urges the international community, journalists’ rights defenders and watchdogs, and human rights bodies to denounce this ongoing assault" by Israel on journalists in the territory.

The BBC has asked the Israeli military about Kahlout's reported detention.

- BBC

UN official warns half of Gazans are starving

A senior UN aid official has given an updated indication as to how bad the food and aid issues are in Gaza. Deputy director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) Carl Skau warns that nine out of 10 people in the Palestinian territory can’t eat every day - and that half the population is starving. In an interview with Reuters, he says nothing had prepared him for the fear, chaos and despair he encountered on visiting Gaza.

As intense fighting continues across the territory, Skau insists only a fraction of the food supplies needed are coming in. He adds that conditions on the ground are making deliveries almost impossible.

- BBC

Israel is attacking yet another hospital.

Director-General of the WHO...

Reports of minimally functioning Al-Awda hospital in northern Gaza being besieged are extremely concerning. There are still patients and health personnel inside the facility, who must be protected. We call for an immediate ceasefire. #NotATarget

Nitter

I think there's nothing new here, but another short, well-written article about how Israel is (sorry, some "influential people" in Israel are) willing to use nuclear and biological warfare to carry out their genocide.

People's World: Right-wing Israeli leaders advocate using disease and nuclear bombs against Palestinians

Presidential inauguration of Javier Milei

Only 8 heads of government/state attended Javier Milei's inauguration. No G20, G7 or BRICS leaders attended the inauguration of Argentina's new president.

The presidential baton received by Javier Milei contains the faces of his 5 carved dogs.

Volodymyr Zelensky becomes an attraction at Javier Milei's inauguration. The Ukrainian president posed for photos with attendees at the swearing-in ceremony inside the Argentine Congress.

Lula please prevent this impending total PR disaster

the acursed house of Saud is bombing Yemen.

EDIT: MISSINFORMATION ! Sorry

Cyprus Communist Initiative launched, aims "to rebuild the workers’ and people’s movement"

With the sickle and hammer as its symbol, the Cyprus Communist Initiative has been formalised into an official body, was announced on Saturday.

Under the full name "Cyprus Communist Initiative, for the rebuilding of the workers’ and people’s movement", the new group “aspires to fill the political vacuum that has existed for years in Cypriot society, and to become a rallying force for the struggles of the working class and the broader popular strata.”

Concerning the long-standing Cyprus issue, the founding statement of the Initiative points out: "For the Cyprus issue, special importance is given as an international problem of invasion and occupation by Turkey and foreign NATO imperialist interventions. These interventions instrumentalized and strengthened nationalism-chauvinism, culminating in the twin crime of the treacherous fascist coup and the Turkish invasion. This action led to the violent division of the country and the people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.

The group was founded on December 2 and its board was appointed on Friday. The statute provides for a horizontal structure.

It is made up of executive secretary Christos Kourtellaris, organising secretary Leandros Savvidis, secretary general Marios Ioannou, treasurer Andri Louka and the members (alphabetically) Alexis Antoniou, Chrysanthi Epifaniou, Nicolas Nicolas, Yannis Sokratous and Maria Sokratous.

Jair Bolsonaro tried to sneak in to take photos with Heads of State and Javier Milei at the inauguration of the new Argentine president, but ended up being BARRED by South American leaders.

Present at the event, Luis Lacalle Pou (Uruguay), Santiago Peña (Paraguay), Gabriel Boric (Chile) and Daniel Noboa (Ecuador) expressed their opposition to the ceremonial inauguration, saying that it would be inappropriate for a former head of state to be in the picture.

Guyana/Venezuela Conflict:

Brazil:

Defense Minister José Múcio says that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro already knows Brazil's position. The country will not support Venezuelan action in Guyana to seize the territory of Essequiba. Former Foreign Minister Celso Amorim to the country said: "The message is that the Brazilian government won't accept a solution that isn't peaceful."

In order to avoid a conflict in the region, President Lula consulted Itamaraty about a possible meeting, mediated by Brazil, between Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Guyanese President Irfaan Ali. The tension on Brazil's northern border is a challenge to the foreign policy of Lula, who is an ally of President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. Lula has already stated that he hopes "common sense prevails" in the territorial dispute

It seems that, for the time being, the Brazilian government is not expecting a conflict. The situation is not yet serious, nor is it worthy of panic. Brazil, as the main power in the region, is simply playing its part by monitoring the situation closely.

The horror compared.

Gazan: "Seven people in my family have been killed and a niece lost both her legs. Since the war started we moved five times to try to find a safe place. My children are hungry all time. My youngest has had a fever but there's very little we can do about that. We have no medicine and healthcare doesn't exist. We are living here right in this tent. But we'll have to move again soon because there aren't any bathrooms or running water. But I don't know where we will go or what we will do."

Israeli: "I went to the bakery and they were out of gluten-free muffins."

---

Ninja edit: Those aren't real quotes. I made them up.

Swedish court denies Tesla motion over postal dispute as strike spreads across Nordics

A Swedish court denied a motion by Tesla to temporarily force a mail carrier to deliver licence plates, despite joining strike action against the electric carmaker.

Since October 27th, some 130 mechanics at 10 Tesla repair shops in seven Swedish cities have been striking to protest against the carmaker's refusal to sign a collective agreement with the metalworkers union IF Metall.

The strike has since grown into a larger conflict between Tesla and almost a dozen unions seeking to protect Sweden's labour model, including postal workers.

As licence plates for new cars are only delivered by mail in Sweden, the blockade could stop new Teslas hitting the road there, something Tesla CEO Elon Musk branded "insane".

...

Tesla originally saw some success with its lawsuits as a separate district court issued a provisional ruling last week that the transport agency should allow Tesla to pick up licence plates directly from the manufacturer.

The ruling was however appealed, with the appellate court on Tuesday suspending the district court's decision.

My flight for Taiwan leaves tomorrow early as fuck. I'll be there for a while. Kind of nice to get away from Guatemala and the political bullshit going on while temporarily staying in a country where I can actually go outside without being worried about getting mugged. Need to brush up on my rusty Mandarin.