The only two state solution I support

Imagine a meeting between Biden and Xi, and Xi rolls up like this, throne being carried by his servants and all

Xi Jinping's full speech:

Your Excellency President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Your Excellency President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, Chairperson of the African Union (AU), Your Excellencies Heads of State and Government and Heads of Delegation, Your Excellency Mr. António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, Your Excellency Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the AU Commission, Friends and Distinguished Guests,

Blossoms in spring turn into fruits in autumn, and a bumper harvest is the reward of hard work. In this season of harvest, I am delighted to gather together with so many old and new friends in Beijing to discuss grand plans for China-Africa friendship and cooperation in the new era. On behalf of the Chinese government and people, I extend a warm welcome to you all!

The friendship between China and Africa transcends time and space, surmounts mountains and oceans, and passes down through generations. The founding of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000 was a milestone in the history of China-Africa relations. Over the past 24 years, especially in the new era, China has advanced forward hand in hand with our African brothers and sisters in the spirit of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith. We stand shoulder to shoulder with each other to firmly defend our legitimate rights and interests as once-in-a-century changes sweep across the world. We get stronger and more resilient together by riding the tide of economic globalization, delivering tangible benefits to billions of ordinary Chinese and Africans. We share weal and woe in fighting natural disasters and epidemics together, creating touching stories of China-Africa friendship. We always empathize with and support each other, setting a stellar example of a new type of international relations.

Thanks to nearly 70 years of tireless efforts from both sides, the China-Africa relationship is now at its best in history. With its future growth in mind, I propose that bilateral relations between China and all African countries having diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the level of strategic relations and that the overall characterization of China-Africa relations be elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

Friends and Distinguished Guests,

Modernization is an inalienable right of all countries. But the Western approach to it has inflicted immense suffering on developing countries. Since the end of World War II, Third World nations, represented by China and African countries, have achieved independence and development one after another and have been endeavoring to redress the historical injustices of the modernization process. As we are about to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, we are going all out to build a great modern socialist countryin all respects and pursue national rejuvenation through a Chinese path to modernization. Africa is also awakening again, and the continent is marching in solid strides toward the modernization goals set forth in the AU's Agenda 2063. China and Africa's joint pursuit of modernization will set off a wave of modernization in the Global South and open a new chapter in our drive for a community with a shared future for mankind.

— We should jointly advance modernization that is just and equitable. In promoting modernization, we should not only follow the general rules but also act in light of our national realities. China is ready to increase exchanges of governance experience with Africa, support all countries in exploring modernization paths befitting their national conditions, and help ensure equal rights and equal opportunities for all countries.

— We should jointly advance modernization that is open and win-win. Mutually beneficial cooperation is the sunny road to the betterment of the long-term and fundamental interests of all countries. China is ready to deepen cooperation with Africa in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment, promote exemplary, high-quality Belt and Road cooperation projects, and build together a model for the delivery of the Global Development Initiative.

— We should jointly advance modernization that puts the people first. The ultimate goal of modernization is the free and full development of human beings. China will work vigorously with Africa to promote personnel training, poverty reduction and employment, enhance the sense of gain, happiness and security of the people in the course of modernization, and ensure that all will benefit from the process.

— We should jointly advance modernization featuring diversity and inclusiveness. Well-balanced material and spiritual advancement is a lofty objective of modernization. China will enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges with Africa, champion mutual respect, inclusiveness and coexistence of different civilizations on our way to modernization, and strive together for more fruitful outcomes under the Global Civilization Iniative.

— We should jointly advance modernization that is eco-friendly. Green development is a hallmark of modernization in the new era. China is ready to help Africa build "green growth engines," narrow the gap in energy accessibility, adhere to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and jointly push for the global transition to green and low-carbon development.

— We should jointly advance modernization underpinned by peace and security. Modernization would not be possible without a peaceful and stable environment for development. China is ready to help Africa improve its capacity in safeguarding peace and stability independently, prioritize Africa in implementing the Global Security Initiative (GSI), promote mutual reinforcement of high-quality development and greater security, and work together with Africa to uphold world peace and stability.

Friends and Distinguished Guests,

China and Africa account for one-third of the world's population. Without our modernization, there will be no global modernization. In the next three years, China will work with Africa to take the following ten partnership actions for modernization to deepen China-Africa cooperation and spearhead the Global South modernization.

First, the Partnership Action for Mutual Learning among Civilizations. China is ready to work with Africa to build a platform for governance experience sharing, a China-Africa knowledge network for development, and --25 centers on China and Africa studies**. We will make better use of Africa's leadership academies to cultivate talents for governance and invite 1,000 members of African political parties to China to deepen exchanges of experience in party and state governance.

Second, the Partnership Action for Trade Prosperity. China will voluntarily and unilaterally open its market wider. We have decided to give all LDCs that have diplomatic relations with China, including 33 countries in Africa, zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines. This has made China the first major developing country and the first major economy to take such a step. It will help turn China's big market into Africa's big opportunity. China will expand market access for African agricultural products, deepen cooperation with Africa in e-commerce and other areas, and launch a "China-Africa quality enhancement program." We are prepared to enter into framework agreements on economic partnership for shared development with African countries to provide long-term, stable and predictable institutional guarantee for trade and investment between the two sides.

Third, the Partnership Action for Industrial Chain Cooperation. China will foster industry cooperation growth clusters with Africa, push forward the Pilot Zone for In-depth China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation, and launch an "African SMEs empowerment program." We will build with Africa a digital technology cooperation center and initiate 20 digital demonstration projects so as to embrace together the latest round of technological revolution and industrial transformation.

Fourth, the Partnership Action for Connectivity. China is prepared to carry out 30 infrastructure connectivity projects in Africa, promote together high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and put in place a China-Africa network featuring land-sea links and coordinated development. We are ready to assist in the development of the African Continental Free Trade Area and deepen logistics and financial cooperation for the benefit of trans-regional development in Africa.

Fifth, the Partnership Action for Development Cooperation. China is ready to release the Joint Statement on Deepening Cooperation within the Framework of the Global Development Initiative with Africa and implement 1,000 "small and beautiful" livelihood projects. We will replenish the China-World Bank Group Partnership Facility to boost Africa's development. We support Africa in hosting the 2026 Youth Olympic Games and the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations. We will work together with Africa to deliver more fruits of development to the two peoples.

Sixth, the Partnership Action for Health. China is ready to establish with Africa a hospital alliance and joint medical centers. We will send 2,000 medical personnel to Africa and launch 20 programs for health facilities and malaria treatment. We will encourage Chinese companies to invest in Africa's pharmaceutical production, and continue to do what we can to help Africa with epidemic response. We support the development of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to strengthen public health capacity in all African countries.

Seventh, the Partnership Action for Agriculture and Livelihoods. China will provide Africa with RMB1 billion yuan ($140 million) in emergency food assistance, build 100,000 mu (about 6,670 hectares) of standardized agriculture demonstration areas in Africa, send 500 agricultural experts, and establish a China-Africa agricultural science and technology innovation alliance. We will implement 500 programs in Africa to promote community welfare. We will also encourage two-way investment for new business operations by Chinese and African companies, enable Africa to retain added value, and create at least one million jobs for Africa.

Eighth, the Partnership Action for People-to-People Exchanges. China will implement with Africa more solidly the Future of Africa – Vocational Education Cooperation Plan, establish together an engineering technology academy, and build ten Luban Workshops. We will provide 60,000 training opportunities to Africa, mainly for women and youths. We will launch with Africa a Cultural Silk Road program as well as an initiative of cooperation on innovation in radio, TV and audio and visual programs. The two sides have agreed to designate 2026 as the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges.

Ninth, the Partnership Action for Green Development. China is ready to launch 30 clean energy projects in Africa, put in place meteorological early warning systems, and cooperate in disaster prevention, mitigation and relief, as well as biodiversity conservation. We will create a China-Africa forum on the peaceful use of nuclear technology, establish together 30 joint laboratories, and collaborate on satellite remote sensing and lunar and deep-space exploration. All this is designed to help with green development in Africa.

Tenth, the Partnership Action for Common Security. China is ready to build with Africa a partnership for implementing the GSI, and make it a fine example of GSI cooperation. We will give Africa RMB1 billion yuan of grants in military assistance, provide training for 6,000 military personnel and 1,000 police and law enforcement officers from Africa, and invite 500 young African military officers to visit China. The two sides will conduct joint military exercises, training and patrol, carry out an "action for a mine-free Africa," and jointly ensure the safety of personnel and projects.

To implement the ten partnership actions, the Chinese government will provide RMB360 billion yuan of financial support over the next three years. This breaks down into RMB210 billion yuan of credit line, RMB80 billion yuan of assistance in various forms, and at least RMB70 billion yuan of investment in Africa by Chinese companies. In addition, China will encourage and support Africa in issuing panda bonds in China to enhance our results-oriented cooperation in all areas.

Friends and Distinguished Guests,

The Communist Party of China held in July the successful Third Plenary Session of its 20th Central Committee, laying out systematic plans for further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization. This will profoundly further transform China. It will also provide new opportunities and new driving forces for African countries and for our joint pursuit of modernization.

As an African proverb goes, a friend is someone you share the path with. On the path to modernization, no one, and no country, should be left behind. Let us rally the more than 2.8 billion Chinese and African people into a powerful force on our shared path toward modernization, promote modernization of the Global South with China-Africa modernization, and write a new magnificent chapter of development in human history. Let us join hands to bring about a bright future of peace, security, prosperity and progress for our world.

Thank you.

China to give Africa $50 billion over next three years!

Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday pledged over $50 billion in financing for Africa over the next three years, promising to deepen cooperation in infrastructure and trade with the continent as he addressed Beijing's biggest summit since the pandemic. More than 50 African leaders and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres are attending this week's China Africa forum, according to state media. African leaders already secured this week a plethora of deals for greater cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, mining, trade and energy. Addressing the leaders at the forum's opening ceremony in Beijing's ornate Great Hall of the People on Thursday morning, Xi hailed ties with the continent as in their "best period in history". "China is ready to deepen cooperation with African countries in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment," he said. "Over the next three years, the Chinese government is willing to provide financial support amounting to 360 billion yuan ($50.7 billion)," Xi said. Over half of that will be in credit, he said, with $11 billion "in various types of assistance" as well as $10 billion through encouraging Chinese firms to invest. He also promised to help "create at least one million jobs for Africa".

Deals and pledges

China, the world's number two economy, is Africa's largest trading partner and has sought to tap the continent's vast troves of natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals. It has also furnished African countries with billions in loans that have helped build much-needed infrastructure but sometimes stoked controversy by saddling governments with huge debts. Analysts say that Beijing's largesse towards Africa is being recalibrated in the face of economic trouble at home and that geopolitical concerns over a growing tussle with the United States may increasingly be driving policy. But bilateral meetings held on the sidelines of the summit delivered a slew of pledges on greater cooperation in projects from railway to solar panels to avocados. Following meetings on Wednesday, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said he had overseen a deal between the country's state-owned power company ZESCO and Beijing's PowerChina to expand the use of rooftop solar panels in his country. Nigeria -- one of Beijing's biggest debtors on the continent -- and China inked a joint statement agreeing to "deepen cooperation" in infrastructure, including "transportation, ports and free trade zones".

Expanding transport links

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, in turn, obtained a commitment from Xi to push for new progress on a long-stalled railway connecting his country to neighbouring Zambia. That project -- which Zambian media has said Beijing has pledged $1 billion towards -- is aimed at expanding transport links in the resource-rich eastern part of the continent. Zimbabwe also won promises from Beijing on deeper cooperation in "agriculture, mining, environmentally friendly traditional and new energy (and) transportation infrastructure", according to a joint statement by the two countries. The southern African nation and Beijing also agreed to sign a deal that would allow the export of fresh Zimbabwean avocados to China, the joint statement said. And Kenyan leader William Ruto said Xi had promised to open up China's markets to agricultural products from his country. The two sides agreed to work together on the expansion of the country's Standard Gauge Railway -- built with finance from Exim Bank of China -- which connects the capital Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa. And Ruto also secured a pledge for greater cooperation with China on the Rironi-Mau Summit-Malaba motorway, which Kenyan media has said is expected to cost $1.2 billion. Ruto last year asked China for a $1 billion loan and the restructuring of existing debt to complete other stalled construction projects. The country now owes China more than $8 billion.

Emmanuel Macron has appointed the EU’s former Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, as prime minister of France, as he seeks to put an end to two months of political paralysis after a snap election.

The French president said he had tasked Barnier with forming “a unifying government in the service of the country”.

Macron shocked France by calling a snap parliamentary election in June that resulted in a hung parliament and a deeply divided political landscape.

A leftwing coalition emerged as France’s biggest political force but with not enough seats to reach an absolute majority of 289 in the national assembly. Macron’s centrist faction and the far right make up the two other major groups. Barnier’s traditional rightwing party came fourth and has 47 seats in parliament.

He replaces Gabriel Attal, who resigned on 16 July after the snap election but was kept on by Macron in a caretaker capacity.

Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally party said support for Barnier would depend on his policy programme.

The Socialist party leader, Olivier Faure, part of the leftwing coalition that won the highest number of seats in the election, said it was a “denial of democracy” for Macron to appoint a prime minister from the party that came fourth. “We’re entering a crisis of regime,” Faure said.

No. Fucking. Shit.

Barnier was known for almost 50 years in rightwing French politics as a centrist, liberal-minded neo-Gaullist, devoted to the European cause. But in 2021 he stunned observers by lurching to the right and hardening his stance on immigration and security as part of an unsuccessful attempt to become the presidential candidate for the right against Macron in 2022.

At the time, Barnier claimed that unregulated immigration from outside the EU was weakening France’s sense of identity. He believed the UK’s vote to leave the EU showed how dangerous it could be when divisions in society were allowed to fester. Shocking many in Brussels, he called for a French moratorium of three to five years for non-European immigrants, in which even family members joining those already in France would be stopped, and called for the country to regain legal sovereignty from EU courts.

Wow, he's practically the same as Le Pen... "National Identity" my ass.

Barnier has previously said he wanted to return to a leading role in French politics. After the post-Brexit agreement was signed with the UK, he said he realised he missed France and wanted to be “useful” in French politics. “I’ve never been a technocrat, I’ve always been a politician,” Barnier said when he tried to become the presidential candidate for Les Républicains.

At 73, Barnier becomes the oldest premier in the history of modern France. This week, Julien Odoul, an MP for Le Pen’s party, criticised him over his age, saying he was a “French Joe Biden” who often changed his views, and was “an opportunist” with “no backbone”.

Barnier has long styled himself as a dependable elder statesman – a mountaineer and hiker from the Alps, who built his career in local village politics and likes walks in ancient forests.

First elected aged 22 as a local councillor in Savoie, he entered parliament aged only 27 in 1978. He served four times as a government minister and twice as EU commissioner. His supporters point out that he has won every direct vote he has stood for since the age of 22. He is a former environment minister, and co-organiser of the 1992 Winter Olympics.

How does he think he can get away with such an obvious power grab? This is absolutely ridiculous and i expect the French people really not like this.

74-year-old E. Khasanov, an Uzbek citizen residing in Samarkand, was sentenced to 3 years of restricted freedom, including a mandatory curfew, a ban on changing his place of residence without permission, and restrictions prohibiting him from leaving Samarkand region. Khasanov has also been banned from using the internet.

Citing the case materials, Gazeta.uz and Kun.uz reported that as a member of a Telegram group titled “Uzbek SSR/USSR” Khasanov posted that “the independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan is superficial, that the former Soviet Union has not officially disintegrated yet, that 15 republics that were part of it arbitrarily declared their independence with the help of the United States, and that the former Soviet republics will soon return and become part of the USSR.

They arrested some random old guy for being apart of some niche telegram group with 12 members. Very sad 😢

It’s worth noting that in March 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that it had “prevented new attempts by the Russian special services to destabilize the socio-political situation in Ukraine” by neutralizing “underground cells” belonging to the “Communist Party of the Soviet Union.” The Security Service said these groups had attempted “to create an extensive network” of committees throughout Ukraine, targeting “former and active soldiers who started their service during the Soviet Union” to form these cells. The Ukrainian authorities named Shchipkov’s group – the “Central Committee of the Bolsheviks” – as being behind efforts to set up branches of the committee across Ukraine and noted that Telegram was used to distribute instructions.

This is... interesting 🤔

Is he actually the fraud that he's been made to be? With all the red scare-esque balderdash that's being thrown around, i really can't make anything out.

If you are not already familiar with nostalgames, they're an indie game studio that makes pro AES/pro socialist strategy games. This seems to be a remake of one of their past games 'Crisis of the Kremlin', in which you could could kill yeltsin and save the USSR.... im HOOKED.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1922740/Crisis_in_the_Kremlin_The_Cold_War/?curator_clanid=30106415

The demo is already out so im gonna check it out right after i post this

-cause i'm gonna buy FIFTY of these WICKED COOL trading cards for a chance to meet the REAL president @donaldtrump at the gala dinner! I'll be wearing the LIMITED EDITION trump sneakers to the gala! Hashtag AWESOME/s

these are absolute garbage