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25·1 day agoAnd the next whataboutism! What a waste of time.
Yeah, these are the ‘tankies’ who got banned on Reddit, right? I guess it takes time until they get a minority, but it’s good that the community grows steadily.
One thing that’s obvious here on Lemmy is that whataboutism works only in one direction. If an article is critical of China, Russia, Iran, or other dictatorships, you’d read, “But about U.S./EU/the West”. But there are tons of articles here critical of Western countries, and it’s accepted. Why is this? Just wumaos?
2·5 days agoIt raises some good points. It’s also said that there is ‘nothing people can do’ about surveillance. For those interested, there is a good documentary what happens if and when someone tries to do somethong about it:
Total Trust is an eye-opening and deeply disturbing story of surveillance technology, abuse of power and (self-)censorship that confronts us with what can happen when our privacy is ignored. Through the haunting stories of people in China who have been monitored, intimidated and even tortured, the film tells of the dangers of technology in the hands of unbridled power. Taking China as a mirror, Total Trust sounds an alarm about the increasing use of surveillance tools around the world – even by democratic governments like those in Europe.
If this is the present, what is our future?
2·9 days agoI suppose that’s the mechanism they’re using to centrally manage the economy, by controlling fund transfers to lower levels of government.
I would agree with this view. The local governments are responsible for the majority of spendings (including pensions, health care), but they can barely raise funds themselves.
The central government has already said that the new debt will be forwarded to the local government, and that it will be ‘off-budget’, meaning the money goes to LGFVs. The future will tell us how this ends up, but the risks are high imo given the country’s debt burden is so much higher than in most other countries as you suggested.
The real change in retail pricing might be discrimination pricing (or ‘surveillance pricing’ as it is now called sometimes). Simply speaking, it uses personal data to personalize prices not just for each customer, but also for each customer depending on actual circumstances such as day time, weather, an individual’s pay day, and other data, collected through apps, loyalty cards, …
As one article says, there is One Person One Price:
"If I literally tell you, the price of a six-pack is $1.99, and then I tell someone else the price of a six-pack for them is $3.99, this would be deemed very unfair if there was too much transparency on it,” [University of Chicago economists Jean-Pierre] Dubé said. “But if instead I say, the price of a six-pack is $3.99 for everyone, and that’s fair. But then I give you a coupon for $2 off [through your app] but I don’t give the coupon to the other person, somehow that’s not as unfair as if I just targeted a different price.”
The linked article is a very long read but worth everyone’s time. Very insightful.
I am thinking the same. Must be some sort of Streisand effect :-)
2·13 days agoYeah, and not to forget:
One interviewee admitted to paying for access to a data set. “I bought access to an official archive and altered the data to support my hypotheses.”
2·24 days agoMyanmar soldiers cut off tattoos and gave detainees urine to drink, witnesses say
Eyewitnesses told the BBC the village [in the Rakhine State] was subjected to two-and-half days of terror as soldiers blindfolded and beat them up, poured burning petrol on their skin and forced some of them to drink their urine.
Warning: You may find some of the details in this piece disturbing
You can’t make such a decision based on simple financial calculations, not in the least as there is no way to make reasonable predictions in our current market environments. Ask any investment advisor, and they will tell you to buy your home if you can afford it.
This is off-topic: Why is the NYT accessing the camera when going to the linked article?
Israeli activists battle over Gaza-bound aid convoys
Months after some Israelis started to protest against aid lorries entering Gaza at the main Kerem Shalom crossing, the battle has moved to other key junctions, where rival groups of activists do their best to block or protect aid convoys […]
Right-wing activists, including Jewish settlers living in the occupied West Bank, have uploaded dozens of videos of crowds, including some very young children, hurling food onto the ground and stamping on boxes of aid.
You’ll find a short video embedded in the linked article.
1·1 month agoIsraeli activists battle over Gaza-bound aid convoys
Months after some Israelis started to protest against aid lorries entering Gaza at the main Kerem Shalom crossing, the battle has moved to other key junctions, where rival groups of activists do their best to block or protect aid convoys […]
Right-wing activists, including Jewish settlers living in the occupied West Bank, have uploaded dozens of videos of crowds, including some very young children, hurling food onto the ground and stamping on boxes of aid.
You’ll find a short video embedded in the linked article.
I doesn’t seem so given Israeli officials’ statements. But it will have a long-term political impact if Israel ignores that imho. It could lead to a higher degree of ‘diplomatic isolation’ for Israel and its allies for a long time. That’s just my opinion. And there’re arrest warrants, too.
With the announcement by Norway and Ireland that they have recognised Palestine as an independent state, and Spain expected to follow suit by the end of May, it appears that international momentum for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is growing.
The concept has long been supported by the US and its allies, as well as most Arab states and the United Nations […] Could things be different under different leadership? To answer this, we need to know whether the Israeli and Palestinian people could be persuaded to accept such a plan. Here it’s worth taking a look at what polling tells us.
With the announcement by Norway and Ireland that they have recognised Palestine as an independent state, and Spain expected to follow suit by the end of May, it appears that international momentum for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is growing.
The concept has long been supported by the US and its allies, as well as most Arab states and the United Nations […] Could things be different under different leadership? To answer this, we need to know whether the Israeli and Palestinian people could be persuaded to accept such a plan. Here it’s worth taking a look at what polling tells us.
I (unfortunately) have to agree. There’s a risk that the (far right-wing) Netanyahu government is harming Israel politically in the long run, and right-wing extremists will try to take advantage of that. It’s right-wingers against right-wingers.
The fact that many Israeli people and even some politicians (Israeli minister Benny Gantz openly threatens Netanyahu to leave the government over the PM’s Gaza policy, for example) oppose their own government doesn’t appear to matter, at least for now. People like Netanyahu or Ben-Gvir rule the country, and they are heading in the wrong direction.
I hope that changes, however, as politicians around the globe seem to reconsider their stance over the region. In Europe, Norway, Spain, and Ireland announced their recognition of a Palestinian state as of May 28.
But, yes, that’s not enough. Others must follow.
They have to stop the use of forced labour in China, the U.S. and wherever this bs happens. This “U.S. bad, China bad okay” stance is unbearable.
This is related, particularly as the discussion is to a large part around cheap cars:
China: Carmakers Implicated in Uyghur Forced Labor - (February 2024)
China’s electric vehicle battery supply chain shows signs of forced labor, report says - (June 2023)
Yeah, I was wondering the same, but didn’t want to edit the original title. Maybe there are some details that are new, I don’t know. What the CCP has been doing for a long time now is a shame.