Miscellaneous News

[iewgnem]

Its funny that people keep saying that TikTok was a tool of Chinese soft power, when China was always hands off on the app and never used it to promote Chinese propaganda. The only soft power was perhaps signalling China's ascendancy into tech superpower status, but China has so many other succesful ventures nowadays a single app isn't going to tip the scale.

On the other hand, if the sale really does go through Trump has supposedly vowed to, surprise surprise, tweak the algorithim to make TikTok a MAGA propaganda echo chamber.

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Sidenote I made a prediction on this a few weeks ago, but really anyone following the news even casually would know he was going to do it anyway. And imo, if Trump wants to keep radicalizing his base and dividing America, I'm all for China helping him in that goal

The best propaganda are self propaganda, the power of TikTok's recommendation algorithm isn't that it pushes preachy videos like MSM, but rather its ability to selectively push authentic videos by people you identify with that also align with messaging. If it looks like China is hands off that's the point, but China isn't really hands off otherwise it wouldn't have put up export control on the algorithm.

The meme about China winning by doing nothing is funny, but it also ignores how much China did in helping Americans destroy themselves, including popularizing the dumbest MAGA content until the entire White House cabinet and head of US departments are all filled with unqualified influencers

 

[CasualObserver]

This guy is an idiot and his idiocracy is costing the region a lot...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1971832507491573980

 

[gelgoog]

Financial times has also reported this
...

Russia is helping train China’s paratroopers, leaked files show​

Does it even make sense for China to buy Russian equipment in 2025??!

I could see China buy some VDV vehicle equipment for evaluation some time ago. But right now China has better equipment which was shown in the parade.
The Russians do have extensive historical experience with developing paratroopers since before WW2. And they have the largest paratrooper forces in the world.
But honestly the experience in Ukraine showed it is too dangerous to do paradrops. It is much better to insert troops fully kitted and ready to go with low altitude penetrating heliborne assaults.
If a landing strip can be captured then equipment can be delivered. In the case of Gostomel airport the first part worked but the second did not.

 

[Hyper]

Tik tok was probably sold for so less because ByteDance expects the app to be broken going forward. The ownership structure and the operation structure with respect to rest of the world is completely broken for the app to function. They probably expect a soft exit of sorts.

 

[Jiang ZeminFanboy]

UK soon will be 70m ppl, mainly increase from net migration

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1971492578098020793

 

[Ringsword]

cross training between allies is always a good thing but this article reads like western cope after the Chinese military parade finally convinced western elites that a war with China would be stimulus for American and western coffins and flags to drape them.

In fact western insecurity over their supposed white western supremacy and western chauvinism is evident in how they try to erase chinas message at the UN, of cooperation and even bringing moon rocks from the dark side of the moon as gifts for humanity.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1971764701265809616

trump doesn’t realise the precedent he’s just set, now all countries of the world can force Facebook, meta, twitter etc to localise due to “national security”. How the CIA gonna do their colour revolutions with national security agencies having a kill switch and influence rooms inside every social media organisation?

More pointedly, under this precedent, why shouldn’t the CPC force nvidia To nationalise its operations in Chinak to have a CPC member monitoring board meetings?

Great gift to UN-Iam only aware-from my now out-dated library -that China has only one airborne division the Wuhan Airborne(under the PLAAF) ?Is this correct or has it increased ala Special Forces type expansion?BTW the rest of the report where China buys a "dozen Sprut artillery","BMD type APC" seems like BS to me.

 

[GulfLander]

Madagascar has extended a night-time curfew in the capital Antananarivo and four other cities. Residents are taking stock of the damage after a day of protests that left several people dead. On Thursday, thousands of mostly young people answered social media calls to demonstrate against frequent power cuts and water shortages on the island thats located off the southeastern coast of Africa. Banks and shops were looted and the homes of several pro-government lawmakers set on fire. Security forces used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowds.

 

[gelgoog]

More countries need to enact the foreign agents law.

 

[GulfLander]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1971895813216358509

 

[Chevalier]

One other thing, during the cold war, soviets scientists and engineers still went out of their way to procure and use western products and machinery because of their evident superiority to Soviet built products; in the semiconductor space, will we also see nato countries using Chinese semiconductors in consumer goods because of their impending evident superiority?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1971562855234437523

just in case taliban leaders want to ape their Iranian neighbours and betray their revolution for a chance to live in the US and allow their kids and daughters especially to go to Harvard.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1971895813216358509

I saw this move, it’s 300 with Gerard butler where a middle eastern despot sends his hordes of slave soldiers up against a small army of freedom fighters.in case I have to spell it out, Netanyahu as xerxes, smericans and nato as xerxes slave soldiers and this stalwart army as the 300.