Miscellaneous News

Bellum_Romanum said:

What choice do they even have?

In my opinion Iran should go the FEDERALISM route:

I understand that Federalism for Iran might seem radical at first glance, but I truly believe it could be a path towards a more stable and prosperous future for their nation.

While It's true that national unity is paramount. But let's be honest, the current centralized system is struggling to contain the diverse aspirations of their people. We should not deny that there's social unrest; the economic disparities between regions, and the persistent calls for greater autonomy from their minority groups.

So rather than fearing fragmentation, I believe Federalism could MAYBE strengthen their unity. It would allow each province to address its unique challenges and aspirations within a framework that preserves their shared identity as Iranians. It's about recognizing its diversity as a source of strength, not a threat to their cohesion or even identity.
Of course, such a proposal would require another revolution to force the hands of the current Elites that's running the country.

But, with the direction it's heading why not take the chance whose outcome maybe more tenable (retaining its full sovereignty), rather than become another puppet to the western powers.

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TPenglake said:

There's the West propaganda and then there's simply observing Iran's performance in the past few years to get past the wishful thinking of them being a competent partner in the so called triple alliance with China and Russia, and acknowledging they're a bunch of buffoons that at this point are more of a liability if they don't stomp on the gas for their nuclear program.

People keep wanting to think Iran actually sent a message with its missile strikes on Israel, well Israel sure as hell didn't think enough damage was done for any message to have been sent, since they have always responded in kind by effortlessly getting past Iranian air defenses and destroying air defense infrastructure as well as hampering their missile production capabilities. Iran getting Israel and America to back off with its conventional missile arsenal is like deterring a bear with a stick. With the loss of Syria and Hezbollah, Iran is no longer a Middle-Eastern power, but seeing as how they're still one of the most important countries for China's geostrategy, one only hopes they acquire nukes soon so they can for once make themselves somewhat useful.

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august1 said:

Isn't federalism the same ideology that the insane Chonglang people want for China? The one where each province gets its own flag and Shanghai's one is a throwback to when it had foreign concessions?

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What I Learned Most From My Trip to China​

There were a lot of raised eyebrows and quiet chuckles this month when President-elect Donald Trump

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President Xi Jinping to Washington for his inauguration. Foreign leaders don’t attend our inaugurations, of course, but I think Trump’s idea was actually a good one. Having just returned from a trip to China, I can tell you that if I were drawing a picture of relations between our two countries today, it would be two elephants looking at each other through a straw.

That is not good. Because suddenly the U.S. and China have a lot more to talk about than just trade and Taiwan — and who’s the undisputed heavyweight champion of the 21st century.

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For his ambassador to China, Trump has picked David Perdue, who was a senator from Georgia from 2015 to 2021. Perdue is a competent guy who did business in East Asia before going to the Senate. But in a September 2024 essay in

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he wrote of the Chinese Communist Party, “Through all my activity in China and the region, one thing became painfully clear: The C.C.P. firmly believes its rightful destiny is to reclaim its historical position as the hegemon of the world order — and convert the world to Marxism.”

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Hmmm. I would not dispute the hegemon stuff, but “convert the world to Marxism”? Before he takes up his post, I hope Perdue will get briefed to understand that China today has a lot more Muskists — young people who want to be like Elon Musk — than Marxists. The Chinese are trying to beat us at our game, capitalism, not convert us to Marxism.
Yes, the Chinese Communist Party is as tightly in control in China now as at any other time since the late 1980s. But it is communist in name only. The ideology it promotes is a combination of state-directed capitalism and wild cowboy capitalism, where scores of private and state-owned companies slug it out in survival-of-the-fittest contests across a range of high-tech industries to grow China’s middle class.

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Only the U.S. and China working together with the I.M.F. and World Bank will have the resources, power and influence to stem some of this disorder, which is why I repeatedly challenged my Chinese interlocutors: Why are you hanging around with losers like Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Iran? How could you be

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China went from an impoverished isolated country to an industrial giant with a rising middle class in a world in which the rules of the game — on trade and geopolitics — were largely set by the United States after World War II for the benefit and stability of all.

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The idea that China can thrive in a world shaped by the values of a murderous thief like Putin, who is an agent of disorder, or by fundamentalist Iran, another promoter of disorder and the next country likely to fracture, or by the global south — or by China alone — is crazy.
If I were Trump, I’d explore a “Nixon goes to China” move — a rapprochement between the U.S. and China that totally isolates Russia and Iran. That’s how you end the Ukraine war, shrink Iran’s influence in the Middle East and defuse tensions with Beijing in one move. Trump is unpredictable enough to try it.
Either way, China and America are compelled to work together if there is going to be a stable 21st century. If competition and collaboration give way entirely to confrontation, a disorderly 21st century awaits us both.

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luminary said:

OpenAI whistleblower silenced.

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https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1867740660373082150

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luminary said:

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Might indicate that Xinjiang projects are completed and the border is "secure enough".

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coolgod said:

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Thomas L. Friedman

What I Learned Most From My Trip to China​

Friedman proposes Trump be Nixon 2.0, instead of a reverse Nixon. I think the US elites are already at the bargaining stage.

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coolgod said:

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Thomas L. Friedman

What I Learned Most From My Trip to China​

Friedman proposes Trump be Nixon 2.0, instead of a reverse Nixon. I think the US elites are already at the bargaining stage.

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Passenger plane crashes in Kazakhstan: Emergencies ministry​

An passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan and initial reports suggested there were survivors, the Central Asian country’s Emergencies Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said in a statement that fire services had put out the blaze and that survivors were being treated at a nearby hospital.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 aircraft, with flight number J2-8243, had been flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechnya, but had been forced to make an emergency landing approximately 3 km (1.8 miles) from the Kazakh city of Aktau.

Russian news agencies said the plane had been rerouted due to fog in Grozny.

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FriedButter said:

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https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1871815433021702451

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