Miscellaneous News

Sardaukar20 said:

As the Indian airlines industry crisis deepens, Indian government chickened out and reversed it's rule to reduce pilot working hours. A rule that they have been wanting to impose for 18 months.

Indian media is mostly complaining about monopoly by IndiGo. 90% of the domestic market is dominated by IndiGo and Air India, with IndiGo taking a 65% share. Which I don't think is that unusual as many other countries also have one or two airlines dominating the domestic market.

This appears to be a case of a lack of enforcement and cooperation between the Indian government and a private airline company. And in the battle between the Indian govt and a private airline, the Indian government folded first.

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To be clear, the DGCA didn't reverse the entire FDTL law. The required weekly rest was increased from 36 hours to 48 hours (that hasn't changed), but they did reverse the clause mandating that 'leave cannot substitute mandatory rest.' Basically it makes it easier for airlines to comply with the 48 hour rule on paper by using leave. It's an incredibly important detail that practically defangs the law by removing a crucial enforcement mechanism while keeping the headline figure (no doubt to minimize public backlash).

On top of all that, they granted a "temporary exemption" SPECIFICALLY to IndiGo, which allows their pilots to continue making up to 6 night landings per week according to the old rules, as opposed to the new limit of 2 per week. Night operations are the most commercially sensitive areas for low-cost carriers like IndiGo in maintaining their profitability. Night operations are also more dangerous because of the WOCL. This is particularly egregious because it's tantamount to DGCA saying out loud, "We value airline profitability over maintaining pilot and passenger safety standards, and we don't care about regulatory parity either."

People like to ask, "Why is India so underdeveloped/backwards?" This right here is one of the most visceral and clearest examples of textbook regulatory capture. The airline just straight up blackmailed the government and the government folded. So why is India still so poor? Because of this endless cycle of corporate interests hijacking the state, twisting rules, and getting special treatment. You won't find a better explanation than this... imo this is the real anchor that's dragging the country down, more than poverty or infrastructure or anything else.

Overbom said:

Trump-like tariff attack from EU next year?
Should start taking out rare earths from washing machines

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1997612261633114258

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China has taken note of EU's "subtle" intentions to attack it. Divide and conquer?

German firms not in first batch of China's new rare export licences, minister signals​

BEIJING, Dec 8 (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said much work was still needed to persuade Beijing to grant rare earth export licences to German manufacturers, signalling during his first visit to China that they had not received any from the first batch issued.

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Reuters reported last week that China had issued its first "general licences" - year-long permits aimed at speeding up exports - after a breakthrough in a summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. But it remains unclear whether these will only benefit the United States.
Asked by broadcaster ZDF during his two-day trip to China whether he had made progress in persuading Beijing to grant German firms licences too, Wadephul said: "We have received signals but there is still quite a lot of work to be done."

Wadephul said he had discussed the key issue of disruptions in Chinese deliveries of semiconductors, rare earths and other commodities in his meetings on Monday with China's trade minister.
"In all of these areas there has been uncertainty, and that needs to be eliminated," said Wadephul, who is accompanied in China by a small business delegation including Hildegard Mueller, head of the automotive industry association VDA.

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EUROPE GETTING TOUGHER ON CHINA?​

Wadephul's trip was

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from October at the last minute because China had only confirmed one of his requested meetings.
It comes as Berlin toughens its stance on Beijing over trade disputes and geopolitical conflicts, in line with European partners, albeit seeking to retain good relations with its top trade partner.

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Tomboy said:

Let's not pretend world politics ever had a single shred of morality to it from the get go. It's all just leverage and gains. China is no different. I don't see why China has to lose on softpower and profit due to some people's subjective sense of moral superiority.

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Agree, China only core moral standards is to maximise benefits for Chinese.

Puss in Boots said:

You can't simply assume others are as immoral as you. Your baseless accusations are merely an attempt to exonerate those currently engaging in unethical behavior.
If China were willing to gain soft power and profits through unscrupulous actions, it could easily turn the entire East Asia into its colony.

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iewgnem said:

This is something that always catches barbarians with their primitive morals off guard. In primitive cultures, if one is powerful then surely one will take what they want from the weak, and if one is moral then surely one will be selfless, it follows then that if one is not selfless then they must not be moral -> if they're not moral then they must want to steal -> if they don't steal then they must be weak.

China follows a simple principle, one that's proven to be optimal in game theory: you don't fuck with us, we don't fuck with you, if you fuck with us, you get fucked. China is moral because China doesn't rape and pillage the weak when its powerful, and China is also moral because China will always fuck up its enemies without mercy nor forgiveness, even if its weak and has to wait a century. It's the last part that catches barbarians off guard, barbarians who only understand strength and simple right-wrong morality.

China does not fuck with the west because China is strong, China fucks with the west because the west has fucked with China, and China didn't become the oldest civilization in history by taking prisoners. See, China also figured out the solution to the problem of "an eye for an eye leaves the world blind", China takes two eyes for an eye.

Western industry was built on colonialism, and China will leave no survivors.

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Question is, what is considered moral or immoral then? Which standard decides that the action is moral or immoral then?
I will give you two examples which using international laws is moral standards( basic moral things that majority would agree)
1 Russia invasion of Ukraine is clearly violated international laws, causing casualties on both sides. Even though Russia willing fully recognised Ukraine sovereignity in the past, some of you still think it's moral justified.
2 I advocate for Chinese divert water from rivers in their own border to improved lives of Chinese people in entire northwestern half of the country, protecting Chinese from climate crisis, avert demographics crisis and reduced regional inequality but may cause problems in downstream of India, the same of you guys considered it immoral and oppose china to do so even though there's no international laws binding china on this.
What is your moral standard then?
Also, don't tell me Pro EU- Ukraine or anti Russia. I want both to keep fighting each other non stop as long as possible for decades, which benefits china and make china stronger.

henrik said:

How come they still want to raise interest rates when their economy is contracting?

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Japan basically doesn't wanna live anymore. How come they do anything? How come they want to start economic shit with China, raise taxes and military spending and increase entry/exit fees to discourage tourism (from every country) despite being in a recession? How come they discourage immigration even from East Asian despite their demographic issues? They just don't fking care. I think they played too many games and are trying to die so they can start over.

JMSDF is sending out Kaga to shadow Liaoning. Liaoning and her strike group is steadily moving up the east coast of Japan.