Curious about this as well. There doesn't seem to be any clear candidate being groomed. Hard to imagine Xi stays on another term. He would be 74.
Miscellaneous News
- Thread starter bd popeye
- Start date
supercat
Major
This is the peak season of the story of the "Three Gorges Dam collapse". I'm eagerly waiting for some authoritative reporter like this to bring the exciting breaking news to us!
Robbed of their % share of the profits.
Nothing of this sort could ever happen again because it never happened.
Myth 1: Gorbachev caused the fall of USSR
Gorbachev wasn't unpredictable or inexperienced and he didn't cause the fall of USSR.
He was responsible for bringing to Moscow the guy who did it.
This guy:
Yeltsin was brought by Gorbachev from Mukhosransk in 1985 because Yeltsin seemed like a enthusiastic reformist and Gorbachev needed supporters. Initially Yeltsin was placed in Moscow's municipal authority and then was promoted to the Central Commitee. Shortly after joining the Politburo Yeltsin began to act out his extreme narcissism and create chaos to promote himself as the true reformist very much in the same theatrical manner that Trump does. Consequently in 1987 he was demoted by Gorbachev.
That inspired Yeltsin to seek political revenge. Using the recognition that he gained during his time in Moscow he sought out support for his candidacy for the newly created Congress of People's Deputies - a constitutional body that was intended to conduct systemic change. In March 1989 Yeltsin became a deputy with overwhelming support from Moscow and from there he began his campaign against Gorbachev and "enemies of perestroyka". From there it moved quickly:
1989 March 26 - seat in Congress of People's Deputies
1989 May 23 - seat in Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union,
1990 March 4 - seat in Congress of People's Deputies of Russia (that's the smoking gun, why move down?)
1990 May 29 - seat in Supreme Soviet of the RFSSR
1990 June 12 - Supreme Soviet of the RFSSR adopts declaration of Russia's sovereignty
1990 July 12 - Resignation from the CPSU
1991 March 17 - Referendum on New Union Treaty, ballot in Russia has question on creation of the office of the President of RFSSR
1991 June 12 - elected president of the RFSSR
1991 August 19 - Yanayev's coup begins and Yeltisn nominally supports Gorbachev and organises civic resistance against the coup
1991 August 21 - coup fails, Yeltsin begins to take over Soviet institutions
1991 November 6 - Yeltsin bans CPSU in Russia
1991 December 8 - Belovezha Accords forming the Commonwealth of Independent States
1991 December 12 - RFSSR declared independence from the Soviet Union
1991 December 17 - Gorbachev agrees to dissolve the USSR
If you look at the timeline of declarations of sovereignty you will see that before Russia declares it in June of 1990 only the Baltics, Azerbaijan and Georgia made the declarations, Ukraine declares sovereignty on 16 July 1990, a month after Russia, as well as after Uzbekistan and Moldova,
Even then turnout for the referendum in March 1991 was very high (in Ukraine 83%, in Russia 75%) and overwhelmingly supported a reformed union state.
Soviet Union did not "collapse". Russian Republic - the state that Soviet Union supposedly superseded - returned from the dead and stabbed it in the back. Then the journey backward in time went on, the Russian Republic vanished during a war and was replaced by Putin's Russian Empire.
So why did Yeltsin do it? Look to what happened afterward for the answer. The attempt to rule by decree which caused the 1993 constitutional crisis. The crisis was won by Yeltsin who replaced the Supreme Soviet with State Duma and ended any chance for democratic reform in Russia. The rampant theft of state industries by Yeltsin's backers and the creation of Russian oligarchy. That was why Yeltsin had support. He sold out the country so he could play a drunken tsar.
Myth 2: Hindenburg caused the rise of Hitler
Neither any decision of Hindenburg's nor his death caused Hitler's rise to power. There was one pivotal event that few people know about and it did involve Hindenburg using emergency powers, which indirectly helped NSDAP and did not involve Hitler.
NSDAP never had outright majority in elections:
- 18% - September 1930
- 37% - May 1932
- 33% - November 1932
- 44% - 5 March 1933 (after the fire)
This rule was imagined for a extremely fractious German parliamentary culture where no faction had enough power to hold others hostage. NSDAP support was the "black swan" that broke it.
The crucial event occured on 20 July 1932 in Prussia.
SPD used to govern Prussia as part of coalition with Centre and German Democratic Party from 1918 to 1932 when NSDAP and KPD won so many seats as to make the coalition impossible and KPD refused to enter into a coalition. This triggered use of presidential emergency powers to replace Prussia's caretaker government under Otto Braun (SPD) with a federal commisioner Von Papen (Centre). Since that effectively put Prussia under direct federal control it meant that as soon as NSDAP controlled federal government, Prussia was controlled by NSDAP.
Prussia had at the time 39 million people out of 64 in all of Germany. Under Versailles treaty Germany was effectively demilitarised so paramilitary groups held enormous influence and the only force to counter them was law enforcement. The largest LE institution was Prussian police.
If you look at the electoral results you see a drop in support for NSDAP in November 1932 and growth in March 1933. That was the consequence of chancellor Hitler influencing Prussian police since Jan 1933.
But Hitler needed the Enabling Act to rule by decree and then he replaced Von Papen with Goering in April. And that is when the "nazification" of Germany begins starting with de facto abolition of federal structure. Consequently the November 1933 elections with NSDAP as the only party remove any competition for power. And with 100% of Reichstag seats belonging to NSDAP president effectively lost his power in practical terms.
It took time. Hitler gained power in a rather mundane way by exploiting loopholes and only then making a show out of it. He did not depose respected (and powerless) Hindenburg. He only did things that were necessary to protect Germany.
We think that there was something special about it, because we already know everything that happened afterward. And that's the problem - there is never a single error, nor anything spectacular. That's why it keeps happening. Everyone looks for the one big leap to power and misses the hundred tiny shuffling steps.
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I wasn't going to write a historical treatise for a humorous comment of the caliber appropriate for American audiences.
But yes, this is true. Yeltsin was the historical backstabber, Gorbachev was misguided and opened the door for his rise. Compared to the other contender Grigory Romanov, Gorbachev was 10 years younger and was not from the powerful Soviet MIC. Gorbachev only held regional office in the 1970s while Romanov was already in the Central Committee.
Funny that you mention Yeltsin shares a personality trait of Trump. Now that you mention it, I see some parallels.
Blinken: Iran is 1-2 weeks away from producing material for a nuclear weapon
What ever happened to Blinken, sounds like we don't hear him often
antiterror13
Brigadier
It seems To Lam (67 yrs) will replace him and he is from Hung yen province, very north province of Vietnam
Implication being that the political animal within Trump’s circle who succeeds or backstabs him will be the fascist leader that will usher in the what is already de facto American fascism.
My money‘s on beanpole Cotton.
anyone who has had the misfortune of working with Indian middle management already knows the same story. Chances are that these idiots don’t even know how to code and simply pass off their work onto the non Indians in the team who do know the material, until it got to the point where they replaced those individuals with their cousins from back home.
naturally, for a culture more obsessed with bullshitting and kanging, the corporate response by crowdstrike was …less than acceptable.
let the Anglo look forward to peeling radiation burnt clothing off their screaming children.
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AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
If it were Chinese running CrowdStrike they wouldn't be saying it was an accident. They would say it was China testing out malware undermining the US. That's what China should be planting about them. Are the Chinese going to do that? No, because a lot of Chinese think they're boy scouts singing kumbaya. They don't want Chinese to take the low road that no one recognizes them not taking. That's the only vulnerability China has for the future.
Just to give you an update on the continuing battle of wits I'm having with a stereotypical former Marine I've mention before in this forum. Every year my friend I've known since childhood, hence the reason why I'm around this Marine is because he's the father of my friend's sister's children, invites me to his Fourth of July party he has. This Marine usually shows up every year. Not this year because I was there. After he threatened to punch me in the face if he ever saw me again...? He acts like he's smart but he couldn't keep up with me hence why he had to resort to threatening violence to shut me up. Before that he tried to pull the loyalty card to shut me up. Does he believe he has the right to punish me because I don't show the kind of loyalty only a racist would expect from me? I called him out and he looked like a fool because I didn't do what he expected and he could do nothing to counter me. He didn't have an answer to that because I suspect when he does pull out that card to other Asians, they curl up into a ball or retreat into their turtle shell.
That's how the Chinese should treat Westerners calling them out on their bull but the Chinese don't, so therefore they keep on doing what they do. If you didn't recognize it, Westerners stop when they see they'll lose something more if they do it. Whether it's pride or ego or reputation or something material, they'll think twice if there's a threat they'll lose it because of their actions. There is so much out there that the West says in their own news that can be spun into propaganda against them. The Chinese don't need to lie. And that why's the best propaganda comes from the truth. But do Chinese exploit this? No, because there are some Chinese who think the Chinese are boy scouts when no one sees that for it to be recognized. The only way you can get Westerners to stop doing anything you don't like is when there's the threat that they will lose something if they do.
Just to give you an update on the continuing battle of wits I'm having with a stereotypical former Marine I've mention before in this forum. Every year my friend I've known since childhood, hence the reason why I'm around this Marine is because he's the father of my friend's sister's children, invites me to his Fourth of July party he has. This Marine usually shows up every year. Not this year because I was there. After he threatened to punch me in the face if he ever saw me again...? He acts like he's smart but he couldn't keep up with me hence why he had to resort to threatening violence to shut me up. Before that he tried to pull the loyalty card to shut me up. Does he believe he has the right to punish me because I don't show the kind of loyalty only a racist would expect from me? I called him out and he looked like a fool because I didn't do what he expected and he could do nothing to counter me. He didn't have an answer to that because I suspect when he does pull out that card to other Asians, they curl up into a ball or retreat into their turtle shell.
That's how the Chinese should treat Westerners calling them out on their bull but the Chinese don't, so therefore they keep on doing what they do. If you didn't recognize it, Westerners stop when they see they'll lose something more if they do it. Whether it's pride or ego or reputation or something material, they'll think twice if there's a threat they'll lose it because of their actions. There is so much out there that the West says in their own news that can be spun into propaganda against them. The Chinese don't need to lie. And that why's the best propaganda comes from the truth. But do Chinese exploit this? No, because there are some Chinese who think the Chinese are boy scouts when no one sees that for it to be recognized. The only way you can get Westerners to stop doing anything you don't like is when there's the threat that they will lose something if they do.