[News] Around The Rest of World

A posting place for news from places around the globe, outside of the US/Europe.

Just as a FYI, Axon has a thread where we've been tossing most of our European news discussion, I started this thread mostly for news from South America, the Middle East, Asia, Africa that'd probably get lost/ignored.

I updated the thread title to clarify a little better.

Must do it for mine. Was more a "will certain predictions come true" thread at the start.

Tokyo Olympic Games: When are they and will they go ahead?

I mean, yes. Anything short of a World War Z situation, they're holding the Olympics.

And even then.

Recent polls have shown nearly 70% of the population are opposed to the Games.

Several towns which were set to host the athletes across the Tokyo region have reportedly pulled out for fear the programme might help spread Covid and put pressure on the healthcare system.

Earlier in May, a doctors union told the government that it was "impossible" to hold the Games, given the pandemic.

One of Japan's most prominent business tycoons has also criticised the decision to go ahead.

In a tweet which went viral, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said that most people wanted the Olympics "to be postponed or cancelled", asking "on what authority is it being forced through?"

In late May, the leading Asahi Shimbun newspaper also called for the Games to be cancelled.

It is guaranteed to be a spreader event. Who would stop themselves going to an event they have been training for all their life just because they tested positive to covid. Competitors and officials will show up no matter what and then take it home with them.

Absolute madness.

Sounds like Netanyahu might still be out.

https://www.axios.com/israel-netanya...

By replacing him with an even more right wing president, supported by the leftish opposition. Such a government will surely last for long. Maybe even months!

Bye bye, Bibi?

Wait, replace him with an even more right wing president? Why would Bennet become president? The centrist party Yesh Atid has the most seats in the coalition at 17 compared to Bennet's 7. Yair Lapid, a moderate who wants to pause settlement expansion, would be the president.

Djinn wrote:

Wait, replace him with an even more right wing president? Why would Bennet become president? The centrist party Yesh Atid has the most seats in the coalition at 17 compared to Bennet's 7. Yair Lapid, a moderate who wants to pause settlement expansion, would be the president.

From the article Shadout posted:

Worth noting: Under a “change government”, Bennett would serve as prime minister for two years before Lapid rotates into the job. It would be the most wide-ranging coalition ever formed in Israel.

Prime Minister doesn't have to go to whoever has the most seats in the coalition, and Bennett knows that without him and his party Yesh doesn't have the votes. So he has leverage to force them to cut a deal, which is that they rotate being PM and he gets to go first.

And at the end of the day Bennet only holds 7 seats. It's the agreed program for government is what matters here and what did Bennet concede in it to get the PM role.

That's a sweet deal for Bennet then. I'm guessing the coalition strategy is to hold on until Bibi goes to jail or disappears from the spotlight before triggering another election. I doubt the coalition will last two years, so Bennet will be able to position himself as the incumbent in the next election and replace the Likud party with his party as the default right-wing choice.

Might not be a very sweet deal for him. Sounds like the vast majority of his voters are against it. A gamble for sure.
For everyone else than Bennet and his party it seems like win/win. Get rid of Netanyahu and have a right-wing party crash and burn? Sure, why not...

He has been in charge for 12 years. I think that is long enough.

Prederick wrote:

Tokyo Olympic Games: When are they and will they go ahead?

I mean, yes. Anything short of a World War Z situation, they're holding the Olympics.

And even then.

Recent polls have shown nearly 70% of the population are opposed to the Games.

Several towns which were set to host the athletes across the Tokyo region have reportedly pulled out for fear the programme might help spread Covid and put pressure on the healthcare system.

Earlier in May, a doctors union told the government that it was "impossible" to hold the Games, given the pandemic.

One of Japan's most prominent business tycoons has also criticised the decision to go ahead.

In a tweet which went viral, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said that most people wanted the Olympics "to be postponed or cancelled", asking "on what authority is it being forced through?"

In late May, the leading Asahi Shimbun newspaper also called for the Games to be cancelled.

Rat Boy wrote:

AP: Bibi going bye bye.

There are big tents, and then there's whatever this is.

LITERAL ISLAMISTS.

More or less every opposition party in Hungry is running under a united ticket against Orbán in 2022, strange bedfellows abound.

I mean, if communists and capitalists could team up to take down Hitler...

And that turned out really well too.
(answer works for both of the previous posts).

A damaged ship carrying tons of toxic chemicals sinks off the coast of Sri Lanka. Nothing lives in the ocean and water is so heavy that toxic waste can't move through it to other regions so I'm not worried.

Peru just had a real nail biter of an election. Radical fascist (not hyperbole) Keiko Fukimori learned from Trump and has started complaining about "election fraud" as her challenger, radical socialist (also not hyperbole) Pedro Castillo pulls ahead of her by 0.2% of the total votes cast. That 0.2% is over 100,000 votes.

Pedro Castillo is a rural Peruvian schoolteacher, union leader, and socialist. He led a teacher's strike in 2017. He generally represents the interests of the rural peasant class of Peru, which - -again, I'm stressing generally -- means most everywhere but Lima.

Keiko Fujimori is a businesswoman and cartel leader, the daughter of fascist dictator Alberto Fujimori, who is currently in prison for crimes against humanity and egregious human rights violations. Her campaign was funded by millions of dollars of illegal campaign donations coming from the fossil fuel and mining cartels in Peru. She represents the interests of Capital.

Millions of pages have been spent lamenting why America is a nation where the rural peasant class remains solidly right wing while our cities generally trend leftward -- a stark contrast to South American politics.

Unfortunately both Castillo and Fujimori oppose legalized abortion, same sex marriage, and LGBTQ rights and they're both strongly anti-immigration. Not that social conservatism and leftist economic policies are exactly a rare match, I sometimes get the impression that the being left on both social issues and economic is the exception rather then the rule globally.

Agreed.

Also, as due to a variety of factors (increasing climate change, war, corruption, etc.) driving even more mass migration, I will wager in 20 years you won't find a single major government on earth that is strongly pro-immigration.

Prederick wrote:

Agreed.

Also, as due to a variety of factors (increasing climate change, war, corruption, etc.) driving even more mass migration, I will wager in 20 years you won't find a single major government on earth that is strongly pro-immigration.

Wait, that's implying there are some *now*.

The real shame is that people who already know how to farm in a desert will be extremely useful to any country. Not to mention the tax income and new cuisines.

And the airstrikes started up again.

Amazing to get a PR release from this RW org at my job describing this government, led by a man who is, by most accounts, even more RW than Netanyahu, as a "dangerous left-wing gov't".

That’s just a pro-Netanyahu spin on the fact that the coalition behind the new PM goes all way from his far-Right party to Israeli Arab parties that usually can’t even get a voice in a government, outside the Knesset. The usual “without Netanyahu we are doomed!” Fearmongering.

Canadian news:

Canada, from the very start of our nation, treated our Indigenous peoples very, very poorly. Go read the numerous articles and the Government of Canada Truth and Reconciliation Report on Residential Schools. (Warning, many stories of all types of abuse)

This came to the forefront several weeks ago with the discovery of a mass grave of 215 indigenous children on the grounds of a former residential school.

Sir John A Macdonald was the founder of Canada, and he also felt that it was the duty of the Canadian Government to "remove the indian from the indian." So now, there is a movement across the country to remove statues venerating Sir John A Macdonald.

So far, there have been a number of cities and towns across Canada that have removed statues of him.
Kingston, , Picton, and Charlottetown, to name a few. And many others will probably end up doing the same.

mudbunny wrote:

Sir John A Macdonald was the founder of Canada, and he also felt that it was the duty of the Canadian Government to "remove the indian from the indian." So now, there is a movement across the country to remove statues venerating Sir John A Macdonald.

If your people were anything like ours you would have protestors out in the streets waving their rebel Canadian flags (whatever those are?) and their guns while screaming about "revisionist history".

Thankfully they're not, so they'll be unfailingly polite about their disagreement, eh?

Keldar wrote:
mudbunny wrote:

Sir John A Macdonald was the founder of Canada, and he also felt that it was the duty of the Canadian Government to "remove the indian from the indian." So now, there is a movement across the country to remove statues venerating Sir John A Macdonald.

If your people were anything like ours you would have protestors out in the streets waving their rebel Canadian flags (whatever those are?) and their guns while screaming about "revisionist history".

Thankfully they're not, so they'll be unfailingly polite about their disagreement, eh?

At the biggest protest that I have seen reported, it was two people and a bagpiper, who moved after talking with the cops.

And, FWIW, the statue they removed is going to be installed at Sir JAM burial site, which is already considered a National Monument.