news

https://x.com/Hezbolsonaro/status/1880084827141206235

What's stopping TikTok from moving their URL to tiktok.cn and giving instructions on sideloading the app? Even a non-jailbroken US iPhone can have apps sideloaded.

As far as I've seen, the ban bill just says that app stores and web hosts can't do business with them.

Edit: they could even move the URL and release an update to the app now before it's banned. Anyone who already had the app installed would still be able to access it.

Greenland's Stolen Children

In 1951 a group of 22 Greenlandic children were ripped from their families and communities and shipped to Denmark as part of a social experiment. The children were made to speak Danish and sent to Danish schools. The children were meant to become role models for a new bilingual school system and to get ahead in life by forming the nucleus of a colonial comprador elite in Greenland.

Very little came of the grand designs and the children suffered the consequences for the rest of their lives.

Amid UN demands for decolonisation after WWII the Danish colonial regime had big plans for modernisering Greenland. They saw the Danish language as an important part of the effort and believed Inuit language and culture to be backwards and primitive, an albatross around the neck of a modern Greenland. Together with the Red Cross and Save The Children the Danish regime hatched the plan to make the children become "civilised" by assimilating into Danish culture and learning the Danish language.

Local Danish priests in Greenland were tasked with selecting the children, who were all supposed to be orphans, six to seven years old, healthy and intelligent. When they failed to find enough eligible children requirenents were relaxed. Out of 22 trafficked children only six were actual orphans and the oldest child in the scheme was nine years old. Families were misled to give up their children, being made to believe that the separation would only be temporary.

The children were supposed to stay at Save The Children's summer camps in Denmark and later on with Danish foster parents for 15 months. But the stay was prolonged as the construction of the orphanage in Nuuk they were supposed to return to got delayed. Eventually six children were adopted by their Danish foster parents with the remaining 16 returning to Greenland. The children's families had not been told that the children would stay in an orphanage instead of going home to their communities.

The returning children had forgotten the Greenlandic language so when they got back to Nuuk they were sent to school with Danish-speaking children, defying the programme's stated goal of "bridging" Danish and Greenlandic society. They were seen as foreign by both Greenlanders and Danes and struggled with loss of identity. The geographical distance as well as the linguistic barrier alienated them from their families for life.

The children stayed at the orphanage until they turned 15. Most of them eventually moved to Denmark, a few moved to other countries and only six stayed in Greenland. Of the 16 children in the orphanage three completed higher education, seven of them did not complete any secondary education. Half of the children would grow up to struggle with substance abuse, mental illness and homelessness. Many were affected by unemployment. Half of the 22 children in the scheme died before turning 70.

At no point does the surviving archival material suggest any concerns for the wellbeing of the children among those responsible. Nobody was asking about consequences due the children. It was seen as a given that assimilation to Danish culture was beneficial.

It was not until 2020 that the Danish state would give the children an official apology. In 2021 six surviving children sued the Danish state, the case was settled in 2022 with each victim receiving a DKK 250.000 compensation. In 2024 four of the Greenlandic children who had been adopted by Danish families sued the state for a similar compensation.

To this day the trafficking of the 22 children is a national trauma for Greenland and is seen as an example of the colonial mentality and disregard for Inuit culture that still festers as a dark undercurrent in Danish-Greenlandic relations.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes denies Bolsonaro's request to travel to the US for Trump's inauguration

According to the decision, Bolsonaro did not present a formal invitation to the inauguration of the new American president - scheduled for this Monday (20). The former president had his passport seized in a PF operation investigating an alleged coup attempt.

“There was, therefore, no compliance with the decision of January 11, 2025 [which called for the invitation to be presented], since no evidentiary document was attached to the case file that demonstrated the existence of an invitation made by the US president-elect to the applicant Jair Messias Bolsonaro, as alleged by the defense,” argued Moraes.

The decision reinforces that since the passport was withheld there has been no change that would justify suspending the measure. It also states that Bolsonaro continues to give indications that he may try to flee the country.

“The scenario that justified the imposition of a ban on leaving the country, with the surrender of passports, continues to indicate the possibility of an attempt by the indicted Jair Messias Bolsonaro to evade the application of criminal law, in the same way that he has been advocating fleeing the country and asylum abroad for the various convicts who have been sentenced by the plenary of the Federal Supreme Court in cases related to this investigation and related to the 'attempted coup d'état and violent abolition of the democratic rule of law',” the document says.

Moraes also mentions that, shortly after the indictment, Bolsonaro considered, in an interview with a newspaper, fleeing and seeking political asylum in another country to avoid possible accountability in Brazil. “The support for the illicit evasion from national territory of defendants definitively convicted by the Supreme Court plenary in cases related to the present investigation, and the defense of clandestine residence abroad, especially in Argentina, to avoid the application of the law and final judicial decisions, are constantly being corroborated by Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, who, according to the defense itself, would have intermediated the invitations for the trip requested by the indicted Jair Messias Bolsonaro to the USA,” says another excerpt.

In an interview with The New York Times, Bolsonaro says he is no longer taking Viagra since Trump's so-called “invitation”. “I’m feeling like a kid again with Trump’s invite. I’m fired up. I’m not even taking Viagra anymore,” the former Brazilian president said in an interview on Tuesday, employing his trademark sophomoric humor. “Trump’s gesture is something to be proud of, right? Who’s Trump? The most important guy in the world.”

mBridge, a Bank of International Settlements Project Hyped by BRICS Fans as a Way to Evade Sanctions, Shut Down by Naked Capitalism

A case study in how much the world has changed, and how promoting narratives (boy do I hate that word) trumps getting things right is mBrigde, a BIS project that just got canned.

A bit of a “told you so” tone from Yves Smith but an excellent dissection on the practical challenges faced by BRICS (if they truly want to challenge US dominance) and how overenthusiastic multipolar fans hyped up projects without understanding the fundamentals of the issue at hand.

Importantly, we have Michael Hudson in the comment section saying this:

Yves highlights the big problem with well-wishers hoping that BRICS can create a better financial and economic system than the West has.

The idea is that financial independence requires one’s own “money.” But money itself is a legal creation that requires agreement by the governments issuing it as to (1) what countries — and who in them — gets the money that is being created, and (2) what will the money be created for.

This requires political unification and that a collective BRICS government is far from being created in the foreseeable future.

What CAN be created is a settlement system for intergovernmental debts among countries running surpluses and deficits. Keynes described such a system in his proposals for a banker back in 1944. If creditor countries did not pursue policies that enabled debtor countries to pay — by accepting their exports, for instance — then when the balances reached some critical mass, the creditor claims and debtor liabilities would be wiped off the books, because creditors had not taken responsibility for enabling debtors to pay. Such debts were bad loans, Keynes argued.

The US opposed this, wanting Hard Money, because the US had 75% of the world’s gold (and increased its share to 80% by 1950).

And today’s US would not take responsibility for loans to countries that can’t afford to pay their dollar debts without stifling their economic growth by accepting IMF austerity plans.

None of this kind of reform requires a common currency. The problem is the IMBALANCES among countries. That is the key.

As Hudson pointed out, the main problem has always been how are you going to sort out balance of payments issue. Keynes had the right idea with bancor, but with China running $1 trillion trade surplus these days, there is virtually zero incentive for China to get onboard with such a trade arrangement because bancor will only heavily punish the two countries (US and China) for running their huge trade deficits (huge import) and surpluses (huge export) - the two countries that have benefited tremendously from the status quo at the expense of the rest of the world.

This again goes back to why I always said that China’s only way out is to transition into a domestic consumption economy and give up their export industries, because the very act of transitioning itself has a very nice built-in incentive for China to embrace the bancor-like mechanism that will return the world to a more balanced trade, and also contains the antidote against dollar hegemony at the same time. That means industrial capacities more equally distributed across the world, as well as simultaneously blunting the force of US monetary imperialism.

SHOT:

https://x.com/academic_la/status/1878889705837842653

Israel has capitulated on several factors, allowing for a deal to be reached:

• Isreal has agreed to withdraw FULLY from Gaza leaving no troops or security zone. That includes a full withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor.
• It has agreed to allow Hamas to rule Gaza. That is not in the agreement, but there is also no mechanism to remove Hamas.
• Israel has agreed not to exile released prisoners but rather let them into Gaza again.
• Israel has waived its demand for a list of live hostages.
• It has agreed to allow residents to return to northern Gaza with only symbolic security measures.
• Israel agreed to accept dead bodies in the first stage.

All of these were red lines for Israel at one point. It is remarkable that all of them are being waived. The victory for Hamas is remarkable.

The reason this happened is clear. Despite incredible victories on the battlefield, Israel has not offered a political program to replace Hamas or moved to remove them from Gaza as a governing force. It has failed to translate IDF gains into political ones. That has, in essence, nullified all of its military achievements.

Given the reaction from other Israeli media, this seems to generally be accurate. Supposedly this is happening because Trump told Netanyahu to have a deal in place by his inauguration or else.

CHASER:

wishing idf soldiers very successful career in space program

The Taiwanese political poll just got their yearly update:
https://esc.nccu.edu.tw/PageDoc/Detail?fid=7801&id=6963

Taiwanese separatism peaked in 2020 because the Hong Kong protests were still on people's minds, and it's being downhill ever since. Nobody is buying what the DPP is trying to peddle. Damn, it turns out sending one of your political opponents to jail on corruption charges for transparent political reasons would put a damper on your party ideology. The status quo reigns supreme. Eat shit, boba libs.

Israel will release 1,890 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 33 hostages held by the radical Hamas movement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said.

Seems ukraine did big drone attack inside russia with 3 (or more?) hits. Very irresponsible from kiev regime, but nothing will dissuade russians from diplomacy efforts

Trump's inauguration portrait was shown. The Internet noticed a significant difference with the 2016 portrait. Trump has noticeably aged, no longer smiling, but frowning with a raised eyebrow.

Given the massive influx of TikTok users to the Chinese app Xiaohongshu (aka “Little Red Book”) I’ve decided to hold the first ever semi-official Hexbear Agitprop Contest. You can read more about what is going on and the contest here.

I hope to see some posting or input on the contest concept from our big beautiful comrades

croatia figurehead president re-elected with 73 %, i think usa should investigate croatia election interference

Bolsonaro says: “If I remain ineligible, I no longer believe in democracy”.

Former president Jair Bolsonaro insisted on Friday that he would be the candidate of the right in the 2026 election. The former chief executive also said that he will no longer believe in democracy if he remains ineligible by decision of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).

“What would democracy be? Respecting due process, the Constitution, the laws. Why make me ineligible? Two eight-year sentences (...) If I remain ineligible, I no longer believe in democracy. Democracy is over,” Bolsonaro said in an interview.

Why? WHY? Bolsonaro literally tried to kill people and created documents detailing how he would kill them. His own vice-president had an entire plan to send him into exile in the US, literally nobody likes Bolsonaro.

Indicted by the Federal Police (PF) in November for the crimes of attempted coup d'état, attempted abolition of the democratic rule of law and criminal organization, the former president could be ineligible until 2061 if he is prosecuted and sentenced with the maximum penalty, in 2025, for the alleged crimes. Bolsonaro would be 106 years old when he could stand for political office again.

lol

Xi's special representative Han Zheng to attend Trump's inauguration

BEIJING, Jan. 17 -- At the invitation of the U.S. side, President Xi Jinping's special representative, Vice President Han Zheng will attend the inauguration ceremony of President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C., a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced Friday.

China follows the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation in viewing and growing its relationship with the United States, the spokesperson said.

"We stand ready to work with the new U.S. government to enhance dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly pursue a stable, healthy and sustainable China-U.S. relationship and find the right way for the two countries to get along with each other," the spokesperson added.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syrias-new-central-bank-chief-vows-boost-bank-independence-post-assad-2025-01-14/

Having the Central Bank "finance" deficits by simply issuing debt to them was the common practice in the west till 1980s. This "central bank independence" is nonsense. It is just a way to transfer the responsibility for austerity to someone else.

It should be seen in a different way. Strain on the external sector due to sanctions and the war forced the Government to deficit spend as the economy went to a recession due to shrinking tax revenues.

This happened in the West too in 2008, when economic collapse resulted in tax revenues going down and unemployment benefits to go up. "Automatic stablizers". If anything, the lack of discretionary spending on recovery in Syria didn't help the economy recover once the war subsided.

The exchange rate depreciation resulted in passthrough inflation. This wasn't the fault of Syrian Government, sanctions were responsible for it. You can look at Iranian Rial and see the same thing when Trump ramped up sanctions.

South Korean police are attempting to arrest Yoon again, reportedly thousands of police have encircled the presidential residence.

Bolivian Police Clash with Protesters Demanding Arce’s Resignation Amidst Growing Social Unrest - Telesur English

whoopsies, i originally posted in the wrong thread so i'm gonna edit and add news

CW: mentions of SA here, more detail in links

Recent developments on the fascist zionist regime doing fascist zionist regime things :

From Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor: Israel must be added to UN’s sexual violence blacklist

Israel’s consistent obstructions of all United Nations investigations into allegations of sexual violence since 7 October 2023 is profoundly concerning. These obstructions, coupled with substantial evidence indicating systematic and widespread acts ofremoved and other forms of sexual violence by Israeli forces against Palestinians, including prisoners and detainees, constitute grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. [...] It was disclosed last Wednesday that Israel has once again denied authorisation for an investigation by the UN Special Representative on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, Pramila Patten. This refusal reportedly stems from concerns that a comprehensive investigation would expose Israel’s systematic use of massremoved against Palestinians, including women and children, as Patten had insisted that access to Israeli detention centres to investigate allegations against Israeli soldiers was a crucial requirement for the process.

From Haaretz: Israel Blocks UN Probe Into Hamas Sexual Crimes From October 7 to Avoid Inquiry Into Abuse of Palestinians

The UN's special representative on conflict-related sexual violence asked to investigate Hamas' alleged crimes on October 7 and towards the hostages, but Israel refused her request to access Israeli detention facilities to examine claims of IDF abuse. Israeli women's rights groups warn this could lead to Israel, instead of Hamas, being added to the UN's sexual violence blacklist

Inauguration moved inside because Hellword has frozen over

Xi: Readiness to secure greater progress in China-U.S. relations from a new starting point

TL;DR: Congratulations, better relations, Ukraine, Palestine.

alpha tier: yemen, pal action, paragliders and hezbollah the only blessed people of this horror show (and like one hundred draft dodgers in pisrael i guess) (+ 4 (?) brave self-immolation protests in the belly of the beast)

sigma-tier: mena mcdonalds and coca cola sales, turkey oil business, british and american war criminals, germans in general, syria, those fucking dnc ghouls and leftists advocating voting for democrats in amerikkka

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro: "We must resist the anti-values of the western empire of the north."

“The time of the absent country is over, let's do whatever we have to do so that our identity prevails.”

President Nicolás Maduro pondered this Monday the struggle for values as the spearhead of the Venezuelan and Latin American identity against the colonialist and imperialist model of Western countries.

During the presentation of the National Culture Award 2023-2024, the South American leader stressed that “behind the collapse of the West and its anti-values, fascism is beginning to resurface. Venezuela, Latin America and the Caribbean need a powerful cultural revolution that vindicates the best of human values and opposes the anti-values of fascism”.

“A transculturated people is a dominated people, we must combine efforts. We must resist the anti-values, the cultural decadence of the Western empire of the North, and advance in the construction of the new, a new society,” he stressed.

Video

https://www.techpowerup.com/331104/tsmc-granted-government-permission-to-produce-2-nm-beyond-taiwanese-borders

A freshly published Taipei Times report has focused on an important announcement made at a recent government press conference. Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs of Taiwan, J.W. Kuo, stated that TSMC is now allowed to manufacture 2 nm chips on foreign soil—according to him, the foundry behemoth is "cautiously" evaluating an investment of roughly $28 to 30 (USD) billion into 2-nanometer production facilities Stateside.

His colleagues have worked hard—in the past—on preserving the country's "Silicon Shield," but fresh adjustments are sweeping in. Kuo commented: "those were old-time rules. Times have changed." TSMC's—allegedly costly—North American hub is reportedly marked down for a "by 2030" push into 2 nm process territories.

2030 is not 2027, but porky does as sovereign porky commanded (for reference tsmc claims 2nm by 2026-2027 for big beans like apple, and mass production a couple of years later)