Well, the site isn't letting me post the next megathread, so I guess this one has earned a 3 hour stay of execution until I'm back at my computer to try again

Milei is a poopy head, israel has shit for heart, this has been scat politics analysis of the day

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/12/17/7433465/

A wiretapping device was found in the office of Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda sources in the Ukrainian military

Details: Sources told Ukrainska Pravda that a wiretapping device was found on Sunday, 17 December, during a routine inspection.

Similar devices were also planted in the offices of Zaluzhnyii’s colleagues.

Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo begins the announcement of the government's economic measures.

"We are starting with the worst inheritance in history". "The beginning of all problems is the public deficit".

Luis Caputo, Argentina's Economy Minister, says that Argentina's economic problems are due to the fact that Argentinians are addicted to deficits.

He says they are going to do things differently from previous administrations by eliminating the problem of "debt addiction". Argentina's Economy Minister, Luis Caputo, announced the first measures of Javier Milei's government.

Some of them are:

• Government contracts of less than one year will be canceled.

• An end to the government's news agencies.

• Reduction of ministries from 18 to 9.

• Reduction of resources (to a minimum) for the country's provinces (Milei's party have no elected governor).

• No more public works in the country, and cancellation of those that have not yet begun.

• Reduction of subsidies for energy and public transport, freeing up the price.

• Keep only the benefits received directly.

• The exchange rate for the official Argentine dollar will be 800 pesos, up from 430 today.

Caputo also says that the coming months will be difficult.

He says that inflation could rise in the coming months, even more than it is now, because an uncomfortable truth is preferable to a comfortable lie. The low-income child benefit plan will be doubled, and the food card will be increased by 50%.

There will be no public works, and those that have been tendered but not started will be canceled. And those that have been started will be sold to the private sector.

Caputo is literally Macri's economy minister, the one responsible for making this whole economic crisis worse.

Watching that hbomberguy plagiarism video. Why does James Somerton always look like he's on the verge of tears? Bro got them sweaty lookin eyes

What is the vibe for this flu season? Looks like it is going to be a coivd wave. I saw some hospitals being saturated already. My work is as busy as it was last covid but neither management nor thr government has any desire to spend money again so we have less resources than last time.

Attacks on journalists ‘a failed attempt to obscure the truth’

The media office of Gaza’s government says the “targeting” of Wael Dahdouh and Samer Abudaqa in Khan Younis “comes within the framework of intimidation and intimidation of journalists”.

It called it “a failed attempt to obscure the truth and prevent them from blatant media coverage of the crimes of the occupation against children, women and civilians”, according to a statement posted on Telegram.

Jodie Ginsberg, the president of the Committee to Protect Journalists, says the Gaza war is “the deadliest conflicts for journalists” that the media watchdog has documented in the past 30 years.

“The role of journalists in such a situation is absolutely vital, particularly in Gaza where we’ve seen the kinds of institutions that traditionally also help with the kinds of documentation about the impact, like the UN officials, have left – so we’re really only left with the Gazan journalists doing this very important documentation work,” she told Al Jazeera.

“The international governments’ failure to push for an end to this conflict is increasingly creating a real sense of abandonment amongst the community and particularly amongst the journalist community in Palestine and the region,” Ginsberg said.

Head Zionist pig gets ratioed with red triangles: https://nitter.cz/itamarbengvir/status/1734851282693726498

Caribbean Mediation Was Decisive for Venezuela-Guyana Meeting

Roosevelt Skerrit and Ralph Gonsalves made intensive efforts to facilitate dialogue between these countries.

On Thursday, St. Vincent & the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves is hosting a regional meeting in which the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the Guyanese President Irfaan Ali will hold a direct dialogue on the Essequibo region.

"PM Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica is poised to join the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in crucial discussions surrounding the ongoing territorial dispute between Guyana and Venezuela," BBN reported.

In the week prior to this meeting, Skerrit, Gonsalves and other regional leaders were making intense efforts to bring Guyana and Venezuela closer together with the aim of avoiding an escalation of the diplomatic conflict between these nations.

"In a world often marred by conflict, the role of these organizations in promoting diplomatic dialogue and peaceful resolution can't be overstated. The participation of leaders like PM Skerrit is an embodiment of the region's collaborative spirit in addressing such disagreements," BBN commented .

The mediation efforts of the Presidency of Brazil, CELAC, and CARICOM were also significant in achieving a direct bilateral meeting between Maduro and Ali, which seemed somewhat difficult at the height of the diplomatic conflict.

On Thursday, before their face-to-face dialogue, Maduro and Ali spoke separately with the CARICOM leaders who attended the meeting in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Guyanese president Ali took the first turn in these previous conversations with representatives of the Caribbean countries, among whom was former Foreign Minister of Belize Lisa Shoman, who is currently an advisor to CARICOM.

Then, the Venezuelan president Maduro went to the meeting room accompanied by Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who has been leading the defense of Venezuelan sovereignty over the Essequibo at the international level.

Israeli troops are inside Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza and interrogating staff. "Interrogating"? The maternity ward was hit which killed two women and two women had their legs amputated.

Hamas-controlled health ministry claims Israeli troops are inside Gaza hospital and interrogating staff

The Israeli military is now inside Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, according to the spokesperson for the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the enclave, Ashraf Al-Qidra.

Al-Qidra alleged that the hospital director, Dr. Ahmed Al-Kahlot, and all medical staff, including female staff, were being held in the emergency department and being subjected to interrogation.

CNN has asked the Israel Defense Forces whether its troops are indeed now inside the hospital.

Dr. Al-Kahlot told CNN on Monday that Kamal Adwan was surrounded by Israeli forces.

In one recent tank shelling, Dr. Al-Kahlot said the maternity ward was hit, killing two women and leaving two more so badly wounded their legs required amputation.

"The hospital has no water, no food, no fuel. I make an appeal to lift this siege and bring in water and fuel," he said.

On Friday, the IDF said clashes near Kamal Adwan hospital were "in response to Hamas' barbaric attacks.”

The Israeli military says it only carries out operations in and around hospitals where they are being used by Hamas and other armed groups.

- CNN

"Tonal Shift" sounds like a guitar pedal.

UK and Germany call for 'sustainable' ceasefire in significant tonal shift

UK foreign minister David Cameron and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock have published a joint article calling for a “sustainable” ceasefire, saying the goal must be peace lasting “generations”. In a significant shift in tone by the UK government, the article reads: “Our goal cannot simply be an end to fighting today. It must be peace lasting for days, years, generations. We therefore support a ceasefire, but only if it is sustainable.

We know many in the region and beyond have been calling for an immediate ceasefire. We recognise what motivates these heartfelt calls. It is an understandable reaction to such intense suffering, and we share the view that this conflict cannot drag on and on. That is why we supported the recent humanitarian pauses.

The article was published in The Sunday Times and Welt am Sonntag in Germany. It further said: “Israel will not win this war if their operations destroy the prospect of peaceful coexistence with Palestinians. They have a right to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas. But too many civilians have been killed.”

Following Biden’s comments last week that Israel was losing international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing”, US officials have also told Israel that its window for conducting major combat operations in Gaza is fast closing.

- The Guardian

DFLP has really stepped it up the last couple of days, no? Wonder why them and not PFLP, who I thought had more support? Maybe DFLP has more support in Gaza?

Yahya Saree leaving a stage rally in a scooter, Ansarallah say fuck cars

https://twitter.com/kaisos1987/status/1735702350654791976

so the US is sending a general and his staff to more directly command and control the Ukrainian war effort. this makes me think of gylippus, the spartan general who was sent to sicily to help syracuse against the athenian invasion. he either was integral to syracusean victory, helped, or at least didn't derail their victory. I can't off the top of my head think of high profile examples of individual generals sent to help allies/proxies that have fucked things up or otherwise lost spectacularly. I can think of proxy wars like this like vietnam, afghanistan (soviets and americans), but I don't know of specific generals that were defeated and left with a reputation for failure in the same way that gylippus' place in history is the opposite. Are there any like this?