🤡Blinken🤡 discovers a genocide, just not the one his regime is aiding and abetting, turns out the actual genocide is not in Gaza it's in Xinjiang. by afellowkid in c/us_news@lemmygrad.ml
[-] afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml 26 points 4 months ago

Man I hate this dude

The history of the Middle East since 1948 shows Israel constantly striving for peace, only to be rebuffed time and again by the Arabs.

-- Antony J. Blinken, "Lebanon and the Facts", 1982

Israel is not, has never been, nor will ever be the irreproachable, perfectly moral state some of its supporters would like to see. Israelis are, after all, only human. Still, one pedestal the Jewish state can stand on--and stand on alone in the Middle East--is that of a democracy. Yes, there are tragic excesses in the occupied territories. True, the invasion of Lebanon claimed many innocent lives. The fact remains, though, that Israelis question themselves and their government openly and honestly. Eventually, as in other democracies, those responsible for wrongdoing are held accountable.

-- Antony J. Blinken, "Israel's Saving Grace", 1982

The summer of 1982 may be remembered in history as the time Israel passed from adolescence to adulthood. The illusions of a child are left behind. But the Jewish state remains special, an oasis in a desert. Its citizens have built a working democracy from scratch in a region that has no others. Israelis must treasure that democracy, protect it with all their will. For if they don't, the growing pains that are Lebanon, Shatila and Sabra, the repression of Arabs and the feud between Ashkenazim and Sephardim could turn into a plague.

-- Antony J. Blinken, "The Danger Within", 1983

Back in 2009, Brookings Institution published a policy paper that outlines plans to provoke a war with Iran by afellowkid in c/us_news@lemmygrad.ml
[-] afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The New Atlas touches on and reads some quotes from this paper a bit in this video: https://www.yewtu.be/watch?v=MWzF5NvFdOs&t=2507s (@41:54)

A very normal quote from the paper:

...it would be far more preferable if the United States could cite an Iranian provocation as justification for the airstrikes before launching them. Clearly, the more outrageous, the more deadly, and the more unprovoked the Iranian action, the better off the United States would be. Of course, it would be very difficult for the United States to goad Iran into such a provocation without the rest of the world recognizing this game, which would then undermine it. (One method that would have some possibility of success would be to ratchet up covert regime change efforts in the hope that Tehran would retaliate overtly, or even semi-overtly, which could then be portrayed as an unprovoked act of Iranian aggression.)

An example of what's discussed in the New Atlas video:

[Brian Berletic speaking about the paper] They also laid out the the whole Iran nuclear deal, they didn't mention it by name, but they were talking about a deal they would propose to Iran, deliberately sabotage, blame its failure on Iran, and then use that as a pretext for military aggression. So it says, "in a similar vein any military operation against Iran will likely be very unpopular around the world and require the proper International context both to ensure the logistical support the operation would require and to and minimize the blowback from it. The best way to minimize international opprobrium and maximize support, however grudging or covert, is to strike only when there is a widespread conviction that the Iranians were given but then rejected a superb offer"--and they're talking about a widespread conviction--not an understanding of a fact, but the belief in a US fabricated lie--so they say to "strike only when there is a widespread conviction that the Iranians were given but then rejected a superb offer, one so good that only a regime determined to acquire nuclear weapons and acquire them for the wrong reasons would turn it down" because, for the wrong reasons they admit in this paper--and many other policy papers, including from the Rand corporation--that if Iran ever did have nuclear weapons they would be used solely as a deterrent.

It says, "under those circumstances the United States or Israel could portray its operations as taken in sorrow, not anger, and at least some in the international community would conclude that the Iranians brought it upon themselves by refusing a very good deal." I mean remember shortly after this paper was published, under the Obama Administration the Iran nuclear deal was proposed. Eventually it was signed, it was implemented, the Iranians adhered to it, and then under the Trump Administration it was the US unilaterally withdrew from it, blaming Iran, just as the Brookings institution spelled out. And the Biden administration was supposed to reinstate it, but of course that was never going to happen because that was not the plan as laid out by the real policy makers of US foreign policy, these unelected, corporate-funded think tanks.

These think tanks produce these policy papers, teams of lawyers craft parts of these policy papers into bills, the bills go with lobbyists to Washington to be rubber stamped--many people in Washington don't even read them--and then the bill is sent to the corporate media to sell these policies to the public. It's very important to understand how the US really operates where foreign and domestic policy really stem from. Not your elected representatives, unfortunately. The fact that this Brookings institution ploy to propose sabotage, unilaterally withdraw from and then use a deal with Iran as a pretext for military aggression transcended the Obama, Trump, and Biden Administration. This demonstrates the continuity of US foreign policy regardless of who sits in the White House and whoever is running Congress.

32
Blinken struggles to give speech about US strength and leadership and supporting Ukraine and Israel while activists shout demands for ceasefire and are pulled from the room by Capitol Police (@56:44) (www.youtube.com)
submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml to c/us_news@lemmygrad.ml
4 comments fedilink

Video's content begins @56:44

For a quick look of the general vibe see @1:04:32

"We now stand at a moment where many are again making the bet that we’re too divided, we’re too distracted at home to stay the course..." says Blinken in his speech about supporting Israel and Ukraine, as he is repeatedly disrupted by activists demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to funding genocide and are gradually pulled out of the room one-by-one by the Capitol Police.

Remarks on the State Department website: https://www.state.gov/opening-remarks-by-secretary-antony-j-blinken-before-the-senate-appropriations-committee-on-a-review-of-the-national-security-supplemental-request/

The several statements and chants by activists demanding an end to the bombing of Gaza and genocide of Palestinians are listed only as "(Interruption.)" in the transcript.

I just happened to be reading that transcript and was curious what the repeated "interruptions" were, assuming it would be something like this, so I checked the video out. In the vid you can see the tense atmosphere as Blinken attempts to deliver his soulless advertisement-like speech in a firm optimistic or "inspiring" tone, making statements about how the US's adversaries have assessed the US is internally divided but the US is actually a resilient and strong leader, while the chairwoman has to keep hitting the gavel and pausing the hearing as activists shouting "genocide" at Blinken are dragged out one by one by the cops, while Blinken sits in a tense, irritated, and pathetic posture and then keeps trying to continue with his sales pitch tone between interruptions and being called a genocide supporter, with others sitting in the hearing behind him looking variously annoyed, drained, and bleak

20
[CGTN] Leaders Talk: Exclusive with Russian President Vladimir Putin (www.youtube.com)
submitted 11 months ago by afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml to c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
1 comments fedilink

The Ukraine crisis has laid bare the deep divisions between great powers and cast doubt on the "rule-based order" built by the West. What should a multipolar world look like? What can be done to make sure that the world is not divided between "first-class" and "second-class" countries and peoples?

For this edition of Leaders Talk, CMG's Wang Guan traveled to Moscow and sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of his visit to China to attend the 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. President Putin spoke about Russia-China relations and how they have nurtured and developed in the last two decades, not only on the energy front but also in other areas of mutual interest. He told Wang how the Russian vision of an Eurasian Economic Union aligns with China's Belt and Road Initiative and why President Xi's concept of "building a global community of shared future" is realistic and coherent. President Putin also expressed at length his position on the conflict in Ukraine and drew another parallel with Iran, saying that "the West keeps adding fuel to the fire."

DPRK state media releases statement, says US is provoking nuclear war by afellowkid in c/news@hexbear.net
[-] afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml 8 points 11 months ago

For a point of view from a DPRK author, this book: Modern Korea: The Socialist North, Revolutionary Perspectives in the South, and Unification.

For a ML point of view: ProleWiki page on DPRK. There are also pages on south Korea, Korea, and the Korean War.

For a Korean diaspora and activist perspective, of people who travelled to DPRK multiple times on delegation trips: KEEP: Stories from North Korea episode on The East is a Podcast. Also Nodutdol's zine, Sanctions of Empire (there is a link to PDF on that page if you click the zine cover image).

For a south Korean leftist/left-leaning/peace point of view (try machine translation if you don't know Korean, my apologies for not knowing an English one for this): "Understanding North Korea" article series by Tongil Times, especially their 북현대사 ("North Modern History") series, and "North Korea through the constitution" series by Sovereignty Research Institute.

DPRK state media releases statement, says US is provoking nuclear war by afellowkid in c/news@hexbear.net
[-] afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml 13 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I imagine it's because of this: Nuclear-capable US B-52 strategic bomber touches down in S. Korea for first time

The article I linked above is from south Korea's main center-left liberal paper. It comments this:

An American B-52 strategic bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons was scheduled to land at a South Korean air base on Tuesday. This marks the first time a B-52 has ever landed at a South Korean air base, and is seen as a warning directed at North Korea in response to its growing nuclear and missile capabilities.

Considering that the B-52 is capable of dropping nuclear bombs while in flight, there’s little military utility in landing at an air base in South Korea. However, the strategic bomber does have considerable significance on a symbolic level, underlining the US’ commitment to extended deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear threat.

Considering that North Korea has warned about the potential outbreak of nuclear war each time US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers or strategic bombers are dispatched to the Korean Peninsula, it is likely to have an even more dramatic reaction to a US strategic bomber landing in South Korea for the first time.

Notable also is that under south Korea's current conservative Yoon administration, the new appointee (since June) to Minister of Unification is a north Korea hawk who wants nukes for south Korea:

Notably, as Kim Young-ho is a hard-liner on North Korea who has argued for the overthrow of the Kim Jong-un regime and has stressed that South Korea should arm itself with its own nuclear weapons time and time again, critics point out that his appointment dulls the value and meaning of the unification ministry, which should carry out unification policies aimed at North Korea.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korea Studies, commented that Thursday’s personnel appointments “signal the launch of a ‘ministry of confrontation’ or a ‘ministry of North Korean absorption’ that aims to unify [Korea] through absorption via antagonism and confrontation rather than a unification ministry seeking peaceful unification through dialogue and cooperation.”

The atmosphere within the ministry as it welcomes outside figures for its two chief positions is uneasy. One official told Yonhap News that “it seems like the unification ministry is being demanded to completely change its organizational identity, such as what it does, its approach, and the mindset of its members.”

As things fell through under the previous president, Moon, who was a liberal but who made some peaceful cooperation efforts with DPRK, and Trump, who made talks with DPRK but then threatened them, and piled on sanctions without lifting them when DPRK made efforts toward appeasement, and now Yoon came in who is a conservative and USA stan and major anti-communist who is promoting a NATO-like alliance in Asia and having war exercises and military parades etc., DPRK basically has stepped back from appeasement efforts at this time, strengthening ties with its other neighbors, and instead not shying away from making criticism when threatened with "decapitation drills" from the US and conservative Yoon regime (whom large numbers of south Koreans have been protesting and calling to resign due to his warmongering, among other things).

Illinois man killed Muslim boy, 6, in hate crime motivated by Israeli-Hamas war, police say by afellowkid in c/us_news@lemmygrad.ml
[-] afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml 29 points 11 months ago

Apparently the attacker was also their landlord:

According to the Will County sheriff’s office, the woman had called 911 to report that her landlord had attacked her with a knife, adding she then ran into a bathroom and continued to fight him off.

The Muslim civil liberties organization called the crime “our worst nightmare” and part of a disturbing spike in hate calls and emails since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. The group cited text messages exchanged among family members that showed the attacker had made disparaging remarks about Muslims.

27
World Health Organization: Evacuation orders by Israel to hospitals in northern Gaza are a death sentence for the sick and injured (www.who.int)
submitted 11 months ago by afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml
1 comments fedilink

As the United Nation’s agency responsible for public health, the World Health Organization (WHO) strongly condemns Israel's repeated orders for the evacuation of 22 hospitals treating more than 2000 inpatients in northern Gaza. The forced evacuation of patients and health workers will further worsen the current humanitarian and public health catastrophe.

The lives of many critically ill and fragile patients hang in the balance: those in intensive care or who rely on life support; patients undergoing hemodialysis; newborns in incubators; women with complications of pregnancy, and others all face imminent deterioration of their condition or death if they are forced to move and are cut off from life-saving medical attention while being evacuated.

Health facilities in northern Gaza continue to receive an influx of injured patients and are struggling to operate beyond maximum capacity. Some patients are being treated in corridors and outdoors in surrounding streets due to a lack of hospital beds.

Forcing more than 2000 patients to relocate to southern Gaza, where health facilities are already running at maximum capacity and unable to absorb a dramatic rise in the number of patients, could be tantamount to a death sentence.

Hospital directors and health workers are now facing an agonizing choice: abandon critically ill patients amid a bombing campaign, put their own lives at risk while remaining on site to treat patients, or endanger their patients’ lives while attempting to transport them to facilities that have no capacity to receive them. Overwhelmingly, caregivers have chosen to stay behind, and honor their oaths as health professionals to “do no harm,” rather than risk moving their critically ill patients during evacuations. Health workers should never have to make such impossible choices.

Additionally, tens of thousands of displaced people in northern Gaza are seeking refuge in open spaces in or around hospitals, treating them as havens from violence as well as to protect the facilities from potential attacks. Their lives, too, are at risk when health facilities are bombed.

There are verified reports of deaths of health care workers and destruction of health facilities, which denies civilians the basic human right of life-saving health care and is prohibited under International Humanitarian Law.

WHO calls for Israel to immediately reverse evacuation orders to hospitals in northern Gaza, and calls for the protection of health facilities, health workers, patients, and civilians. WHO also reiterates its calls for the immediate and safe delivery of medical supplies, fuel, clean water, food, and other humanitarian aid into Gaza through the Rafah crossing, where life-saving assistance – including WHO health supplies that arrived earlier today – is currently awaiting entry.

26
UN expert warns of new instance of mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, calls for immediate ceasefire (www.ohchr.org)
submitted 11 months ago by afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml
3 comments fedilink

Excerpts:

Since 7 October 2023, more than 1,900 Palestinians have been killed, including at least 600 children, more than 7,600 injured, and over 423,000 people have been displaced as a result of the Israeli strikes. This fate befell a population which has already experienced five major wars since 2008 in the context of an unlawful blockade imposed by Israel since 2007, which Albanese said has been widely condemned by the international community as collective punishment.

On 12 October, Israeli forces issued an order for 1.1 million Palestinians in north Gaza to move to the south within 24 hours, amidst ongoing airstrikes. The next day, Israeli forces reportedly began to enter Gaza in order to “clear” the area. Palestinians have no safe zone anywhere in Gaza, with Israel having imposed a “complete siege” on the tiny enclave, with water, food, fuel and electricity unlawfully cut off. Rafah, the only border crossing that remained partially open to the Gaza strip, was closed after damage caused by Israeli airstrikes.

“There is a grave danger that what we are witnessing may be a repeat of the 1948 Nakba, and the 1967 Naksa, yet on a larger scale. The international community must do everything to stop this from happening again,” the UN expert said. She noted that Israeli public officials have openly advocated for another Nakba, the term for the events of 1947-1949 when over 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes and lands during the hostilities that led to the establishment of the State of Israel. The Naksa, which led to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967, displaced 350,000 Palestinians.

18
World Health Organization: Evacuation orders by Israel to hospitals in northern Gaza are a death sentence for the sick and injured (twitter.com)
submitted 11 months ago by afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml to c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
0 comments fedilink

Evacuation orders by Israel to hospitals in northern Gaza are a death sentence for the sick and injured

As the @UN's agency responsible for public health, the World Health Organization (WHO) strongly condemns Israel's repeated orders for the evacuation of 22 hospitals treating more than 2000 inpatients in northern Gaza. The forced evacuation of patients and health workers will further worsen the current humanitarian and public health catastrophe.

The lives of many critically ill and fragile patients hang in the balance: those in intensive care or who rely on life support; patients undergoing hemodialysis; newborns in incubators; women with complications of pregnancy, and others all face imminent deterioration of their condition or death if they are forced to move and are cut off from life-saving medical attention while being evacuated.

Health facilities in northern Gaza continue to receive an influx of injured patients and are struggling to operate beyond maximum capacity. Some patients are being treated in corridors and outdoors in surrounding streets due to a lack of hospital beds.

Forcing more than 2000 patients to relocate to southern Gaza, where health facilities are already running at maximum capacity and unable to absorb a dramatic rise in the number patients, could be tantamount to a death sentence.

Hospital directors and health workers are now facing an agonizing choice: abandon critically ill patients amid a bombing campaign, put their own lives at risk while remaining on site to treat patients, or endanger their patients’ lives while attempting to transport them to facilities that have no capacity to receive them.

Overwhelmingly, caregivers have chosen to stay behind and honor their oaths as health professionals to “do no harm,” rather than risk moving their critically ill patients during evacuations. Health workers should never have to make such impossible choices.

Additionally, tens of thousands of displaced people in northern Gaza are seeking refuge in open spaces in or around hospitals, treating them as havens from violence as well as to protect the facilities from potential attacks. Their lives, too, are at risk when health facilities are bombed.

There are verified reports of deaths of health care workers and destruction of health facilities, which denies civilians the basic human right of life-saving health care and is prohibited under International Humanitarian Law.

WHO calls for Israel to immediately reverse evacuation orders to hospitals in northern Gaza, and calls for the protection of health facilities, health workers, patients, and civilians.

WHO also reiterates its calls for the immediate and safe delivery of medical supplies, fuel, clean water, food, and other humanitarian aid into Gaza through the Rafah crossing, where life-saving assistance, including WHO health supplies that arrived earlier today, is currently awaiting entry.

Statement on who.int

12
UNRWA: Gaza abyss: Civilians are dying at the world's watch (www.unrwa.org)
submitted 11 months ago by afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml
0 comments fedilink

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/2372708

AMMAN/EAST JERUSALEM,

“As Gaza remains under heavy bombardment with Israel tightening its grip over the overpopulated Strip, it is left to the UN and humanitarians to protect civilians.

“The call from Israeli Forces to move more than 1 million civilians living in northern Gaza within 24 hours is horrendous. This will only lead to unprecedented levels of misery and further push people in Gaza into the abyss.

“Since 7 October, over 423,000 people have already been displaced. Of them, more than 270,000 have taken refuge in UNRWA shelters, where basic food, medicine and support is provided to retain dignity and a glimmer of hope.

“The scale and speed of the unfolding humanitarian crisis is bone-chilling. Gaza is fast becoming a hell hole and is on the brink of collapse.

“There is no exception, all parties must uphold the laws of war; humanitarian assistance must be provided at all times to civilians.

“In Gaza, more than 2 million people are caught up in this conflict. UNRWA is struggling to fulfil its mandate.

“I urge all parties and those with influence over them to put an end to this tragedy and provide immediate and unconditional humanitarian access and protection to the civilians, among them far too many women and children.

“The time for humanity to prevail is now.”

ENDs -

16
UNRWA: Gaza abyss: Civilians are dying at the world's watch (www.unrwa.org)
submitted 11 months ago by afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml to c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
0 comments fedilink

AMMAN/EAST JERUSALEM,

“As Gaza remains under heavy bombardment with Israel tightening its grip over the overpopulated Strip, it is left to the UN and humanitarians to protect civilians.

“The call from Israeli Forces to move more than 1 million civilians living in northern Gaza within 24 hours is horrendous. This will only lead to unprecedented levels of misery and further push people in Gaza into the abyss.

“Since 7 October, over 423,000 people have already been displaced. Of them, more than 270,000 have taken refuge in UNRWA shelters, where basic food, medicine and support is provided to retain dignity and a glimmer of hope.

“The scale and speed of the unfolding humanitarian crisis is bone-chilling. Gaza is fast becoming a hell hole and is on the brink of collapse.

“There is no exception, all parties must uphold the laws of war; humanitarian assistance must be provided at all times to civilians.

“In Gaza, more than 2 million people are caught up in this conflict. UNRWA is struggling to fulfil its mandate.

“I urge all parties and those with influence over them to put an end to this tragedy and provide immediate and unconditional humanitarian access and protection to the civilians, among them far too many women and children.

“The time for humanity to prevail is now.”

ENDs -

20
Amid renewed spotlight on ties with Hamas, US refreezes $6M [$6B*] headed to Iran from S. Korean banks (english.hani.co.kr)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml to c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
6 comments fedilink

The New York Times reported on Thursday that the US and Qatari governments reached an agreement not to release the US$6 billion South Korea sent to Iran as payment for oil. Sanctions placed by the Donald Trump administration against Iran in 2019 initially prevented South Korea from transferring this fund. On Sept. 18, after five US prisoners were released, the US allowed the money to be transferred to a Qatari bank on the condition that it could only be used for humanitarian purposes such as purchasing food and medical supplies.

But less than a month later, the brakes were put on the fund’s withdrawal in response to Palestinian militant group Hamas’ attack on Israel. Wally Adeyemo, the US deputy secretary of the Treasury, shared with Democratic lawmakers that these assets will not be available for withdrawal for the foreseeable future. During his visit to Israel, US State Secretary Antony Blinken also revealed that Iran hadn’t spent any of the US$6 billion.

13
Live: "We are speaking with Gaza residents now amidst Israel's threat to disconnect the internet." Electronic Intifada Podcast (www.youtube.com)
submitted 11 months ago by afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml to c/news@hexbear.net
0 comments fedilink
Hamas published yesterday an 18-minute long pre-recorded press conference in English about their side of the story. This has received zero media attention anywhere in the western press. (Twitter) by afellowkid in c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
[-] afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml 24 points 11 months ago

Transcript contains some errors, typos, and spots where I was unsure of what exactly was said, which I marked by a question mark, but should be mostly readable. Feel free to correct any problems you see.

https://paste.lcomrade.su/XVquKDWC

Hamas published yesterday an 18-minute long pre-recorded press conference in English about their side of the story. This has received zero media attention anywhere in the western press. (Twitter) by afellowkid in c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
[-] afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml 17 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Edit: I'm mostly through transcribing the video, mostly just cleaning it up now. Edited since rn I don't need what I was asking about earlier.

US finalizes guardrails for chipmakers operating in China, posing dilemma for South Korean firms by afellowkid in c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
[-] afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 11 months ago

As far as I understand, it's subsidies in this case. US will subsidize elements of the Korean corporation's production as long as they build factories in the US but the benefits will be taken away if they have over the specified amount of production going on in China. And the amount they specify for that basically amounts to not allowing them to make any more factories in China and not letting their existing ones be highly productive.

Here's an older article about it: "South Korean companies that invested in the US to build semiconductor factories will have to limit their manufacturing capacity at their Chinese factories to 5 percent or less for 10 years in order to receive US subsidies. [...] The excessive information demanded as a condition to receive subsidies from the US, runs the risk that South Korea’s advanced semiconductor technology and business secrets could be leaked. There is even one clause that requires the return of certain subsidies if companies earn more than a certain amount in profits."

19
US finalizes guardrails for chipmakers operating in China, posing dilemma for South Korean firms (english.hani.co.kr)
submitted 11 months ago by afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml to c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
5 comments fedilink

Excerpts:

Based on this development, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will inevitably have to modify their strategy despite having invested trillions of won to build factories in China

The US government ultimately did not accept the requests of Seoul and South Korean corporations to ease the guardrails for the CHIPS and Science Act, which have the potential to worsen the competitive edge of South Korean chip factories operating in China, restricting production capacity expansion in China in the next 10 years to 5% as originally outlined.

The US Department of Commerce’s finalized guardrails for the CHIPS and Science Act included measures that would allow the US to “claw back” incentives granted if recipients expand production capacity above approved standards in “foreign countries of concern,” including China.

It appears likely that these investment restrictions will prolong uncertainty about the competitiveness of Samsung and SK Hynix factories in China.

S Korea’s Yoon tells UN that Russia helping N Korea would be ‘provocation’ | Al Jazeera by afellowkid in c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
*Permanently Deleted* by afellowkid in c/communism@lemmygrad.ml
[-] afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Regarding your announcement--thank you OP for starting up this project, I looked forward to it each week that it went on, and appreciated seeing everyone's reflections on the texts. I also liked the simple format and gradual pace. I hope everything works out well with your IRL needs and commitments. Take care!

My study response--As last week I found myself unable to answer the study questions quickly enough, I am going to go with a bit more of a free-form response this time so I don't end up taking too long to participate. And since I barely participated last thread, I'm just going to make my reply this time be about the text as a whole.

If anyone sees errors in my response, please let me know. I'm not trying to write authoritatively but rather to check my understanding and see whether I can summarize a few of the major points.

Response

I think a quote from early on in this work seems to summarize one of the major points Marx is making throughout the text. He writes: "If the silk-worm's object in spinning were to prolong its existence as caterpillar, it would be a perfect example of a wage-worker." (Ch. 2)

In other words, it's as if a silk-worm is spinning not to become a moth, but to just keep spinning and spinning, generating silk indefinitely to remain a caterpillar indefinitely. I believe Marx is likening this to the process of the wage-worker surrendering their value-creating labor-power to the capitalist class, whose interest it is to make this relationship become only more deeply entrenched and prolonged, and therefore uses the value generated by the worker's surrendered labor-power to deepen and expand the system of wage-labor under bourgeois dictatorship. As the silk-worm metaphor implies, this is not the most sensible way of doing things from a worker's perspective. Normally, the silk worm would spin its silk to then use it to eventually undergo transformation into a moth. Likewise, it's implied that a worker would use their labor-power to create value the worker themself can actually access and benefit from, bringing a transformation in the mode of production, bringing society to a new stage.

In Chapter 8, Marx talks about the implications of the worker's real wages versus the worker's relative wages. Speaking of rises in real wages over time, Marx writes: "the more speedily the worker augments the wealth of the capitalist, the larger will be the crumbs which fall to him"--however, even if real wages are rising with profits, when we look at relative wages, we see "a widening of the social chasm that divides the worker from the capitalist, and increase in the power of capital over labour, a greater dependence of labour upon capital." (Ch. 8) As usual, Marx is calling our attention to the relationships between things. Rather than just look at a line representing real wages go up, we need to pay attention to the growing gap between wages and profits and the implication that this has for the relative social positions of workers and capitalists:

If capital grows rapidly, wages may rise, but the profit of capital rises disproportionately faster. The material position of the worker has improved, but at the cost of his social position. The social chasm that separates him from the capitalist has widened. (Ch. 8)

Toward the end of this work, in the end of Chapter 8 and throughout Chapter 9, Marx turns his attention to explaining the overall effects that the growth of productive capital has on wages, the need for expanded markets, and on causing the competition between workers to intensify:

This war [of capitalists among themselves] has the peculiarity that the battles in it are won less by recruiting than by discharging the army of workers. The generals [the capitalists] vie with one another as to who can discharge the greatest number of industrial soldiers.

[...] The more productive capital grows, the more it extends the division of labour and the application of machinery; the more the division of labour and the application of machinery extend, the more does competition extend among the workers, the more do their wages shrink together. [...]  the forest of outstretched arms, begging for work, grows ever thicker, while the arms themselves grow ever leaner.

...I have spent more time on this than I originally meant to, and so I need to end here. As I mentioned above, please point out any errors in my understanding, as this is just me writing to try and see whether I understood the text well or not and whether I could identify (some) of the text's main points.

Thanks again OP, I'm glad you started this study group.

Despite billions being spent on propaganda over the past two years, people in Europe are starting to see past it by afellowkid in c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
[-] afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml 21 points 1 year ago

Watch the 2016 film "Donbass" by Anne-Laure Bonnel, to see the things people are referring to about the violence there over the past several years. Warning that if you look into what was going on in Donbass during those years, you are going to see a lot of footage of people dead/dying in the street with their limbs blown off. This film shows a bit less of that than others do.

Also here is a clip from the documentary, with footage of the 2014 burning of the trade union building in Odessa, where Ukranian nationalists burned the building down and beat and shot the people who jumped out of the windows to avoid burning. The people in the building were Russian speakers who were protesting a ban on Russian language, and took refuge in the trade union building when the right-wing nationalists showed up. The person being interviewed is a former Ukranian soldier from Donestk, who left the military because he didn't want to join in the violence enacted on the region. Warning that you will briefly see bodies of people who burned to death.

*Permanently Deleted* by afellowkid in c/communism@lemmygrad.ml
[-] afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 year ago

I did the reading, but haven't had time to type up a reply yet unfortunately. Hoping to have some time soon!

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Geopolitical Economy Hour: 2-part conversation between Radhika Desai, Michael Hudson, and Pepe Escobar (lemmygrad.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml to c/communism@lemmygrad.ml
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Part 1: NATO failed in Ukraine against Russia. Now it's targeting China (Youtube/Invidious)

Part 2: Anti-China hawks' drive to expand NATO into Asia may destroy Western military alliance (Youtube/Invidious)

Personally I found some of Escobar's comments in part 2, around @8:03 regarding DPRK to be pretty interesting. He talks about how although the Western media focuses on the military aspect of relations between Russia and DPRK, that recently, signs are showing of Russia's intention to help with getting DPRK re-integrated into international trade and especially his comments in regard to building a trans-Korean railway to link with the trans-Siberian railway and how this topic is likely to come up on the next Eastern Economic forum in September. (This railway concept isn't a new one, but I found his comments about recent events interesting) as well as potential inclusion in other trade deals/organizations, etc.

click to see a transcript of his comment on this

[Note: transcript is auto-generated and I didn't clean it up completely]

Escobar: I'd like to focus on something that happened these past few days, which is enormous, and I would say for most of the planet, quite unforeseen: which is Russia bringing back North Korea, the DPRK, to the rank of a very important Global south power with enormous reach...

So, we have Ministry of Defense Sergei shoigu, received like Mick Jagger in Pyongyang. he got a true rock star welcome. the whole thing, including a private audience with Kim Jong-un. and obviously the whole leadership of the dprk.

What leaked, of course, was the possibility of many military agreements and increasing their military collaboration what did not leak is the best part of them all because it's the geo-economic part.

What do the Russians really want to do with the Pyongyang? they want to integrate Pyongyang with South Korea, with Seoul, and of course this will mean Russia developing a sort of go-between diplomacy between both--and they have the possibility to do both because they are also respected in Seoul.

And something that has already been discussed at the Eastern economic Forum in Vladivostok--these discussions they started at least three or four years ago in Vladivostok--and what they're all about, basically, is to build a trans-Korean Railway which is going to connect with the Trans-Siberian and connect both koreas to the Russian Far East and then all the way across Eurasia.

So, imagine that you are a Samsung businessman in Seoul you look at that and said "wow, I'm gonna have--I don't need to to use a cargo tankers anymore, I can have direct access to the enormous developing Market in the Russian Far East, not to mention the whole of Eurasia via Russia just by building a Railway." very very simple.

Which, sooner or later, with--and I would say, with Chinese input, could become a high speed rail. Considering that the Chinese are already investing in a High-Speed Rail in Russia, and considering that if there is a a duplication of the Trans-Siberian into a Trans-Siberian high-speed rail is going to be built by the Chinese, this is a trans Korean Railway could also be built with Chinese input, technical input as well. And financed via a Chinese a Silk Road fund the brics Development Bank, Russian Banks--and it could be a a reorganization of Finance, East Eurasia style.

So, they were discussing that of course. and this is going to be rediscussed and they're going to get deeper into it at the next Eastern economic Forum in Vladivostok in early September. so, it's a around the corner. literally. so so the fact that this is happening now, it's very, very important because this is a sort of uh, preamble to what they're gonna get into at the next Eastern economic Forum.

So, everybody is happy with this Arrangement; North Korea because they are brought back to the Forefront of trade in the parts of, Eurasia, the possibility of having some sort of geo-economic deal between North Korea and South Korea, Russia developing the Far East and integrating the Far East with the koreas, and China, of course, because this also integrates this part of Eurasia this North in Eurasia uh, framework. and it's part of brics. it's part of the Shanghai Corporation organization.

And this opens, I would say, this leaves us with the possibility of North Korea, sooner or later, getting integrated into the Eurasia economic Union. and that's fantastic. because this I see that happening in uh at least two stages. the first stage, the EAEU strikes a free trade agreement with North Korea, just like the ones they have with Cuba, or with Vietnam in Southeast Asia. and they are also working with Indonesia, to have an EAEU free trade deal with Indonesia.

They could also do the same thing with North Korea and--fantastic--this bypasses U.S sanctions! because it's going to be EAEU basically, uh Russia is 80% of the Firepower of the EAEU. they can devise a settlement mechanism involving in North Korea that bypasses the US dollar completely. you have expansion of EaEu to North East Asia which is very important.

The Chinese are going to love it as well because they can also, um, even if they are not part of the EAEU, don't forget that Putin and Xi have already said,and the directives are already there, the Belt and Road initiative--BRI--and EAEU they have to converge. and this would be a perfect example of convergence between BRI and EAEU. so that's why the way I see this visit by shoigu as Mick Jagger, it's extrapolates it everywhere, geoconomically and geopolitically, and it's no wonder that it was not even mentioned, I would say, or barely mentioned in Western mainstream media.

Anyway, just sharing these. They cover a lot of topics in this discussion.

0
(Aug. 13) South Korean unionists & progressives in Seoul demand U.S. forces' withdrawal. "We must stamp out this behavior of anti-reunification forces." (www.youtube.com)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by afellowkid@lemmygrad.ml to c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
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Thousands of South Korean unionists and their progressive supporters rallied in downtown Seoul to protest against joint US-South Korea war games planned for later this month.

The drills will be the largest in years, and follow the May election of President Yoon Suk-yeol, who has promised to take a hardline with North Korea. Union leaders worry about risks.

Oh Eun-Jung, National Teachers Union:

"The threat of nuclear war is growing on the Korean peninsula, conservative forces of Yoon Suk-yeol in South Korea and those in the U.S. are frantically conducting aggressive war drills in the sky, the land, and the sea, and are about to start large-scale military exercises, aimed at the invasion of North Korea. We must stamp out this behavior of anti-reunification forces."

Lee Seung-Woo, Construction worker:

"We not only oppose the war exercises, but we want the U.S. Forces Korea, which is actually controlling and interfering with the Korean peninsula to leave this land. We believe that only then will the eighty million Koreans from both North and South be able to live peacefully."

CGTN footage of protest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOfwt9BsriU

Press TV footage and article:

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/08/13/687322/South-Korean-unionists-protest-US-South-Korea-war-games

Edit: https://www.chosun.com/national/labor/2022/08/16/6N7F5YEK3VCGBJ4SFKZLKYGO5I/

This article is in Korean. Here is a machine-translated excerpt:

A YouTube video of the Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), which contains the activities of the Unification Vanguard, is also controversial. The 2-minute and 58-second video released by the Federation of Trade Unions includes a song called [Anti-U.S. Anti-War Song] by a folk song group called '[Our Country]' as the background music. '[Our Country]' is a songbook known for its NL (National Liberation) tendency, and "The reality of the US Empire has been revealed. The enemy of the people of the world is the US imperialists” “The end of the US imperialists is not far off. Behold, that crazy final blow.” “Look, the burning wave of anti-Americanism. Let's wipe out the U.S. imperialism all over the world" and "The morality of the people in this age is only anti-Americanism" and so on.

The Unification Committee also held a camp called 'Unification School' and lectured on 'The History of America's World Aggression' and 'The Confrontational History of the DPRK-U.S.'. At a rally on the 13th, the KCTU read a solidarity message sent by the Korean Workers' Union, a North Korean workers' organization controlled by the North Korean Workers' Party, at a rally on the 13th. Article 8 of the current National Security Act stipulates that 'a person who contacts a member of an anti-state organization or a person who has received an order through a meeting or communication, etc., shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 10 years'.

Edit 2: The song, Anti-U.S. Anti War, and also it seems this is the video the article mentions

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afellowkid

joined 2 years ago