#because for a country a foreigner is primarily a resource

[astfut]

im being annoying in tags yet again

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Matthew Downhour at The UnPopulist:

Both during the 2024 campaign and in the current debates regarding President-elect Donald Trump’s appointments—particularly for Tulsi Gabbard (director of national intelligence), Pete Hegseth (secretary of defense), and other national security positions—one of the common but rather puzzling insults thrown at Democrats is that they are “warmongers.” This may come as a surprise, given that Joe Biden was the president who finally ended the war in Afghanistan, while Trump famously canceled the nuclear deal with Iran and ordered the assassination of its most important military operative. The key idea behind the notion that Democrats are warmongers—and that Donald Trump, by contrast, is a dove—appears to be that Democrats are prone to starting wars because they are “globalists,” never putting America first and always getting too involved in everyone else’s business. And these Democratic “globalists,” either through idealistic do-goodery or to protect and advance cosmopolitan economic interests, actively look to draw the United States into foreign conflicts.

Certainly, the ostensible danger of overseas trade has often been used—as by Thomas Jefferson and Herbert Hoover—as a justification to limit that trade. But as a characterization of Democrats, it just isn’t accurate. In the U.S. and elsewhere, internal coalitions that denigrate foreign trade have often been the most bellicose. Their coalitions have the least to lose from war, and swearing off free trade makes seizing resources through force more attractive. This means that the incoming “America First” coalition is likely to increase, not decrease, the risk of the U.S. entering into international conflict.

Nationalist Coalitions Provoke International Hostilities

The history surrounding the First World War provides a framework for understanding our current moment. In a 2014 article in International Security, published a century after the war first began, Etel Solingen evaluates the way countries’ internal and external politics interact to create more or less bellicose states. Comparing China with Imperial Germany 100 years earlier, Solingen argues that the primary driver of foreign policy is domestic political coalitions, which tend towards being either more inward-looking or more internationalizing. Inward-looking coalitions prefer autarkic economies that in turn favor local, static elites. This is especially attractive to those who have gained their status and wealth through local dominance of internationally non-competitive economic sectors. Because a modern economy requires a variety of resources, however, this disavowal of free trade means inward-looking coalitions are perhaps misnamed, as they in fact seek opportunities to gain natural resources and control markets outside the borders of the metropole, primarily through imperialism or settler colonialism.

Internationalizing coalitions, by contrast, are made up of “internationalists,” those more dynamic economic and cultural elites for whom global interaction and free trade is an opportunity, not a threat. Internationally competitive industrialists may fall in this category, as do many academics, cultural producers, and others who benefit from free international trade. Though in the U.S., and earlier, the U.K., such figures may see the value in a strong navy to protect sea lanes, they generally are more dovish and find both the taxes needed to run a military and the disruptions caused by warfare to be contrary to their economic and ideological interests. Cosmopolitanism tends to trump nationalism in their hierarchy of values.

An inward-looking coalition dominated Germany in the run-up to 1914 in an arrangement called the “Marriage of Iron and Rye.” Starting in the 1870s, the noble, landowning Junkers demanded protectionist tariffs to guard against cheap American grain, while industrialists sought the same to keep out British manufactured goods. Solingen argues that this preponderance of inward-looking forces reduced the war aversion of the German Empire. This coalition was more prone to brinkmanship than a more internationalizing coalition would have been—the Democratic Party, by contrast, would not lead the U.S. to enter the war until several years after its outbreak. Solingen also notes the importance of Germany’s neighbors in contributing to the outbreak of the war, cataloging how Austria, Serbia, and Russia also were influenced by strong inward-looking coalitions, which also influenced their appetite for brinkmanship and willingness to enter into a war that devastated internationalist interests for decades after.

Solingen concluded that China of 2014 was still dominated by an internationalizing coalition, and that despite rising nationalism, reliance on foreign trade and direct investment meant it was likely to remain conflict-averse. The last 10 years, however, have seen Chinese interests grow increasingly inward-looking, as the country imposes controls on key material exports and seeks greater economic self-sufficiency. Other major rivals of the United States like Russia and Iran have been forced by international sanctions to also adopt an autarkic worldview, leaving primarily “inward looking” (though imperialist) coalitions in charge of those countries. The ingredients for a more dangerous world, in other words, are mixing at precisely the moment the U.S. has itself turned in a similar direction.

[...]

America First Cronyism and Bellicosity

The ideal of self-contained autarky does not mean, as one might suppose, a less interventionist view on the world. Instead, eroding the norms of free trade obligates an advanced economy to have direct access to whatever resources it might need, or else a way to ensure the countries it buys from are perpetually in friendly hands. America’s own history can be something of a guide here—the same presidents (William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft) who presided over the high tariffs of the Gilded Age also committed the United States to annexing Hawaii, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, and creating a virtual empire out of most of Latin America. Coalitions that are generally inward-looking are not above having their eyes wander avariciously to foreign soil. Far from facilitating a peaceful transition to “America First” isolationism, a United States traveling this path is likely to be less averse to bellicosity and more willing to risk war, having weakened any internal commercial or civil society coalition that might push back against it. In fact, any pushback, at least from corporate America, is likely to be muted. Under an “America First” regime, firms will have strong incentive to join the inward-looking coalition if they can, much like Prussian industrialists and farmers a century ago. The major economic policy of the Trump campaign was sweeping tariffs on foreign goods. If these tariffs operate to “protect” American industries from competition, history suggests that those industries will become dependent on tariffs for their very viability, causing firms to see trade as a liability, not an opportunity. Commercial interests will be less willing to resist autocratic encroachments because their futures will be dictated largely by the whims of the Trump administration’s tariff policy—as well as any economic aid doled out to industries affected by retaliatory tariffs, as agriculture was during the last Trump administration. Solingen notes that with inward-looking coalitions, “External insecurity and competition offer rationales for extracting societal resources, collecting monopoly rents, creating cartels, rewarding protectionist constituencies, and undermining internationalizing competitors.” By 1914, very few interests remained in continental Europe that could forcefully stand against the road to war; internationalist coalitions had been politically beaten in most states.

Many of these trends are already notable today. For example, the specter of external insecurity was used by the first Trump administration to justify emergency tariffs on steel and other goods, and similarly the Biden administration argued for the strategic necessity of tariffs on electric vehicles and photovoltaic cells. The close connection between Elon Musk and the Trump transition team creates myriad new opportunities to undercut competitors and reward Musk’s own companies, including by the use of foreign policy. For example, Vice President-elect JD Vance’s threat to pull back from NATO commitments if the European Union regulates X in ways the administration disapproves of clearly shows preference for one business over similarly positioned ones, precisely because, with Musk’s promotion of accounts opposing immigration as well as aid to Ukraine, X is a key media player in the broader inward-looking coalition. Other key players may be less flamboyant than Musk but it is safe to assume that they are similarly adjusting their strategies to better survive an inward-looking coalition, and, in so doing, strengthening the coalition itself.

The fascist-elect’s economy-crushing tariffs will lead America to the road to war that no one wants.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

What would he have made his priorities after being the king? I mean politically? If he had worked at all that is.

GREAT QUESTION it frankly drives me kind of insane that we never get any hint whatsoever about how he’s running the country while he does briefly take over from S&S through R&R. Like what are his POLICIES!! What is he DOING??

But also, realistically, he is not going to cancel wars with the Shadow Fold threat lol. Like that is only the beginning of a really long and drawn out foreign relations catastrophe. I talked about this a little bit in a different context awhile ago but he doesn’t strike me as a character with a firm end goal… ever. There’s always going to be more to do.

But like a civil war is going to fuck up the country no matter what. So I’d assume, regardless, there’s going to be a fair bit of immediate picking up the pieces economically. He doesn’t at all seem like he cares about public opinion, beyond being scary enough so people know not to fuck with him. So he’d probably have no qualms with making drastic and highly unpopular reforms lol.

We really don’t know enough about his stances but he seems to be primarily: a nationalist, an autocrat, prioritizing military strength, distinctly favoring Grisha interests, and also shdhfgfd against industrialization and technological advancement. He also favors the perceived good of the many over the interests and well being of any individual, and is very happy to make sacrifices of many, many lives to achieve fairly petty goals. He's a fantasy fascist basically.

The books somewhat superficially equate him with Russian revolutionary figures. But I don't think there's enough... actual ideology to back that up very much. And rapid industrialization and transitioning the Soviet Union from a primarily agrarian based economy was itself a key part of it? So... he's not much of a Stalin. If we're trying to sus out his policies I could see him being something of an anti Peter the Great, where instead of forced Westernization, you have an incredibly set in his ways immortal autocrat trying to drag everyone back to the values and traditions of his youth. (Which would also make narrative sense, considering Nikolai, as the Darkling-lite foil, seems to have def been based on some aspects of Peter the Great's youth and interest in innovation, if not his personality)

So for example, he seems like he'd favor isolationism. His idea of "peace" is "don't fuck with me or I'll make my monster filled interdimensional rift eat you." And we know Ravka is in intense debt! I could easily see him seizing the nobility's wealth and using it to pay off any debts owed to foreign countries. And then if anything's left over to stockpile resources towards making Ravka more self sufficient. Maybe even melt the gold and silver out of churches to that purpose.

(I forget which historical figure literally melted down church crosses dfghj but that was a thing! iirc incidentally he also stripped the silver from the currency, absolutely destroying its value...)

By RoW he seems to have embraced the entire like religious propaganda side of things. But in the trilogy proper he seems to hate the church. So resources going to it in any way will probs be diverted. And I could even see him gradually trying to repurpose the buildings for other things. They're on the tail end of a civil war, there's probs a lot of displaced people that could be put there for a start.

S&B meanwhile establishes that he has some pretty distinct opinions about how all the Grisha need to pretend to live like peasants so as not to forget their roots or whatever. I think he *would* enact really harsh regulations and reforms on court life just because he hates it so bad lol. Taxes on parties, insane sumptuary laws for everyone but his favored Grisha soldiers. He's had centuries and centuries to hate changing social norms. I think he'd go nuts if given the opportunity to dictate everything. Generally I think there would be a mix of skyrocketing taxes and reforms to an actual purpose (bolstering the economy and stripping material power from the nobility) but also just to be a petty, temperamental autocrat.

Def also criminalizing dissent and making examples of any opposition immediately. Can't have another revolution threatening his revolution. Again, here I'm annoyed by how little the world is fleshed out, because we get nothing about the nobility. Noble families with any sort of longstanding ties or known friendship with the Lantsovs would probs get executed day one. Stripped of titles and lands etc and then taking those and giving them to his own supporters. (Who are they? Good fucking question! He has one Ivan and then even he fucking dies. But realistically... he would have... supporters?)

He'd probs want to get a firmer grip on West Ravka stat, and maybe invest in some military expansion to control more ports. An issue I forever have with the Grishaverse worldbuilding is that it's just so small? There are only like five countries? Trade and foreign policy just aren't going to Look Like That or mimic a nineteenth/twentieth century vibe if there are only five fucking countries dfghjkl but whatever. Whatever.

I could also see him favoring exports over imports. Stopping all trade seems destabilizing af so I doubt he’d go there but seems likely he'd try to decrease any dependency Ravka has on other countries in favor of self sufficiency and isolationism. Maybe taxing imports so bad that it's just not worth it. Regulating the exact details of what can be imported, when, why, etc.

Speaking of the earlier impending foreign relations catastrophe. I think if he’s scary enough he might manage to avoid an all out war on all fronts? Might. Because there’s also a really good case to be made for attacking Ravka while its still weak and reeling from the civil war. But if he’s lucky, the surrounding countries will take a “wait and see” stance. But like there will be consequences eventually. Consider the Shadow Fold an in-universe fantasy nuke in the hands of a power hungry ruler who has zero qualms with any scale of loss of life or just murdering civilians for the lols. He’s proven himself to be unstable and unreasonable so even if there isn’t an immediate declaration of war there is going to be a response to that. No one’s going to be chill!! And like SoC and KoS context tells us that there is parem on the horizon, along with the Grisha super soldiers in Shu Han, the druskelle getting wayyyy more sophisticated and a general trajectory of rapid military industrialization and advancement through out the world. Those are playing pieces that would be on the board regardless, but it’s just going to get so much uglier under those circumstances. And especially with the knowledge and context that the Darkling is completely fucking unreasonable and ready to war crime anyone who looks at him funny.

I guess siding with Fjerda in S&S could hypothetically be advantageous to him here actually? Like we do not know the terms of that alliance at all, and I doubt it would hold for long. But it breaks up the framing of everyone vs Ravka. And opens things up for anyone else to respond by trying to get on his good side against their own enemies. And once again. There are only five countries lmao. So a tense balance of powers situation might be feasible, but I think it would hinge on him not looking like he’s completely insane. Possibly ironic, but the fact that he seems to have only war crimed his own damn country is likely also useful here. Other governments typically don’t care/won’t get involved to a degree of outright declaring war over that. And it leaves some room for arguing that he’s capable of some restraint. So how quickly things go to hell probably depends on whether he goes back on any alliances or makes good on/is cornered into making good on his Shadow Fold threat.

So I don't know, basically I think there's a ton you could extrapolate from his personality, actual world history, and like fascist takeover 101 sdfghj but it's also somewhat unsatisfying to speculate about because it's impossible not to constantly run into thin points in the worldbuilding. But basically I think he would probably rule with an eye for sweeping, harsh reforms, consolidating power, and chipping away at any opposition or potential adversary, with a general decided disinterest in the popularity or lack thereof of any of his policies. And I also think unless someone got him to take a deep breath and chill out for five minutes and relearn the value of diplomacy things would get. how you say. really fucking bad.

This was incredibly unorganized I hope it answered your question at all sdfghj

[lepartidelamort]

Netanyahu Tells West Israel Will Decide How to “Defend” Itself (i.e., Israel Will Decide If the West Goes to War)

By Andrew Anglin

This means “Israel will decide how to deploy the US military.”

The US is locked into a suicide pact with Israel, which means that if Israel starts a war, the US has to join.

Everyone knows this.

What Netanyahu is saying here is just gibberish. He’s not deciding for Israel. Israel would be barely involved in a war with Iran (yes, they have a bunch of high-tech missile stuff – all gifted by the American taxpayer – but their military is small and they don’t have a bunch of ships like the US). He is deciding for Americans if we will have a war with Iran.

This is evil Nazi propaganda. It’s also an accurate portrayal of the way the world works. But if you notice it, you’re evil.

It’s just absurd that this discussion is even possible. Or rather, it is absurd that the real discussion surrounding Israel, and the Jewish stranglehold on America, is impossible.

Reuters:

Israel will make its own decisions about how to defend itself, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, as Western countries pleaded for restraint in responding to a volley of attacks from Iran. The United States, European Union and G7 group of industrialised nations all announced plans to consider tighter sanctions on Iran, seen as aimed at mollifying Israel and persuading it to rein in its retaliation for the first ever direct Iranian strikes after decades of confrontation by proxy. Netanyahu met the German and British foreign ministers, who both travelled to Israel as part of a coordinated push to keep confrontation between Israel and Iran from escalating into a regional conflict fueled by the Gaza war.

Netanyahu’s office said he thanked David Cameron and Annalena Baerbock for their support, while telling them: “I want to make it clear – we will make our own decisions, and the State of Israel will do everything necessary to defend itself.” Earlier, Cameron said it was now apparent Israel planned to retaliate for the Iranian missile and drone strikes, which Tehran launched on Saturday in response to a presumed Israeli airstrike that killed military officers at its embassy in Syria. Baerbock said escalation “would serve no one, not Israel’s security, not the many dozens of hostages still in the hands of Hamas, not the suffering population of Gaza, not the many people in Iran who are themselves suffering under the regime, and not the third countries in the region who simply want to live in peace.”

Britain and Germany are also in this suicide pact with the Jews, because they are both subsidiaries of Washington, Inc.

No one wants the Jews to start this war.

But they are going to start this war.

As I’ve said six million times: there is no reason they would have allowed Hamas to attack in the first place if they weren’t planning on maximally escalating.

The Israelis are aware that both:

US support for Israel is failing

The US itself is failing

They are running out of time to clear out all their enemies, and their biggest enemy is Iran. In fact, that’s the enemy that fuels all their other enemies, including Hamas (even though Hamas is a Sunni group, it’s primarily funded by Shias, because Shias are the only ones in the region who will actually do anything about these Jews).

The hilarious thing is that all of these people who are begging Bibi to stop are obsessed with the Ukraine war, and if this Middle East mania pops off, there won’t be any Ukraine war. There is no possible way the West can keep up two major wars at once.

Never mind their plans for starting a war in the Pacific by using the Filipinos as sharkbait.

The next big war the West gets dragged into will be its last war. All three of its enemies are capable of either:

Winning, or

Making sure the West does not win

And it’s the same thing.

If the West does not win, they lose, because they are going to have to keep pouring resources into a bottomless pit, looking like lunatics in front of the rest of the world, while the Chinese stand by shaking their heads and making ultra-money.

People are sick of these wars, and everyone knows that Washington is causing all of them. No one else in the world wants them. Israel wouldn’t exist without Washington, nor would the Ukraine, and the Filipinos would be begging the Chinese for investment money rather than threatening them with a war.

The same is even true of smaller conflicts with little global relevance, such as in Armenia or Kosovo (Serbia, actually). The Washington Jews are now telling Thailand to invade Cambodia. They are backing the terrorists in Bangladesh.

No one else wants all of these wars. People are sick of it.

Everyone in the world is cheering Hamas, they are cheering Iran, they are cheering Russia. Meanwhile, they’re all trying to get rich with the Chinese.

We stand at the precipice.

A new world order is coming into view.

There is This One Thing I’ve Been Thinking About Though…

It’s not made any sense to me how these people were creating all this chaos and obviously destroying America, which is their only hope for world domination.

Then I read the books from the show Silo.

I didn’t really like the show (too blacked), but I found the mysterious cliffhanger ending super annoying, so I got these books and read them. In the books, you find out that the people who built the Silos – underground fallout bunkers designed to last for hundreds of years – purposefully started a nuclear war to eliminate all life on the surface.

I started thinking “well, that is actually possibly the plan of people in Washington…” It’s the only thing that would make any sense.

Then, I watched the new Fallout series – it’s the same plot. This was not in the games, but in the shows, the people who built the fallout shelters – Vault-Tec – purposefully started a nuclear war so they could wipe the surface of the Earth clean and then repopulate it.

The basic explanation, in both cases, is that elites in America decided to end all war and save natural resources by totally killing everyone on Earth save for a small group of people.

I’m not saying this is what is going on. But it’s very interesting that there are two popular shows with this same plot.

Remember when Channel Four made a show about the government faking a flu virus so they could distribute a vaccine that would reduce the population?

Remember when the X-Files spin-off The Lone Gunmen featured the government flying planes into the World Trade Center to blame it on Moslems and start an “international war on terrorism”?

This stuff shows up in TV shows, for whatever reason. (The reason why is a whole other thing. I don’t think it’s a satanic ritual, as many people who point out this phenomenon of shows predicting reality will claim. It probably has more to do with the CIA and just Jews in general being involved in Hollywood, and people having a bit too much to drink.)

The idea that Silo and Fallout are showing a real apocalypse agenda is really just a wild theory. There is no reason to believe it’s true. It just seems plausible, if you think about it. Most likely, the people in Washington are as insane as they look. But I did find it intriguing.

It’s worth looking on 4chan for posts about a secret system of underground fallout shelters designed to sustain a population for hundreds of years.

[jdeim]

The Impending Destruction of the Philippine Sea

The Philippine Archipelago is surrounded by a vast body of water that is rich with various minerals, pristine coral reefs, and diverse marine animals. The position of the Philippines directed to the equator helps to produce rich and prolific oceans. Coincide with these numerous resources, the progression growth of humanity, and the increasing population. Hence, the demand for resources heightened to conquer the problems created by the people. The marine ecosystem faces a great deal of dilemmas, struggling to sustain the needs of the people living on earth.

In Atom Araullo's "Philippine Seas" documentary, he highlighted the alarming condition of the fisheries in Saranggani General Santos. He discovered the decreasing population size of Tuna fish witnessed by the Filipino fishermen who took 4-10 days and traveled 6-10 hours just to get a single tuna fish. One of the reasons behind this phenomenon is the ample number of fishermen gathered in the same area, showing the less capturing spots in the ocean. Around the year 2010 to 2017, 21,000 wildlife were confiscated, the poached fish were primarily sharks because of the immense demand of their fins in foreign countries. The Coron Palawan recorded high statistics of illegal poacher that ruins the living organisms below the sea. However, they are not the only ones who harm the environment, localities are no exception because most of them use illegal ways such as dynamite fishing, use of cyanides, etc. It contributes to the destruction of coral reefs, and polluted water, which if we look in the long run, everyone was subjected to this irreversible damage.

To sum up, uncontrolled and unlawful fishing causes a wide-range impact on marine wildlife. The expansion of the human population and their extensive needs is the root and top reason for this instance. It is essential that we acknowledge the importance of our ocean resources and their role in producing food and keeping us alive. Overusing and the irresponsible management of the ocean profusion might result in irredeemable consequences that soon knock us.

[ankit99notes]

Why UPSC Exam is important?

The UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) is one of the most prestigious and competitive examinations in India, primarily because it serves as the gateway to the Indian Civil Services, which are critical to the functioning of the country’s government and administration. Here are some key reasons why UPSC is important:

1. Gateway to Prestigious Civil Services Careers:

The UPSC exam is the gateway to a wide range of prestigious services, including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Revenue Service (IRS), and several other services that play a key role in governance and public administration. These positions provide immense prestige, power, and responsibility in serving the nation.

2. Opportunity to Contribute to National Development:

Civil servants have a significant role in shaping policy decisions, implementing government programs, and ensuring the welfare of the public. Whether it’s about creating effective policies, managing resources, or ensuring justice and security, the work of civil servants has a direct impact on national development and social progress.

UPSC officers often work at the grassroots level, leading government projects that can transform local communities, improve infrastructure, education, healthcare, and contribute to poverty alleviation and economic growth.

3. Impactful and Diverse Career:

A career in the Indian Civil Services offers diverse opportunities. For example, an IAS officer may be involved in governance, law enforcement, economic management, and social welfare at the district, state, or central levels.

Similarly, an IFS officer will represent India in foreign affairs, acting as the face of the nation in diplomatic missions. Civil services offer opportunities in foreign diplomacy, law enforcement, policy-making, administration, and much more, ensuring a dynamic career.

4. Authority and Power:

Civil servants hold significant authority in government decision-making. They have the power to shape policies, implement national programs, and oversee public services. Whether it’s enforcing the law, ensuring the welfare of citizens, or maintaining national security, civil servants play a key role in governance and administration.

5. Job Security and Stability:

One of the key attractions of UPSC is the job security it offers. Government jobs, especially in the civil services, are often viewed as stable, with attractive salaries, perks, and retirement benefits.

Unlike the private sector, where job security can be uncertain, civil services jobs are known for their long-term career stability, which is a major draw for aspirants.

6. Respect and Prestige in Society:

The UPSC exam is known for its rigorous and transparent selection process. Clearing the UPSC not only requires hard work, but it also earns one the respect and admiration of society. The civil services are often seen as a noble profession due to the responsibility and service involved in working for the public good.

IAS, IPS, IFS, and other civil services positions are associated with a high level of respect within Indian society, which makes the UPSC exam highly sought after.

7. A Platform to Work Closely with Governance and Policy-making:

UPSC aspirants get the opportunity to work at the highest levels of government. For example, IAS officers are tasked with formulating and implementing policies, managing crucial government departments, and working directly with top leaders to influence national decisions. Officers are involved in both policy formulation and execution, which provides them with unparalleled access to power structures.

8. Challenging and Rewarding Experience:

The UPSC exam is known for being one of the toughest exams in India. The challenges posed by the extensive syllabus, the depth of subjects, and the complexity of the interview process require dedication, discipline, and intellectual acumen.

The experience of preparing for and clearing the UPSC exam is both intellectually stimulating and personally fulfilling. It helps individuals develop a wide range of skills, including critical thinking, problem-solving, time management, and a broader understanding of national and global issues.

9. Contributing to the Nation's Growth and Development:

UPSC officers play a pivotal role in executing government policies and projects that can shape the future of the country. For example, IAS officers at the district level are instrumental in implementing government welfare programs, managing the administration, and coordinating the development of local economies.

An IPS officer ensures law and order, protects citizens’ rights, and safeguards national security. In other services, such as the IFS, officers contribute to the country’s foreign relations, advocating India’s interests on the global stage.

10. Holistic Personal Development:

Preparing for the UPSC exam is not just about cracking a competitive exam. The process of preparation, with its emphasis on general knowledge, current affairs, analytical thinking, and writing skills, aids in the holistic development of an individual.

UPSC preparation encourages aspirants to engage with society, politics, and global issues, making them more aware of the challenges and opportunities faced by India and the world at large.

Conclusion:

UPSC is important because it offers a unique opportunity to serve the country at the highest level of governance. The prestige, impact, job security, and diversity of roles make it a highly coveted career. Additionally, civil services provide aspirants the chance to contribute significantly to national development and engage in policy-making that shapes India’s future. By providing a platform to work closely with governance and development, the UPSC is vital not only for the individual but also for the nation’s growth and progress. for more

[nsfwmiamiart]

Incoming Text for Salma Hayek Pinault: Subject: "The Case for My Leadership: Why I Stand as Somalia's Best Choice"

Dear Salma,

I hope this message finds you well. I want to elucidate why I believe I am uniquely positioned to lead the Somali nation, and why my approach differs significantly from the current leadership.

First and foremost, the existing Somali leaders are heavily influenced and controlled by Britain and America. This is primarily because their wealth is deposited in banks within these countries, making them vulnerable to manipulation. Their fear of these powers compromises their ability to act independently.

In contrast, my strategy is quite different. I have intentionally avoided placing my assets in American or British banks, recognizing the risk of being influenced or controlled. Instead, my resources are securely held in Hong Kong, a location where I have strong connections. This approach ensures my financial independence and, consequently, my autonomy in decision-making.

I urge you to convey this message widely: I challenge anyone to identify a leader better suited than myself to guide Somalia. The current leaders’ dependence on American and British financial systems compromises their effectiveness and integrity. They are, regrettably, beholden to these foreign powers due to their financial ties, which diminishes their capacity to govern with true independence.

I position myself as a leader with the courage and independence to resist external pressures. My strategy involves fostering alliances and building a strong resistance against foreign influence. For instance, my support for a Mexican agenda in Somalia is a deliberate effort to forge alliances with Mexican and South American militias. This coalition is intended to strengthen our military capabilities and enhance our ability to resist American and British interventions on Somali soil.

The global sentiment towards America and Britain is increasingly negative. Many nations are eager to support a coalition that will confront these powers. I have secured commitments from various countries willing to invest significantly in building a formidable Somali army. This army will be poised to repel any attempts at foreign domination and will serve as a testament to our resolve and strength.

To summarize, my leadership stands apart because I am committed to maintaining Somalia’s sovereignty without succumbing to external pressures. I am the Crown Prince, and I firmly believe that I am the only Somali leader capable of resisting foreign manipulation and guiding our nation towards true independence and prosperity. My approach is to build a robust, self-sufficient defense against foreign interference and to mobilize global support for our cause.

Thank you for understanding the gravity of this situation. I trust that you will share this perspective and help rally support for our vision of a sovereign Somalia.

Sincerely,

Angelo (Crown Prince)

P.S.:

Synopsis of the letter:

In this letter, Angelo articulates why he believes he is the best leader for the Somali nation compared to the current leadership. He asserts that Somali leaders are compromised by their financial ties to American and British banks, which makes them susceptible to manipulation and unable to govern independently. Angelo contrasts this with his own strategy of securing his assets in Hong Kong, thereby avoiding external influence and maintaining his autonomy.

Angelo challenges others to find a better leader than himself and emphasizes his unique position as someone who defies foreign pressures. He describes his efforts to build alliances with Mexican and South American militias to enhance Somalia’s defense against foreign interventions. The letter also highlights the global support for building a robust Somali army to counteract American and British influence.

In conclusion, Angelo positions himself as the only true leader capable of safeguarding Somalia’s sovereignty and leading the nation towards true independence and prosperity. He requests support in mobilizing global backing for his vision of a self-sufficient and sovereign Somalia.

[learnwithmearticles]

How Far Can Israel Go

At the end of 2023, Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine turned into an onslaught of assaults in reaction to an attack from Hamas in October. Because of this, global attention finally turned towards the genocide of the Palestinian people.

Most countries around the world agree that Israel should cease their assault on Palestinians, while a few of the global superpowers disagree. The government of the United States of America, primarily, continues to provide materials to Israel, and claims pro-Palestinian support to be antisemitic.

How far will this conflict spread?

Multiple countries, including South Africa, Spain, and Mexico, have taken action within the UN and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to have Israel’s actions acknowledged as genocide, and for intervention to take place.

Other countries are already involved in other ways. For example, Israeli airstrikes in April killed aid workers from Britain, Australia, and Poland. Other various humanitarian efforts from foreign nations have been interrupted or delayed due to those attacks as well as continued pressure from Israel.

The ongoing tension between Israel and Iran has worsened in this time. In April, Israel struck the Iranian embassy in Syria, killing an Iranian officer, causing the cold war to become an active one. The following exchange of attacks in April 2024 is considered “the most dangerous round of conflicts between the two countries in decades” 4. While this conflict then cooled down, it might be about to resurge.

On July 14th, 2024, Israel launched another airstrike on Damascus, Syria, the location of the Iranian embassy where an officer died in April. This attack caused the death of one Syrian soldier and injuries to three others. It was launched from an Israel-occupied region that used to be part of Syria. Due to the alliance between Syria and Iran, this furthers hostilities with both nations.

These are not the only important attacks on Syria, though. Israel has been launching strikes on them over the past decade, and they increased in frequency since October 2023.

We have seen footage again and again both in the past year and over the decades demonstrating the willingness of Israel’s government to target and kill civilians. They have chosen the desire to kill Palestinians over caution, and over peace with surrounding nations.

Israel’s violence is not limited to Palestinian people, yet it has been allowed to continue and even been supported largely because the USA also dislikes its targets. While their targets regarding Iran, Syria, and Lebanon have been military or militant areas, they cannot correctly claim the same towards Palestine.

As attacks continue and worsen in the Middle East, we can only wonder what the final straw will be that might bring the whole world into action.

Additional Resources

1. USA supporting Israel

2. Action in the ICJ

3. Humanitarian Deaths

4. April Iran Attack

5. July Attack on Damascus

[jorgesoto22]

Blog Entry #6

Bonds to invest

To invest in bonds, in my opinion, it is important to ask yourself two questions before investing in bonds. The first question is: are you a patient or impatient person? The second question is: are you risk-loving or risk-averse? In my position, I am patient, but not too much, so I would buy bonds with a maturity of no more than 5 years.. Additionally, I am risk-averse, so I would invest in bonds with not very high yields, as these bonds are safer and there is not much risk of losing money. Upon exploring a bit, I was attracted to corporate bonds, primarily from technology and aviation companies. The first bond I would invest in would be in HP Inc., as it is a technology company with a long track record. The second bond would be in American Airlines, as it is the largest airline in the USA. And finally, in Boeing Co., an aerospace company from the USA. The yields on these three bonds range between 5% - 10%, which are good and safe yields. Additionally, these are quite large and reliable companies.

Eurobonds

Eurobonds are foreign debt instruments issued by the Ministry of Finance with the objective of raising funds from international creditors. In my opinion, I would resort to Eurobonds as a last resort, when the necessary funds cannot be raised internally. Eurobonds are usually sold at higher interest rates because the bond has to be competitive for foreign creditors to be willing to buy it. This means that the government will have a more expensive external debt than the debts it can obtain within the country. However, since Costa Rica's Eurobonds are long-term, this allows the country to restructure and optimize its domestic debt and secure resources for long-term development projects. As a last aspect, obtaining these Eurobonds shows that international investors have confidence in Costa Rica. In conclusion, Eurobonds are good for the economy as a last resort, because they provide money and resources to the country to adjust the internal debt and carry out new projects. But it will be necessary to be more orderly in order to be able to pay the high debt.

[yashvitours]

Unlock Your Potential: A Guide to Securing Your Canada Student Visa with Yashvi Tours

Canada is calling because of its lively cities, astonishing sights, and education framework known worldwide. If pursuing further studies in this lively nation is what you have always dreamt of, then get the Canada Student Visa. Obtaining a visa if you are not sure of the application process can be challenging. However, it is meant for students who have applied for student visas but have been denied. Therefore, this summarized guide is designed to help educate you by providing detailed information on each step that you need to take during the application process in order for you to qualify for one with guaranteed success.

Why Study in Canada?

Canada’s educational system is acknowledged worldwide for its quality and it constantly ranks high in global reports. There are universities of renown which have offered numerous programs in different fields to make sure that you are well prepared for future success. Here are some reasons that You should think about studying in Canada.

Internationally Recognized Degrees: A degree from Canada has much global worth hence paving the way for active job chances across the globe.

Multicultural Environment: Friendly and not biased Canada has welcomed the students from other countries by accepting all differences in the society.

Work Opportunities: Student visas are courses of study that allow one to engage in jobs part-time, thus helping one gain some form of valuable know-how and perhaps managing to balance some tuition charges.

Post-Graduation Work Permit: Canada offers post-graduation work permits to international students. This will enable them to acquire Canadian work experience, a factor that might be relevant in future immigration decisions.

Unveiling the Canada Student Visa:

The Canada Student Visa or study permit allows foreign nationals to pursue full-time academic studies at a designated learning institution (DLI) in Canada. DLIs are academic institutions approved by the Canadian government to host international students.

Eligibility Criteria:

Before you start applying for your visa, make sure that you meet all the criteria required of you. Here is an explained guide:

Acceptance Letter: You must have a valid acceptance letter from a designated learning institution (DLI) in Canada.

Financial Stability: Demonstrate sufficient financial resources to support your studies and living expenses in Canada. This can be achieved through proof of funds like bank statements, scholarships, or financial support documents from sponsors.

Proof of Language Proficiency: Submit documents demonstrating your English or French language proficiency through standardized tests like IELTS or TEF.

Meet Medical Requirements: You may require a medical exam to ensure you meet Canada’s health standards.

The Application Process:

Here’s a simplified roadmap for the application process:

Gather Required Documents: Collect all necessary documents, including your acceptance letter, proof of financial resources, language test results, and any additional documents specified by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

Apply Online: The application process is primarily online through the IRCC website.

Biometrics: You may be required to provide biometric information (fingerprints and photograph) at a designated service center.

Medical Exam (if applicable): Complete and submit a medical exam if required.

Interview (optional): An immigration officer may request an interview to assess your application further.

Visa Issuance: Upon successful application processing, you will receive your Canada Student Visa.

Partner with Yashvi Tours for a Smooth Journey

At Yashvi Tours, we understand that navigating the Canada Student Visa process can be overwhelming. We offer a range of services to simplify your journey and increase your chances of success:

Expert Guidance: Our experienced team provides personalized guidance and support throughout the application process.

Document Assistance: We assist with gathering and organizing required documents to ensure your application is complete.

Application Review: Our team can review your application to identify potential issues and ensure accuracy.

Visa Interview Preparation: If required, we offer interview preparation to boost your confidence and ensure a smooth interview experience.

Embrace the Canadian Adventure!

Obtaining a Canada Student Visa unlocks a world of possibilities. Prepare to immerse yourself in a vibrant and multicultural learning environment, explore breathtaking landscapes, and embark on a journey of personal and academic growth. With the right preparation and support, securing your Canada Student Visa can be the first step to an enriching and unforgettable Canadian experience.

Contact Yashvi Tours Today! Let our dedicated team be your trusted partner on the path to Canada. We offer customized services to cater to your individual needs, ensuring a smooth and successful visa application journey. In addition to student visas, we also specialize in crafting unforgettable travel experiences in Canada and beyond. Explore our website to discover a world of travel possibilities!

[isocertificationphilippines]

How ISO Certification in Philippines is Transforming the industrial Industry

ISO Certification in Philippines,Philippines, situated in the heart of Southeast Asia, has a thriving manufacturing economy that has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years. The ISO certification, a powerful tool that has helped Philippine manufacturing businesses increase their competitiveness, streamline their procedures, and meet worldwide quality and safety standards, is primarily to blame for this success.

How ISO Certification is generating a change in the industrial industry in Philippines

The Pursuit of Excellence: The widely recognized ISO 9001 Quality Management System standard is a cornerstone of this transformation. Businesses all around Philippines are enthusiastically adopting ISO 9001. It encourages greatness in the following ways:

Quality Improvement: ISO 9001 encourages Philippines businesses to identify and correct process problems, resulting in fewer product flaws and recalls.

Customer Satisfaction Has Increased: Adherence to ISO 9001 standards has increased customer satisfaction nationally and globally.

ISO Certification encourages productivity and organizational efficiency in addition to quality. Producers use ISO Certification in Philippines to streamline their procedures:

ISO-certified Filipino enterprises have updated their methods to reduce waste, slash prices, and speed up production.

Global Objectives: ISO Certification Global Recognition

ISO Certification is the key to entering global markets. It is widely recognized and helps Philippines manufacturers pursue foreign opportunities:

Global Credibility: Because ISO Certification ensures product quality and dependability, Filipino producers are more reputable when entering worldwide markets.

Expanded Export Horizons: As more overseas customers require ISO Certification in Philippines, Filipino firms are broadening their reach and chasing new export markets.

ISO 14001: Sustainable Manufacturing

As environmental concerns expand worldwide, manufacturers in Philippines are ready to adopt sustainable practices. ISO 14001, the Environmental Management System standard, sets a high level:

Sustainability Commitment: ISO 14001-certified manufacturers in Philippines help to encourage environmentally sustainable production.

Resource Optimisation: Implementing ISO 14001 increases resource efficiency, cutting energy use and having a smaller environmental effect.

First and foremost, safety: ISO 45001

The ISO 45001 standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems highlights workplace safety:

Employee Well-being: ISO 45001-certified Filipino businesses prioritize their employees' health and safety, decreasing workplace accidents and promoting morale.

ASEAN's Advantage

Because of ISO certification, Philippine enterprises get an advantage in the extremely competitive ASEAN area, increasing the country's standing as a regional manufacturing hub.

A Culture of Continuous Improvement

ISO-compliant organizations foster a culture of continual improvement. Philippines' manufacturers' embrace of innovation and process improvement helps to sustain a vibrant industrial ecosystem.

What makes Factocert the best choice for ISO Certification in Philippines?

Factocert is a well-known ISO Certification company in Philippines. Our ISO consultant provides services to Caloocan, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Antipolo, Zamboanga, Taguig, Mandaluyong, and Calabarzon in the central Philippines. 

Conclusion

ISO Certification in Philippines is more than just a mark of distinction; it is also a catalyst for change in Philippines sector. The industry is changing due to ISO certification, which can improve product quality and operational efficiency and open new markets. As enterprises continue to embrace ISO standards, Philippines is poised to become a formidable contender in the worldwide manufacturing sector. Certification in Philippines is more than just a tool for development; it is the driving force behind the country's manufacturing environment change.

For More Information Do Visit :ISO Certification in Philippines

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[canichangemyblogname]

This is a great article, but it’s missing something crucial in its historical analysis of how the Palestinian people were & are ethnically cleansed at the hands of Israeli Labor: consideration of Israel’s use of indentured workers— not just Jewish Settlers— in the settler project’s displacement of local labor.

Settler colonial expansion rests not just on the commitment of a laboring class, but also the commitment of a bourgeois class to bring in the cheap labor to work the land, and an alliance between the two forces, incentivized or driven by a struggle with the native population, as mentioned in the OP. “Zionism… blunts the class conflict because of the role Israeli workers play in a colonial state upholding Western imperialist interests.”

“Israeli workers took their lands at gunpoint.” Today, those lands are tended by indentured Thai farm workers. The article rests on the argument that Israel is (mostly) a “pure settlement” settler colonial society rather than a mix of a “pure settlement,” “plantation settlement,” and “ethnic plantation settlement” settler colonial society, (that is— imho— slightly/partially comparable to the United States [°1]).

Which settlement-type occupied Palestine— from the river to the sea— falls under depends largely on when the land was first colonized as the Israeli settler colonial project is ongoing.

Parts of the occupied West Bank are undergoing a process of pure settlement where indigenous stewardship of the land is being violently wrested from their control so settlers can control and work the land themselves. These settlers are part of “laboring class committed to the nation-building project.” The bourgeois class is not the class primarily appropriating this land.

As outlined in the article, occupation of the West Bank and Gaza provided Israel with a Palestinian labor resource to exploit. They made use of this “vast reserve” of cheap labor in a system with the markings of an ethnic plantation settlement, which many have compared to South Africa’s apartheid system.

On the other end, most of Israel’s established agriculture is now an industry, and it depends on a plantation settlement system, where the settler class constitutes themselves as the local ruling class as it imports indentured Thai labor. Before them, Israel utilized unskilled Mizrahi Jewish Laborers, as the authors in the OP outlined.

As of July, there were around 119,000 legal foreign workers in Israel and over 25,000 there illegally, according to Israeli authorities. In agriculture, there were 22,862 legal foreign workers and another 7,493 without valid paperwork, largely those who had overstayed visas. This sector imports almost all of its labor from Thailand, though there are also a few thousand "trainees" from Asia and Africa working in Israel's agricultural sector as part of work-study programs. […]

Hundreds of agricultural "trainees" and "volunteers" from Thailand arrived in Israel in the 1980s and thousands had [traveled] there by 1992, according to research by anthropologist Matan Kaminer, with a particular influx following the 1987 Intifada, or Palestinian uprising.

"There was a strategic decision that was made on the part of the Israeli state to replace Palestinian workers with migrant workers so they wouldn't have this dependence," Kaminer told Nikkei Asia.

A comparative number of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank work in Israel (about 150,000). Two thirds of these workers are employed in the construction industry, and the rest are employed in the manufacturing industry and agriculture.

Relying on indentured Thai farm workers allows Israel to rely less on native labor, especially in the agricultural sector.

Foreign workers in Israel often have to pay exorbitant ‘placement fees’ to secure work in the country, which has left many of them with too much debt to leave. […]

The International Labour Organization (ILO) mandates that employers should pay any financial fees attached to recruiting migrant workers from abroad. However, Israel makes workers pay these “placement fees” themselves, a practice that has drawn criticism from human rights experts.

The high demand among migrant workers for jobs in Israel, which are often much better paid than comparable jobs in other countries in the region, also leads to recruitment agencies in workers’ home countries inflating the fees they charge for securing work for people often desperate to provide for their families.

A shortage of workers in Israel’s healthcare and agriculture sectors and the high debts people can incur when travelling to work in the country can lead to migrant workers being exploited and forced to work long hours without breaks.

As the authors in the OP state, we should not see these settlement society categories as fixed realities, but, rather, as part of a spectrum. My question, however, is whether we may conceptualize Israel’s plantation settlement system as an evolved form of its pure settlement system, as settler labor alone eventually cannot meet the labor needs of the land. That land was once stewarded by millions of Palestinians. These millions have been displaced, expelled, supplanted, killed, forcibly assimilated, or ghettoized and segregated to create an Israeli economy largely free from Arab influence or control.

Israel seems to have learned from what didn’t work in South Africa. Importing Thai workers is meant to solve the issue of needed labor without relying so heavily on the native Palestinians, and this “solution” is meant to offset the costly inefficiencies created by an apartheid system. They don’t need to worry about neoliberal economic policies undermining Jewish workers and their economic power; constraints on the domestic labor market can be solved by importing labor. This constant flow of unskilled laborers allows for a continued relative upward mobility for the working class and working poor Jewish nationals of Israel. Or, at least, they’re not at the “bottom.” The state then does not need to “provide” for the Israeli worker as it did before— that direct capital investment through the Labor Party and kibbutz mentioned in the OP— to “integrate” settlers into the Zionist project, they can instead rely on— also mentioned by the authors in the OP— a political economy based in war, settler expansion, and continued occupation.

Settler colonial occupation and expansion is Israel’s Staatsräson (national interest or reason of the state, French: raison d'état), and some leading right-wing party members seek to expand beyond the land of the Palestinian Mandate (°2). Continued accumulation serves the national interest. Not just the national interest in a larger “Jewish state,” but also the national interest in land and resource accumulation.

As covered in the OP, new territory brings in land and labor resources that can bolster Israeli GDP and the resources potentially available to Israel’s working class. Stolen land offers them greater wealth. This project— combined with the portrayal of Arabs as an existential threat to Israeli-ness and the State— is the military’s reason for existence (daseinszweck, French: raison d'être).

The article covers how the military serves as a source of opportunity for the Israeli working class, providing them housing, education, and career opportunities in addition to the wealth provided by occupied and stolen land. But it does not get into how Israel’s use of indentured labor allows them to manage and utilize this land it takes— via military action— and occupies. Nor does it address how indentured labor injects value/wealth into the Israeli economy, value that benefits the working class. It also does not address how Israel’s use of indentured labor helped with the upward mobility of working class Israelis. Indentured labor allows that “strong Jewish labor” the authors in the OP mentioned to be redirected from menial farm and industry work to military service as well as those services involved in the occupation and upkeep of settler life in the 1967 territories, allowing settlers to play their part in fighting for Israel’s staatsräson as Israel’s goal shifts from the mere establishment of a “Jewish State” to its expansion into “Greater Israel.”

Overall, I highly recommend this article to my followers and moots.

————

(°1) The first wave of settlers to Turtle Island enslaved and/or exploited local indigenous labor in a system close to an ethnic plantation settlement. This did not prove fruitful for those early settlers. So, they primarily used (often indentured) European labor during the early colonial era as they made the shift to a “plantation settlement” with the kidnapping and enslavement of black Africans as the settlement did not have “enough” labor for its project through indentured servitude alone. But, not all of Turtle Island was colonized at the same time. It was settled in waves. So, while some areas of Turtle Island experienced the plantation settlement system, others experienced the pure settlement system that the author outlines, in that “an integral laboring class committed to the nation-building project” takes the land at gunpoint and supplants the indigenous population with a European one who will work the land themselves. They called themselves “pioneers” and they were motivated by Manifest Destiny. They were offered a stake in a “land of plenty,” in this case: their own land, success, and a new start; a primitive-type of accumulation that allowed European economic development through land acquisition and agriculture.

————

(°2) Israeli leaders have publicly shown support for the concept of “Greater Israel,” the desired borders of Israel based on the kingdom of King David. According to the father of modern Zionism, Theodore Herzl, “Greater Israel” refers to a kingdom “from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates,” a religious geographical definition of the Land of Israel. This concept favors territorial maximalism and expansionism in the region so “Israel” includes all of the occupied West Bank, Gaza, Jordan and the Sinai Peninsula. This form of Zionism— revisionist Zionism— was the chief ideological competitor to the Labor Zionism the authors in the OP spoke of, and it has had immense influence on modern Israeli right-wing parties like the Likud. Israel’s ongoing settler project might not stop with Palestinian territory.

But the thing about expansionism is the way it runs resources thin. You cannot expand forever. You either run into too much resistance, or you run out of money and labor. But there’s another thing to keep in mind besides resources: oppressive state systems need a Staatsräson to convince the electorate they should rule. As they start to or continue to fail to provide for the national people (staatsvolk)— like cuts social spending, rises in government corruption, and increases in bureaucratic inefficiencies— they will rely on the staatsräson to reproduce their legitimacy. It will need and rely on an external perpetual enemy to justify its rule as well as continuously choose ideology over competency. And when that ideology breaks down— often through disaffection or a failure to deliver on their national interest or some sort of external shock/wake-up call (ex: a nation’s national interest is a very, very strong military, so they put a military dictatorship into power, only for the state to fail to invade their neighbor)— support for the state breaks down.

Settler expansion and continued occupation may be great for the Israeli ruling class in the short term but, it *could* spell trouble for the future of Zionism and domestic support for the Israeli regime, depending on how successful their expansion and occupation efforts go. We are hearing of pockets of discontent among Israeli society in regards to the current campaign as Israel fails to deliverer on the hostages and military “wins,” relying almost exclusively on a (possibly waning) national interest in war.

(Although, in the shorter term, occupation and expansion will certainly spell more trouble for Israel’s support internationally. International outcry and pressure may provide a quicker “shock” than waiting for Israeli military failure. This is why people who support Palestinian liberation ask you to support BDS and pressure your elected officials to act against the colonial occupation of Palestine. A change in “Western” support will also affect the success of Israel’s settler colonial project.)

[macroeconreflectionsdulce]

Chapter 3 Reflection

A concept from Chapter 3 that surprised me the most was the concept of comparative advantage and its function in trade, benefitting everyone in society as it allows people to specialize in producing goods and services efficiently. It surprised me the most because Chapter 3 mentions, “it is impossible for one entity to have a comparative advantage in both goods,” as the comparative advantage is based on opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is the cost of giving up one good to produce another good, since resources are limited and a country/entity cannot produce an unlimited amount of goods, countries tend to specialize in the goods in which they have a comparative advantage. I would like to do more research on how economic sanctions affect a country’s trade system and finally their economy as well, as I know that sanctions take resources and finances away from countries affecting the stability of their economies. I can look for more information within our textbook or at educational institutions' resources that highlight economic concepts.

We can’t think about trade with China and trade with Wyoming in the same way, since China is a foreign and sovereign country and Wyoming is a state within the United States, trade with China is considered international trade, and trade with Wyoming is considered domestic trade. They are different because China has an immensely large economy which complicates trade with China compared to trade with Wyoming, including tariffs, quotas, and other barriers, trade with China can also be more expensive than trade with Wyoming. Trade with China and Wyoming is similar because they both still involve the exchange of goods and services in order to obtain goods and services they could not easily produce domestically. Trade with China and trade with Wyoming are similar as they both employ the concepts of supply and demand, where market forces drive the price of goods and services, also involving comparative advantage, in which each trading party specializes in the goods and services that provide the lowest opportunity cost.

An example of a recent purchase I made that was primarily produced overseas would be roasted coffee beans I purchased from a coffee estate in Mexico after finding their social media advertising on TikTok, there are locally produced options that roast coffee beans but none that grow and produce the actual coffee beans in Colorado. I did some research and found a few nearby coffee shops promoted “sustainably sourced coffee beans” or “local fresh roasted coffee beans” but none really mentioned growing the coffee beans, it makes me wonder where they also source their beans. Although I still could’ve bought the locally sourced options, I did not as I didn’t know they really sold any, and I automatically assumed they may have purchased their coffee beans similarly to how I did, from large coffee bean estates. I defined local as within 4 hours of my location, Glenwood Springs, although local may vary among people and I may not have the same definition of local that others do.

[power-index-management]

Importance of Educational Document Attestation in UAE

Educational document attestation is the process of verifying academic records through examination. When a person moves to another country for higher education or work, their educational documents must have certified. certificate attestation is a critical procedure when transferring abroad.

Education document attestation is the process of verifying your documents to pursue higher education or other opportunities abroad. Following verification, the relevant authorities will stamp your original documents. It will make the process of obtaining a visa for your destination country easier.

The most significant documents you'll need are the original certificate and a copy of your passport. These documents must pass through a verification process. This procedure by officials is critical for obtaining a student/work visa.

For education document attestation, you must follow a set of procedures. This certification These stages of certification are crucial. The following authorities are available for verification:

The Sub-Divisional Magistrate is the state's verification authority (SDM). It could also be Human Resource Development in some circumstances. (HRD).

Following verification by the SDM/HRD, the home country's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), i.e. India, is the next in line.

The embassy will verify your documents with the following authority.

Different types of educational certificate attestation are as follows:

Diploma certificate attestation

 Attestation of a degree certificate.

Attestation of HSC certificate.

  Attestation of an SSLC certificate.

These certificates are extremely important in a person's academic advancement. People move to foreign countries for a variety of reasons, most notably education or employment, in the hope of finding better opportunities. It is true when the certificates' accessibility is improved. Opportunities arise in terms of how extensively the certificate can be applied.

To obtain a visa, a degree certificate attestation must be attested in Delhi. As a result, making the attestation process easier for clients has become critical. Attesting to degree certificates is one of the most important tasks to be completed when planning a trip abroad. It is critical because it defines and demonstrates your authenticity.

Education document attestation includes degree attestation. As a result, the procedure is the same. It begins with the university verifying your degree and ends at the MOFA.

Time Required for Attestation of Educational Documents

The amount of time required for education document attestation is determined by several factors. The destination country, the type of education document attestation, and your home state are all factors to consider. In most cases, it will take between 15 and 25 days to complete. It can take sometimes more than a month.

The Cost of Educational Document Attestation

The cost of attestation of educational documents is determined by several factors, including the destination country, the urgency of the requirement, and the home state. You can find out the exact charges for your needs by contacting the service provider directly.

Individuals are unable to submit documents directly to the MEA, Embassy, or MOFA. These procedures are handled by specific service providers. You should choose genuine service providers for education document attestation in Delhi, and Genuine Attestation Services are one of them. It offers degree attestation services in Delhi in a timely and dependable manner.

Destination countries want to protect their citizens from illegal immigration. As a result, anyone traveling to a foreign country must go through the attestation process. Anyone, regardless of purpose, is required to complete an attestation of their documents. This allows the person traveling to have greater access to the destination country. Attestation of educational certificates primarily increases the certificate's value. Document attestation is essential in international transactions. The attestation of educational certificates provides people with numerous opportunities. In certain ways, educational certificate attestation is the identification of a person's academic qualification and the addition of value to it. To attain job objectives, educational certifications must be attested. After attestation, the certificates become truer and more reliable. Only genuine documents are accepted for verification. Get help from an attestation service, Attestation of educational certificates is critical for international communication.

[sanguinifex]

The US abandoned denazification because its corrupt government, rotted by capitalism and its own country’s war profits, could not stomach the obvious conclusion: Capitalism, unless it is checked like an infestation of cockroaches, leads inevitably to fascism. Those in power in our country, who had turned away ships of Jewish refugees, who had only voted to declare war on Germany because one of its allies had attacked a US military base, who would have lobbied to ally with it instead had things been slightly different, who profited from the slave labor of black prisoners in facilities little better than Auschwitz, primarily in that they weren’t designed to outright starve the prisoners to death while extracting residual labor as a bonus to an outright total genocide, but rather to maintain a permanent slave underclass in all but name—they rubberstamped the desperation every one of us feels today, the hurtling ecological catastrophe that will almost certainly trigger a third world war in the upcoming scramble for dwindling livable landmass and food and water resources, and the Anglosphere will probably not emerge as winners from that conflict, because it has hobbled its own military readiness in the name of capital (mostly by using infamously corrupt defense contractors to deliver them less weapons for more money instead of nationalizing defense production, even though it has a very wide legal ability to do just that). If I have grandchildren, I doubt they’ll speak my language.

Also, they let a war criminal, Nobusuke Kishi (who was also the grandfather of Shinzo Abe), not just go free but become Prime Minister after founding a hard-right political party (later headed by the religiously corrupt Abe). Everything the West now criticizes about Japan—the high levels of sexism, the lack of gay marriage, the repressively anti-individualist aspects of its dominant culture—that’s our fault, and, along with the only use in wartime of atomic bombs up to current history, particularly President Truman’s.

Truman himself has a more complicated legacy than the above would suggest. He took office in the wake of his predecessor’s unexpected death, he was unprepared for presidential diplomacy and had little interest in foreign affairs (his strength was domestic policy), and he associated the Soviet Union with communism—and to be fair, by 1945, Stalin was so far off his gourd he wasn’t even in the pumpkin patch.

Truman should not have been selected as a vice presidential candidate during a time of war (the 1944 election). He did not want to become vice president. In fact, he was selected primarily to oust incumbent Vice President Henry A. Wallace, who was disliked by Democratic Party leadership. (In this era, the Democratic Party was a much different sort of coalition party than it is today, containing subgroups of both labor activists, advocates for increased social services, and also Southerners who favored maintaining segregation and thought that the social safety nets would be good for their white constituents but wanted to exclude “the Negro.” The previously mentioned party leaders were in that last subparty and thought Wallace was too liberal.)

Had Roosevelt been in better health, the conspiracy to oust Wallace likely would not have occurred, but approaching his fourth term, Roosevelt, a polio survivor, was beginning to decline in health (and may have had cancer but concealed the condition under the not entirely inappropriate rationale of national security), and so he faced many of the same questions of fitness for office that Biden faces now in 2023 due to his age.

Wallace was, by all accounts, Roosevelt’s personal pick as successor prior to a smear campaign to manipulate the aging president to drop him, and would have been a perfectly competent president. He was popular with Democratic voters in Gallup polls, cared deeply about racial justice and gender equality, agriculture, and labor rights, spoke fluent Spanish and wanted Latin American countries to be peer nations to us, and advocated for universal healthcare and public ownership of railroads and utilities. After his ouster from Truman’s cabinet in late 1946, he very nearly managed to launch a successful truly left-wing major party, only outdone by the Truman-aided rise of McCarthyism. It has taken the modern Democratic Party nearly 80 years to begin to back to where Henry Wallace was in 1947, and had the Southern Democrats not barred him from the presidency by denying him the nomination via acts of fraud and deception at the 1944 DNC that should have landed all 4 of the ringleaders in federal prison, our world would be inconceivably different and very much for the better.

Truman appears to have been doing his best with a job he didn’t want. He insisted to his death that his decision to use atomic bombs was an attempt to save the lives of American POWs. He tried (and fortunately failed) to break strikes in 1946, disastrously diplomatically recognized the State of Israel in 1948, refused to intervene in China in the late 40s (contributing to rise of communist-in-name-only dictator Mao Zedong), and disastrously lost control of Congress in 1946 due in large part to his middling competence, right as the Republican Party began to solidify into its current disastrous trajectory and became the party of tax cuts. Conversely, he was during his presidency the most progressive president on civil rights since Lincoln, quite possibly in order to spite the Southern Democrats who’d gotten him into the presidential pickle, calling for what eventually became the Civil Rights Act, and desegregated the US military and federal civil service, as well as defense contractors. He vetoed the Taft-Hartley Act, the McCarran Internal Security Act, and a number of disastrous bills on tax policy; unfortunately, since he’d managed to lose the legislatures in 1946, they overrode his vetoes on both named bills and some of the tax bills. He was much of the impetus behind the establishment of NATO in 1949, which, for all its faults, has prevented world war for nearly 75 years, creating the era that will probably be known to history as the Pax Americana, despite its concurrent wars of colonialism, which arguably were still an upgrade from the military horrors of the 19th century and the first 45 years of the 20th. He could not have predicted how the postwar world population and global warming caused by CO2 emissions would compound each other to threaten his signature diplomatic work. Oil companies, so yet again the poison of capitalism, hid data showing that their products could negatively affect the climate, and non-captive scientists took until the 1970s to start to be certain that warming, rather than cooling, would be the ultimate outcome of air pollution and emissions due to the confounding effects of larger particulate pollution, aka the infamous smog. Likewise, while the “population bomb” the Ehrlichs predicted in 1968 never quite came to pass, due to advances in agriculture, it is undeniable that 7 billion and now 8 billion people produce far more CO2 and methane emissions than 2.64 billion, the approximate number of humans in the world when Truman left office in 1953. If the world population had remained under 4 billion, we might have had another 50 years to work out the kinks in green technology before global warming got anywhere near as critical as it is today. Unfortunately, there’s no way to easily slow down a population boom without being exactly as bad as the Nazis. China made an earnest try with its one-child policy, and eventually discovered that negativizing your population growth is disastrous for your social safety nets, and that it had perpetrated that particular oppression on its citizens for no gain.

One constant in modern history is that capitalism is poison. The other is that world leaders are humans like anyone else, and very few people just set out to be evil. They don’t have our benefit of hindsight, and something that seems like a good idea or a universal fact may be the wrong choice, but in the context of an entire planet, often the correctness of a decision cannot become apparent until decades later when you and all your contemporaries are dead. Even Stalin started out as a good man, only becoming an absolute disaster due to, and I know I’m oversimplifying here, a combination of PTSD and trusting the wrong people.

And I have got to stop typing these posts on my phone. I could have saved 2 hours by typing with 10 fingers.

On April 14, 1945, as a group of American soldiers were leading him down the road in the village of Wittbräucke, German steel magnate Albert Vögler bit into a concealed cyanide ampoule, collapsed against an armored car, and died almost instantly. “I am ready to take part in the reconstruction of Germany,” he had told fellow industrialist Friedrich Flick earlier that year. “But I will never let myself be arrested.” Across the country, businessmen were doing the same thing: Siemens alone saw five of its board members kill themselves as the Red Army advanced through the streets of Berlin and captured its factory.

Those industrialists who remained behind, shredding documents and wrenching portraits of Hitler off the walls, would soon find themselves on the list of candidates for war crimes prosecution at Nuremberg—executives from Krupp, IG Farben, Daimler-Benz, Volkswagen, and elsewhere whose companies had collectively smelted steel for tanks and purified aluminum for gunbarrels, formulated the synthetic rubber and gasoline necessary for tires and engines, built airplanes and U-boats and V-2 rocket circuit boards, and manufactured nerve gas and Zyklon B. They had seized Jewish property and swallowed up businesses sold off for pennies by those fleeing Nazi persecution. They had contracted with the German government to exploit the labor of concentration camp internees and sited factories with the specific goal of better leveraging this free and disposable workforce. They had planned, profited from, and above all else made possible the Nazi war machine and its genocides.

This year marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the conclusion of the most famous of the Nuremberg trials, the International Military Tribunal, which began in November 1945. While the tribunal—which sentenced Hermann Göring, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and other prominent Nazi military and political figures—has dominated our memory of the Nuremberg trials, it was only the first of a series of criminal proceedings against doctors, administrators, jurists, and others—including private businessmen, whose prosecution was seen by many at the time as essential to both reaping justice and establishing a lasting peace.

The Trials of the Industrialists have become, in the words of historian S. Jonathan Wiesen, “undoubtedly one of the most overlooked aspects of postwar German business history.” When the prosecutors presented these cases before the judges, they were asking them to consider, implicitly and explicitly, the connection between capitalism and warfare, and where—or even whether—it was possible to draw a line between legitimate pursuit of profit and immoral greed. The conclusions these judges arrived at would shape not only the future of international law but the arc of Western Europe’s postwar reconstruction as a whole.