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lilithism1848 · 1 year ago

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Atrocities US committed against ASIA

Between 1996-2006, The US has given money and weapons to royalist forces against the nepalese communists in the Nepalese civil war. ~18,000 people have died in the conflict. In 2002, after another civil war erupted, President George W. Bush pushed a bill through Congress authorizing $20 million in military aid to the Nepalese government.

In 1996, after receiving incredibly low approval ratings, the US helped elect Boris Yeltsin, an incompetent pro-capitalist independent, by giving him a $10 Billion dollar loan to finance a winning election. Rather than creating new enterprises, Yeltsin’s democratization led to international monopolies hijacking the former Soviet markets, arbitraging the huge difference between old domestic prices for Russian commodities and the prices prevailing on the world market. Much of the Yeltsin era was marked by widespread corruption, and as a result of persistent low oil and commodity prices during the 1990s, Russia suffered inflation, economic collapse and enormous political and social problems that affected Russia and the other former states of the USSR. Under Yeltsin, Between 1990 and 1994, life expectancy for Russian men and women fell from 64 and 74 years respectively to 58 and 71 years. The surge in mortality was “beyond the peacetime experience of industrialised countries”. While it was boom time for the new oligarchs, poverty and unemployment surged; prices were hiked dramatically; communities were devastated by deindustrialisation; and social protections were stripped away.

In the 1970s-80s, wikileaks cables revealed that the US covertly supported the Khmer Rouge in their fight against the Vietnamese communists. Annual support included an end total of ~$215M USD, food aid to 20-40k Khmer Rouge fighters, CIA advisors in several camps, and ammunition.

In December 1975, The US supplied the weaponry for the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. This incursion was launched the day after U.S. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had left Indonesia where they had given President Suharto permission to use American arms, which under U.S. law, could not be used for aggression. Daniel Moynihan, U.S. ambassador to the UN. said that the U.S. wanted “things to turn out as they did.” The result was an estimated 200,000 dead out of a population of 700,000. Sixteen years later, on November 12, 1991, two hundred and seventeen East Timorese protesters in Dili, many of them children, marching from a memorial service, were gunned down by Indonesian Kopassus shock troops who were headed by U.S.- trained commanders Prabowo Subianto (son in law of General Suharto) and Kiki Syahnakri. Trucks were seen dumping bodies into the sea.

In 1975 Australian Constitutional Crisis, the CIA helped topple the democratically elected, left-leaning government of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, by telling Governor-General, John Kerr, a longtime CIA collaborator, to dissolve the Whitlam government.

In 2018 after the release of a suppressed ISC (International Scientific Commission) report, and the release of declassified CIA communications daily reports in 2020, it was revealed that the US used germ warfare in the Korean war, 2. Many of these attacks involved the dropping of insects or small mammals infected with viruses such as anthrax, plague, cholera, and encephalitis. After discovering evidence of germ warfare, China invited the ISC headed by famed British scientist Joseph Needham, to investigate, but the report was suppressed for over 70 years.

Between 1963 and 1973, The US dropped ~388,000 tons of napalm bombs in vietnam, compared to 32,357 tons used over three years in the Korean War, and 16,500 tons dropped on Japan in 1945. US also sprayed over 5 million acres with herbicide, in Operation Ranch Hand, in a 10 year campaign to deprive the vietnamese of food and vegetation cover.

In 1971 in Pakistan, an authoritarian state supported by the U.S., brutally invaded East Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971. The war ended after India, whose economy was staggering after admitting about 10 million refugees, invaded East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and defeated the West Pakistani forces. The US gave W. pakistan 411 million provided to establish its armed forces which spent 80% of its budget on its military. 15 million in arms flowed into W. Pakistan during the war. Between 300,000 to 3 million civilians were killed, with 8-10 million refugees fleeing to India.

In 1970, In Cambodia, The CIA overthrows Prince Sihanouk, who is highly popular among Cambodians for keeping them out of the Vietnam War. He is replaced by CIA puppet Lon Nol, whose forces suppressed the large-scale popular demonstrations in favour of Sihanouk, resulting in several hundred deaths. This unpopular move strengthens once minor opposition parties like the Khmer Rouge (another CIA supported group), who achieve power in 1975 and massacres ~2.5 million people. The Khmer Rouge, under Pol Pot, carried out the Cambodian Genocide, which killed 1.5-2M people from 1975-1979.

In 1969, The US initiated a secret carpet bombing campaign in eastern Cambodia, called, Operation Menu, and Operation Freedom Deal in 1970. An estimated 40,000 - 150,000 civilians were killed. Nixon lied about this campaign, but was later exposed, and one of the things that lead to his impeachment.

US dropped large amounts of Agent Orange, an herbicide developed by monsanto and dow chemical for the department of defense, in vietnam. Its use, in particular the contaminant dioxin, causes multiple health problems, including cleft palate, mental disabilities, hernias, still births, poisoned breast milk, and extra fingers and toes, as well as destroying local species of plants and animals. The Red Cross of Vietnam estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or have health problems due to Agent Orange.

US Troops killed between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians, including women, children, and infants, in South Vietnam on March, 1968, in the My Lai Massacre. Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated. Soldiers set fire to huts, waiting for civilians to come out so they could shoot them. For 30 years, the three US servicemen who tried to halt the massacre and rescue the hiding civilians were shunned and denounced as traitors, even by congressmen.

In 1967, the CIA helped South Vietnamese agents identify and then murder alleged Viet Cong leaders operating in villages, in the Phoenix Program. By 1972, Phoenix operatives had executed between 26,000 and 41,000 suspected NLF operatives, informants and supporters.

In 1965, The CIA overthrew the democratically elected Indonesian leader Sukarno with a military coup. The CIA had been trying to eliminate Sukarno since 1957, using everything from attempted assassination to sexual intrigue, for nothing more than his declaring neutrality in the Cold War. His successor, General Suharto, aided by the CIA, massacred between 500,000 to 1 million civilians accused of being communist, in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-66. The US continued to support Suharto throughout the 70s, supplying weapons and planes.

Between 1964 and 1973, American pilots flew 580,000 attack sorties over Laos, an average of one planeload of bombs every eight minutes for almost a decade. By the time the last US bombs fell in April 1973, a total of 2,093,100 tonnes of ordnance had rained down on this neutral country. To this day, Laos, a country of just 7 million people, retains the dubious accolade of being the most heavily bombed country in the world per capita.

From the 1960s onward, the US supported Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The US provided hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, which was crucial in buttressing Marcos’s rule over the years. The estimated number of persons that were executed and disappeared under President Fernando Marcos was over 100,000. After fleeing to hawaii, marco was suceeded by the widow of an opponent he assasinated, Corazon aquino.

Starting in 1957, in the wake of the US-backed First Indochina War, The CIA carries out approximately one coup per year trying to nullify Laos’ democratic elections, specifically targeting the Pathet Lao, a leftist group with enough popular support to be a member of any coalition government, and perpetuating the 20 year Laotian civil war. In the late 50s, the CIA even creates an “Armee Clandestine” of Asian mercenaries to attack the Pathet Lao. After the CIA’s army suffers numerous defeats, the U.S. drops more bombs on Laos than all the U.S. bombs dropped in World War II. A quarter of all Laotians will eventually become refugees, many living in caves. This was later called a “secret war,” since it occurred at the same time as the Vietnam War, but got little press. Hundreds of thousands were killed.

In 1955, the CIA provided explosives, and aided KMT agents in an assassination attempt against the Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai. KMT agents placed a time-bomb on the Air India aircraft, Kashmir Princess, which Zhou was supposed to take on his way to the Bandung Conference, an anti-imperialist meeting of Asian and African states, but he changed his travel plans at the last minute. Henry Kissinger denied US involvement, even though remains of a US detonator were found. 16 people were killed.

From 1955-1975, the US supported French colonialist interests in Vietnam, set up a puppet regime in Saigon to serve US interests, and later took part as a belligerent against North Vietnam in the Vietnam War. U.S. involvement escalated further following the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, which was later found to be staged by Lyndon Johnson. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities (see Vietnam War casualties). Estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 source to 3.8 million.source Some 240,000–300,000 Cambodians,source23 20,000–62,000 Laotians,4 and 58,220 U.S. service members also died in the conflict, with a further 1,626 missing in action. Unexploded bomb continue to kill civilians for years afterward.

In the summer of 1950 in South Korea, anticommunists aided by the US executed at least 100,000 people suspected of supporting communism, in the Bodo League Massacre. For four decades the South Korean government concealed this massacre. Survivors were forbidden by the government from revealing it, under suspicion of being communist sympathizers. Public revelation carried with it the threat of torture and death. During the 1990s and onwards, several corpses were excavated from mass graves, resulting in public awareness of the massacre.

In 1984, documents were released showing that Eisenhower authorized the use of atomic weapons on North Korea, should the communists renew the war in 1953. The 2,000 pages released show the high level of planning and the detail of discussion on possible use of these weapons, and Mr. Eisenhower’s interest in overcoming reluctance to use them.

In the beginning of the Korean war, US Troops killed ~300 South Korean civilians in the No Gun Ri massacre, revealing a theater-wide policy of firing on approaching refugee groups. Trapped refugees began piling up bodies as barricades and tried to dig into the ground to hide. Some managed to escape the first night, while U.S. troops turned searchlights on the tunnels and continued firing, said Chung Koo-ho, whose mother died shielding him and his sister. No apology has yet been issued.

The US intervened in the 1950-53 Korean Civil War, on the side of the south Koreans, in a proxy war between the US and china for supremacy in East Asia. South Korea reported some 373,599 civilian and 137,899 military deaths, the US with 34,000 killed, and China with 114,000 killed. Overall, the U.S. dropped 635,000 tons of bombs—including 32,557 tons of napalm—on Korea, more than they did during the whole Pacific campaign of World War II. The US killed an estimated 1/3rd of the north Korean people during the war. The Joint Chiefs of staff issued orders for the retaliatory bombing of the People’s republic of China, should south Korea be attacked. Deadly clashes have continued up to the present day.

From 1948-1949, the Jeju uprising was an insurgency taking place in the Korean province of Jeju island, followed by severe anticommunist suppression of the South Korean Labor Party in which 14-30,000 people were killed, or ~10% of the island’s population. Though atrocities were committed by both sides, the methods used by the South Korean government to suppress the rebels were especially cruel. On one occasion, American soldiers discovered the bodies of 97 people including children, killed by government forces. On another, American soldiers caught government police forces carrying out an execution of 76 villagers, including women and children. The US later entered the Korean civil war on the side of the South Koreans.

In 1949 during the resumed Chinese Civil War, the US supported the corrupt Kuomintang dictatorship of Chiang Kaishek to fight against the Chinese Communists, who had won the support of the vast majority of peasant-farmers and helped defeat the Japanese invasion. The US strongly supported the Kuomintang forces. Over 50,000 US Marines were sent to guard strategic sites, and 100,000 US troops were sent to Shandong. The US equipped and trained over 500,000 KMT troops, and transported KMT forces to occupy newly liberated zones as well as to contain Communist-controlled areas. American aid included substantial amounts of both new and surplus military supplies; additionally, loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars were made to the KMT. Within less than two years after the Sino-Japanese War, the KMT had received $4.43 billion from the US—most of which was military aid.

The U.S. installed Syngman Rhee,a conservative Korean exile, as President of South Korea in 1948. Rhee became a dictator on an anti-communist crusade, arresting and torturing suspected communists, brutally putting down rebellions, killing 100,000 people and vowing to take over North Korea. Rhee precipitated the outbreak of the Korean War and for the allied decision to invade North Korea once South Korea had been recaptured. He was finally forced to resign by mass student protests in 1960.

Between 1946 and 1958, the US tested 23 nuclear devices at Bikini Atoll, using the native islanders and their land as guinea pigs for the effects of nuclear fallout. Significant fallout caused widespread radiological contamination in the area, and killed many islanders. A survivor stated, “What the Americans did was no accident. They came here and destroyed our land. They came to test the effects of a nuclear bomb on us. It was no accident.” Many of the islanders exposed were brought to the US Argonne National laboratory, to study the effects. Afterwards the islands proved unsuitable to sustaining life, resulting in starvation and requiring the residents to receive ongoing aid. Virtually all of the inhabitants showed acute symptoms of radiation syndrome, many developing thyroid cancers, Leukimia, miscarriages, stillborn and “jellyfish babies” (highly deformed) along with symptoms like hair falling out, and diahrrea. A handful were brought to the US for medical research and later returned, while others were evacuated to neighboring Islands. The US under LBJ prematurely returned the majority returned 3 years later, to further test how human beings absorb radiation from their food and environment. The islanders pleaded with the US to move them away from the islands, as it became clear that their children were developing deformities and radiation sickness. Radion levels were still unacceptable. The United States later paid the islanders and their descendants 25 million in compensation for damage caused by the nuclear testing program. A 2016 investigation found radiation levels on Bikini Atoll as high as 639 mrem yr−1, well above the established safety standard threshold for habitation of 100 mrem yr−1. Similar tests occurred elsewhere in the Marshall Islands during this time period. Due to the destruction of natural wealth, Kwajalein Atoll’s military installation and dislocation, the majority of natives currently live in extreme poverty, making less than 1$ a day. Those that have jobs, mostly work at the US military installation and resorts. Much of this is detailed in the documentary, The Coming War on China (2016).

After the Japanese surrender in 1945, Douglas MacArthur pardoned Unit 731, a Japanese biological experimentation center which performed human testing of biological agents against Chinese citizens. While a series of war tribunals and trials was organized, many of the high-ranking officials and doctors who devised and respectively performed the experiments were pardoned and never brought to justice. As many as 12,000 people, most of them Chinese, died in Unit 731 alone and many more died in other facilities, such as Unit 100 and in field experiments throughout Manchuria. One of the experimenters who killed many, microbiologist Shiro Ishii, later traveled to the US to advise on its bioweapons programs. In the final days of the Pacific War and in the face of imminent defeat, Japanese troops blew up the headquarters of Unit 731 in order to destroy evidence of the research done there. As part of the cover-up, Ishii ordered 150 remaining subjects killed.

In 1945 during the month-long Battle of Manila, the US in deciding whether to attack Manila (then under Japanese occupation) with ground troops, decided instead to use indiscriminate carpet-bombing, howitzers, and naval bombardment, killing an estimated 100,000 people. The casualty figures show the US’s regard for filipino civilian life: 1,010 Americans, 16,665 Japanese and 100,000 to 240,000 civilians were killed. Manila became, alongside Berlin, and Warsaw, one of the most devastated cities of WW2.

US Troops committed a number of rapes during the battle of Okinawa, and the subsequent occupation of Japan. There were 1,336 reported rapes during the first 10 days of the occupation of Kanagawa prefecture alone.1 American Occupation authorities imposed wide-ranging censorship on the Japanese media, including bans on covering many sensitive social issues and serious crimes such as rape committed by members of the Occupation forces.

From 1942 to 1945, the US military carried out a fire-bombing campaign of Japanese cities, killing between 200,000 and 900,000 civilians. One nighttime fire-bombing of Tokyo took 80,000 lives. During early August 1945, the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing ~130,000 civilians, and causing radiation damage which included birth defects and a variety of genetic diseases for decades to come. The justification for the civilian bombings has largely been debunked, as the entrance of Russia into the war had already started the surrender negotiations earlier in 1945. The US was aware of this, since it had broken the Japanese code and had been intercepting messages during for most of the year. The US ended up accepting a conditional surrender from Hirohito, against which was one of the stated aims of the civilian bombings. The dropping of the atomic bomb is therefore seen as a demonstration of US military supremacy, and the first major operation of the Cold War with Russia.

In 1918, the US took part in the allied intervention in the Russian civil war, sending 11,000 troops to the in the Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok regions to support the anti-bolshevik, monarchist, and largely anti-semitic White Forces.

In 1900 in China, the US was part of an Eight-Nation Alliance that brought 20,000 armed troops to China, to defeat the Imperial Chinese Army, in the the Boxer Rebellion, an anti-imperialist uprising.

In 1899, after a popular revolution in the Philippines to oust the Spanish imperialists, the US invaded and began the Phillipine-American war. The US military committed countless atrocities, leaving 200,000 Filipinos dead. Jacob H Smith killed between 2,500 to 50,000 civilians, His orders included, “kill everyone over the age of ten” and make the island “a howling wilderness.”

Throughout the 1800s, US settlers engaged in a genocide of native Hawaiians. The native population decreased from ~ 400k in 1789, to 40k by 1900, due to colonization and disease. In 1883, the US engineered the overthrow of Hawaii’s native monarch, Queen Lili’uokalani, by landing two companies of US marines in Honolulu. Due to the Queen’s desire “to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life” for her subjects and after some deliberation, at the urging of advisers and friends, the Queen ordered her forces to surrender. Hawaii was initially reconstituted as an independent republic, but the ultimate goal of the US was the annexation of the islands to the United States, which was finally accomplished in 1898. After this, the Hawaiian language was banned, English replaced it as the official language in all institutions and schools. The US finally apologized in 1993, but no land has been returned.

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mariacallous · 2 years ago

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It’s not clear what, exactly, Lorie Smith’s problem is. The Colorado woman aspires to be a web designer; apparently, she’s also upset that gay people can get married. Smith is an evangelical Christian who says that her faith makes her object to same-sex marriage.

This wouldn’t be anyone’s problem, except that Smith lives in a state with a robust civil rights law, one that forbids business owners who make their services available to the public from discriminating. But Smith really wants to discriminate: she hopes to be able to turn away gay clients from her as-yet-hypothetical wedding website business; she wants to put a banner at the top of her business homepage proclaiming her unwillingness to design websites for gay weddings. The law would forbid this if she ever went into business, so she’s suing.

As of now, none of this has actually come up. At the time Smith filed her lawsuit, demanding an exemption to her state’s law, she didn’t even have a business with which to discriminate. The law has never been enforced against her; she’s never had the opportunity to discriminate that she so craves. It’s not clear, in other words, that she really has standing to sue – she’s never been forced to provide services to gay people, so, in legal parlance, there’s no “injury” to speak of. But Smith is an angry conservative, and she’s found some very well-funded lawyers from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a huge rightwing legal organization that has embarked on a nationwide campaign of lawsuits to erode civil rights protections for gay people.

The result is 303 Creative v Elenis, a case in which Smith argues that her religious convictions mean that she shouldn’t have to comply with a generally applicable civil rights law, and should be granted license to discriminate by her state. The US supreme court heard oral arguments on Monday, and the 6-3 conservative majority is certain to hand Smith a victory allowing her to deny service to clients based on sexual orientation.

A decision from the court is expected next summer. The question, as happens so often with this rabidly conservative court, is not who is going to win. That question was probably answered the moment the court agreed to hear the case, to the point that briefings and oral arguments in hot-button culture and identity cases like 303 Creative have been rendered largely moot.

The question, instead, is how far the court will go: how much the justices will unravel the anti-discrimination laws that govern public accommodations – that is, the laws that say that businesses which serve the public cannot deny service to people based on their identity – and how much discrimination, humiliation and bigotry in public life they will unleash upon gay Americans. The question is whether the speech that Smith can deploy in any other form of her life – any belief that she already has every right to broadcast online, or in her church, or in writing, or by holding a sign up in the street – is also an opinion she is entitled to enforce through the conduct of her business.

If the 303 Creative case sounds familiar, that’s because it’s more or less a rerun. In 2018, the supreme court heard Masterpiece Cakeshop v Colorado Civil Rights Commission, another case by a business owner challenging the same state law, this time a baker who didn’t want to make a gay couple’s wedding cake. In that case, the court punted, ruling that lower tribunals had mishandled the case, but not making a decision on the merits about whether an individual businessperson’s opinions trumped civil rights law. But the court looked very different in 2018: that punting opinion was written by Anthony Kennedy, who retired soon thereafter and was replaced by his protege, the beer enthusiast Brett Kavanaugh. Since then the court has lurched even further to the right, and has shown a willingness to indulge even the most far-fetched claims of Christian religious litigants.

But it’s worth considering what the court did not do when it agreed to hear 303 Creative: it did not grant certiorari on Smith’s claim that her religious freedom was violated by the anti-discrimination law. This is unusual, for this court: since the Trump justices joined the court, turning it from what was already a quite conservative institution into a maximalist, revanchist one with a culture-war axe to grind, the court has expanded free-exercise-of-religion rights quite rapidly – at least, so long as those free-exercise rights are being exercised by conservative Christians.

The court has even specifically used the constitution’s free-exercise clause to imply an entitlement to discriminate against homosexuals: in last summer’s Fulton v Philadelphia, the justices ruled that municipal agencies handling the welfare of children in need were obliged to work with a religiously affiliated adoption agency, even though that agency discriminated against gay couples in violation of city civil rights law.

But in 303 Creative the court is only considering Smith’s wish to discriminate as a free speech issue. This opens a new avenue for challenges to civil rights law, and will provide an opportunity for rightwing lawyers to begin unraveling the laws regarding non-discrimination in public accommodations in the wake of the civil rights movement, like pulling on a loose thread to unravel a sweater.

Though Smith wants to discriminate only against gay couples, and other exemptions to civil rights law are likely to focus on allowing open bigotry against LGBTQ+ people to be expressed in commercial life, there is no limiting principle that means that only gay people will be targeted. After all, if a website designer is allowed to decline to make a gay wedding website, what stops her from making the same claim to refuse an interracial wedding, or an interfaith one? Is she allowed to decline to make sites for birth announcements of children born to gay couples, or via IVF?

I keep thinking of the sign that Smith wants to put at the top of her future business’s webpage, the one that says she won’t make websites for gay weddings. It’s essentially an advertisement of her belief in gay people’s inferiority, an effort to exclude them not just from her own goodwill, but from commercial life. How different is such a sign, really, from those that advertised whites-only lunch counters, or the signs that the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recalled seeing in the windows of shops when she went on family road trips as a child: “No dogs and no Jews”.

It has become vogue, in rightwing legal arguments against civil rights law, to speak of the “indignity” imposed on anti-gay business owners who are forced to comply with anti-discrimination law. It’s a shame that the court doesn’t seem poised to consider the indignity of facing discrimination itself.

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dehrdevil · 6 months ago

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as aforementioned, THIS BLOG IS HEADCANON BASED & DIVERGENT. preliminary inspiration comes from daredevil : yellow, as well as volumes three & four of matt's solo run. added to this, my own reconstruction of his canon narrative aided by my experience in the rpc and beyond. as result, i thought to compile a small list of the most important details to consider in our interactions at all moment, with no exceptions.

AN ADDEDUM : i write matt as a trans bisexual man, who is also autistic and chronically ill. these are also non - negotiables.

MATT MURDOCK, ( RE ) BORN AGAIN — 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮. matt has recently ( once more ) faked his death and left new york city in the trustworthy hands of spider-man, iron fist, etc. not to mention newly crowned MAYOR LUKE CAGE. his goal was joining THE FIST and defeating THE HAND alongside ELEKTRA. results are questionable, but overall favorable. he escaped the aftermath alive and returned to his heart city, but took him some time to admit himself as MATTHEW MICHAEL MURDOCK. at last, as of EASTER SUNDAY ( 2024 ), the beloved ex - mayor and civil rights activist conducted a collective announcement. matt has also returned to HELL’S KITCHEN, where he lives with his family.

and for the first time in what may as well be a decade, NELSON & MURDOCK are back on track, now also allowed with the services of ex - police officer and now private investigator : COLE NORTH. another point of interest is his biweekly encounter with his mother at the CLINTON MISSION SHELTER.

ONCE A TWIN, ALWAYS A TWIN — 𝑖𝑓 𝑖’𝑚 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒, 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑. MICHAEL JACK MURDOCK was his name. born but less than half an hour earlier than our intrepid hero, mike has always been matt’s twin. the quality of their union has had its ups and down, moments of deep love and deep hatred. mike left for good after their father’s funeral, though making a solemn re - appearance when his brother was at death’s bed and their mother feared the last rites. AS OF MID - 2018, mike decided to return for good — though not the most selfless intentions. always mingling with the “ wrong crowds ” despite the heart that took residence in his sleeve, mike climbed the criminal social ladder among his best - friend ( ? ) BUTCH PHARRIS — pardon me, BYRON FISK. at the wrong place, at the wrong time, mike ( dressed as matt, in matt’s apartment, living matt’s life while the golden child was away in rehab ) died by the hands of WILSON FISK, then mayor of new york city. this is the body that was mourned, this is the man whose casket was lowered to the ground — but his name was never spoken.

it isn’t the first time matt takes his brother’s identity, simply the most cruel.

WHO IS DAREDEVIL ? — 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝘩𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒. the children of zebediah kilgrave, better known as THE PURPLE MAN, share with their hated father the same powers of persuasion and order. a well intended wish as a gift and suddenly, the secret the whole world knew became a secret again. NOBODY ( but a select few ) knows daredevil’s identity ever since. fact which includes previous love interests, friends and foes alike. unless protected by magic, or out in space at the time, a person is incapable of knowing daredevil’s true identity. files are blank, images are blurred, videos are pure static. the only way to know is through DEATH — or simply if the man takes off his own mask.

as of this moment, the names include: franklin nelson, elektra natsios, nguyet houng vân, frank castle, peter parker, cole north, stephen strange, moon knight, daniel rand-kai, jessica jones, luke cage, samuel chung, wilson fisk, butch pharris.

A GOOD CATHOLIC BOY, THOUGH NOT REALLY — 𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑟, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖 𝘩𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑑. though catholic and quite attached to his identity as IRISH CATHOLIC, matt’s focus and drive don’t come from any notion of guilt or sin. he is not seeking god’s forgiveness or absolution of sin whenever he dons the red suit and the horns. he is DAREDEVIL because he likes it, and enjoys helping others. his cultural identity and upbringing inside church has nothing to do with his moral compass or struggles with good vs. evil. a shift happens when he discovers his mother, SISTER MAGGIE GRACE, and decides to reconnect to her through ( among other things ) their religion. matt is no priest, missionary, or exorcist. HE IS DAREDEVIL.

not to say he doesn’t have any sort of religious trauma, but those are more related to the wound left by his mother than the dogmas of christ.

THE DEVIL’S HEART — 𝑖 𝑎𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑦 𝘩𝑒𝑎𝑑. his heart belongs to ELEKTRA NATSIOS, and they were married in a secret ceremony. however, his love is also known to be shared with FRANK CASTLE on occasion. his heart is also to his dearest friends, FOGGY NELSON and NGUYET VÂN. not to speak of his children, alice and — if the boy allows, SAMUEL CHUNG.

this portrayal is heavily affiliated with : @ilaektra, @45auto and @nguyetvan. anouk’s elektra is my primary ship, meaning that unless stated romantic intention through plotting or chemistry, both parties need to assume matt is currently married to her elektra. while not a primary ship, edi’s frank castle is heavily mentioned and featured in my narrative — including a past romantic relationship that extends to its own ‘verse. atticus’ incredible character, also known as louise houng, has been knitted into the tapestry of daredevil canon and also features in many of matt’s arcs and stories. there is no @dehrdevil without these three, and exceptions won’t be taken.

#NOTES.#⊰ [̲̅𝑫̲̅] — 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒆 » ㅤ ❝ truth is a sensory experience .

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beardedmrbean · 6 months ago

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The Supreme Court unanimously handed the National Rifle Association a win Thursday in the gun rights group's effort to revive a 2018 First Amendment lawsuit accusing a New York official of causing damage to the NRA's relationships with banks and insurers.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a unanimous opinion that found the NRA "plausibly alleged" that Maria Vullo, a former superintendent of New York's Department of Financial Services, illegally retaliated against the pro-Second Amendment group after the Parkland, Florida, high school mass shooting that left 17 people dead.

The question before the justices was whether Vullo used her regulatory power to force state financial institutions to cut off ties with the NRA in violation of constitutional First Amendment protections.

Vullo, who worked in former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration, said her regulations targeted an insurance product that is illegal in New York, which is dubbed by critics as "murder insurance." In essence, such insurances are third-party policies sold via the NRA that cover personal injury and criminal defense costs after the use of a firearm.

"Here, the NRA plausibly alleged that Vullo violated the First Amendment by coercing DFS-regulated entities into disassociating with the NRA in order to punish or suppress gun-promotion advocacy," Sotomayor, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote in her decision.

Although the gun rights group is typically involved in litigation surrounding the Second Amendment, the case marked an unusual departure to a First Amendment claim that even had backing from the American Civil Liberties Union, which has historically targeted the gun rights group in other cases before the high court.

The result of the case means the NRA can continue its lawsuit against Vullo.

Justices Neil Gorsuch and Ketanji Brown Jackson penned separate concurrences.

#nunyas news

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pilawturkey · 27 days ago

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Dispute Resolution Service in Turkey

Dispute resolution service requires an innovative and comprehensive strategy for each case. Overall, there are a wide variety of methods for conflict resolution at the domestic or international level. Dispute resolution service lawyers have a substantial impact upon concluding disputes between parties. Dispute resolution service lawyers have been at the center of providing best results for their clients. It has been already established that dispute resolution service is very essential to provide a chance of success.

What are the 4 types of dispute resolution service in Turkey?

It is significant at the outset that there are four main accepted forms of conflict resolution: negotiation, mediation, arbitration and litigation.

Firstly, negotiation brings partners together with a view to solving the relevant dispute on their own.

Second popular dispute resolution tool is mediation. Indeed, mediation requires the existence of a neutral third-party assuming responsibility to help disputants for a consensus. It is noteworthy to stress here that Turkey adopted the Law (No:7282) approving the ratification of the Singapore Convention on Mediation, published in the Official Gazette on 11 March 2021.Our article on A Brief Analysis of the Singapore Convention highlights the implementation of international mechanisms dedicated to mediation.

Thirdly, natural or legal persons are also free to choose the best dispute settlement process by selecting arbitration process.

Last but not least, litigation may be used to finalize any conflict complained of by the judicial authorities.

It is useful to understand that judicial review will cover a full-fledged examination when a dispute resolution service is needed for enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. As underlined in our article on 2024 Case Analysis of Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in Turkey, the judgment by Istanbul Appellate Court 14th Chamber on 17 September 2020 [E. 2018/2196, K.2020/917], the below-mentioned criteria must be controlled by a judicial review for enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Turkey:

· The fact that the arbitration rules are applicable to any dispute between parties must be accepted in accordance with the contract between parties,

· The final award must be given by the arbitrator after review and fair trial within the framework of the representation of all parties,

· The dispute must be suitable for arbitration in terms of Turkish law,

· The evaluation of these defense claims was included in the final award,

· The addressee company was present at every stage of the proceedings at the Arbitration Center,

· The defense arguments must be taken properly during the arbitration proceedings,

What is the meaning of dispute resolution service in Turkey?

It is not hard to maintain that the most commonly used method for dispute settlement is litigation in Turkey. Huge backlog before court rooms has already establishes this argument. Increasing number for civil and administrative litigation has been a matter of concern over the years in Turkey. Dispute resolution through arbitration agreements and|or dispute resolution arbitration is newly improving in Turkey. There is much work needs to be done for alternative dispute resolution methods. Building dispute resolution owing to the alternative ways such as consumer dispute resolution may be found very workable and reasonable solution to all parties of a dispute.

With regard to a comprehensive analysis of implementation of foreign arbitral awards see our article on Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards

What is the most common dispute resolution?

Litigation has still been considered as the most workable solution in Turkey. Therefore, there is an increasing workload before civil and administrative courts in Turkey. It seems clear that dispute resolution service needs to more concentrate on other methods for faster solutions.

What is the importance of dispute resolution service for administrative cases?

All administrative acts and actions are bound by the law. This principle is reiterated in Article 2 of the Turkish Constitution guaranteeing the rule of law. Administrative disputes are settled by administrative courts in Turkey, as examined in our article on Administrative Cases in Turkey

What is the significance of dispute resolution service for criminal cases?

It is beyond doubt that criminal cases in Turkey requires a full-fledged dispute resolution service by criminal defense lawyers at the time of any criminal investigation or prosecution.

What is the concept of the enforcement and bankruptcy Law in Turkey in terms of dispute resolution service?

Generally speaking, fundamental purpose of the enforcement and bankruptcy regulatory framework is to settle disputes between the creditors and debtors concerned. Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law in Turkey regulates detailed procedures for insolvency, bankruptcy and enforcement. What is more, the Law in question stipulates the bankruptcy liquidation steps for insolvent debtors.

What is the importance of dispute resolution service for divorce proceedings?

Divorce proceedings for foreigners in Turkey is categorized in two main types: consensual divorce through negotiation and contested divorce through litigation. It should be remembered that the first legal instrument to be applied in divorce proceedings for foreigners is the Act on Private International and Procedural Law (Numbered 5718). According to Article 14, the grounds and provisions for divorce and separation shall be governed by the common national law of the spouses.

#disputeresolution #negotiation skills #negotiation tips #mediation #arbitration #litigation

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whitesinhistory · 6 months ago

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Louisiana Officially Disenfranchises Black Voters and Jurors

On May 12, 1898, the State of Louisiana adopted a new constitution with numerous restrictive provisions intended to exclude African American men from civic participation. At this time in the U.S., women of all races remained barred from voting, while Black men had recently gained the right to vote under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The new Louisiana Constitution, however, created a poll tax, literacy and property-ownership requirements, and a complex voter registration form all designed and enforced to disproportionately disenfranchise Black male voters.

The year 1865 included the Confederacy's defeat in the Civil War, widespread emancipation, and the abolition of slavery. All of these developments threatened to overturn Southern culture and social relations, which were based on white supremacy and racial hierarchy. After Reconstruction ended in 1877 and white politicians and lawmakers regained control and power in the South, many efforts were made to restore that racial order through very strict laws that stripped Black people of many of their new civil rights—including the right to vote. In Louisiana, framers explicitly expressed their goal to “purify the electorate.”

When the restrictive voting provisions were first proposed for the 1898 Louisiana Constitution, some white officials expressed concern that the property and literacy requirements would also disenfranchise an estimated 25% of the white male population of voting age. In response, lawmakers drafted a “Grandfather Clause” which created an exception for those whose ancestors were registered to vote before 1867. This clause enabled many illiterate and poor white men to get around the literacy and property requirements. Black people remained blocked because Louisiana laws before 1867 disenfranchised nearly all Black men—especially those who were enslaved.

The 1898 Louisiana Constitution also eliminated the requirement of unanimous jury verdicts, allowing as much as a 9-3 split to still stand as a conviction. Because the U.S. Constitution now prevented states from wholly barring Black people from jury service, this provision was enacted to render small numbers of Black jurors inconsequential. Thomas Semmes, a former Confederate senator and head of the convention’s judiciary committee, praised the provision for success in its goal “to establish the supremacy of the white race in this State to the extent to which it could be legally and Constitutionally done.”

The 1898 Louisiana Constitution eliminated federally enforced voting rules that had enfranchised Black men in Louisiana during Reconstruction. As a result, in a state with 650,804 Black residents, the number of Black registered voters dropped from 130,000 before the new Constitution to just 5,000 by 1900. By 1904, the number dropped to just 1,000.

Throughout the Southern states, disenfranchisement laws targeted Black communities for generations. Louisiana’s 1898 Constitution was revised slightly in 1913, but most of its restrictive language remained until 1972. The non-unanimous jury rule remained in effect for more than a century, until Louisiana voters approved a Constitutional amendment to abolish it in November 2018.

#history #white history #Black history #us history #voting rights #voting #voter suppression #1898 #Louisiana #Thomas Semmes #jumblr #am yisrael chai #palestine #israel #israeli apartheid #israel is an apartheid state #republicans #democrats #usa is an apartheid state

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swiftsnowmane · 1 year ago

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A former leader of the Iranian Baha’i community says the Islamic Republic gives them no chance of “leading a normal life” on account of their faith.

“For forty-five years, we Baha’is have been constantly disqualified from leading a normal life in our ancestral homeland,” Mahvash Sabet, a former member of the Baha’i community’s leadership group wrote in a letter from Tehran’s Evin Prison.

She reflected on the impact of the Islamic Revolution of 1979, stating, "Our ancestral homeland was abruptly taken from us, and we became 'the others'." Sabet recounted the misfortunes suffered by the Baha’i community, including the execution of nearly 250 of its members and the confiscation of assets belonging to many others.

The Shia clergy consider the Baha’i faith as a heretical sect. With approximately 300,000 adherents in Iran, Baha’is face systematic persecution, discrimination, and harassment. They are barred from public sector employment and, in certain instances, have been terminated from private sector jobs due to pressure from authorities.

In her letter, a copy of which was received by Iran International, Sabet has used the term “disqualified” (radd-e salahiyat) to describe Iranian Baha’is deprivation of civil and human rights including freedom of religion, the right to higher education, and most jobs.

In the context of ideological screening primarily carried out by security and intelligence bodies, Radd-e salahiyat means “found disqualified” for a position or status. Screening is conducted in a wide range of situations including higher education, civil service, participation in national sports teams, and elections.

Belief in the absolute guardianship and rule of a jurisprudent cleric (velayat-e motlaqqeh-ye faqih) and the Constitution of the Islamic Republic as a governing system are two of the fundamental requirements for being “qualified” in these situations.

Sabet, now seventy-one, was dismissed from her job as a school principal after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. She has been consistently denied the opportunity to publish her poetry in Iran, where books undergo scrutiny and rejection not solely based on their content, but often due to the authors' ideology, religion, or private lives.

In her letter, Sabet, who has spent nearly twelve years in prison for her faith, reveals that authorities appropriated a sand processing factory her husband had been constructing just a week before its launch. “He was disqualified, too!” she wrote in her letter.

In 2009, seven leaders of the Baha’i community, collectively known as Yaran (friends or helpers), including Sabet, were arrested. They were sentenced by a revolutionary court to 20 years in prison on fabricated charges, including "insulting" Islamic sanctities, propaganda against the regime, and alleged spying for Israel, for which the prosecutor had sought death sentences.

Some of the charges, including espionage, were dropped by an appeal court in 2010, resulting in a reduction of their sentences to 10 years. However, authorities reinstated the original 20-year sentences in 2011.

All members of the Yaran group were released from prison between September 2017 and December 2018. However, Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi, another female member of the group, were arrested again on August 1, 2022.

Both women endured months of solitary confinement while awaiting their trial. In December, they were handed another decade-long prison term for "forming a group to act against national security," a sentence they are currently serving.

#baha’is in Iran #Iranian baha’is #Iranian women #Bahá’í faith #Baha’i faith #religious persecution #human rights violations #yaran #mahvash sabet #fariba kalamabadi #false imprisonment #I was devastated when these women were arrested again #I remember spending years campaigning for their release #the regime wants them to die in in prison

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bobbinacrossafricatake2 · 6 months ago

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Jo’burg

May 16, 2024

There’s really nothing like the feeling of someplace that is home away from home. Last night we got through immigration in record time, despite the fact that there is an immigration/customs go-slow (worker strike) going on, resulting in minimal service lanes. While we got through quickly, the downside for us is that we missed our one opportunity to meet Mike, our Toronto-based Africa guy and the mastermind of this adventure.

Zem met us at the gate (gotta love seeing our names on a sign!), escorted us through immigration and customs where we met our driver. The two of them led us to a money exchange counter and then off we went to The Residence. In 2018, on our first trip to Africa, we overnighted in this lovely, gracious, wonderful, small hotel in the Houghton neighborhood of Johannesburg. We loved it so much that we wanted to come back and what a wonderful place to spend our first two nights in Africa, recovering from jet lag and settling into vacation mode. The staff is so so welcoming and we were upgraded to an amazing suite with jacuzzi, overlooking one of multiple swimming pools. Mike had a bottle of wine and cheese platter waiting in the room for us – wonderful. We did not indulge on arrival but rather took showers and settled into the wonderful beds after our very long journey.

In the morning, an excellent night’s sleep for Seb and a decent night’s sleep for Jill, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast in the restaurant, sitting at the same table where we enjoyed a dinner six years ago! Cappuccino and coffee with soy milk, respectively, such as civilized start to the day. We decided to have a low-key get-over-jet lag day, and headed out to an arts district. It wasn’t a total bust, but not as interesting or extensive as we expected. That said, at a gallery down the street (with a wonderful exhibit), they recommended another arts area called Victoria Yards. So with a little bit of electronic finagling, we caught an Uber there. (So crazy to go half way around the world and use the Uber app we can use from our front doors!) From our hotel to guards at the galleries, we were given some level of security cautions. Even knowing that there must be safety issues in town, it was lovely knowing that people were watching out for us and giving us tips on how to make sure we stay safe. Victoria Yards was a compound of old warehouse type buildings with working artists. It turned out to be nice to be there on a low-key weekday, when various artists were quite happy to chat and explain their techniques. A jewelry maker, book binder and silkscreen artist were some of the highlights.

After we were through, we contacted our hotel driver (through WhatsApp, as you do); he collected us and we headed “home.” There, the hot tub beckoned. Neither of us typically frequents hot tubs, but WOW - it was ever so relaxing, with a glass of wine from Mike’s gift. After turning into prunes, we set to work, blogging and preparing (tip) money in local currency (Rands) for our next stop, Namibia. As we know from our last trip to Africa, tipping (and tipping well, but not extravagantly) is simply part of the planned cost of the trip, and very much a part of how the African hospitality economy works. It’s certainly a way to show our appreciation for the wonderful service we experience and anticipate.

Dinner was in the hotel. We were intercepted on the way through the bar and ended up ordering a bottle of wine to share in front of a roaring fire. Wonderful! Piano music in the background, attentive staff and just chilling. They even brought over the menus so we could order. When our meals were just about ready, we were escorted to our table and seated. We each put our small bag on the table, at which point, small side tables appeared next to each of us for our bags. LOL. Holy moly, the service. Dinner of ostrich (yes, the bird) and kingklip (a fish) was fabulous. We ordered two things to share and they arrived already split and plated. Did we mention that we love this place? The restaurant was near empty so we enjoyed all the attention and graciousness. At the end of the meal, four chocolate truffles arrived with over a dish of smoking, overflowing coldness of the dry ice. Presentation is, after all, so important. Indeed, The Residence was everything we hoped for and more than what we expected. We asked for more water for the room, and (of course) it had already been delivered to by the time we asked for it. We did some pre-departure packing and settled again into our cushy beds for a wonderful - if too short - night’s sleep. 0430 pick-up by our driver will come, oh, too soon. Our only wish - to someday have the opportunity to again experience this hospitality.

P.S. Now that kingklip has been identified as eel (not fish), it’s a shock to the system, and we may not admit to it having been so tasty.

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anniekoh · 2 years ago

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Afterglow: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors edited by Grist (2023)

Afterglow is a stunning collection of original short stories in which writers from many different backgrounds envision a radically different climate future. Published in collaboration with Grist, a nonprofit media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions, these stirring tales expand our ability to imagine a better world.

Inspired by cutting-edge literary movements, such as Afrofuturism, hopepunk, and solarpunk, Afterglow imagines intersectional worlds in which no one is left behind—where humanity prioritizes equitable climate solutions and continued service to one's community. Whether through abundance or adaptation, reform, or a new understanding of survival, these stories offer flickers of hope, even joy, as they provide a springboard for exploring how fiction can help create a better reality.

Afterglow welcomes a diverse range of new voices into the climate conversation to envision the next 180 years of equitable climate progress. A creative work rooted in the realities of our present crisis, Afterglow presents a new way to think about the climate emergency—one that blazes a path to a clean, green, and more just future.

Magazine: https://grist.org/fix/arts-culture/imagine-2200-climate-fiction-afterglow/

Economic Science Fictions https://mitpress.mit.edu/9781906897734/economic-science-fictions/

Edited by William Davies (2018)

An innovative new anthology exploring how science fiction can motivate new approaches to economics.

From the libertarian economics of Ayn Rand to Aldous Huxley's consumerist dystopias, economics and science fiction have often orbited each other. In Economic Science Fictions, editor William Davies has deliberately merged the two worlds, asking how we might harness the power of the utopian imagination to revitalize economic thinking.

Rooted in the sense that our current economic reality is no longer credible or viable, this collection treats our economy as a series of fictions and science fiction as a means of anticipating different economic futures. It asks how science fiction can motivate new approaches to economics and provides surprising new syntheses, merging social science with fiction, design with politics, scholarship with experimental forms.

With an opening chapter from Ha-Joon Chang as well as theory, short stories, and reflections on design, this book from Goldsmiths Press challenges and changes the notion that economics and science fiction are worlds apart. The result is a wealth of fresh and unusual perspectives for anyone who believes the economy is too important to be left solely to economists.

Drowned Worlds

edited by Jonathan Strahan (2016)

Review: “The title and the editor both pay tribute to the inspiration of J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World, that prescient piece of nascent cli-fi first published in 1962. Strahan lauds this “lush, powerful book that tells of a post-apocalyptic world … seen through a romantic haze that hangs over the flooded, inundated ruins of a world laid waste by rising oceans.” Many of the stories in the collection, indeed almost all, share a similar dreamlike or fantastic Ballardian ambience of a world long past the climate change, where remnants of our current civilization often persist just as fantastic fragments.“

Futures From Nature: 100 Speculative Fictions from the pages of the leading science journal

by Henry Gee (2008)

Are aliens really not interested in us at all? Is there a significant health benefit from drinking your own urine? Is loading your personality into a computer the best way to survive the death of the body? Is the death of the body really necessary? Here are a very large number of very small fictions on the subject of the future and what it might be like. The authors include scientists, journalists, and many of the most famous SF writers in the world. Futures from Nature includes everything from satires and vignettes to compressed stories and fictional book reviews, science articles, and journalism, in eight-hundred-word modules. These pieces were originally published in the science journal Nature between 1999 and 2006.

#to read #speculative fiction #futures

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thoughtportal · 1 year ago

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It shouldn't be against the law to provide an encrypted app. But if the STOP CSAM Act passes, it would make it a crime to offer encryption, because it could "facilitate" the sharing of illegal child abuse material (CSAM)—even if there's no evidence that a platform or service intended to do so. The law would undermine digital security for all internet users, impacting private messaging and email app providers, social media platforms, cloud storage providers, and many other internet intermediaries and online services.

Free speech would also be at risk. STOP CSAM would create a carveout in Section 230, the law that protects our online speech, exposing platforms to civil lawsuits for merely hosting a platform where part of the illegal conduct occurred. This carveout is similar to the disastrous SESTA-FOSTA law, which passed in 2018, and immediately resulted in companies removing online content and spaces for discussion in order to protect themselves from potential liability.

Congress already has tools in place to remove CSAM from the internet: current law prohibits the distribution of CSAM, and since 2008, providers have faced large fines if they fail to report CSAM after receiving actual knowledge of its presence on their platforms. Yet we know of no case where the federal government has ever enforced this provision. Congress must not pass this broad and dangerous law, and instead must use the tools that are already in place rather than outlawing important encrypted services.

Tell Congress: don't pass this law that would undermine security and free speech online.

#petition #CSAM #encryption #internet privacy #online privacy #right to privacy #privacy #internet #STOP CSAM Act #call to action

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orossii · 2 years ago

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hi! first of all, love you blog and your artwork is wonderful! secondly, i don't really have anyone to discuss this with, so i thought, i might as well bother a stranger on the internet. i recently came across dmitry orlov, a russian-american analyst-writer-blogger. while i disagree with him on a lot of things, he has rather sharp humor (the title of this post alone sure is something) and a strong conviction that the us is going to collapse a-la the soviet union, probably even worse. such predictions are usually met with an eye-roll, and i made a "pfft" sound and rolled my eyes as well. but then i come across an article stating that 50% of the respondents in the us expect no less than a civil war (!) in just a few years. where did this come from? is it just uber-maga people or what? along with other things, this type of info makes me scratch my head. what do you think?

thank you so much for the kind words and this ask @haissitall! i'm always open to messages and questions, though I can be a little spotty when it comes to answering sometimes. i'm unfamiliar with dmitry orlov but what i'm seeing of his work is very interesting so i'll try to backread some of his articles and keep up with his work going forward.

i found his article where he outlines the indications that the US is close to collapse and agree with them completely. the one i found was published in 2018 too, before the ukraine proxy war and the economic devastation and political polarization that exploded during COVID had even happened yet. i don't make the claim that i'm a geopolitical or economic expert by any stretch, but from my sort of above average level of understanding i think the US is absolutely in a state of free fall that i can't see taking much longer than another couple of years or so to really become fully apparent domestically. i'm going to put this reply under a cut because it ended up being pretty long. sorry for the text wall, this is just something i've wanted to put into words for a while now and you gave me an excuse to do so lol

so. the US dollar has been, up until recently, the world's reserve currency, meaning that much of international trade is reliant on a country having large amounts of US dollars in order to buy and sell goods internationally. from what i understand, this means that the US can leverage predatory loans against the global south via the IMF, whose terms entail that they agree to devastating economic austerity measures and buyouts of their national industries if they're to survive. this means that the US can plunder these countries for its own financial gain while also outsourcing domestic labor for a fraction of the cost. as a result of the US's heavily financialized imperialist economy, industry (and the skilled labor jobs that accompany it) have largely left the country, and our domestic economy now revolves around finance

to put that another way, americans that used to benefit from well-paying industrial jobs found themselves growing rapidly poorer as the reagan era delivered the death blow to labor unions and the subsequent flight of american industry to the global south made the domestic economy increasingly reliant on jobs in disposable, low-paying unskilled labor positions in the service industries, tech, and non-productive professional-managerial positions like doctors, office workers, and teachers. this means that the US working class had less economic power over the means of production, effectively crushing most of the working class's leverage to demand reforms or wage revolution against the ruling class of capitalists who derive their income from finance

this new, defanged working class is entirely dependent on the ruling class for their day to day survival. the cost of living is dramatically disproportionate to the income of most american families, so in order to pay for things like houses, cars, healthcare, education, and various day to day expenses, we have to take on predatory loans with high interest rates. this, in turn, allows the big banks to extract much of the meager wealth earned by the working class in order to enrich themselves exponentially. due to the endlessly greedy nature of capitalism, every year the working class grows poorer and more disenfranchised as the cost of living increases and the ruling class devises new ways to squeeze pennies out of people who are already largely a missed paycheck or two away from not being able to pay their bills

part of this form of capitalism's leverage over the working class is what's referred to in marxism as the reserve army of the unemployed-- this is a pool of unemployed workers that can be selected from at the ruling class's leisure in order to quickly fill vacancies in these poorly paying unskilled or low-skilled job positions. when workers are easily replaceable they'll do whatever they can to hold onto employment even if it means tolerating poor working conditions, low pay, and insufficient benefits. homelessness and incarceration is the implicit threat that keeps this neo-feudalist engine oiled and the people obedient

when a large proportion of the population is poor and the standard of living declines every year for people of the so-called middle classes, you naturally have a lot social instability that emerges. which is where the culture war comes in. i don't think it's a coincidence that the race to more deeply distinguish the cultural ideologies of the republican and democratic parties coincided with american de-industrialization. the ruling class needed to create a sort of good cop-bad cop dynamic for the people to project their angst onto. if you're a democrat, you're expected to blame the republicans for your ever-increasing misfortune, and the inverse is true of republicans. they advance intentionally divisive and increasingly drastic cultural positions that are guaranteed to repel a certain target subsection of the population while pairing that position to the core belief system of another subsection of the population. races are decided by where politicians stand on cultural issues such as abortion or gun rights, and while those issues are of course relevant to public consideration, both parties are united in advancing the economic interests of the imperial rent-extracting finance capitalists that fund their campaigns in relatively equal measure, depending on who is currently in power

there's a strong incentive to deepen the culture war every year, because the same messaging doesn't work forever. they have to create new fronts and inflame rhetoric more and more in order to hold peoples' interests. as a result, you end up with a population that's extremely individualistic, highly ideological, and loaded with contempt for other people within their class. they're so busy calling the other side fascist that they fail to realize that they're already living in a fascist country that's upheld by neo-feudalist and neo-colonial rent extraction policies as well as non-stop war and political interference abroad. in congress, neither side is able to concede to one another or agree on anything of substance so the only thing that really gets passed is funding for the US war machine

this is the domestic context the US is working with at the same time it started to realize that new economic rivals to its hegemony were starting to emerge. china in particular is set to surpass the US as the wealthiest country on earth within five years or so because of the unprecedented buildup of their productive industrial capacity that the US itself invested in because of the immediate promise of cheap outsourced labor. russia is a massive oil-producer with enough oil supply to easily provide europe with an alternative to more expensive US-owned oil, which was the purpose of the now-destroyed nordstream pipelines. iran is rich in a number of resources including oil and natural gas and serves as a military counter-balance to US domination over the middle east

the US, being almost completely de-industrialized and totally reliant on extraction from its imperial subjects in the global south for its industrial production, absolutely 100% can not under any circumstances tolerate the existence of a competitor to its highly aggressive foreign trade strategy. china and russia aren't without fault of course, but they've historically engaged in relatively straightforward, equitable trade with the leadership of the global south. they bring in affordable commodities while investing heavily in local infrastructure in order to increase domestic industrial capacity by providing them with resources and education on how to build and maintain their own factories and railways. they also don't meddle in their political affairs with assassinations and media manipulation, impose unpayable debt on developing nations, or use the threat of military intervention to coerce them into unfair trade deals. russia even helped syria, a key russian trade partner, militarily fight off US-backed forces seeking to overthrow its government, which would have happened were it not for their assistance

in the 20th century the US employed a divide and conquer strategy to pit the soviet union and china against one another to prevent them from forming a bloc, but by targeting russia, china, and iran all at the same time, they've catapulted all three into an iron-clad alliance that the US has no way of disrupting. the supremacy of the US dollar is falling rapidly as the neocons that run our foreign policy realize that they underestimated russia's economic resilience that comes with being an industrial power. the sanctions they imposed after goading russia into a military intervention in ukraine only hastened the emergence of a new multipolar world order that is already serving as a far more attractive counterbalance to the mafia-style US-led international order

i was utterly shocked by how little time it took for one-time US lapdogs turkey, india, and saudi arabia to start jumping ship and turning toward the eurasian axis. the EU and NATO states (aside from Turkey) have proven themselves to be total puppets to the interests that rule the US empire and are voluntarily de-industrializing themselves by cutting themselves off from russian oil all at once, and de-militarizing themselves all at once by sending all of their military infrastructure to ukraine to be blown up by the russian military. this is utterly catastrophic for the US. the global south is oriented more and more toward the russia-china-iran axis the longer the US drags out this unwinnable proxy war that it paradoxically can't afford to lose

europe is going to collapse without the russian oil needed to keep its industry and the US will be close behind. the US empire's capacity to maintain the hundreds of expensive military bases that pepper the globe will decrease dramatically when it can no longer rely on a constant inflow of imperial rents from a newly industrializing global south. the eurasian and eurasian-aligned countries will benefit from cheap and abundant energy while the european and american people will face a full scale economic disaster. people will freeze to death in winter, lose their houses and life savings, struggle with rampant food shortages. i feel like the US will probably try to re-industrialize, it seems like biden's nodding in that direction, but it would be impossible to do so in time for a collapse that in my largely uneducated opinion will probably be here in the next three to four years, if that, given how already pushed to their limits the people were at the start of this thing. no idea what happens from there. it'll be a total fucking nightmare but will ultimately, in my view, precipitate the re-industrialization and gradual socialist development of the west. i'm not looking forward to it but it needs to happen, the US empire is well beyond its expiration date and the slaughter has to end

if you'd like to read more about this from people i keep up with, i'd start with michael hudson and garland nixon. the above is a poor articulation of their analysis along with various others, so if you want to get it from the source, i'd start with them. i remember being profoundly impacted by this piece by michael hudson when i was still getting my bearings re: the ukraine proxy war, i think it's a good jumping off point

#imperialism #asks

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docpiplup · 2 years ago

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@asongofstarkandtargaryen There's a couple of comics and films I wanted to post something about them some time ago, so here they are

Black is Beltza is a duology of comics, the first one was published in 2014 and the second in 2022, and they have been adapted into two Basque animated films recently in 2018 and 2022, Black is Beltza and Black is Beltza II: Ainhoa.

One of the main things of the comics are the sociopolitical environment of the places and the period the films are set in, for example the first one is set in the 60's mainly in New York and the sequel is set in the 80's and among other places, in Pamplona.

Black is Beltza (2018)

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October 1965. The Pamplona troupe of giants, a typical image of the San Fermín festivities, is invited to parade on Fifth Avenue in New York. But not everyone will be able to leave: due to racial discrimination, the North American authorities prohibit the participation of the two black giants. Based on this real event, "Black is Beltza" tells the story of Manex, the waiter in charge of carrying one of the giants. Headed for a long and unexpected journey, Manex will witness key events in history: the racial riots resulting from the assassination of Malcolm X, the eccentricities of the characters in The Factory, the alliance between the Cuban secret services and the Black Panthers, and the proto-hippie psychedelia of early music festivals.

Duration: 87 min.

Script: Harkaitz Cano, Fermín Muguruza, Eduard Solà (Comic: Fermín Muguruza, Harkaitz Cano, Jorge Alderete)

Animation Companies: ETB, Setmàgic Audiovisual, Talka Records & Films

Cast

Unax Ugalde: Manex

Isaach de Bankolé: Wilson Clever

Iseo: Amanda Tamaya

Sergi López: Warren Philips

Ramón Agirre: Xebero

Jorge Perugorria: Sargento Bravo

Angelo Moore: Rudy

María de Medeiros: Amira

Emma Suárez: Laia

Oscar Jaenada: Che Guevara

Rossy de Palma: Ruth Abransom

Ramón Barea: Ramiro

Hamid Krim: Yassim

Guillermo Toledo: Teniente Muñoz

Ander Lipus: guardia civil

Josean Bengoetxea: Juanpe, Pancho Villa

Lenval Brown: Jimmy

Valeria Maldonado: Esperanza

Sergio Arau: Juan Rulfo

Jorge Ferrera: Eliseo

Giancarlo Ruiz: Tin-Tan, Smithy, Sergei Titov

Josh Kun: Dwayne

Ray Fernández: Cte. Antonovich

Victor Navarrete: Guerrillero 1

Iban Rusiñol: Laurent

Exprai: Pedro del Taller, Hernán Cortés

Márgenes Dermer: azafata

Ramón Zumitrenko: Sf dentista

Stuart Casson: Otis Redding, Emory Douglas

KO the Knockout: Ben Cauley

Sistaeyeire: Angela Davis

Dratzo Gomex: policía fronteriza I

Marieder Iriart: Iman

Mariam Bachir: Amal

Black is Beltza II: Ainhoa (2022)

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Ainhoa was born by a miracle in La Paz (Bolivia) after the death, in a parapolice attack, of her mother Amanda. She grew up in Cuba and in 1988, at the age of 21, she traveled to the Basque Country to see the land of his father Manex. In the middle of the repressive conflict, she meets Josune, a committed journalist, and her gang of friends. When one of them dies of a heroin overdose, Ainhoa and Josune set out on an initiation journey that will take them through Lebanon, Afghanistan and the city of Marseille. These are the last years of the Cold War and both will delve into the dark world of drug trafficking networks and their close ties to political plots.

Direction: Fermin Muguruza

Duration: 86 min.

Script: Fermín Muguruza, Isa Campo, Harkaitz Cano (Comic: Fermín Muguruza)

Music: Maite Arrotajauregi

Photography: Animation, Mariona Omedes

Companies: Co-production Spain-Argentina; Talka Records & Films

Cast

Maria Cruickshank: Ainhoa

Itziar Ituño: Josune

Manex Fuchs: Hamid

Antonio de la Torre: Rafael

Darko Peric: Igor

Ariadna Gil: Isabelle

Eneko Sagardoy: Diego

Mikel Losada: Mikel

Ramón Agirre: Xebero

Miren Gaztañaga: Amatxi Tere

Maite Larburu Iman

Ximun Fuchs: Jean-Pierre

Gorka Otxoa: Iñigo Kortatu

Fermín Muguruza: Fermin Kortatu

Jon Plazaola: Javier Salutregi

Peio Berteretxe: Didier

Maryse Urruty: Armineh

Isidro: Isidro

Joseba Sarrionandia: Martin

Maria Forni: Yady

Iban Rusiñol: Commisaire Marcel

Natalia Abu-sharar: off Sabra y Shatila

Moraysys Silva: Tania

Maykel García Cardo: Felix The Cat

Bruno Coscia: Arthur

Maria Amolategui: Amaia Apaolaza

Papet-J: Chef Chérif

#black is beltza #black is beltza ii: ainhoa #films #comics #long post #animated films

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