#diplomatic narrative

[firstoccupier]

WPS.News Report: Events in the West Philippine Sea, Scarborough Shoal, Second Thomas Shoal, and South China Sea (January 20-21, 2025)

WPS News Staff ReporterBaybay City | January 21, 2025 West Philippine Sea:In a significant move, the Philippine Coast Guard has ramped up surveillance operations concerning a notable presence of a large Chinese coast guard vessel situated in the waters off Zambales (China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel 5901, dubbed the “monster ship”). The escalation underscores the renewed vigilance of Philippine…

[qcomicsy]

I don't think we talk about Robin War as much as we should, this is insane this kid is insane. HE WAS THE LEADER OF A MOVEMENT.

A BIG EARTH SHAKEN MOVEMENT.

Yeah I get it, The Robin movement had no official leader. But we cannot deny how he was one of the most prevalent voices. How he is so good with his words that he was able to to encourage not only all of them to go home and all of them to go fight.

And fight for their fucking lives, for Gotham's safety.

And you don't understand the Robin, wasn't a team they didn't have leaders, they didn't have training, they did't had someone o be assigned to be in charge, hell half of them shouldn't be older than 25! This is a social movement, made mostly by yound adults and teenagers.

Being able to to influence this amount of people in less than what a month? In matter of minutes is absolutely fucking insane. This isn't easy shit, this isn't lightly shit.

This is fucking revolutionary.

For fuck sake he knew DAMIAN, fuckin Damian for a day and was able to get his point across into that kid's thick skull.

This random kid, with not training in martial art, who saw Damian beat up not only his fellow comrades, but Red Hood and Red Robin themselves, who may or may not be aware of Damian's reputation as a deadly Robin (if that comes to the public and knowing Gotham and Gotham's relationship with vigilantes he might) stood up on his own feet and got his ass beaten by him without even considering back down from it.

Duke Thomas was ready to die that night and this is fucking earthshaking.

[aran-morinorea]

Happy December yall! I bestow upon you all that remains to be posted of A Major Diplomatic Incident (part 1). It's going to take some revision, so I'm not posting it to ao3 yet, but this gets us to where I'm leaving off. The other chapter is the actual reason Elrond came to visit: post-Worst Road Trip, they invite him over to see Maglor. If he's going to be niceys about it. Both to Maglor and to Annatar.

…It was Tar-Glóriel who found Maglor in the first place. If it turns out he's literally Sauron, Elrond is going to blackmail Celebrimbor into letting him take Maglor to Lindon after all. At least for a year or two at a time.

This decided, Elrond ends the awkward pause with, “I suppose so. Mostly I'm just confused.”

“Tell me about it,” says Tar-Glóriel, tipping back over to put his head in Celebrimbor’s lap.

Elrond finds, despite himself, that he is smiling. His evil cousin-in-law, who feels about Celebrimbor the way he feels about Gil-Galad, thinks of him as a Maia. Not a half-Elvish Man or a half-Mannish Elf; not half-anything at all. What else would you be? 

And Elrond’s voice reminds him of… what might honestly be one of the worst days of his infinitely long life. He can’t imagine it was fun in itself, but given what it led to, Morgoth must have been very upset. Thinking about it, he says, “That must not help with the urge to murder me.”

“It really doesn’t!” Tar-Glóriel complains, making the shadows dance, “But I'm being nice about it, because I am capable of self-control.”

Celebrimbor laughs and puts his hand in Tar-Glóriel’s hair, saying, “And I appreciate it, love, thank you for not attacking my friend.”

“Yes, I am the embodiment of kindness and grace, you know,” says Tar-Glóriel, sparkling again; Elrond is beginning to think that’s what he does when he’s teasing. If “teasing” is a thing that a being who could plausibly be literal actual Sauron can be said to do. 

…If Elrond treats him like an enemy now - after being allowed to see him being so affectionate, so intimate, without further provocation - well, then he’s going to feel like the asshole in the situation. He might never stop expecting the further provocation to come, but he can’t act on that expectation, because he’s positioned himself as a - an amiable distant relation. Not even that distant, depending on how he’s counting! It’s possible he’d be in the wrong to start a fight even if he gets definite confirmation of Tar-Glóriel’s identity.

What in all the Iron Hells has Elrond gotten himself into?

[notmoreflippingelves]

Unpopular opinion: Elena of Avalor fandom edition! Mateo isn't the sweet dorky magician the wiki (and some fans) tends to present, he is just as competitive as (of not more than) Gabe and can be really selfish and arrogant. And he never really gets called out on his flaws or misdeeds as much as the other characters.

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

Yes, I'm not sure if it's my contrarian hipster brain seeing he's popular within the fandom and just doing it's natural "hype backlash" as result, or what. But my overall reaction to him is "meh" at best and low-key annoyance at worst. Maybe it's just me, but I definitely feel that whenever Elena, Naomi, Gabe, Isa, or especially Esteban are in the wrong, the narrative will have an explicit, impossible to ignore "what the hell hero" moment where they learn their lesson. But when Mateo is the one at fault, he's more likely to be met with nothing more than a brief slap on the wrist--and that's assuming he's called out for his selfishness/impulsiveness/shortsightedness at all. Which he often is not.

[icharchivist]

one of my controversial take about DA is that, independently to whether i like him or not in DAO or the books, Loghain is literally the best Warden companion you can have to play HLTA.

I'm sorry but Hawke hitting him with "you just can't imagine a world without the wardens even though it's probably what we need" and seeing Loghain firmly defend the Wardens because "i betrayed the order once and it cost me everything -- i won't do it ever again" is the most emotional draw you could have in HLTA compared to Stroud and Alistair's unwavering faith in the Wardens.

[kickerofelves]

On second thought, it might perhaps be a little unprofessional of me to suggest on official patient paperwork “discharge via trebuchet into the sun” with just a print out of

[themyscirah]

Just saw a bunch of atrocious wonder woman takes and I hate everything

Someone google nearest bridge to jump off of im so done w this

[reachexceedinggrasp]

Oh also, here's an extra (somewhat incendiary) ask you can answer if you feel like it: is there anything about Reylo, or Rey, or Kylo, or the Sequel Trilogy overall that you avoided getting into just for the sake of a peaceful fandom when it was a warzone? I'll go first: I didn't care about any of the storyline outside of Rey and Kylo and TFA!Rey only became interesting to me because of TLJ. I can still appreciate the characters somewhat and how they were done dirty by TROS and racism though.

Oh sure. I didn't totally avoid anything, I don't think, but there were certainly things I went as light as possible on because it just wasn't worth bringing up more than necessary. And I didn't argue about things I didn't care about, because who has the energy.

Although, possibly I never mentioned that I hate F/nn/P0e and it being a constant background pairing in reylo fic is a significant source of annoyance to me. It's one of those irritating ships that gets a default assumption everyone ships it and that really gets on my tits, but I don't remember it ever coming up in a way that I had to say anything about it.

[aeide-thea]

#right like. when people make a post about wanting to see whatever and someone recs 1 specific thing #i always feel like the reccer - despite probably feeling real enthusiasm - is missing the point a little

#aside from 'i want more options' (which i DO) #so often i - a person who likes the thing - have read and hated the thing being recced #and i want more and different takes on it! (via elucubrare)

ppl misunderstand me when I say "I want more [thing] in stories". I don't mean "I'm going to love every single one" I mean "I'm very picky and I want more of it in circulation so I can actually choose from a wealth of them and be discerning". I see ppl being like "you say you want more of [this thing] but you don't like [example of it]" YEAH CUZ I'M PICKY!!!!!!!! I have opinions and standards????? not all of them are gonna be the same I wanna be able to look at 100 of them and go "I want these 20" not "I only have 3 to choose from and I don't like any of them" you feel me??????

[immaculatasknight]

Dirty socks

[iamrhyme]

Download ⬇️, listen 🎧 to, click the heart-shaped ♥️ like button, comment 🗨️ on,and share episode 🔄 376 of the Narrative Podcast across all platforms at the link 🖇️ below 👇https://www.spreaker.com/episode/episode-376-the-narrative-podcast--62038460

The Narrative Podcast promotes positive reinforcement of original people and original people culture.

The Narrative Podcast provides positive frames of reference about original people and original people culture.

The Narrative Podcast: Changing the Narrative one episode at a time by destroying negative stereotypes about original people and original people culture.

Tune into the Narrative Podcast and become a Narrator.

Let's change the Narrative!

[tieflingkisser]

don't let anyone tell you the tiktok ban is not directly related to Palestine because they're literally admitting it:

Blinken blames TikTok and social media for disrupting Israel’s narrative of war in Gaza

Social media sites like TikTok are partly to blame for widespread criticism of Israel’s war effort against Hamas in Gaza, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The comments came as part of a conversation at the McCain Institute’s 2024 Sedona Forum in Sedona, Arizona, between Secretary Blinken and US senator Mitt Romney. The Utah Republican asked the top diplomat why “the PR has been so awful” against Israel since the beginning of the 7 October conflict. “Why has Hamas disappeared in terms of public perception?” he continued. “An offer is on the table for a ceasefire and yet the world is screaming about Israel.” Mr Blinken said that part of the reason for that dynamic was a changing media environment, where people no longer all read from the same authoritative news sources and instead learn about current events on chaotic social media feeds.

[...]

The comments echoed a wider narrative that’s been put forth about critics of Israel in the US, particularly on college campuses: that their criticisms don’t stem from the facts of the conflict, and instead are the product of alarming outside influence. New York mayor Eric Adams recently accused students at universities of falling under the sway of “outside agitators,” though the NYPD has offered little compelling evidence to support that charge. Protesting students interviewed by The Independent said they had been moved to act by seeing images of destruction and suffering caused by Israel in Gaza, with the full backing of the US.

[nebulathunderwave]

This post is out there to make me cry and @eternal-brainrot and @reblorzelska have teamed up to give me the final blow

it truly cannot be overstated how completely bereft lan xichen is of meaningful, supportive connections post-canon.

even pre-canon*, the number of characters in his life who seek out his company without placing any expectations upon him is very, very, very low. (in fact there is only one character who does this. you know who it is, i'm just not saying who it is because i don't have to.)

post-canon, what indication do we have in the text that anyone is making his welfare anything close to a priority?

he has been totally abandoned by both the jianghu and the narrative.

[maniculum]

A post of mine from several months ago about the Perlesvaus self-rearranging forest just wandered across my dash again and made me think about it some more, so I wanted to talk about it a bit.

Perlesvaus, for those who don’t know, is a 13th-century French Arthurian romance. It’s intended to be a continuation of Chretien de Troyes’s Perceval, but it’s mostly known for being completely batshit when it’s known at all. (There’s an old book on Arthurian texts that dedicates a chapter to Perlesvaus and repeatedly speculates that the anonymous author had Something Wrong With Him. This is the longest scholarly treatment of Perlesvaus I’ve been able to find & read.)

Anyway, there’s an odd worldbuilding detail in the text. See, it’s a Thing in chivalric romances that the questing knights happen upon castles & lords & damsels & such that are unfamiliar to them and have to be explained. You know, “this is the Castle of Such-and-Such, where the local custom is as follows. It’s ruled by Lady So-and-So, whose character I shall now describe to you.”

This is a genre convention that largely goes unquestioned, but it’s a bit odd if you think about it. All these knights are at least minor nobility. They don’t know the other nobles in their region? They don’t know what castles are where? Don’t they have, like, diplomatic relations with these people or at least attend the same tournaments? Even if they’re all fully committed to the knight-errant lifestyle and don’t really engage in courtly diplomacy, you’d think they would share information with each other and get the lay of the land. But instead, to use TTRPG terminology, it’s like they’re all on a hexcrawl that was randomly generated just for them to have these adventures.

The author of Perlesvaus decides to address this. In what’s kind of a throwaway paragraph late in the text, he explains that God moves things around so knights always have new quests to do (and, presumably, is also making sure they always arrive at the right narratively-significant moment). So the reason they’re always encountering people & places they have no knowledge of is because those people & places really weren’t there yesterday. They didn’t know about the Castle of Such-and-Such because it’s normally a thousand miles away and the forest path they followed to get there used to lead somewhere else.

And I think that would be a really interesting thing to stick into a novel or a TTRPG or something. When a knight rides into the forest with the intent of Going On A Quest, at some point they go around a bend in the path, cross an invisible barrier, and wind up in the Forest of Narrative. This is a vast forest with no set geography, filled with winding paths and populated almost entirely with questing knights, damsels in search of questing knights, friendly hermits, strange creatures, and allegorical set-pieces. Then, at the narratively-appropriate time, they cross back over the invisible barrier back into the regular world, and find themselves wherever the Narrative has decided they need to be. This could be a different country, a different continent, or a different world entirely.

Whether anyone involved is actually aware that this is how it works is… optional, really. Though if it’s not a Known Phenomenon, the people whose jobs it is to handle trade & diplomacy & god forbid, maps, are going to end up tearing their hair out in frustration.

[david-talks-sw]

I'd say where the dissonance really starts, when it comes to the portrayal of the Jedi in more recent Star Wars stories, is the perception of what the Prequels are about.

They're not about the Jedi.

George Lucas said over and over that they're about:

How a democracy turns into a dictatorship, we see this in the background of the films, as the Republic descends into becoming the Empire.

That first theme is then paralleled with a second theme: how a good kid becomes a bad man. We see this in the more character-driven and personal exploration of Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side.

The Prequels’ focus is on Anakin and the Republic, these films are not primarily about the fall of the Jedi. In fact, I’d argue they aren’t about the Jedi at all!

And when you look at the original backstory, you’ll notice that it also primarily focuses on:

The political subplot of the Republic’s downfall and Palpatine becoming the Emperor.

Anakin’s turn and his betrayal of the Jedi. 

So, there too… the Jedi themselves aren’t really that big a part of the Prequels’ original idea. They aren't mentioned much, beyond their trying to save the Senate and getting wiped out.

The Star Wars movies aren't about the Jedi, they're about Anakin and Luke, they're about Obi-Wan and Padmé and Han and Leia, the Rebellion vs the Empire, the fall of the Republic.

They're not about Ben and Yoda and Mace and Ki-Adi and Plo Koon and Shaak Ti and Luminara.

Just like Harry Potter isn't about Dumbledore and McGonagall. Just like the Lord of the Rings isn't about Gandalf.

On a functional level, the Jedi are:

POV characters who witness the events unfold with their hands tied, they're our anchors, whose eyes we see through to see democracy crumble into dictatorship.

Embodiments/vectors of the message George Lucas wanted to get across through these movies, which is the conflict between selfishness & selflessness, greed & compassion (Sith & Jedi).

But that's about it.

However, if you ask today’s fans and Star Wars creatives, most will say the Prequels are about the fall of the Jedi Order.

This is a take shared by a big chunk of the fandom, including various filmmakers, authors, and executives involved with Star Wars, so much so that the time period the Prequel films cover has now been redubbed by Lucasfilm as the “Fall of the Jedi era”.

Which leaves us with a question... why? Why the dissonance?

My guess? It's because the Jedi are cool. They're awesome.

And deep down, they wanted the Prequels to be about the Jedi. About the Jedi Knights at their height, errant warriors like the Knights of the Round Table.

And they didn't get that. They got a bunch of diplomats serving a political institution. And that didn't make sense, right? That's not what they expected so it's bad. And it's Star Wars. It's Lucas. It can't be bad, right? So like... what were they missing?

Oh... wait... what if... that's the point? That the Jedi were supposed to be Knight Errants and being guided by the Force instead of like - ew - space ambassadors for the Republic. Yeah now it all makes sense.

The Jedi in the Prequels aren't what we wanted them to be and that's their failure! Like, it's not just that I didn't like them because they weren't likeable to me, it's that I'm not supposed to like them because the narrative totally says so--

-- it doesn't.

The Jedi preach and practice the same Buddhist values as George Lucas, mirroring what he says in interviews almost verbatim.

The relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin/Qui-Gon mirrors the dynamic between Lucas and Coppola.

The designs of the Jedi and their temple had to be toned down because they looked too bureaucratic and systemic.

This is Lucas we're talking about. "On the nose" is his middle name. He named the drug-peddling sleazebag "Elan Sleazebaggano." He ditched an elaborate introduction of General Grievous in exchange for just "the doors slide open, in walks Grievous and he's ugly."

If he had really been hell bent on framing the Jedi as elitist squares who lost their way and were mired in bureaucracy, he would've made them and the Jedi Temple look like the authorities in THX-1138.

They weren't likeable to some fans because, well, they weren't developed or shown as much as someone like Anakin. Because it's not about them. It's not their story. It's Anakin's. It's Luke's. It's their respective friends'. Or maybe it's an adversity to "perfect goody two-shoes" characters (which the Jedi are not). But hey, it's a movie for kids. Some 2-dimensionality is forgivable.

Bottom line, had more time been spent on the Jedi, had Lucas made the Prequels into a limited show and give them a whole subplot, had he decided to do away with the 30s serial dialog and let someone else write the dialog, maybe the reception might've been different.

But that's what we got. And guess what it's fine.

It's more than fine, it's fucking awesome.

I proudly and confidently say that I love the Prequels, with and without The Clone Wars.

I love my space monks, I love that they're diplomat wizards, I love that there's such a variety of them, I love that Mace is a no-bullshit guy who genuinely cares about his fellow Jedi and how screwed the Republic is, and Yoda is wise and kind but also a gremlin weirdo who'll embarass you in front of a classroom full of kids, and Ki-Adi has a penis for a head, is constantly calm and yet goes down like a champ even though they take him by surprise. I love that Shaak Ti can kung fu an army full of Magna Guards and still have the energy to charge at Grievous. I love that Obi-Wan is a sass machine who is also hilariously oblivious to the fact that he's just as terrible as Anakin.

They're awesome even if they're not perfect. They're awesome because they're not perfect.

But the movies are not really their story.

They're Anakin's. They're Luke's. They're the Republic's and the Rebellion's. And the fight against a space Nazi emperor/empire.

[zvaigzdelasas]

[CNN is US Private Media]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lambasted his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday and accused him of adopting an “anti-Israel narrative,” revealing a deep rupture at the top of the Israeli government as the Middle East risks spiraling into a full-scale regional conflict.

Israeli media reported this week that Gallant, speaking to lawmakers in a private security briefing, had dismissed Netanyahu’s war aim of achieving “absolute victory” over Hamas as “gibberish,” branding those who say this is achievable as “heroes with war drums.”[...]

“When Gallant adopts the anti-Israel narrative, he harms the chances of reaching a hostage deal,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement. It said Gallant was obligated to pursue the twin goals of Israel’s war in Gaza: Eliminating Hamas and the release of the hostages seized by Hamas in the October 7 attacks.[...]

On Monday, the European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell told CNN he would put forward a proposal at the EU to sanction far-right Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.

Borrell had called for sanctions against Smotrich and Ben Gvir in a post on X, days after Smotrich said it would be “moral” to starve two million Gazans until Israeli hostages are freed.[...]

In his leaked comments, Gallant also claimed he had in October proposed a pre-emptive attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon, but that Netanyahu had not supported the strike and had missed the opportunity.

“The conditions today for a Lebanon war are the opposite of what they were at the beginning of the war,” Gallant reportedly told lawmakers.[...]

Gallant joins a number of senior Israeli officials to have questioned Netanyahu’s aim of destroying Hamas. In June, top military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the idea that Israel could “make Hamas vanish” is “throwing sand in the eyes of the public.”

CNN recently reported that nearly half of Hamas’ military battalions in northern and central Gaza have rebuilt some of their fighting capabilities, despite Israel’s unrelenting [genocidal war of extermination], according to a joint analysis with the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project and the Institute for the Study of War.

Crumbling failed apartheid state [13 Aug 24]