#foreign politics

[sullina]

(Source)

[n3vrmore]

So, presidential elections in Brazil are really close (October 2nd) and, since I always see discussions about this during American elections, I decided to tell you guys how it's like to vote in a country in which vote is mandatory.

I noticed a lot of Americans consider mandatory vote as something that attacks individual freedom, but I'm going to discuss about how I, as someone who lives under these politics, don't think that way. Gentle reminder that this is how it works in Brazil, I can't say for other countries!

Who is obligated to vote?

Every literate Brazilian citizen between the ages of 18 and 70. There are, however, people for whom the vote is optional, which takes us to the next topic...

Who can vote, but is not obligated to?

The vote is optional for people between the ages of 16 and 18, people who are older than 70 and illiterate people between the ages of 18 and 70.

What happens if you don't vote? Do you get arrested?

No! If you don't vote you will have to pay a fine. It changes from state to state, but it's around 3,50 reais (65 cents in dolars). A lot, I know.

But what if I don't want to vote in anyone?

You can do it, actually. I'll explain it better when I talk about the way we vote in Brazil.

Does the mandatory vote offer any advantages for the people?

In my point of view? Yes. Two things that strike me as the most benefitial for the people is the fact that the elections are way more organized and, the most important one, is that your vote is guaranteed. I always see Americans showing concern about their registration simply disappering and that voters, especially voters of color, can have their registration cancelled and they have no way of knowing. Well, when vote is mandatory that simply doesn't happen, thanks to this:

This is the título eleitoral (or electoral card), it's a document you can get after 16 years old and it's mandatory after 18. With it, you don't need to make a registration every election to be able to vote, because it guarantees that, from the moment you get it, you'll always be able to vote.

More about Brazilian election process:

There are some things that are very different in the Brazilian election and you probably don't know:

We don't vote using paper. We have this little beauty called the electronic ballot.

Each candidate has a number. In the case of presidential candidates and state governor candidates, it's a number of two algarisms. You need to type the number of your candidate and press the green button.

If you don't want to vote in anyone, you can simply press the white button followed by the green button. There is also the null vote, when you put a number that doesn't belong to any candidate and press the green button. These two alternatives will take you to the same place: your vote won't go for any candidate.

Another difference from Brazilian elections to American ones is the day it happens. Here, elections are always on Sunday so everyone can vote, usually from 8am to 5pm. Your boss is obligated to release you so you can vote and, if they don't, they will have to pay you double for that day.

The place where we vote is also fixed. When you make your electoral card you choose an electoral session that is close to your home where you will vote in every election. You can change it in case you move and, if you are travelling for any reason during the elections, all you have to do is go to any electoral session on election day and justify your absence.

But if you can choose not to vote in anyone, the fine for not voting is so symbolic and you can even justify your absence, why is the vote mandatory?

Because voting is seen as an obligation of every Brazilian citizen with their country. I can say with certainty, however, that most Brazilians don't see the vote as an obligation, even though it is: we see it as an inalienable right and essential for our democracy.

[crows-of-buckets]

I am thinking about an Inquisitor Aviae au... It would be so fucking funny. Like in game I think there's a lot of propaganda about her (she's a pro-mage, pro-blood magic, anti circle, anti Templar mage who used to help anders plan his escapes and regularly outspoke about the poor treatment of mages. She also 100% supports anders actions when she hears of them lmao) so like. Half the companions in dai would have an idealized, chantry propaganda view of her. So she comes in, and everyone's like "whoa... Hero of Fereldan..." And then she immediately diverts supplies to helping mages in the war. And is just so much unlike what chantry propaganda would portray her as. She would also take on the grey warden "recruit anyone, help is more valuable than the persons past" to an extreme in the inquisiton. Like if there is someone she can recruit, she does so almost every time. I think sera would hate her at first but they would become fast friends, iron bull as well. She has a decent understanding of the qun from what sten taught her; it's not for her but she does respect it. Idk I kinda wanna write something out for it

[nothingbuttrashhere]

In the end, other than Biden’s emotional bond with Israel, the greatest constraint on his bringing significant pressure on Israel either to preempt an Israeli policy or impose costs on Israel for carrying one out that runs against U.S. interests is the stunningly obvious fact that Biden cannot deescalate the war in Gaza, let alone end it, without Israel’s cooperation. In very simple terms, does Biden want to make a point—or a difference? And while he’s dealing with an Israeli prime minister who may well have a stake in prolonging the war and opposing U.S. interests in the process, unless he can change the government of Israel (which he can’t), he has few good options other than to try to deal with it. He needs Israel for a hostage deal—the only pathway that offers any hope of buying a temporary cease-fire and deescalating. He needs Israel to facilitate humanitarian assistance into Gaza. (It was Israel that provided security for the recent World Central Kitchen deliveries, and it would do the same once the U.S.-constructed marine corridor opens.) He needs Israel if there’s any chance of working out a way to reconcile Israel’s planned campaign in Rafah with the need to protect Palestinians there, and he’ll need Israel for whatever post-conflict arrangements are worked out for Gaza.

[kushamisaru]

Non Americans love getting their panties in a bunch and accusing us of being "sensitive" and "unable to take a joke" about school shootings as if we don't regularly fill this site with 9/11 jokes every year

[themangosage]

Hey, please sign this petition to put further pressure on Joe Biden and other US government officials to call for a ceasefire. It almost has enough signatures. Please do what you can for the people of Palestine and bring a stop to this senseless slaughter of innocent people. It isn’t complicated, it isn’t too deep, and it’s not something we can turn our eyes away from.

Free Palestine

[workersolidarity]

🇺🇸🇵🇸🚨

COLOMBIA UNIVERSITY VIOLENTLY STORMED AND SHUT DOWN BY NYPD

📹 Scenes from the violent dispersal of Colombia University protests after police stormed "Hind Hall", named by students in memory of 6-year-old Hind Rajab who was killed by the Israeli occupation forces along with two paramedics in the Gaza Strip.

Protesters are violently assaulted and arrested by NYPD, among the most notoriously violent police in the country.

News reports meanwhile claim no tear gas was used in the raid, and say no one was injured in the assaults, video evidence to the contrary.

#source

#videosource

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[headspace-hotel]

i am reading this paper about all the bombs and missiles and other weapons the USA govt gives to Israel, because I am trying to understand why we are doing this, and it makes me sick at heart—all this money and advanced technology, all poured into blowing human beings up. "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"—how could billions and billions of dollars worth of the tools of violence NOT result in violence?

I don't feel any closer to understanding what is happening in terms of how it connects to concrete reasons in people's heads. The connection between giving a government billions of dollars in weapons and that government solving all of its problems with extreme violence seems very clear though.

USA policies toward the rest of the world keep being like "Yeah, we want to promote peace, but, like, this group of people is SO uniquely threatening and unreceptive to normal propositions of peace that we HAVE to wage endless war against them and commit atrocities." First it was "Japan will never surrender so we HAVE to nuke civilians," then it was Communists, then it was Terrorists, but it's the same thing.

I don't remember the world before 9/11, but I can look at and listen to art and music from before 9/11, and it seems like something terrible happened in USA culture, where once there was a strong "anti-war" sentiment and understanding of what war does to people, but within my lifetime, it's like no one has the audacity to imagine a world where endless war isn't "necessary." In high school my class mates were talking about seeing videos online of ISIS sawing peoples heads off and that was basically all I knew about "what was happening in the Middle East."

Does anybody even think about why peace signs are part of the 60's "aesthetic?"

I don't have any conclusion here. Have we lost the power to imagine anything different?

[intersectionalpraxis]

Resources OP provides:

[reasonsforhope]

"Palestinian plaintiffs and their legal representatives on Friday [January 26, 2024] presented a powerful case in federal court accusing President Joe Biden and other top US officials of complicity in Israel's genocide in Gaza.

People around the world tuned in for the long-awaited hearing in Oakland, with plaintiffs appearing in person and over Zoom in an unprecedented effort to hold the Biden administration accountable for its actions in Gaza.

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed the lawsuit in November 2023 on behalf of Defense for Children International–Palestine, Al-Haq, and eight Palestinians in the US and Palestine. The complaint accuses President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin of failing to live up to their legal responsibilities under the 1948 Genocide Convention and the 1988 Genocide Convention Implementation Act.

The United Nations convention classifies complicity in genocide, or the intentional destruction of a people in whole or in part, as a crime under international law and requires that states take measures to prevent such atrocities.

[Note: This is a big reason why politicians almost never call it a genocide, btw. Because if a country recognizes that it's a genocide, then they actually are legally required to do a bunch of things to stop it, under international law.]

The historic lawsuit contends that the Biden administration has failed to uphold its obligations by continuing to provide diplomatic and military support for Israel's brutal campaign in Gaza. Plaintiffs are asking the court to stop Biden from sending more weapons and munitions to Israel that are being used to kill Palestinians en masse.

The hearing before the US District Court for the Northern District of California took place just hours after the International Court of Justice issued provisional measures against Israel in a landmark case brought by South Africa.

-via TAG24, January 26, 2024. Article continues below.

Court contends with questions of jurisdiction and responsibility

In evaluating the allegations, questioning in Friday's hearing revolved around the so-called political question doctrine, by which federal courts regularly refrain from ruling on political matters seen as best resolved by the president and Congress.

The Department of Justice argued that according to the doctrine, the court has no jurisdiction to rule in the case.

"If the court condemns United States foreign policy toward Israel, it could cause international embarrassment and undermine foreign policy decisions in the sensitive context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," defense counsel Jean Lin told Senior District Judge Jeffrey S. White.

Katherine Gallagher of the CCR countered that the court does, indeed, have a responsibility to step in: "Here, the question is a legal one, whether the actions undertaken by the United States failed to uphold the obligation to prevent genocide, and that is an active obligation that requires that the United States not provide the means by which a genocide is being furthered."

"There is no discretion for any state to evade its obligations, its legal obligations. These are not policy decisions," she said.

Palestinian plaintiffs share powerful testimonies before the court

After legal arguments in the case, Judge White heard two hours of gut-wrenching testimony from Palestinian plaintiffs and a renowned Holocaust and genocide expert.

Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History at Wake Forest University Dr. Barry Trachtenberg shared his remarks before the court in spite of vehement US government opposition.

"To have an event fall under the 1948 Convention on Genocide requires both action and intent, and here we see that very, very clearly in a way that seems really quite unique in history," he stated, noting that there is now an opportunity to stop Israel's unfolding genocide in real time to prevent further loss of lives...

Judge White said he would take the testimonies to heart as he evaluates his constitutional responsibilities, describing the case as "the most difficult judicial decision" he has ever had to make."

-via TAG24, January 26, 2024

-

Note: I know a lot of people are really not gonna appreciate that last line. I'm not thrilled with it either. But it is worth noting that having a federal court overrule the US president's huge foreign policy and military decisions would be an absolutely massive deal/precedent

This is a case that deserves to be ruled on with an incredible amount of seriousness, if only because if you're a federal judge who's going to make that call, your written decision/legal justification needs to be unimpeachable

That said, if the judge uses jurisdiction to pass the buck here and avoid his legal and human responsibility to do what he can to stop a genocide, I'm gonna be pissed

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil's Lula welcomes citizens rescued from Gaza, condemns 'inhumane violence'

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday welcomed 32 nationals that his government managed to rescue from the Gaza Strip this week following a month of negotiations, receiving them at the Brasilia Air Base after a nearly day-long flight.

The Brazilians crossed the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday and were taken to Cairo, where this morning they boarded an Embraer presidential airplane loaned by Lula and traveled to Brazil via Las Palmas, Spain.

Lula greeted passengers with hugs and kisses after their arrival late on Monday evening, offering his support to Brazilians still in or arriving from the Gaza Strip and condemning the killing of civilians in Gaza.

"I have never seen such brutal, inhumane violence against innocent people," Lula said in a short speech on the tarmac.

Continue reading.

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

On 7/31/2019 Trump has a private meeting with Putin. On 8/3/2019, just 3 days after his private meeting with Putin Trump issues a request for a list of top US spies. By 2021 the CIA reports an unusually high number of their agents are being captured and/or being murdered. During the search executed at Mar A Lago the FBI find nore documents with lists of U.S. informants on them.

A Timeline

• FBI wiretapped Russian gambling ring headquartered at Trump Tower for two years - March 21, 2017

• Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador - May 15, 2017

• Trump, Putin Meet For 2 Hours In Helsinki - July 16, 2018

• Rand Paul Goes To Russia And Delivers Letter For Trump, Marking Our Era Of Irony - August 9, 2018

• Following the Money: Trump and Russia-Linked Transactions From the Campaign to the Presidential Inauguration - December 17, 2018

• The US extracted a top spy from Russia after Trump revealed classified information to the Russians in an Oval Office meeting - September 10, 2019

• Trump’s Loose Lips Force US to Extract Spy From Kremlin - September 10, 2019

• Was Mar-a-Lago Trespasser a Tourist or a Spy? A Judge Said Her Story Didn’t Hold Up. - November 25, 2019

• Trump downplays massive cyber hack on government after Pompeo links attack to Russia - December 19, 2020

• Russia has been cultivating Trump as an asset for 40 years, former KGB spy says - January 29, 2021

• There was Trump-Russia collusion — and Trump pardoned the colluder - April 17, 2021

• Longtime GOP operatives charged with funneling Russian national’s money to Trump, RNC - September 20, 2021

• Captured, Killed or Compromised: C.I.A. Admits to Losing Dozens of Informants - October 5, 2021

• Files Seized From Trump Are Part of Espionage Act Inquiry - August 12, 2022

• Ex-Clinton aide implies 'President of France' file found at Trump's home during Mar-a-Lago raid could be valuable to Putin as 'kompromat' - August 13, 2022

• Inventing Anna: The tale of a fake heiress, Mar-a-Lago, and an FBI investigation - August 22, 2022

• Russians used a US firm to funnel funds to GOP in 2018. Dems say the FEC let them get away with it - October 30, 2022

• Trump makes shocking comments about trusting Putin over US 'intelligence lowlifes' - January 31, 2023

• Russia's Prigozhin admits links to what US says was election meddling troll farm - February 14, 2023

• GOP operative sentenced to 18 months for funneling Russian money to Trump- February 17, 2023

• Trump allegedly discussed US nuclear subs with foreign national after leaving White House: Sources - October 5, 2023

• 'So appalled': What witnesses told special counsel about Trump's handling of classified info while still president - April 24, 2024

🤔🤔🤔

[alwaysbewoke]

[odinsblog]

THIS WEEK, WASHINGTON’S top Israel lobby is rallying its supporters to go to Capitol Hill and falsely claim to lawmakers that people aren’t starving in Gaza and Israel isn’t blocking aid shipments, according to talking points obtained by the American Prospect.

Israel has led a brutal siege on Gaza since Oct. 7, when Hamas killed 1,139 Israelis and kidnapped more than 200. More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed, 2 million have been internally displaced, and hundreds of thousands are at imminent risk of famine, according to the United Nations.

The powerful lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, is working to maintain support for Israel’s war, amid increased protests and public outcry. This week, AIPAC convened in Maryland for its annual policy conference, which it uses to marshal its donors and supporters to serve as a grassroots lobbying army in the halls of Congress.

The Prospect obtained a copy of AIPAC’s talking points for supporters heading to the Hill — and they are extreme, to say the least. The documents instruct supporters to claim that “reports that people are starving in Gaza are false,” and say that “Israel is not blocking the delivery of aid to Gaza.”

The AIPAC talking points additionally claim that Hamas wants people to believe Gazans are starving in order to “exert pressure” on Israel, and argues the “United States must not fall into Hamas’ trap.”

These claims from AIPAC are false. Gazans are starving on a massive, unprecedented scale. According to the United Nations, 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza — almost the entire population of the region — are facing “crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.” Half a million of those included in that figure face “catastrophic” levels of food insecurity.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) — a leading food security analysis and advocacy group — classifies the Gaza Strip as being in Phase 4 “Emergency” status food insecurity, with a high risk of imminent famine conditions.

(continue reading)

[kimkimberhelen]

You can acknowledge disappointment of a Democratic president's handling of certain issues/policies and also acknowledge that voting blue is the only feasible alternative to ensure Trump doesn't take back the White House - but I feel like this point has been made in every modern general election to ad nauseam

Not voting or voting third party has only contributed to Republican presidents getting elected (and re-elected) who enact sociopathic economic policies and abortion rights getting revoked.

Of course, there are other factors that lead to Republicans getting elected - most notably white people who feel constantly threatened by anything and everything. It'll always be forever a bummer to see white women vote Republican because that's what their loser husbands want them to do.

Everyone gets tired of the 'lesser of two evils' argument, but it's a valid one to make. I'm a progressive, but I choose to live in our current reality as opposed to a parallel universe where socialist utopia is magically achieved overnight. Harm reduction is important, and a Biden presidency will cause less harm than a Trump one. It doesn't mean one can't critique or work towards something better, but I'm old enough and have seen enough to know that sometimes you have to work with what you have and not what you wish you had.