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‘Closer to the caste’ – Javier Milei slams Victoria Villarruel, his own vice-president - Buenos Aires Times

Folks,,.,, I have written another long post about Singapore and Malaysia. Doing some final proof-reading, but I’ll post it tomorrow on GenZedong and the News Megathread as per usual.

To make it tangentially news related, here’s a headline:

Bernama - Vietnam, Malaysia Elevate Bilateral Relations To Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

This is Viet Nam’s first CSP in ASEAN. They have been promoting a lot countries lately, interesting out of all ASEAN, Malaysia’s came through first.

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam announced the elevation of bilateral relations between Malaysia and Vietnam to a comprehensive strategic partnership…

“We also pledge to support each other on our respective courses of development, and we will continue to work closely to expand and deepen our friendship and political trust between our two countries,” Lam said.

He noted that the strengthened ties would be based on respect for international law, as well as each other’s political systems, independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, following the laws and regulations of their respective nations and grounded in a principle of non-interference…

On regional and international matters, Lam reaffirmed Vietnam’s support for Malaysia in promoting peace, security, and stability, particularly in the South China Sea.

He mentioned the importance of adhering to international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982 and promoting peaceful dispute resolution in the region.

random stuff pulled out from the Polish osint guy's last interview from Friday:

• The Yuzhmash factory in Dnepropetrovsk had around 40k employees during the late USSR years, it made ballistic missiles but also other stuff like trolleybuses. It kept producing and servicing stuff for the Russian army like the R-36M ICBMs. After the 2014 coup in Ukraine it lost 80% of its business. In 2018 it had around 7k contract workers left and it has been making ballistic missiles like the Hrim-2 for the Ukrainian army, so it makes sense it would be a strike target for Russia.

• He suspects the Russians notified the west about a return strike when the embassies started closing and not 30 mins before the strike like Peskov said.

• Pro-Ukrainian propaganda is saying the Oreshnik strike is no big deal actually because 'Russia only has a few of these missiles' and also the 'US is going to reverse engineer it from the scraps at Yuzhmash'. Dnepropetrovsk has at least one Patriot system, which failed to intercept it.

• He thinks the new missile is called Oreshnik because it looks like a hazel flower when it comes down.

• In his short address Putin said Russia reserves the right to attack objects belonging to countries that have shared weapons with Ukraine which were used for attacks on Russian territory. Since he said 'objects' and not 'territory' that could for example mean submarine strikes on UK/French military bases in the Caribean sea or in Africa.

• Some pro-Ukrainian analysts say one Zircon missile got shot down over Kyiv, but he's not convinced.

• Ukraine has Patriot-Fs (newer model) because one was identified after kinetically intercepting an Iskander-M over Odessa and falling down.

• There's a bit about the Russian nuclear doctrine update but it's long enough for another post. The previous version's language was more precise and listed a range of specific scenarios, the new one is much more loose about the qualifying circumstances. Russian military bases abroad and military ships are covered now. Belarusian territory is mentioned now.

Romanian presidential elections today. I'm gonna try to make a small effort post about the main candidates and what their deal is.

I'm gonna start listing them from most likely to least likely to become president.

Romania is a semi presidential republic, so not its not something like the German system, where who the president is doesn't really matter, with the president being in charge of appointing the prime minister, representing the country abroad and imposing a state of emergency (this was done during covid). Currently the main political issues being discussed are the rising costs for basic goods, with the prices for groceries exploding after the pandemic, obviously, the war in Ukraine, happening right at the border, us trying to get into Schengen and the possible involvement, as always, of the Secret Services in the electoral process. Out of the nations of the Eastern EU members, Romania seems like the most stable politically, but that's only because it is one of the most undemocratic "democracies" in the EU, being ruled by the same group of people, but under different names since the "Revolution". All candidates are Atlantophiles, some less, some to the point of parody, all right, from center to far right and all socially conservative.

So, lets start with the most likely one to win.

The Buzău Pretzel Seller: Marcel Ciolacu, party affiliation: PSD (Social Democratic Party)

Ciolacu is the incumbent prime minister of Romania and is the representative of the most influential political formation of post communist Romania, which traces its lineage to the FSN (Front of National Salvation), the entity formed by the members of the communist party who ousted Ceaușescu in 1989 and took control of the country. This formation was headed by Ion Iliescu and ruled Romania unchallenged for the duration of the 90s. I will go over the history of each party in the post I will make next Sunday, when the parliamentary elections will take place, so this is just to give you an idea of who's backing each candidate. Long story short, this pollical group is the main force in Romanian politics, with them switching names over the 90s and 2000s and now going under the name of PSD.

Ciolacu- the person and his policy proposals

Prior to the Revolution, he was a worker at a cooperative. No one really knows what he did during the revolution, but he fought fiercely to get and keep his Revolutionary certificate. (Context: Having a revolutionary certificate entitles you to a monthly stipend and grating property previously owned by the state, basically the state gives you land for being a good "revolutionary"). I'm not gonna bother listing the numerous corruption scandals each candidate was involved in (one less than the others, but that's about it). had ties to previous party leaders that were convicted on charges of corruption, yadda, yadda. His "proposals" are the standard socdem promises that never get fulfilled, less taxes for the poor, bigger pensions. Also the "reindustrialization" of Romania. All candidates have a pro-Atlanticist foreign policy, so I'm not gonna mention foreign policy beyond this point.

Romanian Hillary Clinton: Elena Lasconi, party affiliation: USR (Save Romania Union)

Newest leader of the Save Romania party, a group formed in 2016 with the purpose to create a new party that wasn't connected to the old corrupt ones, a youth movement that had no real direction, no real identity beyond "We want change" and "Corruption bad", had some initial success, being the third largest political party for a time, and being part of the government during the pandemic, but he since split and decayed into multiple parties and now its kind of a husk of what it was. Its lack of identity was its downfall and its now captured by libertarian atlanticists. Basically, it the most pro-US compromised party, vexingly, many of the diaspora and youth will vote for it.

Lasconi- the person

She was a journalist, became the mayor of her town, and was put in charge of the corpse of the party this year. Hippy aunt vibes, the only somewhat socially progressive candidate on account of having a progressive daughter, though she did vote yes on the referendum for the traditional definition of the family and got a lot of shit from it from her daughter and now supports civil partnerships, but not marriage. Also hosted one of those "Ancient Aliens" type shows in the 2000s. Had some Hillary type "Pokemon to the Polls" type stunts where she went to music festivals. Her proposals are vile, barring the socially progressive ones, some highlights include school choice type stuff and making the making the healthcare system more similar to the one in America.

Bob the Builder: George Simion, party allegiance: AUR (Alliance for the Unification of Romanians)

The AFD of Romania, formed on the centenary of the Great Union, on the first of December 2019, it is the party of the vilest chuds, courting with legionarism (the Legion of the Archangel Michael was the Romanian Nazi Party during WW2 and played a great role in the unfolding of the Romanian participation in the Holocaust) and general fascism. It is the most reactionary party, anti EU, but pro NATO, has ties with the Republicans and Orban. Often accused of being Russian agents, had a split in 2021 with the pro Russsian and still antisemitic part of the party, was antimask and it was formed from a number of movements that wanted Moldova to be unified with Romania, as well as what remained of the ultranationalist Great Romania Party of the 2000s.

Simion-the person

Started out as an anti-Iliescu protester, got into business, did some tax evasion. Not allowed to enter Ukraine or Moldova, most likely on the Myrotvorets kill list. His wedding in 2022 was done after the model of the wedding of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the father of Romanian fascism and the founder of the Legion. His policy proposals are what you'd expect. The reason he's Bob the Builder is because he has some bullshit plan about building new homes only priced at 35.000 euros. Cutting social benefits "for those who don't need them", Churches being able to administer social services and other horrible shit.

KGB NATO-ist: Mircea Geoană, independent

Deputy Secretary General of NATO, habitual loser. Was a prominent member of PSD, being the presidential candidate in 2009, lost, and then was kicked out of the party later, in 2011 when he tried to run again. Came from a well connected family in the communist regime, became part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs just three months after the revolution and the youngest ambassador to the US. Comically corrupt politician, heavily tied to Iliescu, running on an anticorruption campaign. Heavily funded by someone, no one knows who. He plagiarized the speeches of Clinton and Bush in his doctorate thesis and his daughter copied the speech of Trumps niece when she was asked why she supports him. Also strangely has some AI grift policies, wanting to institute AI in classrooms as teaching aides. Erdogan-like foreign policy, rabidly pro-NATO, but has also gone out to say the war in Ukraine should end with Ukraine ceding territories. Also accused of being in Russia's pocket.

The "Hero" of Nasiriyah: Nicolae Ciucă, party allegiance: PNL (National Liberal Party)

The right splinter of the FSN, mirror to the "left" PSD, they are the republicans to the PSD's democrats. Have now fallen off hard, on account of the current liberal president being comically corrupt. Klaus Iohannis, the "ficus" , named so because of how slow he speaks and how little he does, did fuck all during his presidency and mainly took luxury trips overseas in private jets and financed himself a nice villa using public funds. A party dead in the water, now polling at below 10%, when they were once second after PSD, their electoral campaign has been a disaster, bringing the dumbest people to debates, Ciucă included.

Ciucă-the person

The Romanian Petr Pavel, participated in all the NATO imperialist interventions of the 21st century, that being his claim to fame, became a general, rose meteorically as Minister of Defense in 2019, then PM just two years later, he was instrumental in helping Iohannis build his villa and was one of the architects of the current coalition government, which I like to call the reunited FSN, as its made up of both the PSD and PNL. He pledged in 2018 to not get into politics, the following year, he did, the myth around him playing any role during the battle of Nasiriyah was thoroughly debunked, he will most likely get kicked out of his own party come next year and he is barely literate.

Other candidates

Kelemen Hunor, party allegiance: UDMR (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania)

Ethnic minority party, usually gets around 5%, mostly has a role in getting coalitions over the electoral threshold.

George Călinescu, independent

Old friend of Simion, Russophile reactionary.

Ana Birchall, independent

Cristian Diaconescu, independent

Two old friends of Geoană, irrelevant, corrupt. Also formerly part of PSD.

Cristian Terheș, independent

Another reactionary with ties to AUR.

And that should be it. I may use this post to post updates later in the day about the results. Also, I took most of this information from a video by Silviu Faiăr, a liberal youtuber.

Video link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvlQWvm3sdw

General notice: looking for new news mods. If you're interested, go to the thingy Carcosa posted and fill out a mod application.

I'll generally prefer newshead regulars who are temperate, thoughtful, and generally deliberative in their nature.

Generally speaking the role mostly involves reminding/censuring you nerds to include CWs and/or NSFWs to news posts whenever you forget to do so, telling people to knock off their bickering if they argue with each other and use the report button as an "I disagree with this person so you should smite them, and of course my personal favorite pastime of smiting the rare troll or bot that pops up to try and fling shit. If you can think of additional ways to help improve the general quality of the comm that will always be welcome, but generally speaking it's to help make sure there's more hands available in case me or carpy are busy doing things.

You'll still be held to equal standards to other newsheads. You lot have already seen how carpy and 72t, may he rest in power, behave here. That's the standard I'd like to see kept.

(P.s that offer also extends to the other comms I mod.)

(P.p.s I know 72 is still here. And yes, he's always welcome to come back so don't even think of doing a cheeky "I nominate 72t as new comm mod!")

(P.p.p.s: PigPoopBalls. That is all.)

Eat shit asshole:
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/body-of-missing-zionist-emissary-found-in-uae

Handala, an Iranian hacker group, in revenge for the killing of Yahya Sinwar, hacked the infamous 'Israeli' 8200 intelligence unit and released the info of over 35,000 Mossad, Shin Bet and other security establishment employees.

PDF of the leak: https://files.catbox.moe/3l1lkm.pdf

MoA - Why These New Russian Missiles Are Real Game Changers

Launched from Russia the missile can reach any target in Europe in less than 20 minutes. On reentry into the atmosphere the warheads of the missile reach hypersonic speeds of 3-4 kilometer per second. There is no air defense system in the world that could stop them.

The results are now in. Europe is defenseless against new Russian weapons which can reach every political and industrial center of Europe with devastating power and with just minutes of notice.

We will determine the targets during further tests of our advanced missile systems based on the threats to the security of the Russian Federation. We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against military facilities of those countries that allow to use their weapons against our facilities, and in case of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond decisively and in mirror-like manner. I recommend that the ruling elites of the countries that are hatching plans to use their military contingents against Russia seriously consider this.

seems like the new stratagem is: make russia betray china and leave ukraine to them. I'm mildly concerned tbh