It’s a good week, although I just obviously got banned by @[email protected], the mod in the Socialism community. Seems that different views are not welcome. I don’t complain (it’s your server, your rules), just wanted to let you know that. I was on Beehaw quite a while and didn’t expect something like that.

Happy new year to everyone.

Everyone fighting a war is a belligerent in it

And this war has just one aggressor. No aggressor, no war.

Putin started this war, the aggressor is Russia, they could easily end the war by just leaving Ukraine.

@[email protected]

No profit in peace, champ

This seems indeed be the main theme of Putin and ‘war economist’ Andrei Belousov, who has pushed for aggressive state spending to boost arms production even before he was appointed Russia’s ‘defense minister.’

Russia’s military spending might officially reach ~7 percent of GDP in 2024, many economist say it may even be higher.

In 2025, Russia plans to spend 40 oercent of its state budget for the military, up from 30 percent in 2024.

Today, December 29, the Putin-sponsored government of Georgia will attempt to install the illegitimate president, which the people did not elect. Live blog

There’s a brief documentary on the Shadow Fleet Fueling Russia’s War (24 min)

Invidious link Original YT link

An armada of aging oil tankers is helping to keep Russian oil flowing. Hundreds of vessels are part of a “shadow fleet” that’s allowed the Kremlin to dodge Western sanctions over its war on Ukraine. Bloomberg set out to uncover the traders, intermediaries and investors that make up this network, and how they’re getting rich in the process.

Addition:

Finnish PM calls for tougher measures against Russia’s shadow fleet

Finland’s PM Petteri Orpo (NCP) has called for firmer measures to combat the risks associated with the so-called shadow fleet of Russia, [saying he] had discussions about the issue with his counterparts from Denmark, Estonia, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the European Commission.

[Finnish] President Alexander Stubb, meanwhile, has been in contact with Nato.

International airlines cancel flights to Russia after the passenger plane was shot down, according to media reports.

• Azerbaijan Airlines suspends flights to 7 Russian cities for security reasons
• Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air suspends flights to Yekaterinburg
• Israeli airline El Al cancels all flights from Tel_Aviv to Moscow

Addition:

Rasim Musabayov, a member of the Azerbaijani parliament’s international relations committee, in an interview with Turan news agency:

“The plane was shot down on the territory of Russia, in the skies of Grozny. It is impossible to deny this. Those who did it must be held criminally responsible and compensation must be paid. If this does not happen, then, of course, relations will move to another level.”

Russian missile shot down Azerbaijani passenger plane, preliminary findings suggest

A Russian surface-to-air missile was responsible for the crash of Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432, which killed 38 passengers, Azerbaijani media reported Thursday.

Unnamed Azerbaijani officials cited by the Baku-based news agency AnewZ said preliminary findings suggest the missile was fired from a Russian Pantsir-S air defense system as the plane approached Grozny in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya on Wednesday morning.

GPS jamming, previously reported by Flight Radar 24, caused the aircraft to lose communication with air traffic control while flying over Russian territory, the officials added.

Chechnya and surrounding North Caucasus regions were targeted by drone strikes early Wednesday. AnewZ said that, under such conditions, Russian authorities were required to close airspace to civilian aircraft, but for unknown reasons, this was not done.

Addition: NATO calls for full investigation of Azerbaijan Airlines crash

[email protected]

This, of course, is a completely fabricated ‘comment.’

Meanwhile, Putin says that relations between Russia and China have reached “an unprecedented level” as a result of the high level of mutual trust between both countries, as per Chinese state media.

Climate change and the melting of the Arctic ice has intensified interest in Greenland’s natural resources. The island could become the next mini.g frontier. For example, KoBold Metals -a joint venture partly backed by Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Michael Bloomberg- and operated by Bluejay Mining in the UK, has been drlling there for critical minerals since 2022.

The outgoing U.S. administration under President Joe Biden has been offering advice to Greenland officials to draft a mining investment law for some time, all aimed at prodding investment in Greenland at standards considered higher than Chinese-linked rivals.

Or that of Australia. In 2023, Greenland Minerals -which is a 100-percent subsidiary of an Australian mining company- initiated arbitration proceedings against the Governments of Greenland and Denmark for the right to mine in Greenland. The Australian company seeks to gain the right to mine in Greenland or USD 11.5bn in compensation (the sum is almost four times Greenland’s annual GDP).

Access to the Arctic (maybe a similar playbook than China’s pursuing with Russia?) may be a thing, too. Just a few weeks ago, for example, Greenland’s capital Nuuk opened an International Airport, enabling larger plane landings in the country for the first time in their history.

the “never again” only applies to European countries. At least, that’s what we are now witnessing.

I’m not so sure. That can happen again in Europe at any time imo as it happens in the Near and Middle East now, as well as in Xinjiang and Tibet, in Russia, Sudan, and many other places. Human rights and democratic values are under pressure everywhere, and this year saw a rise of autocracies and extremists globally. I hope 2025 will be different.

Denmark boosts Greenland defence after Trump repeats desire for US control

The Danish government has announced a huge boost in defence spending for Greenland, hours after US President-elect Donald Trump repeated his desire to purchase the Arctic territory.

Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the package was a “double digit billion amount” in krone, or at least $1.5bn (£1.2bn).

@InevitableList

I thought you might be familiar with Australia’s threats to ban tiktok whilst ignoring the crimes other tech companies commit and making no effort to protect Australians from them.

Are you sure you read the thelucky8’s comment?

Removed by mod

@InevitableList

Your answer has nothing to do with my question.

Isn’t it somewhat strange that Tiktok, whose parent company is forced to closely surveill and censor each politically undesired content in its home country, while it is at the same time not only unable to suppress but reportedly even promotes obviously harmful content on its platforms outside China?

@InevitableList

Isn’t it somewhat strange that Tiktok, whose parent company is forced to closely surveill and censor each politically undesired content in its home country, while it is at the same time not only unable to suppress but reportedly even promotes obviously harmful content on its platforms outside China?

@InevitableList

As AP reports on the same issue:

There has been increasing concern from Albanian parents after reports of children taking knives and other objects to school to use in quarrels or cases of bullying promoted by stories they see on TikTok.

Isn’t it somewhat strange that Tiktok, whose parent company is forced to closely surveill and censor each politically undesired content in its home country, while it is at the same time not only unable to suppress but reportedly even promotes obviously harmful content on its platforms outside China?

[Edit typo.]

@[email protected]

… the 14-year-old student was killed and another injured …

As AP reports on the same issue:

There has been increasing concern from Albanian parents after reports of children taking knives and other objects to school to use in quarrels or cases of bullying promoted by stories they see on TikTok.

Isn’t it somewhat strange that Tiktok, whose parent company is forced to closely surveill and censor each politically undesired content in its home country, while it is at the same time not only unable to suppress but reportedly even promotes obviously harmful content on its platforms outside China?

[Edit typo.]