International Politics

[Potato]

real talk, I loved Kier Starmer so much, what a guy, everyone involved in this is an enemy forever

The fact that I now have to like voting for Andy Burnham makes my skin crawl but these are the sacrifices we must make on the road to socialism

At some point, you will be the sacrifice on the way to socialism...

[Besticus Maximus]

real talk, I loved Kier Starmer so much, what a guy, everyone involved in this is an enemy forever

The fact that I now have to like voting for Andy Burnham makes my skin crawl but these are the sacrifices we must make on the road to socialism

At some point, you will be the sacrifice on the way to socialism...

Throw me in the volcano for the labour party, i'll fucking love it

[Potato]

Hey man, I voted Labor in the last election here. Couldn't stomach the drift to the right in the Liberal Party and the leader they put up for the election is a conservative arsehole.

[Besticus Maximus]

The current situation over here is a farce and a demonstration of how parliament has outsourced power to the media.

I actually think, in the cold light of day, given the circumstances there was little else to be done and Burnham beat them in the by election so it changes the narrative going forward into the next election if he's in charge. However I've never liked him, he fucked off when the the rest of us were doing the hard work sorting the party out and he's got a lot of work to do to win me over. However I will also happily spend a few weeks knocking on doors on his behalf if it comes to it.

The tragedy is we were getting a government by adults free of nonsense by and large, the money had started spinning up again, but starmer made the unforgivable error of winning without permission.

[Potato]

Old news, but still lol. 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/may/25/peter-murrell-what-bought-embezzled-funds-snp-chief

He appears to have unwound with gaming and tech, buying iPads and Kindles, and a PlayStation 3 console for £247, four Nintendo 3DS handheld consoles and copies of PS4 games including £63.49 on Fifa 14 and £42.99 on Grand Theft Auto.

As well as other games – including two iterations of the Fifa franchise, Battlefield 4, The Sims 3 Pets and Pac-Man – he bought an Xbox One console for £297.14 and a Nintendo Switch.

[benji]

Throw me in the volcano for the labour party, i'll fucking love it

he fucked off when the the rest of us were doing the hard work sorting the party out and he's got a lot of work to do to win me over. However I will also happily spend a few weeks knocking on doors on his behalf if it comes to it.

The tragedy is we were getting a government by adults free of nonsense by and large, the money had started spinning up again, but starmer made the unforgivable error of winning without permission.

Wow. Somebody really prioritizes nothing but the streets being covered in blood in Joanne's name.

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

[Nintex]

[Alpacx]

[who is ted danson?]

DAmn Venezuela looks like a disaster movie

[Nintex]

What could be worse than our communist dictatorship
 

Sorry venezuelers we have pools to protect let nature run its course
 

[wsippel]

So, next week, the AfD has their big 2026 congress in my neighborhood. We got mail from the cops a few days ago, a friendly advice/ warning for everyone in the area to expect major disturbances, blockades and police checkpoints, and we should not leave our homes during the three day event if possible. Today, the police had an update: The initial worst case scenario of 50,000 protesters from out of town, including about 2,500 potentially violent black bloc/ antifa types, is now pretty much the expected baseline. That's going to be a fun couple of days...

[filler]

[Sman]

https://www.politico.eu/article/israel-recognizes-armenian-genocide-amid-tensions-with-turkey/

Insert Spider-man meme

[wsippel]

Fun update: An Antifa "strategy paper" leaked. To prevent the congress (which goes from Friday to Sunday), the plan is to take over the surrounding roofs starting this Wednesday, before the cops show up. Here's the issue though: There are no "surrounding roofs". The congress hall is in the outskirts of Erfurt, there are no multi-story buildings anywhere close. It's all private one or two story homes, and even those are hundreds of meters, if not kilometers from the congress hall. 

What's arguably worse is that the center-left party of the state (SPD) announced protests as well. Why is that bad? Because the leader of the SPD in the state is also the Minister of Interior of the state. Meaning it's quite literally his job to make sure the congress goes as planned, as that's not just their constitutional right - any registered political party in Germany is legally required to have a congress at least once a year. So as a government official, he has to make sure the event goes well, while his own party tries to prevent it.

[benji]

Meaning it's quite literally his job to make sure the congress goes as planned, as that's not just their constitutional right - any registered political party in Germany is legally required to have a congress at least once a year. So as a government official, he has to make sure the event goes well, while his own party tries to prevent it.

Perfect example of how the law protects fascism and we need to abolish the law to protect democracy.

[wsippel]

Well, I'll keep you guys updated. Sure as shit won't help the civil discourse that a Turkish dude with a rap sheet, an illegal firearm and an expensive car (translation: probably career criminal and gang member) just shot and killed six employees at a domestic abuse shelter.

[Potato]

Dang

[Alpacx]

Well, I'll keep you guys updated. Sure as shit won't help the civil discourse that a Turkish dude with a rap sheet, an illegal firearm and an expensive car (translation: probably career criminal and gang member) just shot and killed six employees at a domestic abuse shelter.

I saw news of the shooting, hadn't seen any details on the suspect. Abusive dude going after his ex and kids after they left him was my first thought

[filler]

turns out israel ordered it's own citizens to be shot on october 7th 


bore autists: bubububbu hamas is terrorists! both sides! 

[Propagandhim]

Always found the stereotype of Germans being this magical group of the most dedicated hardworking people rather funny. 

[Nintex]

Welcome back DDR



I support that they're doing this though, workers that call in sick while they are able to work are traitors to the fatherland 

[HeavenIsAPlaceOnEarth]

Always found the stereotype of Germans being this magical group of the most dedicated hardworking people rather funny. 

There must be a lot of Australians in Germany. 

[benji]

There must be a lot of Australians in Germany. 

I mean, yeah, it's right next door.

[Nintex]

Case in point a co-worker send a text that she had a "bad night" so she's "sick".

Well where is the medical certificate fraulein  

If I make that joke and post that video they will all be mad at me instead of the "slacker"
Maybe I'll drop Dr Trump M.D. 
 

[Rendle]

I have seen Australian road crews working in temperatures inhospitable to life, meanwhile Germany basically has free outside airconditioning 24/7

[Potato]

Case in point a co-worker send a text that she had a "bad night" so she's "sick".

Well where is the medical certificate fraulein  

If I make that joke and post that video they will all be mad at me instead of the "slacker"
Maybe I'll drop Dr Trump M.D. 
 

Lovely public health care system you have there. Be a shame if the health care budget was blown to smithereens by everyone needing to get a medical certificate from a doctor every time they're taking a sick day.

[wsippel]

Well, this is awkward. Only between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters showed up in the early hours of the day, and blockades failed completely because they only began after most delegates were already in the congress hall. The cops are baffled, because they expected way more protesters. A bunch of Antifa dudes showed up, but it seems many paid protesters didn't want to get up super early in the morning or spend all night traveling across the country. And the AfD is very strong in Thuringia, so there are probably not all that many locals out protesting. There are a few minor riots of course, but there are so, so many cops everywhere - I've never seen anything like this. Things might still escalate, we'll see, but the police did an incredible job so far.

[Nintex]

Some very nice buildings in your town

[filler]

Well, this is awkward. Only between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters showed up in the early hours of the day, and blockades failed completely because they only began after most delegates were already in the congress hall. The cops are baffled, because they expected way more protesters. A bunch of Antifa dudes showed up, but it seems many paid protesters didn't want to get up super early in the morning or spend all night traveling across the country. And the AfD is very strong in Thuringia, so there are probably not all that many locals out protesting. There are a few minor riots of course, but there are so, so many cops everywhere - I've never seen anything like this. Things might still escalate, we'll see, but the police did an incredible job so far.

the took the day off to celebrate july 4th 

[wsippel]

Yeah, that was weird. Apparently, there were around 41,000 protesters in total, around 10,000 of which did pointless blockades on the autobahn outside the city, achieved nothing, and left in the early afternoon. 31,000 protested in the city, there was some vandalism, a few journalists got beaten up, but that was pretty much it. There were some funny stories, like a bunch of leftists from out of town tried to blockade a tram line by affixing their hands to the tracks using concrete, only to then be told that the line was canceled for the weekend anyway, so the cops just left them there to rot. No idea if anybody freed them yet, or if they're still sitting there, pissing and shitting their pants. Some big name nepo Green party influencer protested in front of a dumpster surrounded by a few of her fans in the middle of nowhere and achieved nothing, but sure posted a bunch of asinine Tiktok videos to show how she's "helping in the fight against fascism". Another group of antifa apparently couldn't read maps and ended up in the opposite side of the city, where they got mogged by angry locals. Now everything is winding down, and there's a large, unrelated open air concert happening in the middle of the city, with 12,500 visitors. The entire thing was very bizarre to watch. Reportedly the largest police operation in German history though, so that might have been why things didn't escalate.