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Nighed, (edited ) in Guinea-Bissau’s capital has power cut off after government fails to pay electricity bill
@Nighed@sffa.community avatar

That’s an interesting business to be in, it sounds like they just have power plants on boats they can dock where needed to provide power. So if they didn’t get paid they could literally sail away with the power plant 🤣

Probably makes sense for infrastructure in some parts of Africa.

livus,
@livus@kbin.social avatar

@Nighed yeah they do, they have heaps of them on that coast, some in Indonesia, one in Lebanon etc.

This is the ship that's off Guinea Bissau.

One of the reasons it had fallen behind in payments was the price had apparently almost doubled..

So it's a good from Karpowership's parent company's POV but if its customers could afford their own power plants that would be a better solution for them.

Nighed,
@Nighed@sffa.community avatar

Ty for the info. The ZA deal probably makes sense.

Tbh I’m disappointed at how small it’s recorded engine power is. Imagining it being able to apply it’s city sized power generation to its propeller and hydroplaning away 😂

livus,
@livus@kbin.social avatar

@Nighed yeah... it can't flounce, it can only make a dignified exit ha ha 😄

hedge, in Israel-Palestine megathread for the remainder of the weekend
@hedge@beehaw.org avatar

Why couldn’t Biden have said about the hospital bombing in Gaza, despite the (supposed) evidence to the contrary, something like “this is a terrible tragedy for the Palestinian people,” (which he may in fact have said), but much more importantly, “it’s not clear who is responsible for this terrible attack,” even if there was 100% incontrovertible evidence that Islamic Jihad did this (which they may or may not have, I honestly don’t know). Everyone in the Arab world thinks, rightly, that the US will back Israel no matter what, and that we’re not a fair dealer in any of this. No one in the Arab world believes that IJ did this, they all believe Israel is responsible, and why shouldn’t they? What reason do they have to trust the US and Israel? This is where some diplomatic fudging could have really helped the situation. But Biden didn’t end up meeting with a single Arab leader because of this. At a certain point you have to throw the other side a bone if there is any hope of them ever trusting you. I confess that despite some things I definitely don’t like, I have been pleasantly surprised at how good the Biden presidency has been overall. But his trip to Israel may have made things a lot worse. No negotiations mean that no hostages will be released, no ceasefire can be implemented, no progress can be made.

luciole,
@luciole@beehaw.org avatar

A couple of points you might find interesting:

  • Biden was supposed to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas cancelled his presence following the hospital bombing, then Biden discussed with King Abdullah and they agreed to call it off.
  • Biden was not complacent with Israel in his address at Tel Aviv. He urged Israel not to give in to rage, drawing a parallel with USA’s mistakes following 9/11.
  • During his trip, Biden finally managed to convince Israel to let humanitarian aid into Gaza.

I might be overly optimistic, but I feel that countries (including the US) supporting Israel are in the process of diplomatically clarifying that their support is not really unconditional and that peace is the only acceptable objective. In that sense I don’t think his trip was all bad.

hedge,
@hedge@beehaw.org avatar

I’m glad there’s something to be optimistic about 🥲

krellor,

To add on to your point, you publicly support allies while having private conversations counseling them on prudent courses of action. They don’t listen to you if you call them out publicly, which is usually a sign that privately articulated red lines have been crossed. I’m sure Biden is pressing them privately to have a more measured response, and is likely to have more traction than if he was publicly trashing them.

Just like you don’t use all available sanctions out of the gate with an adversarial state, to leave room to negotiate and leave some channels open. Diplomacy is more nuanced than “saying it like it is” all the time.

jmcs, in Spain’s leader mulls granting amnesty to thousands of Catalan separatists in order to stay in power

I like how people that are perfectly ok with giving amnesties for human rights violations and war crimes (the 1977 Amnesty Law) are complaining about an amnesty for an invalid administrative act. Fucking fascist hypocrites.

Akasazh, in Many frustrated Argentines pinning hopes on firebrand populist Javier Milei in presidential race
@Akasazh@feddit.nl avatar

Frustrated people putting faith into populist ‘firebrands’ almost never gives good results

KevinDeRodeTovenaar, in Many frustrated Argentines pinning hopes on firebrand populist Javier Milei in presidential race

Anarcho capitalist lol, get rid of the state but keep capitalism lol.

He just want the argentinian state to give it’s power up to the US state

t3rmit3, (edited ) in Israel-Palestine megathread for the remainder of the weekend

It’s terrible that Israeli civilians were murdered.

It’s wonderful that the world is stating such, and showing its support to prevent further murder of innocents.

It’s terrible that Palestinian civilians were murdered.

It’s terrible that the world is ignoring this, and turning a blind eye to further murder of innocents.

awwwyissss,

Exactly. If you look at the big picture, Israelis have killed WAY more Palestinians over the years, as well as apartheid and stealing Palestinian land.

I’m not taking sides, but the one sided coverage gross.

Lols,

taking sides is fine and even right, but that needs to come with recognition and acceptance of that side’s problems

BluesF,

The problem with this conflict in particular is that taking the side of Palestine has become synonymous with taking the side of Hamas, or with simply being antisemitic. It’s essential if you want to express any support for Palestine that you also painstakingly lay out exactly what you support and what you don’t, otherwise… Well, the onion said it best.

Lols,

it hasnt become synonymous, certain people want to make it seem like theyre synonymous

krellor,

I don’t think articulating a concern for any civilians on any side is taken poorly, and I don’t think that the majority of the media has skewed any calls for humanitarian aid and adherance to international warfare rules as anti-semitism. In fact, the new york times has published both investigative and opinion pieces that are very sympathetic to Palestinian civilians, and calling out Israeli disproportionate response.

I think part of the problem in discussing the issue is that the events of today are inextricably woven into the events of the

  • 1948 founding of Israel by the UN at the end of the British mandate.
  • the invasion of the five armies and the 1949 armistice.
  • the six day war, and the loss of the Sinai peninsula.
  • the eventual recognition of borders by Egypt and Jordan.
  • the results of the shelling of Beirut after the Hezbollah attack in 2006.

But that is a lot of history, but the back and forth of tragedies, including disproportionate response is driven by these events.

When most people online seem to confuse the history of Gaza with that of the West Bank, or conflate Hamas and Hezbollah, it is no wonder that discussion breaks down.

Unfortunately I was in a debate elsewhere on the fediverse where the other person said there is no legitimate response to the Hamas attack for Israel because Israel’s existence is the source of the problem.

That sounds like the Hezbollah general who yesterday called this a “war of existence” in that either Israel exists or the Arab alliance exists. So how do you reason with that position, and how many people objecting to Israel’s use of force are really all that knowledgeable of the history?

I also think that people underestimate how you reason with allies. If Biden hadn’t shown solidarity with Israel, then his visit today wouldn’t have resulted in the opening of humanitarian aid. You influence allies by showing solidarity publicly, and having frank conversations on private.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. Have a great evening!

acastcandream,

It doesn’t matter who killed more. That’s why this never ends. “My tragedy is worse than your tragedy” is never productive. It just serves as an (incorrect) argument for why it’s permissible for one group to keep committing atrocities while the other group has to suffer it and be the first to bury the hatchet. Then the script flips and everyone does it again from their respective positions. It never ends.

jarfil,

It’s terrible that some civilians immigrated to Israel for the sole purpose of becoming settlers and pushing Palestinians out.

It’s terrible that some civilians immigrated to Gaza for the sole purpose of having as big a family as possible to use their own children and grandchildren as human shields against Israeli settlers.

It’s terrible that dual-citizenship people on both sides are asking “their” [other] countries to evacuate them, after having spent decades there on purpose.

It’s terrible that Israel is willing to watch millions of civilians starve… that Egypt doesn’t want to let refugees in… and Hamas doesn’t want to let them out.

So far, I see nothing wonderful in all of this.

Fanstar1,
@Fanstar1@beehaw.org avatar

Can you substantiate that 2nd point? I haven’t heard it anywhere before.

jarfil, (edited )

Source: Spanish TV.

There has been some uproar this week because there are over 10,000 Spanish citizens in Israel and Gaza, but the government only decided to fleet 2 military planes to evacuate 500 of them. Turns out, they were only evacuating the “tourists and people on business trips”… meaning the rest are not; they’re people who decided to immigrate there. Following that, different reporters got hold of people “left behind”, both in Israel and Gaza.

One of those people, was a lady who immigrated to Gaza 40 years ago, “to settle right next to the Israeli border”, and now kept repeating how the Spanish consulate is ignoring her request for evacuating her 19-people family, with many children among them.

It’s estimated that 50% of the population of Gaza are underage, meaning they’re people born in the last 18 years, into a conflict that’s been going for 70 years, from way before this lady decided to immigrate there 40 years ago and contribute to the population growth.


Source: Internet (various)

Some statistics about this:

Both sides are engaged in a long term (100+ years) strategy of trying to out-number each other, with sympathizers of each side migrating there to increase the numbers for the conflict. Since immigration into Gaza and Palestine is more restricted than into Israel, the former have been trying to churn out as many “new residents” (aka kids) as quickly as possible… who are now being used by Hamas as a humanitarian crisis bargaining chip.

Notice how even with a steady emigration of about half the population of Palestine every year, the total population keeps growing, along with a steady immigration rate of around 200K/year:

zerfuffle,

You do realize that poorer regions have much higher fertility because of much higher child mortality rates and much lower average lifespans, right? Fertility is inversely proportional with wealth and access to healthcare.

This isn’t unique to Gaza. It’s true in Africa, India, and pre-communist China.

jarfil, (edited )

Notice how the sharpest decline in Palestine’s demographic pyramid appears between 14 and 34 years old, or about when people realize what’s going on and decide to GTFO, and how that fits the constantly increasing emigration, while the increasing population —despite higher child mortality, lower lifespans, and extreme emigration— fits the profile of adapting fertility to and ideological parity with Israel’s immigration rates.

Since you mentioned India:

Notice the low child mortality with an actual increase towards the age of 22. We could discuss the large younger male surplus, though.

zerfuffle,

I’d recommend you take a look at the demographic pyramids of countries in Africa. Mortality is steepest in the 14-34 range because that’s when most people die.

jarfil,

That’s nonsense. Feel free to investigate the demographics of the World, Africa, Niger, Ukraine, China, or the US, to get a feel for “infant mortality” or “when most people die”.

www.populationpyramid.net

zerfuffle,

Have you ever looked at the tool you sent?

Please, do put in Niger and find out (FWIW, your tool is very low granularity and I know there are visualizers that show it at a more fine scale).

taanegl, in Israel-Hamas war live updates: Biden visits Israel and suggests Gaza hospital explosion 'done by the other team'

Woa, woa, WOA! Reign it back my dude!

Like I agree, in some ways.

Biden seems like he was easily swayed by the Zionist propaganda engine, but that’s what they do. They literally fly people in from around the world for free to brainwash them. He’s an old and frail man who shouldn’t be the head of state, really.

Israelis want Bibi out,“after the war”… which is weak, and the Israeli government should be taken to court for crimes against humanity. The Israeli people should REALLY take inventory with their Zionist nationalist parties. But they won’t do that by way of antagonism.

Hamas should be replaced with a new national Palestinian election (they’ve been in power since the early 00s) because they do not represent Palestinian interests. They are shills for the authoritarian Iranian government who continue to flare up conflicts in the middle East for their own selfish gains and their own hatred for the US.

The US needs to deal with it’s corruption and broken checks and balances, like their laws that are gamed and plugged full of holes. They also have a huge problem with outrage, hampering their democracy’s decision making. Congressmen and presidents should not be the decision makers of military budgeting or military engagement. That should be regulated (but not instantiated) by the pentagon. The pentagon actually advised against going into both Iraq and Afghanistan.

But all that doesn’t matter now. What matters is you. All this can be incredibly taxing on the mind. Believe me, I know. You may have lost someone or feel the pain of the people, but you’ll be powerless to help anyone if your balance is out of whack.

Right now you gotta think about you. You are loved, you are worthy and you deserve peace of mind. But you have to moderate your intake, because it can break just about anyone and can scare away those who do love you.

Again: trust me, I know.

Please, take a break. If not for me, or for yourself, then do it for the ones around you who love you.

If you want to vent or to call me an idiot, you can send me a DM to keep it private.

I hope I come across as nothing but concerned. I do not think lesser of you. I wish you the best.

gaytswiftfan, in France has banned pro-Palestinian protests and vowed to protect Jews from resurgent antisemitism

I feel like I’m being gaslit into thinking there’s this huge outbreak of antisemitism when all I’m ever reading about is Muslims being murdered?? why are we constantly talking about antisemitism and only antisemitism

SkepticElliptic,

The easiest way to deflect criticism is to claim it’s racism or antisemitism. China does the exact same thing. It’s obvious and lazy. I can’t believe people still fall for it. Israel is not the representative of Judaism. They have a far right militant dictator running their country right now who is killing many innocent people. The fact that they are still recognized as a country is beyond reason at this point.

parlaptie,

Apart from that, aren’t Palestinians also semitic?

hassanmckusick,

I’m pro-Palestine all day but I don’t like this line of questioning. The only reason I see to make this argument is to try to erase the very real horrors the Jewish people survived.

However debate lords are still gonna want an answer (not trying to imply you are one). If I had to respond I would say:

English is a living language. The definition of words is determined by how we use them. Think of “literally”. It meant one thing but it was so misused that the definition had to change because the common use was completely disconnected from the textbook definition.

The words “Semitic” and “anti-semitic” did not come into existence at the same time, similar to matter and Antimatter. “Anti-Semitic” is specifically “anti-Jewish” because that how the phrase was used.

It’s not a word whose definition comes from the literal sum of its parts, it refers to a specific phenomenon.

TheDankHold,

That’s not an answer to the question.

Interesting that you use the idea that English is a living language to push back against people using a term in a way you’ve decided is incorrect. Seems like you don’t think English is that alive after all if you refuse to incorporate all Semitic people into the concept of antisemitism.

You can’t cite descriptivist arguments to defend your prescriptivist attitude towards the term antisemitism. It betrays your own bias and deflates your argument.

Language evolves, just like you said. Which is why people are realizing the double speak nature of this idea that antisemitism is only when you’re prejudiced against a specific Semitic people group and the others don’t get a term to describe prejudice against them. Your position is an Orwellian attempt to deny a group of people the ability to specifically identify their oppression and it’s sad.

cook_pass_babtridge,

You can argue about it all you like, but if you say the word “antisemitism” then people will assume you mean anti-Jewish sentiment. Because that’s the agreed-upon meaning. Pineapples aren’t really apples, but that doesn’t cause confusion because people know what the word “pineapple” means.

TheDankHold,

Like you said, language evolves. People are deciding that the definition you follow is very limited and constrains dialogue by being needlessly exclusionary. So they’re seeking to expand the definition to its logical conclusion.

You can throw a fit about other Semitic people being recognized or you can accept that language changes to fit our current understanding of the world.

Antisemitism still refers to prejudice against Jewish people. It’s also being extended to all Semitic people as to disallow them the ability to categorize prejudice against them is to obfuscate and to an extent even deny their own reality.

fluffyb,

Shhh don’t say anything too loud or they will see your awake and come for you.

hassanmckusick,

In January 2020, House Representative Jonathan Carroll introduced the bill HB 4049 which adopts a contested definition of antisemitism equating criticism of Israel with anti-Jewish discrimination. The language of the bill draws heavily on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition of Antisemitism in which “Delegitimizing the State of Israel by denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination and denying the State of Israel the right to exist” is labelled a form of antisemitism. The bill would make public schools and universities culpable for failing to treat discrimination as defined by the bill in the same manner that they treat discrimination motivated by race.

fluffyb,

I wonder how that stands up with Israel now bombing hospitals. Are we still going to be expected to defend them now that they are committing the same atrocities that was once done against them?

iHUNTcriminals,

1st world stuff.

We just say what can make the most money.

Oh yeah we take lives for money too.

We murder anyone lesser and make those who are mentally disadvantaged suffer …unless a pictures being taken.

We are Devils in disguise. Elite false gods in denial. A collective fascism born to genocide all those that live as natural human beings. So we can feel safe and have a false perception of reason to quell existentialism that we pretend we don’t have.

adespoton, in YouTube is Autogenerating Videos for Songs Advocating the Expulsion of Muslims from India - bellingcat

What exactly do they mean by “YouTube generated video?”

iHUNTcriminals,

Bellingcat made them. It’s them.

adespoton,

Finally found the answer:

Artists have to submit the recording, artwork and metadata to create Art Tracks,” a YouTube spokesperson wrote in an email statement to Bellingcat.

So they say “auto generated” because the submitter submits an audio track, an image and metadata, and YouTube sticks them together for the user.

There’s no CC track included, no parsing of the Hindi lyrics, no generation or parsing of the images. So at that point, YouTube is really assembling the video track, not generating it.

And Bellingcat is attempting to capitalize on the phrasing to concern troll.

Vodulas,

The point of the article is that there is not enough content moderation on these types of videos. Bellingcat calls them auto-generated because that is what YouTube calls them (they highlight that is several screenshots). They showed real harm that comes from the statements and sentiments in the songs that are being uploaded. That is not concern trolling, that is pointing out an inadequate policy that needs to be addressed.

marco,
@marco@beehaw.org avatar

But the fact that these are “auto-generated” vs regularly uploaded doesn’t really change anything about the fact that there isn’t enough content moderation.

Unless somebody reports things, almost nothing is happening regarding questionable content. (Of course, they can scan for any known copyrighted material with great precision :p )

Vodulas,

Sure, but my take away was that it is a particular issue in the auto-generated videos because they are often sent whole discographies from the labels, so they are getting uploaded en-masse.

Vodulas,

They literally explain it in the article.

The platform uses the term “Auto-generated” since the videos are not uploaded directly by users. “YouTube auto-generates videos at scale [which it terms Art Tracks] for audio tracks delivered by record labels and distributors. Artists have to submit the recording, artwork and metadata to create Art Tracks,” a YouTube spokesperson wrote in an email statement to Bellingcat.

adespoton,

And I literally already provided that answer once I found it.

Vodulas,

Looks like you commented a couple minutes before me, but it was two hours since your initial comment, so I did not expect you to find it at the same time.

adespoton,

Probably something to do with federation timing.

bermuda,

calm down

DoucheBagMcSwag, in Israel Readying Emergency Regulations Allowing Arrest of Journalists for Factual Reporting

Fucking hell. You wonder if HAMAS is even a thing or if they committed genocide on their own people to just to perpetually stay in “war times” power.

t3rmit3,

No, no one wonders about that. We can acknowledge that Israel is doing evil stuff without questioning the existence of Hamas.

All this does is give people who want to minimize or excuse Israel’s actions an excuse to dismiss its critics.

Hirom, in Greenpeace activists scale tower of Bulgarian coal-fired plant, demanding its closure

Ending coal is a no brainer.

dark_stang, in Israel Readying Emergency Regulations Allowing Arrest of Journalists for Factual Reporting
@dark_stang@beehaw.org avatar

Please let this decade be the decade that fascism dies.

Hyperreality, (edited ) in Israel Readying Emergency Regulations Allowing Arrest of Journalists for Factual Reporting

Their (far-)right government promised security, but delivered one of the largest intelligence failures and tragedies in Israeli history.

The ruling coalition failed to gain a majority of votes in the last election, only getting a majority in the knesset thanks to a rule change which prevented smaller parties from getting seats.

They'll try to double down and use this 'opportunity' to entrench their power. Because if Israel held free and fair elections next month, they're all out of a job.

Turns out that once elected, it's hard to get rid of the far right and right wing populists. They'll happily burn the democracy that helped get them elected.

Rozauhtuno,
@Rozauhtuno@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Tolerating intolerance failed once again, who could’ve guessed? 🙄

Sauvandu59, in Israel Readying Emergency Regulations Allowing Arrest of Journalists for Factual Reporting

“ThE OnLy dEmOcRaCy iN MiDdLe eAsT”

bedrooms,

"We stand in solidarity."

shiveyarbles, in Israel Readying Emergency Regulations Allowing Arrest of Journalists for Factual Reporting

It’s an emergency! Our people are finding out that we’re corrupt fascists!

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