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Bulletins and News Discussion from December 30th, 2024 to January 5th, 2025 - Another Goddamn Year of the Goddamn News

Image is of Jeff Daniels in The Newsroom, giving a speech (parodied below) about how - gasp - America sucks. But in a patriotic way.

And you - general megathread poster - yeah - just in case you accidentally wander into the news megathread one day, there are some things you should know, and one of them is that there is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest megathread in the world.

We're seventh in citations, twenty-seventh in accurate predictions, twenty-second in effortposts, forty-ninth in non-mainstream article posting, 178th in guessing when wars will start, third in powerusers, number four in dialectics, and number four in megathread exports. We lead Hexbear in only three categories: pointless infighting, number of adults who believe Putin is based, and copium manufacturing, where we produce more than the next twenty-six lemmy megathreads combined, twenty-five of whom are full of delusional liberals. None of this is the fault of any Hexbear user, but you, nonetheless, are without a doubt, a member of the WORST-period-GENERATION-period-EVER-period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest megathread in the world, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about! Jokes about whether they got a Zionist's semen in time?!

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680 comments

  • not seen anybody mention the news of China banning the export of gallium, germanium, and antimony to all but a few trusted known civillian sources that they will be keeping tabs on to stop it flowing to military uses; it's a small market where everybody knows everybody so it's easy to trace back illicit trading of these materials from verified civillian contractors to millitary ones. they have also banned sales to known European traders that resell during times of high demand. these materials are very key for modern military assets and Washington has not found a new source of them. China produces well over half of the worlds germanium and almost alll of the gallium, there are not just alternatives that can fill that demand. lots of big names on the ban list like boeing, lockhead, raytheon, BAE ect

    https://kdwalmsley.substack.com/p/panic-in-global-metals-markets-as?triedRedirect=true substack article I read on it https://www.ft.com/content/85c875f7-f7c7-41d6-b635-fd7a51074a34 FT copium about how they can totally solve this

    knowing the luck of the US, they'll stumble upon a massive reserve of the metals somewhere in Idaho or some shit under a farm in 2 weeks

  • China claims Taiwan as its territory despite never having controlled it

    It's so obvious that the State Department forces the media to put this line in all their articles about China and Taiwan. I love the unhinged Ship of Theseus energy it brings.

  • China donates 70 tons of equipment to Cuba to restore its electric system

    The People’s Republic of China has donated almost 70 tons of power generator parts and accessories to Cuba, aiming to contribute to the recovery of the Caribbean island’s electricity system.

    The materials arrived in the country on Sunday (29) and were received by China’s ambassador to Cuba, Hua Xin, and Cuba’s deputy ministers of Foreign Trade and Investment, Déborah Rivas, and Energy and Mining, Tatiana Amarán.

    According to Ambassador Xin, the shipment is part of China’s second assistance package in 2024 to help restore Cuba’s electricity generation capacity to around 400 megawatts (MW). As part of an “emergency project list,” the donations were included to provide Cuba with effective and rapid aid according to what the Chinese government calls “convenience for the most urgent.”

    ...

    The donations come as the Caribbean country is facing a serious energy crisis that has worsened in recent months. This year, Cuba has suffered three total blackouts in the national electricity system, leaving the country completely in the dark. Currently, power cuts are becoming more and more constant, affecting over 40% of the population daily. The situation has seriously damaged economic activity and the population’s quality of life.

    Even with this and the photovoltaic donations, it feels like China is very squeamish about helping Cuba that much. Quite disappointing. Perhaps as the US keeps driving forward on sanctions on China, they'll increasingly not care about potential consequences, but until then, Cuba suffers.

  • Cryptocurrency miners in Chechnya will be treated as terrorists, Adam Delimkhanov, a State Duma deputy and advisor to the head of the republic, said in comments reported by Grozny-Inform. Delimkhanov said that “cases of illegal mining” have already been uncovered in Chechnya. He noted that “many involve people working in various organizations,” though he did not specify which ones.
    “Our leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has asked us to inform all residents that if such cases are uncovered — which also cause electricity issues across entire districts, villages, or cities — the perpetrators will face severe punishment. We will equate them with terrorists because their actions harm society as a whole,” Delimkhanov said

  • Now feels like a good time to link the disgusting NYT coverage of a vehicle attack in Zhuhai, China, in November. (In case you were wondering, yes, they are lying through their teeth about the “cover-up”) (Cover up means the lack of wild speculation and hysterical media coverage shoving cameras in the faces of bereaved relatives and blurring out mutilated corpses)

    Also lol at 1984 removing memorial flowers. They do have to go at some point, you know that right, NYT “journalist”? I guess the concept of not leaving shit to rot on the street is foreign to Americans.

    When a lot of Americans die, it is the worst thing to ever happen. When a lot of Chinese people die, the main story is that life is cheap in the orient and the Chinese brainpan is programmed to accept death and censorship

    God knows why China keeps letting these “journalist” snakes into their country.

    Muh brutal authoritarian crackdowns in Hong Kong clearly missed a spot if some professor of Chinese propaganda at a HK university gets to run his mouth about the mainland brainpan for a NYT hit piece. Seems like nativist and supremacist ideologies in HK haven’t yet been entirely uprooted.

  • Geopolitical Economy Hour: Did Israel and the US win in Syria?

    An interesting discussion by Mohammad Marandi and Radhika Desai which, via a sober analysis, seeks to dispel a lot of the triumphalism from those on the pro-genocide side, and bitter resignation from those on the left. I shall summarize the video below:

    • First, we start from a quote from Responsible Statecraft which more-or-less concludes that Israel is (at least at the current moment) triumphant in the Middle East. A key part of their assessment is that the Shia movement has been crippled, which is the first sign that things are amiss in their conclusion (much of the Resistance is Sunni). What else is wrong?
    • Marandi remarks that the events in Syria are a tactical victory for the US, Israel, and Erdogan (not Turkiye as a whole), but this victory is unstable and likely to disintegrate over time, for the following reasons.
    • The question for the US is: should they stay or go? If they go, this presents issues for maintaining this instability for Israel's benefit. If they stay, this presents an issue for Jolani, because the US's purpose inside Syria is explicitly to weaken it (they are stealing Syria's oil to ensure that pro-Resistance forces have less resources to work with).
    • The question for Erdogan is: can he continue to exert leverage over Jolani now that he has performed a successful uprising and has western diplomats knocking on his door?
    • The question for Jolani is: how much humiliation can he - and Syria - take from Israel stealing their territory and bombing their weapons stockpiles? This will naturally cause resistance to once again rise up against HTS and Jolani. Additionally, Syria still has plenty of groups that are internally vying for power and has plenty of economic problems that cannot be fixed quickly. In fact, there could be a new civil war between the different factions inside Syria and even between groups in HTS. This is on top of the returning refugee groups from Turkiye.
    • The key mistake for Israel is the delegitimization of their new pet regime in Syria. What Netanyahu should have done instead is not undermine Jolani and held off on the annexations, and instead done all they could to stabilize and strengthen them (like with Jordan and Egypt). This is on top of the obvious problems for the IDF trying to occupy territory with an increasingly dysfunctional and degraded army after their continued defeats against Hezbollah and Hamas.
    • Iran and Russia did the right thing in a bad situation by pulling out without further commitment of resources, as Assad or his generals seemed unwilling to fight for themselves to maintain control of their section of the country. It would be too much to say that this was part of Iran's grand plan or anything like that, but by not holding desperately onto Assad and instead deciding to let them go once, say, Aleppo or Homs had fallen, Iran has avoided falling into an unnecessary trap.
    • The timing of dangerous gambles/events in Ukraine and the Middle East do appear to be a ploy by the Biden administration to create fait accomplis for Trump's administration; either to ensure they keep the project going, or at least to complicate and delay an eventual resolution on the side of Russia and the Resistance.
    • Iran is a stronger country than 8 years ago in terms of foreign relations with non-Western countries, and will be harder to isolate than before. Western sanctions will still present many difficulties, but not as existential as before (so long as China and Russia are in their court).
    • Iran is also a stronger country militarily than 8 years ago, and will set the world on fire if Trump (or, indeed, Biden, with a couple weeks to go) tries anything too stupid. It will be too dangerous for the US and especially Israel to start a war against Iran, and Iran's position as the "hub" and suppliers of weapons and expertise means that the Resistance will continue to function relatively well (and has not been "defeated" or anything like that).

  • The new syrian government had almost the entire Syrian Air Force and Navy destroyed and chunks of it's southern territories occupied by "israel" and all they have done thus far is attack Alawites and Christians. How about you attack some "israelis" instead?

    • If they did, they'll be digging more of a ditch for themselves. Luckily, their doms Amerikkka and Israel are too busy overseeing the slaughter of people in Gaza and Lebanon is merciful to let their puppy have a break nevermind the sanctions still in place, or the troop still there, with the Kurds

    • Why would they attack their investors?

  • Uplifting photos from 2024. A reminder of the ability of the human spirit to find joy and togetherness in all situations. Compilied from the Associate Press top 100 photos of the year and Reuters 2024 pictures of the year

    Democratic Republic of Congo - Children shake hands before a chess game

    ::: spoiler spoiler

    Paris Paraolympic Games - Paralympic athlete Santos Araujo, of Brazil, celebrates after winning the men’s 200 m Freestyle

    Haiti - Children playing jump rope

    Brazil - Rescue team saves 4 year old child from house destroyed by flood

    Gaza - Wedding dress for sale

    Kenya - Wildlife management team release Rhino from an animal sanctuary back into the wild

    Venezuela - Supermoon surrounded by Christmas lights

    Happy new year

  • it's not yoonover yet

    A day of high drama has drawn to an end in South Korea, with investigators suspending an attempt to arrest ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol after a six-hour standoff with the security team outside his home.

    "We've determined that the arrest is impossible," said the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which has been investigating Yoon's short-lived martial law declaration.

    "Next steps will be decided after review," the CIO said, adding that Yoon's "refusal of the legal process" is "deeply regrettable".

    Yoon's supporters, who have been camped out in front of the presidential residence for days, cheered in song and dance as the suspension was announced. "We won," they chanted.

    Investigators have until 6 January to arrest Yoon, before the warrant expires. However they can apply for a new warrant and try to detain him again.

  • This a succinct post on the TrueAnon sub about the social base for fascism in the current times:

    The current chud awakening helps me understand National Socialism

    Right wing nationalist reactionary chuds suddenly get confronted with the contradictions of capitalism when the interests of capital come into direct conflict with the interests of the ideology of reaction, i.e. ideologized racism. In this case as in many others, capitalists wanting to import labor because it's easier to exploit immigrants than homegrown workers who you actually have to pay well. This leads them very naturally to heavily anti-corporate political positions, but not out of solidarity, or theory, or some kind of post-capitalist vision for society, but just because the big bourgeois machine gets added to the list of globalist conspirators and elite subverters of 'western civilization'.

    It's a false consciousness that's easy to mistake for a real one, because they're not coming to jesus, they're just finding more insulated ways to dig themselves deeper into reaction by adding a new enemy to the list.

    This is another reason why the small bourgeoisie becomes the class nucleus for fascism, because the foil for big capital, rather than working class consciousness, becomes small business consciousness. The paranoid, aggrieved small holding kulaks who are terrified and angry at both the big capitalists above them, threatening to push them out of their own business, and the workers below them threatening to proletarianize them with all their minimum wage agitation, union efforts, and refusal to take shit from employers. They're in a really bad spot where they can't survive the same economic shocks the big capitalists can, they lose out no matter who wins, so they become the foundation for national socialist fascism because the dumb chuds who are so close yet so far still think small business is good even if big business is bad, and these small holding yeoman types are exactly the people who go do January 6th and put trump flags on their boats. They become the face of chud anti-corporatism, it's most active and agitated participants, it's financiers, it's electoral backbone, and make sure the movement never actually turns into a working class project because their interests become so entwined with it, and the unprincipled anti-communist chuds in the rank and file don't have the awareness to challenge that.

    I always felt like reactionary socialism was a fundamental contradiction in terms, but now I really see how it happens. It wouldn't take the term socialism now because we live in the post red-scare, post cold-war west, but it did in the old times because socialism was still the hot new thing that everybody was really excited about so it benefitted the Nazis to put it on the tin. Nonetheless, it's the exact same process, boneheaded reactionaries stumbling upon the contradictions of capitalism and being forced into opposing big corporate interests but not having the language or understanding to take that to it's logical conclusion. Instead they just graft it clumsily in a pretty blatantly contradictory way they're too dumb to realize onto their pre-existing chuddish worldview

  • First India, now Japan. China is tying up loose ends:
    https://xcancel.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1875224303819723142

    This is big: China and Japan have agreed on an unprecedented (at least since WW2) list of initiatives to warm their respective public opinions to each other.

    This is "manufacturing consent" but for peace and mutual respect, not for war this time. Which is frankly much more constructive and will no doubt displease quite a few folks in Washington who thrive on "divide and conquer"...

    The initiatives include:

    1. promote youth exchange visits and encourage and support studies and tours between the two countries.
    2. deepen cooperation in the field of education, strengthen the mutual exchange of students, and support the establishment of sister school relationships between primary and secondary schools, as well as inter-institutional cooperation between higher education institutions of both countries.
    3. support cooperation in the tourism industry and introduce more facilitation measures to promote mutual visits between tourists from both countries.
    4. build more bridges for exchange between friendly cities, and actively utilize mechanisms and platforms such as the China-Japan Governors Forum, China-Japan-Korea Cultural Exchange Year, and East Asian City of Culture to expand friendly exchanges between local and civil society in both countries.
    5. strengthen sports exchange and cooperation, and mutually support the successful hosting of important sporting events such as the 2025 Harbin Asian Winter Games and the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
    6. support continued cooperation in entertainment industries including film and television, music, publishing, animation, and gaming. Facilitate mutual visits of high-level artistic groups and support the translation and publication of classic works from both countries.
    7. enhance exchange and cooperation between media outlets and think tanks, playing a positive role in bilateral relations, and focus on improving public opinion and the media environment. Support both sides in developing exchange and cooperation in new media circles, and encourage positive content creators from both countries to interact with each other

  • One dead and seven injured in the cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International hotel. The fatal victim is still inside the car and firefighters are trying to pull him out. Authorities have yet to say what caused the fire that led to the explosion.

  • Israel asks its military not to post images of its actions in Gaza after the Brazilian courts ordered an investigation into a soldier who appears in a video demolishing houses. The Israeli government claims that the images could be used in “useless” legal proceedings.

    Israel's opposition leader, Yair Lapid, said that Benjamin Netanyahu's government is a “huge political failure” for allowing the country's soldier to be investigated in Brazil. “How did we get to the point where the Palestinians are better than the Israeli government in international relations?” he said.

    Israeli newspaper Haaretz claims that a soldier from the country under investigation by the Federal Police fled Brazil in the early hours of the morning. The publication points out that other countries have adopted similar measures against members of the Defense Forces denounced by pro-Palestinian entities.

  • Biden's address of the New Orleans attack was classico. He stumbled and slurred his way through the teleprompter before walking off the stage the second he was done talking like he pooped his pants.

  • This is not very important news but the latest conspiracy theory is people taking videos of the fog and claiming that the government is spraying them with a virus. The problem is that you can't even laugh at dumbass conspiracy freaks since it wouldn't be the first time that the USA government did a secret biological warfare experiment where it sprayed bacteria on its own population. You can't make up any conspiracy theory that's more horrible than something that the USA government has already done and admitted to.

  • Washington Post cartoonist resigns over paper’s refusal to publish cartoon critical of Jeff Bezos Pulitzer prize winner Ann Telnaes drew a cartoon of the paper’s owner kneeling before Donald Trump Ramon Antonio Vargas Sat 4 Jan 2025 10.23 EST The Washington Post’s Pulitzer prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes has resigned from her position at the newspaper after its refusal to publish a satirical cartoon depicting the outlet’s owner Jeff Bezos – along with other media and technology barons – kneeling before Donald Trump as he gears up for his second US presidency. “I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations – and some differences – about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at,” Telnaes wrote on Friday in an online post on the Substack platform detailing her decision to quit. “Until now.” In a statement reported by the New York Times, the Post’s opinions editor, David Shipley, defended the newspaper’s decision against publishing Telnaes’s cartoon, saying he disagreed with her “interpretation of events” and that “the only bias was against repetition”. “Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force,” said Shipley, whose statement added that he had spoken with Telnaes and asked her to reconsider leaving. “My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had already scheduled another column – this one a satire – for publication.” Telnaes’s Substack post from Friday contained a rough draft of her cartoon. Beside Bezos, who founded Amazon before buying the Post, the cartoon portrayed caricatures of Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong and Walt Disney Co mascot Mickey Mouse. “The cartoon … criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with … Trump,” Telnaes said. “While it isn’t uncommon for editorial page editors to object to visual metaphors within a cartoon if it strikes that editor as unclear or isn’t correctly conveying the message intended by the cartoonist, such editorial criticism was not the case regarding this cartoon. “To be clear, there have been instances where sketches have been rejected or revisions requested, but never because of the point of view inherent in the cartoon’s commentary. That’s a gamechanger … and dangerous for a free press.” Telnaes announced her resignation less than three months after the Post and Bezos faced withering backlash over the outlet’s decision to prevent its editorial team from publishing an endorsement of Kamala Harris in the presidential election of 5 November. Soon-Shiong had also similarly refused to allow the LA Times’ editorial board to publish an endorsement of Harris. Readers met both outlets with more than 200,000 subscription cancellations combined, the overwhelming majority of those affecting the Post’s larger readership, according to reports. And commentators accused the two newspapers of demonstrating what has been classified as “anticipatory obedience” to Trump after he had repeatedly accused the media of being enemies of the state and promised retribution against many in the industry if he defeated Harris. Trump then scored a decisive victory against Harris to wrest back the Oval Office, which he had lost to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. After his victory, Zuckerberg dined with Trump at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort. His company Meta also donated $1m to a fund for Trump’s second inauguration. Observers interpreted those to be conciliatory gestures after Trump during his first presidency had criticized Zuckerberg and his Facebook platform of being “anti-Trump”.

    From the guardian: https://archive.is/mtc85

  • US LNG exports soar, Europe remaining the main destination

    US LNG exports reached near record levels in December, rising to 8.5 million metric tonnes (MT) as two new plants started, and driving up full-year shipments 4.5% over 2023.

    In 2024 Europe accounted for 55% of total US LNG exports, 34% of total US exports went to Asia while the next 11% went mainly to Latin America with a few cargoes to the Middle East, mainly to Egypt and Jordan, LSEG data showed.

    I still don't really understand why Biden was considered decent on climate change, US hydrocarbon production continues climbing higher regardless of who's president.

  • U.S. authorities have found notes from Matthew Livelsberger, the U.S. Army soldier who committed suicide and detonated a Tesla 'Cybertruck' near the Trump International Hotel

    Having been deployed to Afghanistan twice, he expressed in his writings a need to 'cleanse' his mind of lost comrades and the 'burden of lives he took.' He characterized his actions as a 'wake-up call' to a society that only pays attention to violence, warning that the U.S. was 'terminally ill and headed toward collapse.'

  • Apparently its illegal to have fun in worst Korea. What’s the point of being president if you can’t have a little martial law as a treat? What happened to guys being dudes?

  • The Pantomime King's Great Speech: Denmark Celebrates The Cult Of Mediocrity

    Denmark, January 1st, 2025

    Under the oppressive gloom of a grey, windy and rainy Danish winter, last night the nation’s eyes turned toward the imposing Amalienborg compound, a strictly laid-out collection of opulent rococo palaces in the heart of Copenhagen funded by the blood and sweat of enslaved Africans in the West Indies. Last night, this bastion of inherited privilege set the stage for the most sacred spectacle in Nordic hermit kingdom's official cult of personality, the monarch's annual new years eve speech.

    The occasion was particularly historic—or farcical, depending on one’s perspective. Nearly a year ago, the nation's aging ceremonial figurehead, Queen Margrethe Glücksburg, abdicated in favor of her son and hand-picked successor, Frederik Montpezat, in a bloodless but wholly undemocratic transition of power. Last night, Frederik, a man born into power and spared the inconvenience of earning it, addressed his subjects for the first time in this annual exercise of carefully choreographed worship.

  • Venezuela's Attorney General's Office has offered a $100k reward for info leading to the arrest of US-backed former presidential candidate Edmundo González. Of course, his whereabouts are known to everyone as he prances around Europe lobbying for regime change.

    Me waiting outside the Casa Rosada with a giant comical net to capture Edmundo and claim my $100k.

  • On the eve of the inauguration, the Venezuelan opposition shows weakness on the streets with empty rallies in Caracas. Opponents had hoped for a change of government before January 10 and are betting on US support to overthrow Maduro.

    .

    People are tired of this Juan Guaido shit, even those who dislike Maduro are fucking tired of this shit. The opposition does literally nothing useful besides be racist, lie, and cry for Israel and USA to bomb their country. No wonder literally no Venezuelan General has defected to their side, even though the Military is known for being reactionary.

  • Messi misses Presidential Medal ceremony with Biden

    Lionel Messi was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, by President Joe Biden on Saturday but did not attend the ceremony at the White House. The Argentine World Cup winner and eight times Ballon d'Or winner, now plays in the United States for Major League Soccer's Inter Miami.

    Messi is the first Argentine to receive the honor and the first male soccer player. But while other recipients of the award, including U2 singer and activist Bono, former basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, attended the ceremony at the White House, Messi was absent.

    Messi's representatives said in a statement distributed by Inter Miami that Messi had a prior commitment. "The White House informed FIFA, who informed the club at the end of December that Leo was going to be awarded with this recognition," the statement read.

    "Leo, through the club, sent a letter to the White House saying that he is deeply honored and that it is a profound privilege to receive this recognition but that due to scheduling conflicts and prior commitments he was going to be unable to attend. "He appreciated the gesture and noted that he hopes to have the opportunity to meet in the near future," the statement added.

  • New information from The Washington Post claims that the 37-year-old soldier shot himself in the head before the Tesla cybertruck exploded in front of the Trump International hotel in Las Vegas. Authorities have identified the victim of the Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas: Matthew Livelsberger, an active-duty soldier in the elite Green Berets.

    He worked at Fort Bragg, California and for the last 3 months had been working as a “Remote and Autonomous Systems Manager” for the US Army.

    The FBI is investigating the motives of Matthew, who died inside Tesla's Cybertruck. A curious connection has been pointed out by them: Matthew and Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar (ex-military who ran over dozens in New Orleans) worked at Fort Bragg, but at different times, officials say.

  • Milei's labor reform proposes 12-hour working days and partial payment in vouchers.

    The Milei government is threatening labor rights and is proposing to make vacations more flexible, to waive collective bargaining agreements and to provide severance pay in up to 12 installments. The bill, dubbed the Investment and Employment Promotion Law, is expected to be presented at the start of the 2025 legislative year in March.

    The proposal, spearheaded by parliamentarians such as Romina Diez, José Luis Espert and Gabriel Bornoroni, combines tax breaks for companies with far-reaching changes to labor regulations. Among the measures are the possibility of working hours of up to 12 hours without overtime pay, the flexibilization of vacations and the introduction of vouchers as a form of partial payment of salary - a practice that dates back to the 1990s and is widely criticized for not being considered official pay.

    The proposal also affects the granting of vacations, allowing them to be divided into individual weeks and distributed throughout the year, provided there is an agreement between employer and employee. Another relevant change is the possibility for workers to waive collective bargaining agreements, making them responsible for negotiating directly with companies. This measure is criticized for weakening union protection and reducing employees' bargaining power because it is not considered official remuneration.

    The General Confederation of Labor (CGT), Argentina's main trade union body, is still evaluating the proposal. Although the CGT has shown a willingness to engage in dialogue, union leaders in various regions of the country have already expressed concern about the impact of these measures on labor rights. Critics point out that the reform weakens worker protection in the name of a liberal agenda, which was one of Milei's main campaign promises.

  • Cuba and Bolivia officially acquired the status of associate countries of the BRICS group, joining a platform that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa as founding members.

  • In Croatia, the incumbent president, Zoran Milanovic, won the presidential elections. He was noted for his constant criticism of arms supplies and spending money on Ukraine. He is considered to be close in views to Orban and Fico. But unlike them, in Croatia he has far fewer real powers.

    In December 2021, Milanović criticised prime minister Plenković's visit to Ukraine made at the start of a new escalation of the crisis over Ukraine calling it "plain charlatanism". The prime minister responded by saying that the government sought to maintain good relations with Russia too.

    Harsh reaction from Ukraine's government followed Milanović's statements made on 25 January 2022 about Ukraine not being fit to join NATO, as well the country being corrupt and Russia deserving to be given a way to have its security demands met. Milanović also referred to the 2014 Maidan Revolution in Ukraine as a "coup d'état".

    Milanović supported the expansion of same-sex couples' rights and introduced the Life Partnership Act. During 2012, a Law on medically assisted fertilization was enacted, health education was introduced in all elementary and high schools, and Milanović announced further expansion of rights for same-sex couples. The referendum, organized by the citizen initiative For the family of Željka Markić, proposed an amendment that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, thus creating a constitutional prohibition against same-sex marriage. Milanović opposed the proposal and told HRT that he would vote against it.

    In October 2023, Milanović criticized Israel's retaliatory strikes on the Gaza Strip, saying: "I condemned [Hamas'] murders, I even expressed disgust and abhorrence, but the right to defense does not include the right to revenge and the killing of civilians." In October 2024, he compared "Netanyahu's regime" to Putin and said that for him: "both Netanyahu and Putin are defendants on International Criminal Court"

    Some news agencies say he won and others say there will be a second round. It seems that this Zoran Milanović is like the social-liberal version of Robert Fico. He's a socdem, critical of Ukraine, but he doesn't seem to openly support homophobia or xenophobia against other Slavs. I'd also like to say that it really annoys me when you go to Wikipedia or news outlets and they report that a presidential/executive candidate is “independent”. They are not even independent, they literally have parties supporting them and openly say that these people are their candidates.

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