World Politics

[toxicitizen]

17 hours ago, MetalCaveman said:

Election day, and it has, well... It's gone about as expected given the way things are, shootings, ambushes, more shootings, severed heads, cars full of money supposedly to buy votes, so on. Thankfully I was able to vote without issues.

 

Goddamn, that's fucked up. Stay safe, man.

[MetalCaveman]

https://elpais.com/mexico/2021-07-06/el-cartel-jalisco-nueva-generacion-desafia-al-estado-y-desfila-por-aguililla-con-el-rostro-descubierto.html?ssm=TW_CM

 

CJNG once more showcasing their weapons and vehicles, and how they own the place. Specially after the president reiterated his posture, and how there would be no attempts to stop them.

 

AMLO went as far as to say that certain places that are ruled by cartels work perfectly fine, that there's no violence in such areas.

 

In other news, Gatell, undersecretary of health, came under fire  after accusing parents of children with cancer, of being part of an international conspiracy funded by the "International Right" to destabilize the country and set up a coup, because they've been asking for help, as there's a severe lack of medicines and other supplies needed for their treatment.

[TheMightyEthan]

You can't make this shit up.

[Thursday Next]

11 hours ago, TheMightyEthan said:

You can't make this shit up.

 

I dunno, sounds a lot like Ankh Morpork. If you want to reduce crime, rather than have the police work more, you just need the cartels to work less.

[Mal]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/china-evergrande-explainer-1.6179508

 

We'll see if this is a major major global issue (Evergrande isn't backed by the Chinese government if I read it correctly) but yeah, doesn't another 2008 sound nice, especially after the last 1.5 years? 

 

https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/adam-toozes-top-links-is-evergrande

 

Good summary with lots of background info. 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Mal

[MetalCaveman]

Gertz Manero, Attorney General has issued arrest warrants for 31 different scientists, researchers and academics, according to him, due to "organized crime" and money laundering.

 

This however, is just a facade, he's going after people who criticised his recent appointment as a level III researcher, the highest rank possible, by CONACYT (science and technology commission).

 

For the last 11 years, CONACYT had rejected his applications, citing a lack of proper scientific methods, inadequate research, and published papers that were just "a reflection of his opinion, rather than the result of research and experimentation" among others.

 

Of course, since he's friends with our god-emperor who has declared Gertz Manero "incorruptible", and since the current head of CONACYT is also a member of the cult, he was immediately awarded the highest rank, going over people who are actually doing some kind of scientific work or research. So now he's going after some of the people who spoke against this, not only that, he wants to send them to El Altiplano, a maximum security prison, where heads of drug cartels are imprisoned.

 

https://politica.expansion.mx/mexico/2021/06/10/conacyt-gertz-manero-sistema-nacional-investigadores

 

https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/nacional/2021/09/20/gertz-manero-vs-cientificos-por-que-el-fiscal-quiere-encarcelar-a-investigadores-y-academicos/

 

Meanwhile in Guanajuato, the owner of a bar and one more person were killed by a bomb, the owner was celebrating his birthday when two people in a motorcycle delivered what was supposed to be a gift, which ended up being an explosive of some kind.

https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/salamanca-victimas-de-explosion-recibieron-paquete-bomba-como-regalo-de-cumpleanos

 

Last Thursday, while the president and generals bragged about the army and their weapons and training during the independence day military parade, Michoacan was still recovering, after Tepalcatepec and La Estanzuela were attacked by the CJNG, in La Estanzuela they killed and beheaded five men who were manning a checkpoint designed to try and keep criminals away from their town. This, apparently after the cartel detonated drones carrying explosives near the checkpoint.

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/cjng-launches-offensive-against-michoacan-municipality/

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2-mexican-guardsmen-wounded-in-michoacan-fighting/2021/09/15/90902e96-1661-11ec-a019-cb193b28aa73_story.html

 

 

So yeah, business as usual in this country I guess...

 

[TheMightyEthan]

Stay safe dude.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

sorry if this is an insensitive question, but does this affect how safe you feel going about your day to day life? I know just the level of political mess we're in in the UK can be emotionally draining sometimes so I can't imagine with things like that going on. How close does it feel to you?

[MetalCaveman]

Honestly, it's been 15 years since president Calderón began the "war on cartels", longer if you count the 2004 deployment of the army to Nuevo Laredo (that was when Fox was president), and since then it hasn't been one day without violence, sometimes more, sometimes less, it has escalated recently a fair bit, but it's basically been there for most of my life, it's the "normal" thing in a way, so yes, part of me realizes how fucked up things are, but there's also a part of me that's just like "yup, this is the way things have been always" and honestly, it's mostly thanks to the internet and meeting people from other countries that I started to see this as "this isn't normal, things aren't like this in other countries (with some exceptions)".

 

To (try and) answer your question, it hadn't been a thing that worried me too much, it was another thing to be careful of, like looking both ways before crossing the road, if that makes sense, up until 2018, when AMLO gave the cartels carte blanche, now, it is a bigger concern, but at the same time it's not something I get too stressed about, I get angry when something happens and there's no response from the authorities, or the president mocks the victims, stuff like that really does piss me off, but I wouldn't consider it to be something emotionally draining, not yet, there's still 3 more years of this dude.

 

Last time I remember this being something that did really leave a mark for a while was when I was a kid, there was a time when we had army trucks full of soldiers, humvees with turrets and more patrolling the streets, there were army trucks pretty much on every corner, back then it was scary, but even that became normal after some time.

 

Though I also have to confess, I do live in a relatively safe area, there's been some attacks on restaurants and bars, and the chief of police of a nearby town was executed on his way to work, his shot up truck was found on a highway I've been on a fair number of times, but still, compared to Michoacan, Guanajuato, Sinaloa, Guerrerro and others, we're doing pretty well.

 

TL;DR: I'm kinda numb to it now, so it's a "whatever happens happens" kind of deal.

 

Sorry it took too long to reply, just never had to actually think about this kind of stuff for too long, and now that I read it... It doesn't look too good lol. I feel it makes it seem like I'm insane or "broken" in some way.

[Thursday Next]

I don't think it's a sign that you are broken. It's survival adaptation. You gotta survive where you are and part of that is accepting the existence of the bad stuff. Otherwise the emotional burden really would utterly break a person. Like even in a "safe" country, if you actually, actively *think* about the rough sleepers, the covid deaths, the kids starving and having to rely on food banks, all while the people at the top throw themselves and their school mates billions of pounds in government contracts, at the same time as claiming that the government simply can't afford to keep everyone warm, fed, and clothed, you really would go mad. 

 

Accepting the reality of the world as it is, even in its abhorrence is all part of coping.

[MetalCaveman]

LMAO We may be about to outlaw solar panels.

 

Round 2 of AMLO and his cult trying to pass their electric reform, with one of the main points being the elimination of self-sufficiency, meaning stores, corporations and even homes that use solar, wind or other forms of energy generation would have to get rid of them and rely only on CFE.

 

There's other stuff, mostly the same old, "neoliberal concepts like regulatory agencies, clean energy and a reliable electric grid are evil and should be removed".

 

There's a lot of pressure on PRI as they're the ones that could tilt the balance either way and the president has already warned that he will "expose" those who vote against him.

[TheMightyEthan]

I have no words.

[MetalCaveman]

 

lmao, they're really asking for a takedown from the big N.

 

Mario is now public enemy #1 after the president stated that "the nintendos" are the root of all evil, the reason why our society is collapsing and why kids turn to crime, it's "the nintendos" that are eroding morals leading us to a path of evil and corruption.

 

Why the sudden rant against "the nintendos"? Well, long story short, the country is going to shit, funding for health and education has gone down, we've gone up in the "most corrupt countries in the world" lists, violence keeps increasing, the pandemic, which was according to them "under control" keeps killing people, so on and so forth. So doing something as outrageous as blaming videogames for everything and going as far as comparing game developers with the creators of the nuclear bomb, is a good way to distract from what's really going on.

 

AMLO also dismissed concerns of the situation in Guerrero, saying that we should "respect local customs and traditions", in this case, customs and traditions means selling little girls for money, beer, or animals, of course, seeing how he was there to defend a rapist and murderer, it wouldn't make sense for him to condemn such things.

 

Days later he also went on a rant, once more about his favourite enemy, the neoliberals/conservatives, now blaming them for creating... Environmentalism, feminism and of course, that most evil of things... Human rights.

 

Remember that in the past he also blamed neoliberals for creating the concept of empathy so... I don't know, being a neoliberal doesn't sound so bad.

[TheMightyEthan]

10 hours ago, MetalCaveman said:

Days later he also went on a rant, once more about his favourite enemy, the neoliberals/conservatives, now blaming them for creating... Environmentalism, feminism and of course, that most evil of things... Human rights.

 

At least he's honest?

[MetalCaveman]

This is going to be interesting, Rosalinda, wife of El Mencho, CJNG's leader, was arrested last night, shortly after, two marines were kidnapped, though authorities say it was a separate incident.

 

She's the one in charge of the money and supposedly not only knows the names of all current leaders and members but also of the politicians, cops and soldiers bought by the cartel.

 

People in Jalisco are already being told not to leave their homes and to be extra careful in the coming hours.

 

CJNG btw, are those dudes that even have their own uniforms and armoured vehicles.

[TheMightyEthan]

I thought your government was taking a "live and let live" approach to the cartels.

[MetalCaveman]

Yup, that is true:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/08/mexico-army-drug-cartels-michoacan

 

My guess is that this stemmed from a "kind request" from the Sinaloa Cartel, CJNG's biggest rival, or it has something to do with the coming meeting between the US president and our President, though I've also read that she may be trying to negotiate the release of her brother and son(s).

 

[MetalCaveman]

 

Travel/event/whatever restrictions don't apply to Mexico, because those things cause "discrimination and hurt the well-being of people", also because apparently Omicron is good for herd immunity, and will be beneficial to us all, so says Gatell, undersecretary of health.

 

Also, now we know the plan for 2024, so far, the president has been cutting funds to INE, more and more, they're in charge of things like organizing elections, verifying results, making sure everything works as it's supposed to, and they keep getting their funds slashed by the very same person that is responsible for its creation (we had IFE before, which got replaced with INE).

 

So now, the president wants people to vote on whether or not he should remain in office and INE is like "we can't, with our current funding, organize something like that in the time frame we've been given" and the president's response is:

 

"LOOK AT INE!! ENEMIES OF DEMOCRACY!! EVIL NEOLIBERAL CONSPIRATORS THAT WANT TO PREVENT PEOPLE FROM EXERCISING THEIR RIGHTS!! THEY'RE THE ENEMY!!!!"

 

Using the salary the top brass of INE receives as his ammunition, things is, even if they all pooled all their money, that still only accounts for a fraction of what the voting would cost (4 billion to set everything up vs 20 million in salary for the dude at the top of INE), so even with that it still would not be enough.

 

Enter the power play, the president has now said that if INE can't do it, they'll do it by "popular vote" which means "we'll gather a bunch of people that support the president, in states that support the president and then ask them to raise their hand if they support the president", basically how all his other "popular vote" things have been done.

 

This is, in all likelihood, a rehearsal for 2024, were he'll pull the same play:

 

• Cut funding to INE
• Demand elections be held without flaw even without funding
• INE Can't do their job properly 'cause they don't have to money for it
• President blames INE, accuses them of sabotaging democracy
• President demands a "popular vote" election
• President is all like "SEE! People want me to be president! For life!"
• That or he automatically names his successor president elect, a puppet so he can stay in power

 

Adding to that:

 

• He recently tried to mark all of his projects present and future as "National Security Priorities" meaning they would not only have all details hidden, they would have to be approved in a maximum of 5 days, so, no environmental impact studies, no budgeting, no planning, nothing, the president wants something done, it gets done, no questions asked.
• He keeps giving control of so many things to the army, infrastructure, construction, medicine, etc. He's even now putting pressure to all states so they hand over all construction projects to the army, all to keep them on his side.
• The secretary of defence pledged his undying loyalty to the 4T and urged everyone else to do the same.
• He's made clear that the law, the court, attorney general, etc. Will be used against any strong opposition candidates, with several charges, real or otherwise, used to prevent them from running for office.

And that's that, he's president for as long as he wants, have something to say? Congratulations, you're now an enemy of the state, and the full weight of the law, and the army will be used against you you traitor.

 

I wish I was exaggerating, but everyday it seems like we're moving closer and closer to that.

 

Oh yeah, the president ain't too happy about the USA offering a reward for information that leads to the capture of Chapo's sons, he's REALLY not happy about that. As unlikely as it is, I wonder how he'd react to a less hands-off Black Swan*.

 

*The operation where Chapo was captured, originally the Mexican government claimed they had done it all by themselves, but it was revealed that US JSOC was also involved, with Delta being on the ground, though more as analysts/advisors not combatants.

 

Whatever the outcome of 2024, the real scary part is how much power AMLO has given to the army, no way they ever give up on all that, no matter who gets elected next.

 

Oh yeah, even the secretary of foreign affairs is jumping on the "Nintendos are the root of all evil" bandwagon, so that's fun.

 

 

[TheMightyEthan]

Why does he care about Chapo's sons?

[MetalCaveman]

10 hours ago, TheMightyEthan said:

Why does he care about Chapo's sons?

 

Given everything he's said and done, like ordering that Ovidio (one of his sons) be released after his arrest during the Culiacanazo, promising Chapo's mother that he'd do everything in his power to bring her son back, apologizing for referring to el Chapo as a drug lord, changing it to "one of the world's richest businessmen", etc. there's a non-zero chance that the Sinaloa Cartel is directly funding him, his campaign and his party.

 

Wouldn't be the first time, won't be the last time.

Edited December 23, 2021 by MetalCaveman

[TheMightyEthan]

Oh, well, that makes sense.

[Thursday Next]

This is revolutionary France stuff.

 

They party in their palaces, while voting for kids to go without food, and leaving the poorest to freeze during a cost of living crisis.

 

This is the sort of thing certain sections of the British public sneer at "third world countries" for.

[TheMightyEthan]

Let them eat crumpets!

[MetalCaveman]

In one of (iirc maybe even THE) deadliest countries for journalists in the world*, what does the president do?

 

He wages a public war against journalists of course!

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/its-not-personal-mexican-president-names-critical-journalists-salary-2022-02-11/?utm_source=reddit.com

 

Targetting Loret de Mola specifically because he revealed a huge conflict of interest in regards to some contracts PEMEX has with Baker and Hughes.

 

In response, journalists from several different broadcasters, news agencies and more, came together to condemn the attack (minus TV Azteca which currently serves as the government's propaganda arm).

 

The president responded:

 

 

 

Saying he's going to keep pressuring INAI to reveal information not only about Loret, but also of any other journalists, because:

 

"The fourth transformation must be protected"

 

A journalist that was at that press conference corrected him, stating that INAI cannot reveal data about journalists, because they do not hold public office and INAI exists to provide transparency on those who do hold a public office, not the general population, the president fires back stating that this is a matter that concerns the public.

 

*Looked it up, turns out we are in fact the deadliest country for journalists in the world, not only that, apparently 8 were murdered in 2020, and just in January of 2022, 4 journalists have been murdered, 2 more recently, bringing the total to 6, just in the first two months of the year.

 

 

They way they've responded to the aforementioned conflict of interest, which involved the president's own son has been quite the show as well. Dude's trying to defend himself from a conflict of interest by confirming another, and potentially confessing to a crime in the US(?)

 

Jose Ramon Lopez Beltran claimed that he was working as a legal advisor to KEI Partners, a construction company in Houston, except that apparently he doesn't have a license for the US, someone who knows more about this can tell how bad it is to be working as a legal advisor without a license or BAR exam... or anything else really, further, KEI Partners didn't really exist until the weekend, when the Jose Ramon announced he worked for them, all of a sudden, their website, seemingly abandoned for quite a while, sprung to life, with photos and videos of some of their projects... Most of them lifted from pinterest lol

 

https://www.ejecentral.com.mx/el-domingo-que-kei-partners-se-volo-60-imagenes/

 

It was also revealed that this KEI Partners company is owned by the children of Daniel Chavez, close aide of the president, and one of the people involved in the already quite controversial Mayan Train project.

 

 

Oh yeah, and there's that thing about corpses being left in some main streets in Zacatecas 10 in one street, 6 hanging from a bridge, Colima turning into a warzone, and Veracruz seems to be heading that way too.

 

On that topic, I'm going to leave this gem here:

 

 

The president, pointing at the first page of Reforma, which talks about 45 massacres in 2020:

 

"There's your massacres hahahahaha"

 

 

On a more international front, seems like Russia might be about to make a move on Ukraine? Or parts of it at least, things don't seem to be going too well over there.

 

Oh and there's that thing about methane levels in the atmosphere reaching record highs

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00312-2

 

Potentially leading into a feedback loop, so yeah, fun times all around.

[TheMightyEthan]

So, Russia invaded Ukraine. That happened.

 

I remember when they annexed Crimea, it was so bizarre because countries don't just annex parts of other countries anymore. Seems it wasn't just a one-off.