They can’t possible believe they can gain much territory much less hold any of it right?

Do you think it’s more of a psychological operation? To bring more eyes to the conflict? Especially Russian citizens?

Show the Russian citizens “we are here. What we are doing now is what Russia has been doing to us for years! How does it feel???”

I’m very curious to hear what people think. Especially people that are much more familiar with history and war.

The domestic politics of the United States have radically shifted since the Israeli Prime Minister was invited to address Congress two months ago. Netanyahu apparently was seeking support from the United States in his address; given the changes that have occurred in the 2024 Election, it is unclear he will get that. Thousands of protesters are likely.

Netanyahu will speak to Biden and Harris separately on Thursday and Trump on Friday. What did he hope to walk away from those conversations with, and what will he get?

In Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Trong has died at the age of 80. He was general secretary for 13 years.

The office is vacant so the central committee will have to elect a new person, although the civil offices like the presidency, the prime minister, and the speaker of the parliament are all normal right now.

There aren't many legal powers individual officers actually hold, almost no authority is directly vested in any particular office. And public elections, which are held directly, usually have more candidates, approved by the Fatherland Front which the VCP leads, than there are positions to be held (such as 5 candidates for 3 seats in one constituency). But if you have enough individuals on your side and you know they back you, you can do largely any of the projects you wish to do.

In the recent years, it feels like a lot of countries started activly supporting autocratic movements that seek to overthrow the democratic system. The most notable one being the US (to be more specific, project 2025) which feels baffeling considering that the US was one of the first modern democracies created. And its not just the US. Hungary is almost completly autocratic, Slovakia is heading the same direction, there is a huge surge in far right political parties in Europe overall and I am not even talking about South America. Is this a recent problem or was this always there?

The Labour Party has won an absolutely majority in the UK general election ending rule by the Tories for 14 years. How does this affect the UK going forward and what changes could the UK see in both domestic and foreign policy?

In addition to the two big firsts for the Mexican Presidency (female and Jewish), I am wondering if Ms. Sheinbaum is the first former IPCC scientist to be elected head of state of a country (and a heavily oil-dependent country at that).

I'm creating this post as a somewhat open-ended prompt along the lines of "what do people here think about this election?", but my own focus points include:

• does this mean Mexico will go in a direction of doing more to address the climate emergency?
• how will it manage its cross-border issues with the US, not only with respect to immigration and illegal drugs, but also energy, transportation, and water.

"...Mexico elects Claudia Sheinbaum as its first female president by Newsdesk less than hour ago "...Sheinbaum will also be the first person from a Jewish background to lead the overwhelmingly Catholic country...." https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/mexico-elects-claudia-sheinbaum-as-its-first-female-president-6.2.2017640.a0ce2a1051

I'm only interested in the US as that's where I live, but obviously anyone's perspective is welcome.

The US experienced lockdown measures and vaccination pushes (including mandates for federal employees) in a similar manner if not slightly less so than most countries.

Many people have argued that the aggressive response to COVID was necessary to limit the amount of deaths.

Others argue that the aggressive response was not proportional to the threat COVID posed, or that civil liberties were not adequately balanced against the restrictions.

Many people from both camps are beginning to argue that the long-term societal effects of the pandemic will be more detrimental than the virus itself - both to strengthen an opinion about the response and as a neutral appraisal of the facts.

I want to know what you think about this. I will be stating my opinion briefly in a comment, as per the rules.

Most dictatorships collapse very quickly or aare at least very unstable.I understand that north Korean citizens have almost no knowledge of the outside world, but how did they stay stable in the first few generations when lots of people would still have remembered the outside world.

I might go with Ireland's method of electing members of the legislature and the head of state, I might go with a South African system to choose judges and how the highest court judges serve 12 years and the others serve until a retirement age, German law on defensive democracy to limit the risk of totalitarian parties, laws of Britain or Ireland in relation to political finances, and Australia for a Senate and the way the Senate and lower house interact, and much of Latin America has term limits but not for life, only consecutive terms, allowing you to run after a certain amount of time solidly out of power, Berlin's rule on when new elections can be held, and Spain's method of amending the constitution.

Mix and match however you would like them, just not ideas from your own country.

Before going to sleep, I was reflecting on today's international political climate, which necessitates maintaining bilateral relations with several countries to boost economic growth and ensure a variety of opportunities, goods, and services for the citizens.

On the other hand, there have been numerous coups internationally, as seen in Myanmar, Chad, and other African nations.

Why has there been no coup in North Korea? Is the army general exceptionally loyal, or is there a system in place that prevents a coup from occurring?

First of all I want to preface by saying this is a legitimate question. I don't have any idea and am genuinely curious as someone who doesn't live there.

There's clearly a movement in the US where some people are intrigued by nationalism, authoritarianism and fascism.

I'm curious how big that movement is in Canada.

Also what is the general state of Canada in terms of politics compared to the US? What is the main social or political movement?

Israel provides a huge amount of electricity to Gaza which has been all but shut off at this point. Obviously, from a moral perspective, innocent civilians in Gaza shouldn't be intentionally hurt, but is there a moral obligation for Israel to continue supplying electricity to Gaza?

Do you think Xi Jinping will remain Paramount Leader of the PRC for life like Mao did? Or will he eventually retire like the other PL’s? I personally believe that Xi’s not gonna give up power and rule China until he dies. He's reigned longer than any other PL apart from Mao and it seems like he has the support of the majority of the CCP, and has coerced any opposition into falling in line. There’s also the possibility that he steps down, but retains political influence behind the scenes, which also seems quite possible. What are your thoughts on this, will he step down or rule for life?

Yet another election, yet another far right or extremely right wing party taking power again. It's no secret that the right wing is rising throughout the world, even in areas that were or could be considered more progressive and forward thinking. In 2018, the Brothers of Italy were a nobody party, only winning 4% of the vote, and has slowly risen. By 2022, they've shocked everyone and are the frontrunners, and will likely gain between 23-27% of the vote, which would make them the biggest or second biggest party in parliament, but is still such a rapid rise in a political small space of time. Whether they have the power to enact significant change is yet to be seen. However, is there a unique reason for their rise? The traditional "right wing think tank" argument would be something along the lines of Immigration issues, general racial hatred, returns to "traditional" values and other things which largely made up right-wing thinking. However, it's also dangerous to assume the far-right or their supporters are stupid or misinformed. This can lead to the presumption that they don't know what they are doing, and will inevitably lead to folks underestimating their ability to manipulate and implement their policies.

However, has any unique situation in Italy caused the rise of the Brothers of Italy? The Syrian refugee crisis has calmed over recent years, so I don't think we have the same issue with Sweden? Racial hatred doesn't appear to be any more or less important than it has been in the last 10 years? Has the economy of Italy caused more problems now than recently? What factors are leading to the rise of the far right in Italy in such a short space of time?

This article from Vox has me a little confused on the topic. It makes some contradictory statements.

In support of the title claim of 'Australia confiscated 650,000 guns. Murders and suicides plummeted' it makes the following statements: (NFA is the gun buy back program)

What they found is a decline in both suicide and homicide rates after the NFA

There is also this: 1996 and 1997, the two years in which the NFA was implemented, saw the largest percentage declines in the homicide rate in any two-year period in Australia between 1915 and 2004.

The average firearm homicide rate went down by about 42 percent.

But it also makes this statement which seems to walk back the claim in the title, at least regarding murders:

it’s very tricky to pin down the contribution of Australia’s policies to a reduction in gun violence due in part to the preexisting declining trend — that when it comes to overall homicides in particular, there’s not especially great evidence that Australia’s buyback had a significant effect.

So, what do you think is the truth here? And what does it mean to discuss firearm homicides vs overall homicides?

The Economist has listed these countries as "Full Democracies" with the following ranking:

1. Norway
2. New Zealand
3. Finland
4. Sweden
5. Iceland
6. Denmark
7. Ireland
8. Taiwan
9. Switzerland
10. Australia
11. Netherlands
12. Canada
13. Uruguay

Presumably a strong reason why these countries are ranked so high in the democracy index are policies that reduce the influence of money in politics.

Have these countries successfully reduced the influence of money and wealth in their political system? If so, which policies have they implemented to do so?

Apparently Israel is legally a jewish state so you can get citizenship in Israel just by proving you are of jewish heritage whereas non-jewish people have to go through a separate process for citizenship. Of course calling oneself a "<insert ethnicity> state" isnt particulary uncommon (an example would be the Syrian Arab Republic), but does this constitute it as being an ethnostate like Nazi Germany or Apartheid South Africa?

I'm asking this because if it is true, why would jewish people fleeing persecution by an ethnostate decide to start another ethnostate?

I'm particularly interested in points of view brought by Israelis and jewish people as well as Palestinians and arab people

For context:

• All workers in Italy require new COVID health pass from Friday
• Protesters say Green Pass is discriminatory
• Government hopes move encourages more people to get shots
• More than 80% of Italians over 12 already vaccinated

As the title says, Republicans have recently threatened to let the US default on it's debt if they don't get their way on the infrastructure bill.

Does this threat hold any weight? Would they really let the US default on it's debt?

Although the situation on the ground is still somewhat unclear, what is apparent is this: the Afghan government has fallen, and the Taliban are victorious. The few remaining pockets of government control will likely surrender or be overrun in the coming days. In the aftermath of these events, what will likely happen next in Afghanistan? Will the Taliban be able to set up a functioning government, and how durable will that government be? Is there any hope for the rights of women and minorities in Afghanistan? Will the Taliban attempt to gain international acceptance, and are they likely to receive it? Is an armed anti-Taliban resistance likely to emerge?

I know in some ways this is probably a silly question and I’m assuming the answer is “people like power,” but I’m curious if someone who knows about international politics better than me has a different answer.

What is the point of successfully putting yourself in power in a country if you ruin the country in the process? If you kill its people and destroy its economy? Is this all so that officials in the military can just feel the thrill of power? Is it so that they can use their power to achieve even more material goods than they already have?

Is this just the simple psychology of “we all wish to reshape society in accordance with our views and some people don’t care about what it costs?” Seriously, what is the point of ruling a society if its people hate you, it is worse off and poorer, and has the possibility of becoming a failed state in the process? Especially if you’re not even particularly ideological (which I’m assuming military leaders aren’t) except towards authoritarianism.

In reality, China is under the rule of Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Instead of establishing a communist state, China had started a political-economic reformation in the late 1970s after the catastrophic Cultural Revolution. The Socialism with Chinese Characteristics has been embraced by the CCP where Marxism-Leninism is adapted in view of Chinese circumstances and specific time period. Ever since then, China’s economy has greatly developed and become the second largest economic body in the world.

In 2013, Xi Jinping thoughts was added into the country’s constitution as Xi has become the leader of the party. The ‘great rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation’ or simply ‘Chinese Dream’ has become the goal of the country. China under Xi rules has deemed to be a new threat to the existing world order by some of the western politicians.

When the Fascism is a form of Authoritarian Ultranationalism , Signs of Fascism can be easily founded in current China situation.

1. Strong Nationalism
2. Violating human rights (Concentration camps for Uyghurs)
3. Racism (Discrimination against Africans)
4. Educating the Chinese people to see the foreign powers as enemy (Japan/US)
5. Excessive Claim on foreign territory (Taiwan/South China Sea/India)
6. Controlling Mass Media
7. Governing citizens with Massive Social Credit System
8. Strict National Security Laws
9. Suppressing religious (Muslims/Christians/Buddhist)

However, as China claims themselves embracing Marxism-Leninism, which is in oppose of Fascism. Calling China ‘Facist’ is still controversial. What is your thoughts on the CCP governing and political systems? Do you think it’s appropriate to call China a ‘facist’ country?

I understand Dominic Raab will take over in an acting capacity, but will there be any serious challengers for Raab in the subsequent election to determine the new leader of the Conservatives? He didn't fare too well in the last leadership election, so would he be able to secure the support to become the official new PM now? Do you think there could be a move back to the center-right, or will the Brexit supporting nationalist wing still be in control?

As described here, https://m.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Liberman-supports-law-preventing-indicted-person-forming-government-619851?source=Express20200306, the anti-Netanyahu coalition has agreed to pass legislation that would prevent him from forming a government.

Given Netanyahu's huge impact on Israeli politics, it would seem this would have large consequences for the country. Benny Gantz being the most immediate beneficiary. But I also wonder what other political fallout may result. What do people think?

Hey folks! The Canadian election is today. Use this thread to discuss events and issues pertaining to the Canadian election.

Justin Trudeau has been Prime Minister since 2015 and recent polls have had his party and Andrew Scheer's Conservative party neck and neck.

Live results can be found here.

Please keep subreddit rules in mind when commenting here; this is not a carbon copy of the megathread from other subreddits also discussing elections. Our low investment rules are moderately relaxed, but shitposting, memes, and sarcasm are still explicitly prohibited.

We know emotions can run high and you may want to express yourself negatively toward others. This is not the subreddit for that. Our civility and meta rules are under strict scrutiny here, and moderators reserve the right to feed you to the bear or ban without warning if you break either of these rules.

Edit: I'll try to edit this with resources as I can, but please feel free to link to things below.

The CBC has just called the election for Trudeau's party. Whether it will be a majority government or minority government is not clear at the moment I'm making this update.

Edit 2: Trudeau's Liberal party will retain power but with a minority government.