Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.
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Notes -
Some news stories I'm tracking; thoughts welcome on any of them, particularly the first two.
South Korean intelligence reports that an agreement between North Korea and Russia includes an annual supply of 600-700 tonnes of rice to North Korea, a salary of US$2,000 for North Korean soldiers deployed in Ukraine, space technology, and provisions for Russian involvement in potential conflicts on the Korean Peninsula. With around 10,000 North Korean troops expected to be deployed to Ukraine, this could generate over US$200 million annually for Pyongyang. The 4 million tonnes of grains that North Korea says it produces per year are actually about 1 million tonnes short of what it needs to feed the country.
Six people have been killed in NY after a "subway surfing" trend, where people get on top of subway trends, has been going "viral". The number is really small, but the vector "social media leads people to do really stupid shit" seems like it could scale (anorexia and tumblr, lying flat in China, etc.) Admittedly, the subway surfing in question looks pretty lit.
There is a crunch in the transformer industry
Canada's National Cyber Threat Assessment classifies India a "state adversary"
198 killed, 111 injured in separate terrorist attacks in Pakistan during October.
Volcano erupted in Indonesia, killing ten people (and thousands will be relocated), but the region has a lot of volcanoes and a lot of people.
Myanmar <> India border conflict. Over 200 people have died, 60,000 displaced, and 30 km of fencing completed. The influx of refugees from Myanmar, over 60,000 in Mizoram and 5,000 in Manipur,
The Houthis have developed what they call a "marching submarine", something between a moveable landmine and an unmanned submarine.
Veterinarians back mass testing of milk for avian flu
Egypt hosted Fatah <> Hamas post war Gaza talks
US Deploys B-52 Bombers and Missile Destroyers in Warning to Iran Amid Escalating Regional Tensions
Another Hezbollah commander killed
Houthis pledge to continue red sea attacks despite Israeli asset sales. They allege that Israeli shipping companies are transferring assets to avoid detection.
Israel conducted airstrikes on military targets in Iran, damaging their missile program and air defenses.
Israel Ends Agreement With UN Agency Providing Aid in Gaza
Israel has ended the agreement enabling the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees to operate, citing alleged infiltration by Hamas, a claim the agency denies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and appointed Israel Katz as his successor. The move comes following open disagreements between Netanyahu and Gallant over the management of Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon. Thousands protested the move in Tel Aviv
Palestinians say Israel struck Gaza clinic during polio campaign; army denies it
Lebanon filed a formal complaint against Israel at the United Nations following deadly explosions caused by rigged communication devices. Shows how impotent Lebanon is imho
The Philippine military has opened two weeks of combat drills in the South China Sea, with more than 3,000 personnel participating in maneuvers that include seizing an island. The drills have raised tensions with China, which claims most of the South China Sea.
Newly revealed documents show that Russia's proposed agreement to end the special operation in 2022 included giving up Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine, reducing Ukraine's military size, prohibiting missile development, joining NATO
Mariana Katzarova, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Russia, reported on the widespread and systematic use of torture by Russian authorities to oppress and control society. The torture has worsened during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with thousands of Ukrainian civilians detained, deported, and tortured in Russian prisons. Despite the shocking human rights violations, Katzarova hopes for a constructive dialogue with Russian officials to address the issues. Note that the source is Voice of America; a US state-controlled outlet.
Russian operatives shipped two incendiary devices in attempts to start fires aboard cargo or passenger aircraft heading to the U.S. and Canada. DHL was used to ship electric massagers containing a magnesium-based flammable substance as part of a covert Russian sabotage campaign. Seems like an escalation of US<>Russia tensions.
There are ongoing jihadist insurgencies in Chad, Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger. These are generally attacking Christians, causing large population movements,
Chaucer has launched a new nuclear insurance policy called CyNuC to provide insurance cover for cyberattacks on nuclear power plants. It doesn't include war and hostile state-sponsored action though. I thought this was cool.
Sudan conflict spirals into civil war, if it hadn't already
The US State Department is giving some assistance to Somalia's police to build counterterrorism capacity. state-funded radio show in Poland replaced all its presenters with experimental AI hosts. This initially increased listenership but then sparked backlash.
Another case of the new, more infectious mpox strain (clade 1b) has been detected in the UK, bringing the total confirmed number of cases to four. The cases are all from the same household
Norway invests ~22M USD in global pandemic preparedness
Global pandemic accord negotiations continue
Scientists track emergence of novel H5N1 flu reassortant in Cambodia The novel reassortant virus combines genes from two H5N1 clades and has worrisome mutations, including one linked to adaptation to mammals and airborne transmission. This is kind of the next worrying step between on the way between now and H5N1 being a global pandemic.
UK government to create surveillance system for future pandemics
UK raises avian influenza risk level to high
The US carried a test of its Minuteman III missile, to showcase its nuclear readiness
Looking at the second link about subway surfing, I can't get over how dumb these kids are. We really live in completely different worlds.
Tommy G does great work, thanks for making me aware of him. I just went onto his 'Blood Money: Inside Dallas' Underground Economy' video, it's staggering how these pimps are incapable of spitting out 10 words without 'ya know what I mean?' or 'you know what I'm saying?'. They act in such disgusting ways, practicing something they unironically call 'baboon pimping'. Veteran racists couldn't make this up. This pimp starts shrieking profanities at some fat black whore wandering outside the car the journalist was in, shouting continually and unintelligibly for 30 seconds straight.
What a cultural blemish on the world. What a legal blemish, whores from Oklahomah come to Dallas because the police are too lazy to shut down this massive prostitute drive-through.
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I have seen claims that the norks doing the actual fighting will see a fraction of that while Kim takes the lion's share, but even a fraction of that will go a long way in NK.
Except what could they possibly spend that money on and where? Legally and at home, that is?
From what I read, NK has a bustling grey market.
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Of course, the media, having gotten the whiff of somebody doing something incredibly stupid and dangerous, does the obvious thing - tries to make it look cool to as many people as possible so that they would be inspired to do the same, while pretending to moralize about it. It's impossible to hate them enough.
Ross Scott beat the media to the punch by years, however.
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Addon - NY post isn't reliable, but the story is too good. NK soldiers are [getting hooked on porn](https://nypost.com/2024/11/05/world-news/us-cant-confirm-north-korean-soldiers-in-russia-hooked-on-porn-after-getting-internet-access/.com
The India-Canada relationship has reached a proper boiling point, and the feeling is mutual.
India's frictions with Canada go back 40 years, during Senior Trudeau's reign. The cracks began when Canada refused to extradite or prosecute the terrorists who hijacked Air India Flight 182 (The 2nd most lethal aviation terror attack after 9/11). Since then, Canada has accepted a steady stream of India's-most-wanted, and developed a 'healthy' underworld of Sikh radicals. For the longest time, India took a 'not my problem' approach to this issue, and it became dormant.
That is until Trudeau started acting in a frankly baffling manner that still confuses Indians. First, he invited a wanted terrorist (now refugee in Canada) to be part of his delegation during his visit to India. It's the kind of stuff that propagates Canada's image as an unserious nation. Then he began directly interfering in Indian politics. Then to put the cherry on top, he visited while effective performing a skit about the adventures of brown-face trudeau. It's hard to explain, Trudeau was India's main meme for months. He is now India's unanimously top-hated world leader, more than legitimate adversaries like Xi or Imran Khan. By this point, Hindus were reporting frequent harassment in Canada, Punjab police began tracing crime rings back to Canada and Trudeau's condescending responses made India abandon its 'not my problem' policy on Canada.
The Nijjar fiasco projected this conflict into the stratosphere, but the Camel's back has been broken for a few years now.
This is no over-reaction. The Liberal (Trudeau)-NDP alliance and Modi's India are now permanent adversaries. Canada is headed for a landslide conservative win. The Conservatives & India have historically maintained a neutral stance with each other. And with Trump coming back, I am optimistic that things will quiet down on the India- Canada front. But yeah, we aren't becoming friends again. Within India, the overwhelming opinion on the Canada-Nijjar fiasco is : "We didn't do it. But if we did, that's even better." So, Modi has no incentive to back down. This is amazing PR for him.
It's a classic for a reason
“You can't keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbors. You know, eventually those snakes are going to turn on whoever has them in the backyard.” ― Hillary Rodham Clinton
This is an odd one. A sub-ethnic war (it's active war between 2 tribal groups in the mountains) broke out in India (for 3 years now), and has now spilled over to Myanmar. The refugees are less of concern. The Indian Govt. has done very little to control this vigilante mob of war criminals on either side. The standard thing would be to declare emergency, crack down hard and engage in violent suppression of this separatist uprising. But in the aftermath of Kashmir's first democratic elections since Sec 370 was revoked, Modi has been looking to portray a 'stable India' image. Both sub-ethnicities are minorities with little say in national politics. So, the center has taken a 'not our problem' approach to it. Frankly, it is reckless and embarrassing.
I'm presuming they're migrating to Southern Europe. Marseille, Naples & the Mediterranean are already flooded with immigrants. It's surprising how little right-wing leaders like Meloni have done to limit incoming refugees.
Yes, but also within Africa. Within Africa migration is much easier than moving to another continent.
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Somehow I doubt that either the Russians or the Norks would provide Nork soldiers with unsupervised/unmonitored smartphones with unlimited browser access. Why would they be given smartphones anyway?
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This is likely driven by the realization with the assassination last year of a Sikh activist in Canada that India is not just a wholly subservient partner to the US world order but has its own policy goals that it's willing to defect on its "allies" to achieve.
On another note regarding that document, I find it funny how these documents are talking about how others are doing offensive cyber ops but us here? All defensive, of course.
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Who else is going to hack nuclear power plants? Typical insurance shenanigans.
I don't remember ransomware hitting a power plant specifically, but didn't an east coast gas pipeline network get shut down by one? It's definitely not inconceivable if scammers are willing to paint a big enough target on themselves, or aren't quite aware of what fish they've got on the hook (because they hit the off-site power-sales and distribution office, not the computers for the actual control rods or something)
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