cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/50731537

Archived

Ever since Frank Dikötter’s first book, The Discourse of Race in Modern China (1992), this prolific star of China studies has challenged conventional truths and broached taboo subjects.

[...]

Yet read as a whole, Dikötter’s body of work does read like a grave indictment of the Communist regime, which is one reason why he is not well-liked by the Chinese authorities.

[...]

If Dikötter has long held a leading position on the Chinese Communist Party’s blacklist, his most recent book will give the authorities no ground to demote him. Red Dawn Over China is a history of the CCP’s rise to power over decades from its obscure origins in the early 1920s to the triumphant end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. To say the least, it was a very bloody affair.

[...]

Those who have read Dikötter will immediately recognise his no-nonsense style, which intersperses dry numbers (thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of deaths) and occasional stories that shed light on how some of these people died. In this book he recounts the story of the CCP’s rise as a non-ending series of crimes, some very meticulously described. Numbers . . . numbers . . . someone gets shot. Numbers . . . numbers . . . someone gets buried alive. Numbers . . . numbers . . . someone gets their head smashed by a rock. Numbers . . . numbers . . . someone gets eaten. Voilà, behold the dawn of Communism.

Dikötter’s general argument is, as he puts it, that “Communism was never popular in China.” It was imposed on the Chinese through systemic, unrelenting violence.

[...]

There was no heroism, no glory, no grassroots enthusiasm for the Communist cause. Just endless brutality perpetrated by a deeply illegitimate movement that never had much of a purchase among the general populace.

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The [new] book is also a valuable reminder that today’s China — the prosperous, technologically advanced superpower — is a country built on a foundation of violence. “Political power,” Mao Zedong argued, “comes out of the barrel of a gun.” A tireless chronicler of the numerous crimes and follies of Chinese Communism, Dikötter once again shows his readers who was pulling the trigger of that gun, and at what cost to the long-suffering Chinese people.

[...]

Two US Navy vessels, the USS Truxtun and the USNS Supply, collided during a ship-to-ship replenishment at sea on Wednesday afternoon.

The incident, which occurred near South America in the Southern Command's area of responsibility, resulted in minor injuries to two personnel who are now in stable condition.

Both ships have been deemed capable of continuing their operations safely, despite the collision.

That is all

What the fuck is a market

As of now, President Volodymyr Zelensky does not plan to announce presidential elections or a referendum on a possible peace deal with Russia on Feb. 24, a source in the President's Office familiar with the matter told the Kyiv Independent on Feb. 11.

The comment came after the Financial Times reported that Kyiv was preparing to hold both votes this spring and that Zelensky could unveil the plan on the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion.

"He wasn't planning to," the source said when asked whether the president would make such an announcement on Feb. 24. "When there's no security, there's nothing else."

“”I have three struggles,” she said. “I am a woman, I am Indigenous and I am on the democratic left. I am working against all of history for the vindication of our historic cause.” She spoke of the need for a “plurinational” state that recognised the rights of self-governance among diverse groups. (Something similar has been implemented, with complications and backlash, into the constitutions of Bolivia and Ecuador.)

“Sonia Gutiérrez is a lawyer of the Poqomam Maya people from the highlands south-west of the capital. As the only Indigenous woman among the 160 seats in the Guatemalan parliament, she is arguably the highest-ranking Maya in the country. “Our political system has never represented the reality of our nation,” she said to me in her office a few blocks south of the National Palace.

“Gutiérrez is the current leader of the Winaq party, founded by Rigoberta Menchú who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for her efforts to end Guatemala’s civil war and achieve post-conflict reconciliation. “Our telling of history needs to change, and our society needs to change,” said Gutiérrez. “Our vision goes back to the time before colonialism. We must be seen not as alien people, but as living in our country where our ancestors used to live.””

The contribution in question: https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/pull/31132

The developer's comment:

Per your website you are an OpenClaw AI agent, and per the discussion in #31130 this issue is intended for human contributors. Closing.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has selected his daughter as his heir, South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers on Thursday.

Kim Ju Ae - who is believed to be 13 - has in recent months been pictured beside her father in high-profile events like a visit to Beijing in September, her first known trip abroad.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it took a "range of circumstances" into account including her increasingly prominent public presence at official events" in making this assessment.

It is sadly not a satire article and comment section there has taken it quite seriously as well.

I would have posted an archive.org snapshot instead but the latter refuses to crawl the site due to pay wall restrictions.

Archived at https://archive.ph/zLJdz

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/47322193

Social media-savvy, young swing voters are emerging as a key demographic for political parties and some digital platformers are trying to curb the adverse impact of disinformation and fake news on Generation Z by sharing tips ahead of Sunday's general election.

Around 20 junior high and high school students participated in a recent workshop held in Tokyo designed to help them understand the importance of knowing where information comes from and accessing primary sources, as the emergence of deepfakes has made things complicated.

The participants, working in groups, discussed how to determine whether information is reliable, using real-life examples such as an image created by generative artificial intelligence, a composite made from multiple photos, and misleading edits and content. They also learned about the risks posed by fake accounts.

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According to a survey conducted by LY Corp., the operator of the Line messaging app and organizer of the event, 87 percent of the respondents said they believed they had seen and heard disinformation or misinformation while 54 percent said they may have been influenced by such information. Some 88 percent pointed to a lack of efforts to raise awareness of, and provide information on, disinformation and misinformation.

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While major parties count on the benefits of social media, they are also alarmed by their negative side. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has requested platform operators to respond swiftly if asked to delete harmful information in the run-up to the nationwide election.

"Fake news has become a social issue," said Narumichi Oyama, a manager at LY.

..

Archive link

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/58968307

I listen to podcasts through Apple but I’m sure you can find this episode somewhere else too.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/58968661

The Seapeak Glasgow tanker loaded a cargo from the Zhejiang Ningbo terminal in late January and was headed south toward Singapore, signaling Europe as its next destination, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Vessel tracking firm Kpler also showed the ship heading to the continent.

The Seapeak Glasgow tanker loaded a cargo from the Zhejiang Ningbo terminal in late January and was headed south toward Singapore, signaling Europe as its next destination, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Vessel tracking firm Kpler also showed the ship heading to the continent.

Source

Referendum on immigration limit could threaten EU agreements and cripple economy, say Swiss businesses

Switzerland will vote this summer on a proposal from the far-right Swiss People’s party (SVP) to limit the country’s population to 10 million, a move that would threaten key agreements with the EU and, opponents say, cripple the economy.

The government said on Wednesday the referendum on the SVP’s “No to a 10 million Switzerland” initiative, which is strongly opposed by both chambers of parliament and the business and financial services community, would be held on 10 June.

The initiative would oblige the Swiss government and parliament to act if the country’s permanent population, currently 9.1 million, exceeds 9.5 million by denying entrance to newcomers, including asylum seekers and the families of foreign residents.

Some 58% of respondents said they would rather or strongly support such talks, a survey conducted by the YouGov institute on behalf of dpa found. Just 26% opposed the idea.

Departure boards for Frankfurt and Munich, Lufthansa's hubs in Germany, showed most flights were cancelled for the day, including to overseas destinations.