Gele

passionate about politics and finance, a believer in the fair go & assisting people in need. Tweet in MKD sometimes

[Gele @Gele_c]

Reminds me of my youth of having them on on Ohrid Lake foreshore with my parents (minus the lemon) 😀

[Nassim Nicholas Taleb @nntaleb]

Mediterranean friture North Lebanon style.

[Sid Lowe @sidlowe]

This World Cup is also being played in Mexico and Canada. Assuming he would be allowed to enter(?), FIFA could surely at least make a point of him refereeing games there.

[Gele @Gele_c]

You are some peasant from some backwater area that has a massive chip on his shoulders hence the need to say how many countries you have visited (in transit doesn’t count) my family or a serbs family can easily tell the history of 4 generations prior without prompting

[JuanSanchez @JuanSanchez0x0]

Serbia first impressions: won't be going back

I spent last week in Serbia following my "Egypt rule": short stays in new countries in case they totally suck. And, it sucked. Oh well.

The good: the women are beautiful. When was the last time you saw an attractive woman in the US work behind a counter? 2003? Beautiful women in the US might as well be wearing hijabs, because you never see them in public. In Serbia, 8/10's are everywhere. We need to bring back cigarettes & fat shaming.

The bad: everything else.

The food: they love cevapi (minced meat rolled into sausage shapes). It's flavorless beef with a few onions on pita. Smoking countries often have trash food because they can't taste anything, so this was expected.

The history: shockingly nonexistent, but how? 2 world wars started here. Communism's rise & fall. Dictator to democracy. Yugoslavia's break-up. And... nothing. There's no evidence any of this happened, no one recorded anything. Many countries, you don't even have to try to find history. In Tirana (Albania), military bunkers from the dictator are scattered throughout the city. They've been converted into museums, art galleries, and bars. You'll find them just by walking. We took a few tours in Serbia. Nothing.

Belgrade: absolute shithole. Everything smells like pee (because they pee in the streets). Bad internet. Loud. Dirty. Hot, AC didn't work well at either of our stays. Last night was the first good night's sleep I had in a week. I was like a zombie.

The people: these are the nicest retards you'll ever meet.

Our first AirBnb smelled like pee (a problem with all Belgrade garden apartments since they pee in the street). I don't know how the host didn't recognize this, but she refunded us 100%. We checked into a hotel.

I went to get a pizza to-go since the food sucks. It took forever, and then the owner discovered he didn't have any more pizza boxes. So, I went home with the wooden board from the restaurant. That I then had to return with a 20 minute walk later.

A tour guide took us to a restaurant that only took cash (which our guide knew we didn't have!). So, our guide had to pay for our meal, we said we'd pay him back. Problem: that cash was our gas money. Our guide didn't tell us until we ran out of gas. 🤡

Serbians are some of the warmest, most welcoming people you'll ever meet. Also some of the dumbest.

The culture lives to drink & smoke. I drink occasionally, and never smoke. Thus, the country doesn't have much to offer me.

[Gele @Gele_c]

That was the case in WA from 2010 to 2020
No one that had a PR property decided to sell as it was irrelevant to them, they had a roof over their heads. Look at those same people,property gone up in value x2

[Interested Onlooker @michaelsnape]

You buy a house for $500,000 with a $25,000 deposit (5% equity) and a $475,000 loan.

The price falls by 5% so your home is now worth $475,000. You still owe $475,000 and your equity is now $0.

You better hope and prayer house prices only ever go up in Australia.

[Gele @Gele_c]

In the Balkans it is the mythical “promaja” draft that seems to be the cause of all ailments known to man. ACs are the main culprit nowadays

[Robert Anderson @ProfRobAnderson]

I see Euro A/C is in the discourse again. One time I was working for a summer in a law firm in France and I was miserable in the heat. When I asked the partner why they didn't have A/C he said, "It's bad for the lungs," as he took a long drag from his cigarette.

[Gele @Gele_c]

I think this guy deserves a new yeti @YETICoolers and from experience they are made tough

[Josie Stratman @JosieStratman]

Mayor Mamdani is celebrating off-duty FDNY Travis Langan — who punched a hole (!) in a BK woman’s car roof to save her from dangerous floodwaters in Wednesday’s rainstorm.

“I saw her face pressed up against the sunroof, and I just started punching, punching my way through.”

[Gele @Gele_c]

Dve crveni

[MFA Bulgaria Watch @MFABGWatch]

🇧🇬🇪🇺 Bulgarian FM delivered one of the clearest institutional responses so far regarding Sofia’s position on North Macedonia's EU accession path, reaffirming that Bulgaria considers the July 2022 European Consensus fully binding and rejects any attempt to reinterpret or bypass it.

In a formal parliamentary reply to MP, the Bulgarian MFA stated that implementation of the 2022 compromise remains a “priority task” and confirmed that Sofia continues to strictly follow the decisions adopted by the Bulgarian National Assembly in June 2022 and May 2025 regarding Skopje’s EU integration process.

The response directly addresses growing efforts from within North Macedonia to challenge the legal and political status of the so-called Second Protocol under Article 12 of the 2017 Friendship Treaty — a document Bulgaria insists is an inseparable component of the EU negotiating framework agreed under the French Presidency compromise in July 2022.

According to the MFA, Bulgaria “categorically opposes” any attempt by Skopje to renegotiate, circumvent or reinterpret the commitments already accepted as part of the European Consensus.

The ministry revealed that all available institutional and diplomatic channels have been mobilized in defense of Bulgaria’s position, including bilateral diplomacy, EU-level coordination and outreach through Bulgarian embassies across EU member states and in Skopje.

The reply also provides rare insight into the operational diplomatic strategy currently being employed by Sofia.

According to the ministry:

• Bulgaria’s Permanent Representation to the EU maintains regular dialogue with EU institutions involved in enlargement policy;

• Sofia systematically reports cases of discrimination, institutional pressure and judicial actions targeting citizens of North Macedonia identifying as Bulgarians;

• Bulgarian diplomats actively brief EU member states, the and the on the state of fundamental rights concerning the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia;

• The MFA regularly circulates written diplomatic non-papers to European partners detailing developments in the accession process and what Sofia describes as attempts to deviate from the agreed framework.

The ministry further confirmed that Bulgaria submitted its official contribution to the upcoming 2026 European Commission progress report on North Macedonia, including assessments regarding implementation failures related to the 2017 Friendship Treaty and the associated bilateral protocols.

Sofia also stated it continues to advocate for what it calls an “objective” annual European Parliament report on North Macedonia’s progress.

The response is politically significant because it demonstrates that Bulgaria’s current government is maintaining full continuity with the 2022 French-brokered compromise and intends to firmly anchor the dispute within the EU institutional framework rather than treat it as a bilateral issue.

The MFA explicitly reiterated that, from Bulgaria’s perspective, the matter ceased being a bilateral dispute in 2022 and is now part of the official accession architecture between the EU and a candidate country.

The letter also signals that protection of the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia remains elevated to the level of a core foreign policy priority for Sofia.

[Gele @Gele_c]

The first oil embargo in the 70s destroyed US car industry that was egotistical, the Japanese took advantage and built small cheap cars that people liked, now the Japanese carmakers have become like the old US ones, arrogant and self centered, guess what the Chinese will succeed

[Nikkei Asia @NikkeiAsia]

Why are Australians increasingly buying BYD cars instead of Toyota vehicles?
https://t.co/ds2VPT5yx2

[A Rational Fear @ARationalFear]

A Budget Reply Speech from
Dr. Rich Kahnt. #auspol

[Stephen Spencer @sspencer_63]

In this scenario a 19 year old is getting $60,000 a year. Do the people who do these examples ever realise how absurd they look to the other 99% of the population? And how they just reinforce the need for this crap to be stopped?

[Gele @Gele_c]

In other words dad being the sole income earner pays the correct tax like every other person that works up in the mines or anywhere else. People who don’t have the luxury for dodging they taxed by working behind a trust and distributing income to daughter and wife who do f all

[Noel Whittaker @NoelWhittaker]

I'm running numbers on family trusts. If the trust owned by mum, dad, and 19-year-old daughter earns $180,000 a year and they distribute $60,000 to each the tax will be three times $9,000 = $27000. At 30% flat, it's $54,000. That's double - The only way out is to change distributions to wages, but they must be able to justify the wage. It's a shameful attack on business

[Gele @Gele_c]

In the past was 25.5%
Fucken rounding error

[Steve Holland @StevePHolland]

If a young renter madly saving for their first home buys some shares with their after tax wage and (over time) makes a $50K gain on the share market, they'll pay 30+% tax. If a home owner's house increases by $50K in value over the same period and they sell to upsize, no tax.

[Gele @Gele_c]

Are you that fucken stupid not realising that her full income goes into rent and lives on instant noodles , lucky if she lives at home not paying rent and has money to go out and socialise with friends. How do i know that, i have a kid at her age, f off you fuckwith

[Tarric Brooker aka Avid Commentator 🇦🇺 @AvidCommentator]

This is Emily (hypothetical).

She is 22 years old and works part time at a supermarket while at uni, she is very frugal and puts most of her pay into index fund ETF's.

When she sells those she will be slugged at 30% minimum capital gains tax, despite being a low income earner.

[Gele @Gele_c]

@DavidSacks Depreciation in the number of years using latest assumptions for CUPs
And when do you have to install brand new chips

[Gele @Gele_c]

@themongrelpunt Spends the whole week thinking what superlative word/sentence i can use when the camera is in on me and they can go on loop on SEN for the whole week, end everyone on SEN commenting on it and saying how great he is. Trying so hard to copy Cometti/McAvaney
Is embarrassing

[Gele @Gele_c]

A person with a chip on his shoulder will say this

[Бог и Кинжали ☦ 🇷🇸 🇷🇺 @brveljkovic]

@AngRadulovic Why would someone move from Belgrade, to such a shitty place, in the middle of nowhere, like Perth?

[Gele @Gele_c]

@HustleBitch_ Isnt it the case that Swatch supplies parts to 80% of the industry, so they are sll the same basically to begin with
Its just marketing
Deserve to be smashed
Same for the diamonds monopoly

[Gele @Gele_c]

Isn’t the case in the EU that almost 100% of them have compulsory National ID Cards  that have to be used by the individual for any dealing with the state. Do we have anything similar to it in Australia ? No. What do you suggest, live to hear your take on it

[Peter Brent @mumbletwits]

Easily a majority of advanced democracies have voter ID. (It doesn't have to be American partisan crap. No dec votes in America.)
But most advanced democracies are in Europe, use national ID cards.
4/4

[Gele @Gele_c]

Went to ASX seminar at WALibrary in Perth and was around the time WES bought Coles, implied deal was a stinker WES had no skills to turnaround Coles let slone kmart he mentioned that an implied price for WES was high teens and sell them at current mid 30s. So fn arrogant he was

[Mark Gardner @markgardn]

@TopEndRooster In Rogers defense, that was most of the industry in the 90s 🤣