Francesco de Sanctis

Insegno matematica. Post-keynesiano in economia. Chomskyano in geopolitica. Previano in filosofia. Singeriano sui diritti animali. RT = interessante

[Francesco de Sanctis @_de_Sanctis_]

@EristocracyTV It means uprising against an occupying power that is denying your people's right to self-determination, that has been ethnically cleansing your people for the past 70+ years and is presently starving your children to death
https://t.co/nQra18gZtc

[Medical Aid for Palestinians @MedicalAidPal]

"This is the fastest decline in a population's nutrition status ever recorded. That means children are being starved at the fastest rate the world has ever seen."

@melanie_ward speaks with @IsaCNN about the catastrophic levels of hunger that Israel's blockade is causing in Gaza

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

This is properly insane: quite literally the worst example of censorship I've ever heard of anywhere.

I checked the actual ruling (which you can see here: https://t.co/dBKFWZ2ZWm) and, to be clear, it isn't just censorship in the conventional sense - blocking access to a website or removing content from platforms - this is the criminalization of information relayed by private citizens, with prison sentences attached.

And the most insane aspect if that it does NOT matter if the information relayed is accurate or not. It just matters that it originates from RT or other media outlets banned in the EU.

In other words, truth isn't a defense anymore in the EU, it literally doesn't matter. It's purely based on the identity of the speaker.

The ruling is actually explicit about this: the regulation, quoted by the Court says that the prohibition applies to "any content," and they draw no distinction based on what the content actually says. If it originates from banned outlets, it's banned.

It is, quite simply, a complete unraveling of the entire post-Enlightenment legal and philosophical project where entire generations of Europeans fought to move from "who says it" to "is it true" as the operative question.

Think about the absurdity of it: if RT publishes a video saying the sky is blue and you share it on a publicly accessible website in the EU, you'd fall within the scope of this ruling, making you liable to criminal prosecution.

Completely and utterly absurd. But that's the EU today for you 🤷

[Clash Report @clashreport]

WATCH: Iran appears to have paired each foreign delegation at Khamenei's funeral with a politically targeted Quranic verse.

Saudi Arabia received a verse about two armies meeting in battle, one believing, one not.

Türkiye got a verse elevating those who fight over those who "sit."

The Lebanese government heard a verse about people refusing to sacrifice if asked.

Hezbollah was told "do not weaken or grieve — you are superior."

Hamas received the verse honoring men who fulfilled their covenant with God, "some have died, others are waiting."

Yemen's Houthis got a verse praising believers who fought without weakening.

Qatar received a verse about forgiveness and divine favor, read as a nod to its mediating role.

[Michael Pettis @michaelxpettis]

WSJ: "Germany’s famously open economy was its greatest economic asset, delivering almost 20 years of uninterrupted growth and turning it into one of the biggest winners of globalization."

I think I would have framed this differently.

Germany's trade competitiveness for a long time was based on its ability both to suppress household income growth relative to productivity growth (as it did, for example, after the 2003-5 Hartz reforms), and to keep its currency cheap (as it did, for example, through adoption of the euro).

Under our current form of globalization, in other words, we experience an example of the Kalecki paradox, in which wage-suppression policies that allow one country to grow faster than its trade partners are actually bad for overall global growth – to the extent, anyway, that consumer demand drives investment among its trade partners.

In this system, all countries are under pressure to suppress wage growth in order to expand manufacturing and retain manufacturing employment, but the "winner" is the one who is able to do it most effectively.

For many years, when much of China's high saving was directed into domestic investment, Germany was one of the main winners from this system. But as Chinese investment became increasingly unproductive, Beijing began trying to rein in the debt needed to fund so much unproductive investment.

This process, of course, took off after the 2021-22 property crash, and once that happened, Germany's ability to benefit from the Kalecki paradox evaporated, as it quickly became one of the main losers of the system.

The point is that the problem isn't China. The real problem is a system that rewards countries for implementing policies that undermine overall global growth. The good news is that for many years, when Germany was able to exploit the global trade regime, it was also one of the greatest defenders of this system. Now that it is on the losing side, German policymakers are increasingly recognizing how damaging a system it is.

There is nothing new about this. If you read the economic debates between the UK and the US in the 1920s, a period when US productivity soared even as wages remained stagnant, it was the UK that complained about the trade imbalances. The US insisted that its huge trade surplus was simply the consequence of more efficient manufacturing techniques and harder-working people. The US of course abandoned that argument in the 1970s, when it lost its trade surplus.

In the economic debates of the 1980s, it was the US who complained about trade imbalances, and Japan who insisted (what else?) that its huge trade surplus was the result of more efficient manufacturing techniques and harder-working people. No one in Japan makes such a silly claim anymore.

In the 2000s, of course, Germany rather patronizingly explained to the rest of Europe that if only they could become as efficient in manufacturing and as hard-working as the Germans, they too would be in just as good a shape. So much for that claim.

Meanwhile our trading system continues to reward policies that depress global growth by putting downward pressure on wage growth, or that, alternatively, force the world to encourage rapid increases in debt in order to counter the impact of lower wage growth.

That is why the real solution isn't a global alliance against China. While this may help defuse current tensions, it won't change a system that will continue to reward bad behavior – i.e. household income-suppressing policies – by allowing countries to externalize the costs of this bad behavior through large, persistent trade surpluses. And this means that it will continue to support increases in income inequality within countries.
https://t.co/9g6zh3ET99

[Glenn Diesen @Glenn_Diesen]

Our media will not show these NATO-funded military recruiters in Ukraine, as the public would start to question why "standing with Ukraine" translates into boycotting diplomacy and fighting to the last Ukrainian in the NATO proxy war.

[Mouin Rabbani @MouinRabbani]

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s this clown would have demanded that democrats support the saturation bombing of Southeast Asia because unlike the United States, the governments of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos had never conducted properly democratic elections.

Throughout the 1980s he would have demanded that African-American democrats support apartheid South Africa because in contrast to many African countries the white-minority regime had a functioning parliament and tolerated several opposition parties.

In 2003 he would have asked those espousing democratic values: "How can you oppose the invasion of Iraq when Saddam Hussein has never permitted competitive elections and killed so many of his opponents?"

Etc.

[471TO @TOzgokmen]

GROUND WAR:

Seems like CIA coup, with the downstream objective of clearing the way to organize ground operations against Iran from Iraq.

Iraq is the only country suitable to stage ground ops against Iran... No other GCC will work. Sea-to-land invasions have 25% losses of troops in the first week, on average.

My thinking is that some kind of combined US-Kurdish-Iraqi invasion of Iran from Iraq is being prepared now to grab Iran's oil.

Iraq and Kurds will provide the main volume of troops, with US contributing 50k (already there).

MOU period is being used to arrange of all this...

[Falastin Flip @TOliveFern]

“since ceasefire”

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

This is unreal. Italian journalist Gabriele Nunziati was just fired for asking EU officials this question: "You’ve been repeating several times that Russia should pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Do you believe that Israel should pay for the reconstruction of Gaza since they have destroyed almost all its civilian infrastructure?"

Nunziati's employer, Italy's Nova news agency, called the question "completely inappropriate and based on a mistaken premise."

I for one think it's a logical question that calls out obvious double standards 🤷‍♂️

But of course it's easier to do it the EU way: brand uncomfortable questions as heretical thought crimes, excommunicate the questioner, and preserve the faith. We've done that a few times in our history.

[Jostein Hauge @haugejostein]

This utter bullshit by the CTO of Palantir, Shyam Sankar, needs to be called out.

The US never offered China “peaceful coexistence.” The US wanted China subordinated. They wanted China’s cheap labour inserted into their supply chains and its cheap goods to flow into the US market.

The US actually got this extremely lucrative deal for decades, draining value from the Chinese economy.

Sankar says that “No country did more for Chinese prosperity than America.” In reality, it’s closer to the opposite.

The electronics giant Apple is the perfect case in point. Apple has made a fortune in China: $227 billion in operating profit over the past 10 years, which accounts for over a quarter of its total operating profit during this period.

US consumers have also benefited hugely from China’s integration into the global economy: the price of manufactured goods imported into the US has declined massively relative to US consumer prices in non-traded sectors between the 1980s and 2010s — in some instances by more than 40%.

The only “crime” China has committed is developing its economy, cleverly using international trade and foreign investment to their benefit. And this is exactly what Palantir’s CTO, Shyam Sankar — and so many others in the US ruling class — has an issue with.

The US government is now throwing everything but the kitchen sink at China in an attempt to halt China's economic development. Why? Because China is doing exactly the one thing the US has never been willing to accept: sovereign, independent development that isn’t subservient to US interests.

In some ways, it’s good that we’re exposed to views like Sankar’s — however much he distorts reality — because the mask is finally off. It’s now clear as day that Sankar and his allies in the US ruling class will only accept a global economic order controlled and dominated by the US.

[Bruno Maçães @MacaesBruno]

Israel killed a bus full of children in Gaza today

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇨🇳 CHINA BROKE THE SKY WITH 11,787 DRONES

Chongqing, China just pulled off the wildest drone light show the world has ever seen.

A jaw-dropping 11,787 drones lit up the night sky, setting a new Guinness World Record.

The drones moved together to create glowing shapes like a giant running kid and swirling clouds above tall buildings.

It looked more like a Pixar dream than something real.

Fireworks could never.

Source: @MarchUnofficial

[Megatron @Megatron_ron]

NEW:

🇮🇱 Israeli minister of Finanace Smotrich gives Palestinians the choice to emigrate (most likely to Europe) or starve to death

If Hamas surrenders: 'exile of group from Strip, free emigration of residents, full operational control by Israel in Gaza forever'

If refuses: 'siege on Gaza City, stopping humanitarian aid, Gaza annexation'

[Dr Rahmeh Aladwan @doctor_rahmeh]

The UK 'israel' lobby has pressured my government and medical board into referring me to a tribunal hearing to try and suspend me for opposing genocide. This is Britain. We are occupied.

Hi. My name is Rahmeh. I am a part-Palestinian British NHS doctor. I am facing the suspension of my medical licence. This is not the result of any professional failure, but the outcome of a coordinated lobbying campaign against me because of my public stance against the genocide in Gaza being carried out with my tax pounds.

I march—having attended over 300 protests in the last 23 months—advocate and educate online, and have taken direct action.

For this, the 'israel' lobby has:
-defamed me in the papers
-complained to my medical board (@gmcuk)—resulting in a nine-month investigation that I won
- held my career back by two years
- had my Instagram suspended
- threatened my family and friends,

and complained to the GMC again. Dissatisfied that I continue to advocate, they pressured the British government and the GMC to refer me directly to an Interim Orders Tribunal (IOT) (@the_mpts) to try to suspend me and revoke my medical license, bypassing the normal investigative process by claiming it is 'in the public interest'.

Their goal is to force me into silence by taking my career and income.

I have lost more than 50 friends in Gaza. My friends have had 20 to 100 members of their families murdered by the IOF.

Our careers are not worth more than Palestinian lives. 'israel' bombed a hospital twice, live on air, murdering journalists and medics—this very week. My friend, a medical student, was thrown across the hospital by the blast but thankfully survived. The IOF have slaughtered over 1,900 Palestinian medics.

The UK 'israel' lobby is trying to suspend me because I am against its genocidal entity and the jewish supremacy (zionism) that empowers this lobby to do this to me and my fellow Brits. My British Health Secretary, @wesstreeting—who has taken £70,000 from the lobby—regularly meets with them but refuses to meet British healthcare workers. He even blocked me on Instagram after I tagged him in a post asking for a meeting to address these attacks.

If they suspend me, it will be to shield 'israel' at the expense of the British public. I'm not the first and I won't be the last doctor they have done this to.

We must free Britain from the corrupt influence of the 'israel' lobby, which undermines our freedom, our democracy, our sovereignty, and our humanity.

We will not stop. We will fight. We will win.

FREE PALESTINE🇵🇸 FREE BRITAIN🇬🇧

[Luke Devlin @geopoetic]

Paul Laverty's post-release statement shows his legal training and deep humanity. He must have run rings around them in the police station. Not a hint of terrorism, violent intent or antisemitism on display here. Surely the charge cannot stand.

[James Jackson @derJamesJackson]

Today is a good day to remember that Anne Applebaum wrote that Palestinian media is a legitimate target

[Quds News Network @QudsNen]

Palestinian women confronted Israeli settlers as they raided their land near Al-Mughayyir village, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

[Paul Graham @paulg]

My God. Each pair of shoes is a child's life.

[Mairav Zonszein מרב זונשיין @MairavZ]

76% of Jewish Israelis believe there are no innocents in Gaza (42% fully and 34% partially). This includes a majority who voted for “opposition” parties. In other words, a genocidal society

[Michael McNair @michaeljmcnair]

Here’s something that grinds my gears. People mistakenly believe China has tons of excess power. People post charts of Chinese power generation, while assuming the US is lagging behind bc of a lack of generation. Do they not realize that’s a chart of power DEMAND? China and the US generate roughly what they consume. Neither is exporting gigawatts abroad. US power generation has been flat bc US power demand has been flat for over a decade, not bc we’re not adding capacity.
And let’s ignore the confusion bw energy and power for a min (bc the US being, by far, the biggest hydrocarbon producer in the world will really blow peoples minds).
But go ask Chinese EAF mills or aluminum smelters if China has a lot of excess power. They had to kick bitcoin miners off their grid free up capacity (and guess where all those miners moved to…the USofA).
It was only a few yrs ago that a Chinese power crisis, and widespread power rationing, caused global supply chains to grind to halt. I guess most people don’t even realize that was the reason for all of the shortages. But I wrote a paper on it if anyone’s interested.

[Archie Hall @ArchieHall]

My latest in @TheEconomist: on America's data-centre boom.

Vast short-run impact on GDP growth:
— Accounts for ~1/6th of growth over the past year
— And ~1/2 of growth over the past six months

But: so far still much smaller than the 1990s dotcom buildout.

And...