this post was submitted on 13 May 2024
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An image of a Central Committee meeting in Hanoi. Image taken from this article.


General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng implemented an anti-corruption campaign in 2016 called "blazing furnace" in shorthand. Since then, the fire has ripped through both politicians and businesses, up to even the Presidency. Nearly 200,000 party members, 36 Central Committee members, and 50 police/military generals have been disciplined since the initiative began. In 2018, Dinh La Thang, the former party chief of Ho Chi Minh City, became the first sitting Politburo member to be criminally charged, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 2023, President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc was implicated in a corruption scandal and resigned. He was replaced by Võ Văn Thưởng, who was then also caught in a corruption scandal a year later in March 2024, making him the shortest serving President in Vietnamese history. The Presidency is current headed by Võ Thị Ánh Xuân while they find a new President; she also took that role in 2023.

The ousted leaders tend to also be part of the more West-friendly, technocratic faction inside Vietnam, either reflecting how these people also tend to be more easily corrupted, or how the Communist Party is slowly moving away from a foreign policy which allies itself with the West (as Vietnam has comprehensive strategic partnerships with several Western countries), or some combination. Of course, this shouldn't be overstated - Vietnam has maintained a close friendship with China for years, and both incumbent leaders are intimately familiar with anti-corruption campaigns and how and why they must be conducted in order to deliver maximum public benefit.

America clearly desires Vietnam to pick their side, because America strongly desires another vassal state in East Asia like the Philippines, South Korea, and Japan to further encircle and isolate China. And so the headlines and commentary of Western state propaganda like Radio Free Asia, the BBC, WaPo, Business Insider, etc reveal their increasing annoyance with Vietnam's government. They often couch this in the standard "objective" economics language); about how removing leaders who foreign investors were reassured by might mean economic pain for Vietnam ahead. As Bhadrakumar noted in 2023, perhaps the BBC revealed their intentions the best:

Reading Vietnamese politics is always difficult — the Communist Party makes its decisions behind closed doors. But hard-line General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who was given an unprecedented third term at last year’s party congress, appears to be consolidating his authority by ousting senior officials seen as more pro-Western and pro-business. Officially this is all happening in the name of fighting corruption,.. but it’s indicative of a power struggle at the top of the party… the likely rise now of more security-focused officials to the top of the party will be bad news.

Even a quick google search right now will show a bunch of articles by clearly nervous Westerners: Why Vietnam’s Escalating Anti-Corruption Campaign Might Backfire because, as we all know, only authoritarian regimes are vulnerable to things like public opinion and discontent, while Western "democracies" are insulated from such petty phenomena. Leaders here can have disapproval ratings of 60-70% and not even the slightest consequence will happen to them - a real sign of democratic freedom and justice over those primitive regimes in the East! Or, take: ‘Blazing Furnace’ Turns Vietnam Into Another Chinese Province; China turning both Russia and Vietnam into their provinces in just two years was a real diplomatic masterclass. Or, back in 2022: Vietnam's 'blazing furnace' crackdown burns $40 bln off stocks. Not the stocks! Anything but the stocks!

If your actions as a leader are pissing off Bloomberg, you are going in the right direction.


The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you've wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don't worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.

The Country of the Week is Vietnam! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.

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Last week's thread is here.

Israel-Palestine Conflict

If you have evidence of Israeli crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:

UNRWA daily-ish reports on Israel's destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.

English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.

English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.

Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Sources:

Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful. Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.

Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.

Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:

Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.

https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.

Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:

Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.


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[–] VILenin@hexbear.net 34 points 1 year ago (5 children)

So it seems like everyone on the chopper is ultra omega super extremely dead

How does this affect the “hardliner”/not-hardliner political sphere? I mean aside from delusional Shahist gusanos who think this is their chance to restore the monarchy

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[–] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 34 points 1 year ago

Juraj Cintula, Perpetrator of Attack Against Slovak Prime Minister

The first images showed the moment of the alleged attacker's arrest and the premier's vehicle as he left the scene on his way to the hospital.

Local media reported on Wednesday that security forces arrested the alleged perpetrator in the shooting attack on Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico.

The attacker is 71-year-old Juraj Cintula, a writer and founder of a literary club, Slovak media report. They said that the assailant, originally from Levice in the southeast of the country, was a former employee of a private security company and author of a poetry collection.

The first images showed the moment of the alleged attacker's arrest and the premier's vehicle as he left the scene on his way to the hospital.

Official reports confirm the seriousness of the injuries of the president. According to the private broadcaster TV Joj, the attacker hit Fico in the sternum and extremities after shooting four or five times.

The attack occurred in the village of Handlova, about 150 kilometers northeast of the capital Bratislava. Fico was chatting with supporters of his party outside a cultural center when several shots rang out.

Fico was taken by helicopter to the town of Banská Bystrica, about 65 kilometers from Handlova.

Fico, whose Smer-SD party won the general elections last September, has served four times as Prime Minister. In addition to his current term as Prime Minister, Fico also headed the government in 2006-10 and 2012-18.

Following his election, he has generated some contradiction with neighboring Kiev. He has questioned Ukraine's sovereignty and called for a compromise with Russia.

[–] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 34 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Gusanos are seething rn because liberal newspapers are calling Ebrahim Raisi a conservative. The gusanos hate Iran because since 1979, due to sanctions, Iran has been getting closer to leftist leaders and Latin American countries because of trade and diplomatic support for its nuclear program and against sanctions.

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[–] GVAGUY3@hexbear.net 34 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Again, never get on a helicopter. Mainly so I don't have to see a bunch of Iranian monarchists celebrate.

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[–] EmoThugInMyPhase@hexbear.net 33 points 1 year ago

Someone edit Xi at the Nuremberg trials and it’s because he won’t pay foreign investors

[–] Evilphd666@hexbear.net 33 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I saw Rod Stewart in my sleep for some reason last night.

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[–] puff@hexbear.net 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We finally know what "hard landing" means it means everything but the tail blew the fuck up.

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[–] Neptium@hexbear.net 32 points 1 year ago

Lol

USITC VOTES TO CONTINUE INVESTIGATIONS ON FERROSILICON FROM BRAZIL, KAZAKHSTAN, MALAYSIA, AND RUSSIA

The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) today determined that there is a reasonable indication that a U.S. industry is materially injured by reason of imports of ferrosilicon from Brazil, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, and Russia that are allegedly sold in the United States at less than fair value and subsidized by the governments of Brazil, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, and Russia.

Chairman David S. Johanson and Commissioners Rhonda K. Schmidtlein, Jason E. Kearns, and Amy A. Karpel voted in the affirmative.

As a result of the Commission’s affirmative determinations, the U.S. Department of Commerce will continue its investigations of imports of ferrosilicon from Brazil, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, and Russia, with its preliminary countervailing duty determinations due on or about June 21, 2024, and its preliminary antidumping duty determinations due on or about September 4, 2024.

The Commission’s public report Ferrosilicon from Brazil, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, and Russia (Inv. Nos. 701-TA-712-715 and 731-TA-1679-1682 (Preliminary), USITC Publication 5506, May 2024) will contain the views of the Commission and information developed during the investigations.

In another article,

“The onslaught of dumped imports from these countries over the last three years has caused serious harm to the U.S. industry, its workers, and the communities in which we operate,” said Marco Levi, Chief Executive Officer of Ferroglobe PLC. “A successful outcome in these cases will allow us to get back to work on a level playing field.”

Brazil, Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Russia making Amerikkkan lives worse: agony-4horsemen

“American producers can compete with anyone in the world, as long as we’re all playing by the same rules,” said Chris Cobb, CCMA’s plant manager. “Bringing these cases allows us to protect our colleagues, employees, and communities. Fortunately, our country’s trade laws are set up to support fair trade. On behalf of our employees, customers, and colleagues, we look forward to seeing those laws enforced and those who violate our laws held accountable.” - boohoo

[–] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 32 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Iranian Red Crescent says ‘no sign of life’ after President Raisi’s helicopter crash

The head of the agency said that all passengers are believed to have died in the accident.

Muhammad Mukhbar will probably assume as the interim president until new elections are held. Unless theres a coup or something by the army or other group.

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