#Tradle #729 3/6
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https://games.oec.world/en/tradle
The whole affair is called "Lettergate", if you wanna search for it online. I remember the Intercept produced an article on it in 2023: Secret Pakistan Cable Documents U.S. Pressure to Remove Imran Khan. The actual cypher is at the bottom of the article if you just want to look at that, and it's very "Well, you know, if you removed Imran Khan then things would be looking up for our relationship... nudge nudge..." It's clear that the impetus to remove Khan was his generally positive relationship with Russia despite the Ukraine War just then breaking out (it was written in early March). However, Pakistan is kinda forced to have a decent, or at the very least outwardly neutral, relationship with Russia as they need to jointly handle the Afghanistan problem, so it's not as if they can make like Europe and call Putin a meanie poopypants all day. They might have sent weapons to Ukraine, idk, but if they have then they've denied it, which is notable.
The Country of the Week is Pakistan!
Feel free to post or recommend any books, essays, studies, articles, and even stories related to Pakistan!
If you know a lot about the country and want to share your knowledge and opinions, here are some questions to get you started if you wish:
- What is the general ideology of the political elite? Do they tend to be protectionist nationalists, or are they more free trade globalists? Are they compradors put there by foreign powers? Are they socialists with wide support by the population?
- What are the most important domestic political issues that make the country different from other places in the region or world? Are there any peculiar problems that have continued existing despite years or decades with different parties?
- Is the country generally stable? Are there large daily protests or are things calm on average? Is the ruling party/coalition generally harmonious or are there frequent arguments or even threats?
- Is there a particular country to which this country has a very impactful relationship over the years, for good or bad reasons? Which one, and why?
- What are the political factions in the country? What are the major parties, and what segments of the country do they attract?
- Are there any smaller parties that nonetheless have had significant influence? Are there notable separatist movements?
- How socially progressive or conservative is the country generally? To what degree is there equality between men and women, as well as different races and ethnic groups? Are LGBTQIA+ rights protected?
- Give a basic overview of the last 50 or 100 years. What's the historical trend of politics, the economy, social issues, etc - rise or decline? Were they always independent or were they once occupied, and how have things been since independence if applicable?
- If you want, go even further back in history. Were there any kingdoms or empires that once governed the area?
Our literature that we've collected on Pakistan so far includes:
- The Cold War on the Periphery: The United States, India, and Pakistan by Robert J. McMahon (1994).
- The Class Structure of Pakistan by Taimur Rahman (2012).
- Dispatches from Pakistan by Madiha R. Tahir, Qalander Bux Memon, and Vijay Prashad (2014).
- Uprising in Pakistan: How to Bring Down a Dictatorship by Tariq Ali (2018).
Will go through this and add what isn't already there, thank you!
Both of these are awesome, thank you.
This sounds great, will definitely add!
Taking this into account, thank you.
I'll add this as a disclaimer, thank you.
I'll go through these and take what I think is useful, thank you! I'll probably shave off the more sectarian pieces unless I think they're constructive criticism.
I will add all these, thank you!
Your Monday Briefing:
Syphilis treatment drugs are in short supply, and it’s a disease which can spread from pregnant mother to the baby in the womb and often results in death, and if not, in severe deformities. Cases of syphilis are on a dramatic rise even before the shortage of shots. 20 years ago, there were three manufacturers of syphilis shots, and then Pfizer acquired the other two companies, became the sole US supplier, and there are now frequent manufacturing issues.^PP^
Slovakia’s foreign minister met with Lavrov in early March and has faced a lot of criticism from the opposition and the country’s liberal President, Caputova, because diplomacy with your enemies is for pussies and real, heroic men sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives and destroy a country in order to inconvenience a nuclear superpower as much as possible and then actually fail at doing even that, strengthening that nuclear superpower.^BNE^
Armenia is freezing its participation in the CTSO and a permanent exit appears imminent as Armenia blames Russia (not entirely without merit) for their recent defeats. While the US tries to stir up trouble in the Caucasuses to try and weaken Russia and Iran, what’s actually happening is that everybody is banding together against Armenia.^NC^
Putin has proposed a raft of new projects to update the 12 National Projects, which were launched in 2019, in order to improve the conditions of the public. For example, Putin has proposed a six-year long-term financial plan of Russia’s development, as well as progressive tax rates, doubling public and private investment in research and development, new housing construction, support for families with children due to the demographic crisis, extending life expectancy, and so on.^BNE^
A study has found that China will need 6 terawatts of renewables (2 TW of wind and 4 TW of solar) by 2060 to become carbon neutral on time. This is double China’s current energy generation and over five times the generation of the United States. This would also require a large amount of land dedicated to those energy sources.^SCMP^
According to a government official, China’s middle-income population has passed the 500 million mark, or a rise of 100 million over five years.^SCMP^
The Turkish government is keeping a close eye on credit card spending, which has increased 126% year-on-year in January and inflation is at 65%, leading to panic-buys by people ahead of possible measures that would curb that credit spending.^BNE^
With Nigeria in its worst economic crisis in years, with inflation at 30% and the naira at an all-time low against the dollar, citizens are taking food from storage facilities after calls from one of the most powerful trade unions demanded measures to quell hunger. The government is reacting by boosting security rather than distributing food.^AN^
Ghana is planning to establish a $450 million manganese refinery and is banning the export of raw bauxite, and thus refine minerals inside the country and foster economic growth. Ghana is also Africa’s leading gold producer.^BNE^
Haiti has declared a state of emergency and curfew to try and regain control after an explosion of violence over the weekend, with armed gangs storming prisons and releasing those inside. Additionally, there was gunfire towards police stations and the international airport, notably as the Prime Minister Henry was out in Kenya to try and hurry along the deployment of police to Haiti which the US and Canada wants so desperately.^AN^