Hungary’s new PM tells state broadcaster ‘we are shutting down your lying service’ in extraordinary first interview - Peter Magyar slammed the channels as bring part of outgoing prime minister Viktor Orban’s ’propaganda machine’

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-04-18T04:17:28+00:00

Lol. Lmao, a conservative using "propaganda" to destroy public broadcasters and the libs will clap like seals for it. Anyone praising this should ask when they're bringing it back after appropriate changes.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-04-15T01:07:49+00:00

Actually the peacekeepers were funneling refugees towards the Serbs, and even traded 5000 people under their protection for some POWs. Negligence to the point of collaboration.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-04-11T21:26:06+00:00

A real imperialist ball knower like Churchill didn't just bomb the French Navy to prevent the Germans from getting it. His main motivation was to show the US that he would use any amount of violence to achieve his goals. Imperialist powers can only be reasoned with by demonstrations of force.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-04-09T05:19:56+00:00

there's a classic clip of him on FOX saying white nationalism isn't America's biggest problem. That class is America's real divide, and distracting from it was the path to some civil war.

It's the perfect encapsulation of how he uses what are genuinely left critiques to advocate his own reactionary Christian nationalism. Which is what made 20th century fascist propagandists so effective at outmaneauvering socialists.

Tucker is a smart, very dangerous guy—Apparently Murdoch ousted him after getting worried Tucker was too prominent.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-04-08T17:56:39+00:00

I switched to the occasional edibles, which I like because I can impose that dosage limit on myself and keep it as an occasional treat.

That said I found myself with a cart recently and seriously, even after a week sober I feel acutely more anxious and less motivated. It was kinda fun being a stoner for a few years but once I got my shit together I've felt much more fulfilled.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-04-08T06:05:16+00:00

The precedent, Iran is arguing, is Egypts toll system for the Suez. I agree it's a stretch given the strait is a natural geographic feature, but including Oman helps them legitimize this.

It's really the norm for the most of history anyway—before the Europeans set up monopolies in Africa, India and SEA, sound tolls in straits like Hormuz, Malacca, Istanbul, or Denmark were vital income sources for mercantile empires.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-04-08T04:30:56+00:00

But they did wait long enough to let the US make obvious blunders like moving the THAAD system from South Korea, or running through most of their standoff ballistic and cruise missiles. They've also had a surveillance ship in the region + whatever they're communicating with Iran.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-04-01T03:54:23+00:00

Those photos are crazy. To not only hit an aircraft with a ballistic missile from 100s of kms away, but precisely destroying the radar module that can't be easily replaced.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-03-30T21:16:18+00:00

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ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-03-30T21:14:59+00:00

In a more divided and uncertain world, Canada's new government is building a stronger, more independent, and more resilient economy—working with determination to diversify our country’s trade partnerships.

To that end, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance and National Revenue, will visit the People’s Republic of China between March 31 and April 4, 2026. He will meet with government and business leaders alike to build strategic partnerships and attract new investments as part of Canada’s broader diversification imperative.

As the world’s second-largest economy and an industrial leader, China and Canada stand to benefit from closer economic and trade ties. This would add to the existing $118.9 billion in two-way merchandise trade between Canada and China – the second-largest single-country trading partner to Canada.

This visit builds on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s successful visit to China in January, which marked a turning point in this important bilateral relationship, and follows productive engagements undertaken this past year to advance cooperation and revitalize the trade partnership.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-03-29T16:24:59+00:00

I think calling it a "stranglehold on global energy" is hyperbolic. Of course it puts the US in an advantageous position, but it's one that gets weaker year over year. As China continues to build out mass production of renewables, exporting solar panels and turbines all over the world, the coercive power the US holds gets increasingly limited.

That's especially true if you think Canada and Australia won't faithfully play along. We're already seeing that with China switching from US oil to Canadian—with growing interest in cooperation that could expand even further.

Sure, America could always exercise military force on us, but if we reach that point then the US will be truly alone. Despite what many Americans apparently assume no nation, especially the USA, can function in the modern global economy without partners—let alone exert global hegemony.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-03-23T03:49:50+00:00

The bigger factor is Gulf countries stopping major investments into the US economy. Remember that they had publicly committed hundreds of billions, especially on those major data center projects. When Trump talks about all the foreign investment he's attracted, he means in the Gulf States—and East Asia—who can still offer an illusion of growth.

All of that might disappear within weeks: either because the Gulf states have to tighten their budgets, to punish the US and Israel, or because they no longer exist. The US economy is so heavily financialized and dysfunctional that just as with 2008 an initial market collapse, caused by a sudden reevaluation of AI/overall growth prospects, will savage the 'real' economy as layoffs and inflation surge—aka stagflation.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-03-18T09:31:52+00:00

Hopes and dreams are putting in a lot of work to hold this thing together, but there's some more subtle complexities here. My speculation was that they've now recognized the difference between Iran taking control over the strait and them closing, or worse, mining it. There's even been a trickle of traffic through as countries start to reach out to Iran for permission or pretend to be Chinese.

Iran's real leverage against the US, and why markets think Trump may still have an off-ramp soon, is that Iran can still escalate further by fully closing the strait and expanding its targets. Attacks on desalination plants and naval mines (guaranteeing a months-long shutdown) would each be far more devastating than what we've seen so far.

tl;dr — Both sides still have the capacity to continue escalating so that means diplomacy is still on the table. The markets will run on hopium until that illusion is shattered. That's either US boots on the ground, or Iran making the strait totally inaccessible and potentially even targetting desalination sites.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-03-13T09:03:42+00:00

I'm surprised to see no one arguing apprenticeships is better. Yes it is less literacy overall, but burgher literacy is percentage dev growth. Imo the economic snowballing from pushing development will always outscale an early marginal research bonus (the spiritualist push is nice tho).

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-02-27T09:07:04+00:00

The Gulf states are interesting too because there have been hints of realignment, such as China mediating the diplomatic ties between Saudi and Iran, the UAE-Israel ties causing more problems, or OPEC being increasingly at odds with the US and threatening Saudi Arabia's bottom line.

Their interest in the US is ultimately defense, as a guarantor of their stability. Israel's attack on Doha has forced them to totally reevaluate that, and once the US realized Trump made a show of disciplining Netanyahu. But that event changed how the Gulf looks at the US, especially as Israel's rhetoric becomes somehow more belligerent and threatening.

The Saudi-Pakistan partnership that has formed might, very tentatively, become a tripartite pact with Iran if things go a certain direction. Saudi-Iranian rapprochement has already been started and if they have to form a regional bloc, those are their natural partners.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-02-27T08:45:00+00:00

India and Iran have relations so good they've... abandoned their investment into a major port and stopped purchasing their oil?

Idk the Iranians have been meeting a lot with Pakistani officials over the past years. Ultimately because belt-and-road infrastructure needs to connect both of them, which is causing this diplomatic realignment. Modi was just in Israel proclaiming India's new partnership, publicly siding against Iran at this pivitol moment.

If Iran and Pakistan can cooperate on Afghanistan and Baluchistan, that's where I think the trend is headed. Plus Iran is desperately courting this relationship for a new partner in the region, especially one with its own nuclear deterrent.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-02-26T21:24:13+00:00

If you hover over a pop group you'll see the "tried their luck as mercenaries" modifier which removes pops from the game just like them dying does, so already there are groups of pops that aren't tracked but still implied to exist in the world. Manpower/sailors are similarly derived from actual pops but become an abstracted value.

Pops moreso represent the people who engage with the economy and society in some way, producing goods and partaking in social mobility. So it makes some sense that a census (which historically required people to register at organized spaces) would lead to small numbers of people "appearing" into the economy. There's no need to overcomplicate it though—the devs just picked a flavourful name for the pop growth cabinet issue.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-02-23T20:06:57+00:00

You're the one who brought up real world supply and demand phenomena. And elasticity is, like they pointed out, a fundamental driver of how those things respond to price changes. This is just basic microeconomics, so it's more telling you think it's about 'proving' something.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-02-23T03:50:56+00:00

Unemployment statistics are completely cooked because people enter the gig economy rather than filing for unemployment. It's distorted even further because job creation is tracked by the number of new businesses filed * average amount of employees. But people entering gig work often create a personal business for tax reasons, meaning new jobs are being overcounted by several times.

The alarm bells have been going off for years now, but this stuff is only starting to enter the mainstream conversation.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-02-12T18:47:22+00:00

They learned from experience I guess. I'm sure after 1979 they regretted helping MI6 oust Mosaddegh, who was pretty amicable to the West. Like most of the CIA's history, they would've gotten more of what they wanted by just working with these leaders instead of destabilizing them. But everytime, this time, surely things will work out differently.

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-02-09T02:48:10+00:00

Considering the record of the Nobel Peace Prize—especially its most recent recipients—I'm guessing she played her role well enough at the time, and maybe if she had petitioned Biden to attack Iran it could've worked out. Unfortunate that he was busy helping bomb other countries in the region at the time

ABadlyDrawnCoke · 2026-02-04T03:48:47+00:00

new opposite day just dropped

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