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Edited by Mrph1 on Jan 9th 2024 at 3:24:05 PM
@Bat 178: I had a look at the Europe page. Just out of curiosity, why does it start with a first paragraph like that? It makes the website look like it's primarily targeted at an American audience.
I'm more than willing to believe most of the posters on this site are American (at least judging by how frequently tropers change my British spellings to American spellings) but I'm not sure that first paragraph fits on a Useful Notes page given that it's very targeted at a single culture and any possible stereotypes individuals from that culture may have.
edited 23rd May '16 1:32:48 PM by Wyldchyld
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
(Avatar by Coffee)
That's rather off-topic, don't you think? That conversation belongs in that page's discussion thread.
The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground
I don't mind placing it there, but since Bat asked here, this is where I responded. Consider it done.
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
V
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
That first paragraph long pre-dates Bat's involvement with the page — in fact, I think it's well over six years old...
edited 23rd May '16 1:35:02 PM by Greenmantle
Keep Rolling On
I didn't blame Bat for it. I was just asking out of curiosity. I've put the question on the Discussion Page as per desdendelle's request.
edited 23rd May '16 1:36:43 PM by Wyldchyld
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
Back on topic, I am also curious as to how Portugal is holding up. We already know Spain is in the dumpster.
edited 23rd May '16 2:37:53 PM by Bat178
&
Well, our electoral system (which uses the D'Hondt method) doesn't make it easy for far-[x] parties and/or for small parties to get seats in the Parliament (which is why there have been only 5 parties within the Parliament (Left Bloc, Communists+Greens, PS, PSD, CDS-PP - the first 3 (4, but the Communists and the Greens have been running together for a couple of decades) until these recent legislative elections, in which a deputy from the PANnote . So, even if the single far-right party (PNR) got their biggest result, it was still far from enough to get a seatnote .
Besides, the far-right party was (and still is, to some extent) associated with skinheads, so, the many left and far-left parties (both major and minor) can easily get more votes than them.
And, you know... the memory of the dictatorship and of the Revolution still lives on, even if in a more diluted way.
As for the far-left parties... well, if you were a Portuguese right-winger (so, center-right, in the case of PSD, and right-wing in the case of CDS-PP), you'd think the Left Bloc and the Communists are far-left, and so, have been in the Parliament for a while now (the Communists ever since the Revolution, and with a powerful local influence in some parts of Alentejo and the working-class areas, and the Left Bloc since the late-90's/early 2000's note ).
From my (non-aligned) perspective, I think only minor (and non-represented in the Parliament) parties like MRPP (Maoists, basically - their slogan in these latest legislatives? 'Death to Traitors') and the more orthodox factions of the Communists and the Left Bloc can be truly considered to be far-left nowadays. In any case, the Useful Notes page I linked above puts these two latter parties in the 'Far Left' section.
Anyway, as I've written here before some pages ago, there is currently a big agreement of sorts that allowed the PS to form a government, with the tacit support of the Communists and the Left Bloc - it's a bit difficult to sum up their partnership in a single English word (or even a few of them), so I'll just use a Portuguese word that basically means something which is not, in theory, meant to work, but which can, for some unknown reason - geringonça. This geringonça basically means that the PS forms the minority government (officially), but which, during the course of various bills and propositions of future laws and so forth, has to maintain the support that comes from the Left Bloc and the Communists note .
Now, in regards to the current post-austerity climate: currently, there are two bills that are meant to redirect the state budget's efforts: one, it's the reduction of the weekly working hours from 40 to 35 (at least, in the public sector and the State); the other is the cutting of state support to private schools (some of them partially funded by upper-class families, others by the the Catholic Church, and some others by private companies). Needless to say, the latter's parents associations and their students are protesting the thing, and the right-wing parties are condemning the bill (did I also mention that the Left Bloc and the Communists are more in favour of nationalizing some key areas?). As long as the PS maintains the compromise between them and the Left Bloc and the Communists, these bills are gonna go through. Other challenges will arise, however, in the future: Brussels is suspecting the current government of not fully complying to their demands; there were less exports due to the economical situations going on in Brazil, Angola and China; the employment has dropped a bit, but only due to some more young folks and recently married couples and families leaving the country, which is causing significant demographic problems, and some other complex stuff going on.
So, basically, we'll have to see if this geringonça manages to keep up. The recently elected President (Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa), who was from the PSD in the past and won the elections in an independent role, after years and years of becoming the most popular commentator on TV here, has, so far, managed to maintain a good relationship with the Prime Minister (António Costa) and a message of strong convergence within the whole country, but one suspects there might be a quiet divergence brewing between them in regards to the aforementioned bills I've mentioned.
In any case, the geringonça is currently trying to hold things as steady as possible while we watch (and also try to encourage the distribution of refugees amongst all EU member states) these potentially dangerous European things that are going on in regards to the far-right parties. Still, at least we're not freaking Spain! (politically speaking).
edited 23rd May '16 3:00:43 PM by Quag15
I changed the first paragraph to something better.
Wrong Majorities: What Extremist Success Means for Democracy
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
I really wonder what the r/European quarantine has done for European news comments sections.
And I really don't know whether to laugh or cry at people insisting that the Left is somehow the "real threat" to personal liberties. I suspect none of them actually live in Europe or are eligible to vote in European countries. Maybe I should just start barricading windows instead.
I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
They think in terms of their own country not Europe as a whole. Sacrificing for others is a net loss for the entire society and so on.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
V
French labour clash escalates, public fear impact on Euro 2016
Police broke up a fuel depot blockade with water cannon and staff at France's 19 nuclear plants voted to strike on Thursday, in an escalation which a majority of French fear could disrupt the Euro 2016 football championship.
Ministers insisted that Socialist President Francois Hollande's government would stand firm and ensure fuel supplies, with strategic reserves large enough to last more than three months.
Power industry experts said the nuclear plant strike, called by the militant CGT union leading the worker protests, was unlikely to provoke blackouts due to legal limits on strike action in the nuclear industry and power imports from abroad.
"The CGT does not rule this country," Prime Minister Manuel Valls told lawmakers. "We won't withdraw the (reforms)."
CGT chief Philippe Martinez said his union, one of the biggest in France, would press on with the strikes. "We will carry on," Martinez told France Inter radio.
At stake is a labour market reform to make it easier for firms to hire and fire. The government says it is crucial to fight unemployment stuck at above 10 percent of the workforce. The CGT says it would dismantle protective labour regulation.
Other unions back the latest version of the reforms, which have been watered down by the government. Seven out of 10 French people are in favour of withdrawing the reform to avoid standoffs between the government and unions, an Elabe poll showed.
Both the CGT and the government are digging their heels in with an eye of the month-long Euro football championship due to start on June 10.
A majority of French fear the tournament, operating under high security after last year's Islamist attacks on Paris, will be disrupted by protests and worry about the impact on France's image abroad, a poll showed.
Nearly two-thirds would blame the government for it, the survey by Odoxa pollsters showed.
Street protests over the law have been going on for weeks but with dwindling turnout. As it failed to convince the government to budge further, the CGT moved on to sectoral strikes such as those targeting refineries.
Total, which operates about a fifth of France's stations, said 348 out of its 2,200 petrol stations were out of stock.
A train strike on Wednesday was having less impact than one last week, with the SNCF rail operator saying 3 out of 4 fast trains and 6 out of 10 regular inter-city train were running. Only 10.6 percent of workers heeded the strike call, it said.
France's main employers group said the protests were starting to have an impact on the economy and could push fragile businesses to bankruptcy.
The standoff comes as signs are emerging that the labour market has at last begun to turn the corner with the number of unemployed people falling by nearly 20,000 in April in a second consecutive monthly decline, the Labour Ministry said in a monthly report.
edited 26th May '16 10:07:00 PM by Greenmantle
Keep Rolling On
Can I humbly request something from the French left? Get your shit together.
Right now, the PS has essentially told voters "ha ha, we don't have to even pretend to be different from LR," and the only party that's genuinely offering an alternative for France is the FN. France's leftists seriously need to form their own radical coalition and pick a Presidential candidate - because the alternative is "vote for the crook, not the fascist."
edited 27th May '16 3:54:46 AM by Ramidel
This is going to be 2002 all over again...
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
Valls should have known better than to fuck with the CGT. They're very powerful (more so than, say, the Portuguese counterpart here), because they're fairly important for the French economy.
edited 27th May '16 6:58:41 AM by Quag15
V
Not that it's out of the norm for French Politics — normally it's a choice of "vote for the crook, or vote for another crook".
Keep Rolling On
Yeah. But the FN is getting as far as it is because the French are getting awfully sick and tired of crooks. Hence my statement.
The FN are also crooks, though.
Germany risks Turkey wrath with Armenian ‘genocide’ vote
Poor Turkey. No matter how much they blackmail, everyone is still against them.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
Crossposting from the terrorism thread:
Alienation grows in Brussels district that bred Paris attackers
The youngster stubs out his cigarette and leaves, head bowed. Inside the gym, the muted thud of leather gloves striking punchbags resumes.
Idrissi's influence goes beyond his job as a coach at the Brussels Boxing Academy, near the Molenbeek district of the Belgian capital where Islamist militants, several of them of Moroccan origin, planned last year's deadly Paris attacks.
He also has an informal role mentoring youths facing what Reuters interviews with local officials, social workers and residents of Molenbeek suggest is a growing feeling of alienation and increasingly tense relations with police.
Building trust in communities such as Molenbeek is seen by police as vital for gathering intelligence and countering the threat of Islamic State, and respected local figures like Idrissi have a part to play.
"Boxing is a philosophy which I tell them to apply in life," Idrissi said of his young boxers at the gym in a primary school in central Brussels, across an industrial-era canal from the halal shops, tea parlors and mosques of Molenbeek.
"I tell them: 'You have to fight to be Belgian'," said the 34-year-old, who deserted from the Moroccan military police a decade ago while taking part in a boxing competition.
Since the Nov. 13 bloodshed in Paris, security has been tightened in Molenbeek, a district described by its own mayor as a "breeding ground" for violence, and many Muslims say they feel stigmatized.
Idrissi is angered by frequent police checks of people with Moroccan roots which he sees as racial profiling although police deny this. But he bites his tongue in the presence of young men to avoid repeating "the kind of comments we warn parents can feed into their radicalization."
Some parents, he says, have turned to him to talk their sons out of plans to join Islamist militants in Syria. Police also visited the gym this year as part of a program to improve their image with youngsters.
At least five men who trained there have traveled to Syria. One, Ayoub Bazarouj, was detained in December on suspicion of having links to the Paris attacks, in which 130 people were killed. He was released in January without charge.
Another, Ahmed Dahmani, was arrested in Turkey last year on suspicion of scouting out sites for the militant strikes. Police released a photograph of Dahmani at the gym, holding his fists up as if ready to throw a punch at the camera. Belgium asked for his extradition from Turkey earlier this year.
Idrissi declined comment when asked about his interaction with police over some of his young charges going to Syria.
"LATENT ISLAMOPHOBIA"
A failure to stop the militant cell behind the Paris attacks from carrying out more bombings — 32 people were killed in bombings on the Brussels metro and at the city's international airport on March 22 — has highlighted the police lack of knowledge of Molenbeek and their few ties with its residents.
The police are also hard pressed to overcome the fear of IS that discourages possible informants. One resident, Hawa Keita, has received death threats since informing on the network that enticed her son to Syria and says: "We live in fear."
Having eyes on the ground is vital for plugging the intelligence gaps, many officers say.
"It's not enough to bug phones: you need to know what you are listening for," Andre Jacob, a former head of Belgium's State Security agency, the Surete de l'Etat.
As in similar communities across Europe, Belgian police are struggling to build bridges with young Muslims at the same time as they hunt for militants. They have carried out dozens of raids and arrests in Belgium in recent months.
The Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities (UNIA), an advocacy group which also works with police on rights issues, says the number of calls to its hot lines complaining about alleged abuse by police has jumped since the Paris attacks.
Its director, Patrick Charlier, witnessed what he called latent Islamophobia in workshops his organization conducted with police before the Paris attacks. Such sentiment, he suggests, is now out in the open.
"We all of a sudden had a number of cases (of complaints against police)," Charlier said, but declined to give figures, saying it was too soon to assess.
Residents in Molenbeek are angered by some of the comments made about the Muslim population in Belgium, including the interior minister's suggestion that many Muslims danced in celebration after the Brussels bombings. [nL5N17L13C]
"Being rejected, relegated to trash schools, it's not surprising it ends in bombs," said 48-year-old Milodi Rahma. "We are doubly victimized: victims of IS and of Islamophobia."
"US AND THEM"
Belgium has announced a 39-million-euro ($44 million) plan to improve police coordination in Brussels, including boosting staff in Molenbeek for the first time in two decades. The district now has an eight-person unit, whose task is to prevent radicalization.
But tight budgets means police can end up wearing two hats.
"One day they're taking part in a big violent raid and the next they're supposed to go out and chat," said Vincent Gilles, who heads the Belgian police union. "A community policeman needs to be seen ... as a partner, not an enemy."
The suspicion cuts both ways in Molenbeek, where the IS cell spent months planning the Paris carnage and where one suspect, Salah Abdeslam, hid with what many officers believe was the blessing of the community.
"You can't tell me no one knew where he was," said Kris Vanstraeten, a police inspector in the area.
When police did find him, some youths hurled glass bottles and insults at them.
Molenbeek mayor Françoise Schepmans, who made her comment about the district of 95,000 being a nest of violence two days after the Paris attacks, says the police have a difficult role and relations are as good as they can be.
"It's there to handle security, not to babysit," she said.
But she says too few police know the areas where they operate. Of 50 federal officers sent to work in Molenbeek after the March bombings, none was even from the capital.
"Sometimes we have young policemen who arrive and say 'Uh-oh, where am I?'," said local police spokesman Johan Berckmans.
Acknowledging that breaking down barriers was difficult, he said: "It's always a question of 'us and them'."
(Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Sorta relevant: Today, the Gotthard Base Tunnel opened.
Over 57 kilometres long, it's the longest railway tunnel in the world. There are several heads of state visiting for the opening ceremony, it seems. Seeing as I sometimes use that rail line for travelling in summer, I wonder what it will look like on the inside.
This tunnel has some political importance in Europe because it is a major - if not the major part - of the NEAT mega-project which is effectively the heart of the Italy-to-rest-of-Europe railway systems. There was some heavy bargaining between Switzerland and the EU about the terms of transit of car-based traffic which is mostly circumvented by the rail project, and an ongoing dispute about how to join up NEAT with Italy's rather derelict railway system.
German MPs recognise Armenian 'genocide' amid Turkish fury
This is going to spiral to hell so fast I can only laugh.
edited 2nd Jun '16 9:17:09 AM by TerminusEst
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
@Quag, how is the far-right (or far-left) doing in Portugal? IIRC unemployment and austerity have taken a toll there, worse than Western/Central Europe.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.