World politics

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Not very surprisingly the German domestic intelligence is right wing as fuck. If they say someone is too right wing for their taste, believe them.

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The big question now is whether, as with the NPD, making them illegal won’t work because most of their senior people are on the BfV payroll as IM, sorry, V-Männer.

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ETA

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/02/marco-rubio-germany-afd-00324283

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If the U.S. no longer aligns with NATO, how can it (we) still be called a NATO ally?

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This is not acceptable. We need to summon their (acting) ambassador. He’s a Biden-era career diplomat, so they won’t care, but one side should at least uphold diplomatic traditions, and there’s no stronger signal short of expelling diplomats.

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Can you also retroactively expel Rick Grenell for good measure?

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It’s been two and a bit hours since voting on the east coast closed and half an hour since the west closed, but the Australian federal election is returning Labor with an increased majority.

Federal election 2025 live results: Labor wins federal election as Anthony Albanese re-elected PM

Fuck yeah.

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8:30pm, they’ve basically called it for Labor. Or, at least, there’s no possible way the Liberals can win.

There’s been a massive swing against the Liberals, and it looks possible, if not likely, that Dutton (the leader of the Liberal Party) will do a Poilievre and lose his own seat.

I’d prefer a Greens balance of power, but if the Liberals take it on board that they’ve been spanked, and they’ve been spanked because of their links to Trumpism, I’ll take it.

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Holy shit… the swing to Labor just gets bigger as the count go on, and this looks like the first time since Federation a government has increased its majority after a first term.

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And for those following at home, Dutton has (quite graciously, I thought) conceded his seat, and the election.

Penny Wong is talking now, almost certainly to introduce Albo to claim victory.

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The U.S. doesn’t just align with NATO; it’s a founding member. Maybe not for much longer.

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Albo’s victory speech has a whole bunch of pointed, variably subtle, rebukes.

He made a Recognition of Country, in response to the Liberals who made a Culture War point of talking about not wanting to do them or listen to them any more. (In the context of a Welcome to Country at a ANZAC day dawn service being booed. By a neo-Nazi.)
He made a point that Labor’s victory was a reflection of Australian values (as opposed to the global ecosystem of thinktanks and advisors that have been serving the Liberals, and the Tories, and ReformUK, and the GoP, and the Heritage Foundation, etc, etc.)

“We do not need to seek our inspiration overseas.”

And he made a big deal about this being a victory for kindness. Which is clearly a direct rebuke to the who “Sin of Empathy” bullshit coming out of Trumpland and the fascists.

It is not a weakness to care about people, you sociopathic fucks.

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I was also surprised at how gracious his concession speech was. After his years as a nasty thug in Home Affairs, this was a pleasant surprise.

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Makes me wonder what the German election would’ve looked like if it had been held after April 2.

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Honestly, not that different, I think. Scholz wasn’t strong on Trump (if anything, Merz was perceived to be stronger, although that’s probably not true. Some in his party have very close connections to the GOP) and the election was mostly about internal affairs anyway. It’s not a coincidence that all the strong upsets in favour of non-crazy parties recently happened in the Anglosphere. Trump meddling and Trump awareness is just bigger when you can hear him in the original language

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I’m not convinced. Germans speak English at least as well — often better — than Americans. And his mannerisms, boorishness, and slovenliness speak even louder than words.

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Most Germans still get their info from the nightly news, where Trump’s words are translated and by necessity sanewashed in the process. The Germans you meet might be good at speaking English but the broad voting population either isn’t or even if they are, follow German rather than Anglo media. And yes, his boorishness is well known and universally loathed, but the domestic economy and made up hysteria about the Greens is what sways elections in Germany.

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