BC POLITICS
Saved by @Alex1Powell

I want to echo Ibrahim’s welcome for this engagement with Syrians by @AnnaMcMorrin and @WayneDavid_MP.

At the same time I am overwhelmed with how far we are from where we need to be.

I have such a flood of thoughts, it is hard to know where to

 One difficulty is having too much to say. Another is that so many of my thoughts are by now steeped in bitterness.

I think it is very important to say that Labour’s problems on Syria don’t begin and end with Jeremy Corbyn and his associates.
There is too much bitterness on Twitter, but I think I need to write a little on mine here, and how it colours my view.
This year’s anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre comes to mind. Labour leader Keir Starmer marked it here:

https://t.co/jaf27nIEuh

Inevitably some couldn’t help think of Corbyn’s record of siding with mass murderers.
The month after came the anniversary of the Ghouta Massacre. I don’t believe Starmer mentioned it. I don’t think @lisanandy said anything about it either.
It was after the Ghouta Massacre that Ed Miliband led the PLP in opposing action against Assad.

https://t.co/Pv2aR5k7Fl

Ed Miliband is in Starmer’s shadow cabinet.

Labour can’t talk clearly about Syria without facing up to the consequences of the choice the party made in 2013.
One consequence of the 2013 vote was that both Labour and Conservatives emphasised humanitarian aid.

But no amount of aid could stop Assad’s bombing of civilians.

Ministers recite enormous numbers for UK aid spending on Syria. Those numbers are a measure of failure.
No amount of aid can bring Assad to release a single prisoner from his torture dungeons.

Aid helps keep some of Assad’s victims alive. It has also kept Assad’s regime alive, allowing the regime to continue its torture and mass murder.
Let’s look at the letter by @AnnaMcMorrin and @WayneDavid_MP.

They call for UK action on Assad regime detention and torture. What action?

The regime sustains itself on torture, and torture will continue as long as the regime remains.
https://t.co/beKWIqEPoT
They call on the UK to ensure transparency and accountability in elections under the Syrian regime.

This is nonsense.

The regime is sustained by torture and other crimes. Transparent and accountable elections are simply impossible with the regime in place.
So the letter calls for things the UK can’t deliver, or at least calls for them within a framing that makes them seem impossible.

Because for them to be possible, you have to think about how to bring about the fall of the regime. And no UK politician wants to go there.
Between these practically impossible and politically impossible choices, there is a third way to work towards a better future inside Syria, which is to focus on transparency and accountability in those parts outside regime control where the UK or its allies are present.
What does that mean and where does it lead?

The past decade has seen the UK and allies seek influence in Syria while avoiding responsibility.

We need to act responsibly, starting with UK and Coalition transparency and accountability east of the Euphrates and in the Tanf Zone.
We need the Coalition to pay reparations to civilian victims of Coalition actions in Raqqa.

We need public recognition by UK politicians that the current Coalition-backed SDF administration falls short on transparency and accountability, falls short on political inclusion.
We need the UK-US Coalition to uphold its legal duty to civilians in the Tanf Zone as set out in Geneva Convention IV.

We need the UK to bring in food and medical aid to Rukban camp as a minimum.

We need the UK to support proper schools and other civilian facilities.
Just these actions could make a big difference, but we need to go further.

The SDF is one problematic ally of the UK in Syria. Closely related is another problematic ally, Turkey.

The challenge is to work with both, and to work for transparency and accountability in both cases.
Realism demands recognition that Turkey is the largest economy in the region, and shares the longest border with Syria.

Realism demands recognition that millions of displaced people in Idlib currently rely on Turkey for protection from the Assad regime.
The UK needs to back Turkish protection of Idlib.

The UK also needs to encourage greater local accountability, civil control and political inclusion in areas now under Turkish control.

That’d be easier if the UK and US were already doing the same in SDF areas and the Tanf zone.
The Coalition’s military policy in eastern Syria has been effectively to arm a minority to rule the majority. It can be seen as a repeat of French colonial practice in Syria, a legacy which laid the foundations for the Assad regime.

For everyone’s sake, we need better than this.
With the knock-on effects of the 2013 vote, Labour had a negative effect on Western policy beyond what MPs that night can have expected…
The UK has little prospect of leading anything post-Brexit.

Western policy on Syria will continue to be led by the US

But a wiser Syria debate amongst those few in UK politics who are still engaged with the issue could yet do some good.
Postscript: Much credit for this glimmer of light is due to @DavidTaylor85 and his colleagues in @LabourCID for years of working for better engagement with Syrians.

More from Politics

Faisal Islam
Faisal Islam
@faisalislam
NEW - on @skynews shortly:
Reliable source tells me Withdrawal Deal text contains

- No unilateral exit from backstop

- Large annexe on level playing field

.... after reporting this on @SkyNews I get a call from a different senior source that this is “spot on” and further that the Attorney General Geoffrey Cox has not pulled his punches in confirming in legal advice there is “no unilateral exit” from backstop ...

... furthermore I’m told (and this chimes with excellent Times splash this morning re Weyand) that the future partnership then takes its starting point as the activated backstop - ie UK-wide customs union-style arrangement and level playing field.

Understand that a ministerial briefing on the draft Withdrawal Agreement meant to drum up support from some trade organisations due tonight has now been postponed
POLITICS
Alexander
Alexander
@37paday
1/ Imagine that as soon as the referendum result the EU announced that it was looking forward to the end of free movement of UK citizens in the EU


2/ Imagine if the EU said finally all those retired Brits in the EU27 could go home

3/ Imagine if the EU said finally all those Brits in the EU could stop driving down wages, taking jobs and stop sending benefits back to the UK

4/ Imagine if the EU said it was looking to use UK citizens as “bargaining chips” to get a better trade deal

5/ Imagine if the EU told UK citizens in the EU27 that they could no longer rely on established legal rights and they would have to apply for a new status which they have to pay for for less rights
POLITICS
Advertisement
Palmer Report
Palmer Report
@PalmerReport
That new attack piece about Seth Abramson is full of easily debunked false claims. Whenever the mainstream media gets annoyed at an indie pundit like Seth, it just publishes a bunch of bullshit about him, and most people mistakenly believe it. They've done the same thing to me.

The sad part is that when the author of that piece tried to smear a bunch of mainstream media journalists for daring to compare notes with him, they all responded by lying and said they've never compared notes with him. Even though Abramson has proof that they have.

This is the EXACT same strategy that certain mainstream media outlets used against me in 2017-2018. First they lied about me. Then they attacked my mainstream media associates for associating with a "fake news" pundit like me. Then some in the media felt compelled to disown me.

Sadly, it didn't matter that I had overwhelming proof that everything said about me in those attack pieces was false. When you defend yourself, no matter how factually, the average observer merely decides you're being "defensive" and therefore guilty as charged.

Ask yourself why the mainstream media is choosing now to dishonestly attack Abramson. The media's ratings are way down now that Trump is gone. Abramson presumably still has his entire niche audience intact. So the media gets jealous and takes it out on him.
POLITICS
Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer \U0001f4c8\U0001f52d\U0001f34c
Rachel "The Doc" Bitec...
@RachelBitecofer
1. "They're leaving! They're leaving!"" yell seditionist as they watch House members fleeing the floor through the glass doors the only thing (+ some under-armed officers + office furniture" that protected our elected REPs (same ballot as Trump, each & everyone

@McConnellPress

2. of them felt so inclined towards martyrdom and/or possessed the weapons (Jesus, what if they'd has a grenade & guess what, in America, yes, you can come up w functional equivalents of that bc barring people from them is a betrayal of freedom so great we must simply acquiesce

3. their eventual death tolls. One functional "freedom grenade" down that hallway, tossed w ease through a hole in the glass door, could have easily hit anyone fleeing.Unless it was Mo Brooks, MTG, or one of their well-known crazy boosters, here's a thing @LeaderMcConnell ought

4. to reflect upon as he makes his CRITCAL pivot decision, which he could rally 17 people & start a fight for control of the party that rest of the country will help him with,EVEN AFTER ALL THE SHIT HE'S DONE TO PEOPLE, YES, THE REST OF THE COUNTRY WOULD HELP HIM IF HE WAS TO

5. RALLY 17 SENATORS FOR IMPEACHMENT, he'd find his whole 🌎awakened. And Mitch, as far as I understand it, you could do it anonymously!! How much would THAT fuck w them?? How great would it be, for the 1st time in 5 yrs, to be the one w power- you LOVE power! Think of the FUN!
POLITICS
Sharjeel Usmani
Sharjeel Usmani
@SharjeelUsmani
Thread on elections:

1) Only CPIM can compete with BJP in hypocrisy and shamelessness. I mean they are calling the opposition coalition (Muslim League + Congress) communal in Kerala, equating Muslim League with RSS and subtly consolidating Hindus using Islamophobic

2) campaigns while in West Bengal they're themselves in alliance with Congress and a Muslim party ISF, founded by an Islamic cleric. In West Bengal they are appealing on the lines of social justice, Dalit emancipation and Muslim empowerment.

3) Their candidates in Bengal, most of whom would distance themselves from anybody visibly Muslim and would leave no chance to demonize them, are now flaunting pictures with Muslim men and women covered in skullcaps and Hijab. In Kerala, they once disowned their own party leader

4) because he performed Umrah. Meanwhile, their PR agency called NewsClick is publishing pieces suggesting how TMC's violence helped BJP make inroads in Bengal while ignoring that it was CPIM's vote that shifted to BJP and hence it should be them who should be called out for not

5) being able to keep their votes intact. I am not in support of Mamata in Bengal or Congress in Kerala. I only hope and wish ISF, IUML, SDPI, AIMIM, AIUDF, Welfare Party and other Muslim outfits win as many seats as there are! #ApniQayadat

End.
POLITICS

You May Also Like

\uc2e0\ub150\uc758\uc0ac\ub098\uc774
신념의사나이...
@Belposto_korea
What does Gold- Backed mean?
The Chinese Elders have been accumulating gold for hundreds of years. They are gold-rich. Some of their gold was loaned to the Central Banking System so that it could fund the rebuilding of Europe after the many war-torn years from World Wars I and II

BTW they never returned it but used it to start their financial empire to enslave humanity. This is the Central Bank Banking System./2

Maybe this is why one of the conditions to use their gold for the QFS is the demise and full disclosure of the Central Bank banking system before the RV can take place./3

The Elders have caves of hidden gold and are now using it to gold-back the currencies in the QFS for every country in the world. It is important to understand that the QFS and the money it is about to release is all brand-new currency./4

It was designed by the Alliance to fund the new financial system that will reset all Currencies of the world to Gold-Backed currency./5
SOCIETY
Laurie Voss
Laurie Voss
@seldo
The 2018 State of JavaScript survey is out. They got 20,000 responses and have some delicious, delicious data. I'mma thread in some highlights:

First up: JavaScript flavors. There's TypeScript at 47% adoption, a tad higher than npm's own survey results (which said 46%). npm's survey is coming up again soon and will ask about TypeScript in a lot more detail.


I really, *really* like SoJ's "would not use again" question, which lets people who've abandoned a tech self-identify. This is noticeable in the graph above with Flow users -- 41% of people who've used Flow say they wouldn't use it again.

Now JavaScript frameworks. It's been a full year since npm's survey, so these numbers differ from ours in the directions I expected:
React 65% (vs. 60%)
Vue 29% (vs. 24%)
Ember 5% (vs 4%, I was expecting a bigger rise)

But there's a shocker in here: Angular.


npm's survey had Angular at 40% last year and SoJ has it at either:
- 58% (if you include those who don't want to use it again)
- 24% (if you count only those who like it)
Since npm's question didn't ask if they intend to *continue* using it I think that might explain this.
TECH
Advertisement
Andrew Chen
Andrew Chen
@andrewchen
👇 Thread. New deck getting published this week: "Consumer startups are awesome, and here's what I'm looking to invest in at Andreessen Horowitz." If you want to read it, subscribe to my newsletter here: https://t.co/262t8eh0wf


1/ A lot of new consumer technologies have been introduced to US households in the last 100 years. But it's taken many of them - like the telephone - more than 50 years to get to the majority of the US. Why is that?


2/ We had to literally teach people how to use phone. Which end goes to your mouth, which goes to your ear. Say "hello" when people call. The motivation of consumers to talk to their friends has always been there, but we had to teach the behavior


3/ If you compare phones to the latest technologies, there's been a huge shift. Things are being picked up much faster.


4/ Even while there's been all this innovation recently, physically speaking, we are still the same human beings from 100,000 years ago.
STARTUPS
\u0100yudhika
Āyudhika
@Satyamev1310
Ashta Siddhi

Ashta Siddhi is mentioned in Patanjali Yog sutra and can be obtained by very few through countless years of practice and devotion to all eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga.

Siddhi can loosely be translated as accomplishment or a special power or unusual skill.


The eight Siddhis are:

1. Anima: Reducing one’s physical self to the size of an atom.

2. Mahima: Expanding one’s physical self to infinite level

3. Garima: Making one’s physical self so heavy as immovable by others

4. Laghima: Becoming almost weightless


5. Prapti: Being able travel anywhere in the Universe

6. Prakamya: Can know & understand what is going on in one’s mind. Can understand other person’s min.

7. Ishitva: Possessing title of Bhagwan

8. Vashitva: A seeker can subdue any person/thing

(Hanuman Jayanti is coming)


Hanumanji not only possessed all eight siddhis, but was also blessed by Sita mata as “Ashta Siddhi Nau Nidhi Ke Daata”.

When Hanumanji first reaches to Lanka on his mission to find Sita, he makes use of anima so as to be discrete in enemy territory.


He uses it again when he approaches Sita mata for the first time – reducing his size to that of a schoolboy, to avoid scaring her. He uses mahima to outwit & overpowers
the demons.
ALL
\U0001d40d\U0001d41e\U0001d421\U0001d41a \U0001f1ee\U0001f1f3
𝐍𝐞𝐡𝐚 🇮🇳...
@Neh_hope_faith
THREAD: What is Golden Crescent and Golden Triangle and how it impacts India?

Golden Crescent region of South Asia - comprises of Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan - which is a principal global site for opium production and distribution.


Golden Triangle is the area where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet at the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong rivers. The Golden Triangle is called so because of the triangular shape formed by the locations of New Delhi, Agra and Rajasthan on a map.


India is wedged bw world’s 2 largest areas of illicit opium production, Golden Crescent & Golden Triangle, that has made Indian borders vulnerable to drug trafficking. It flows from 2 fronts, NW & NE, that possesses dual concern - violation of border & threat to national security

- Golden Crescent is world’s leading opium and cannabis producing region since 1983.

- Its proximity to Indo-Pak border has worsened the trafficking of hashish and heroin into Indian soil

- Trafficking happens through the border states of J&K, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat.


- Golden Triangle is leading opium producing region of the South-east Asia, also an ancient narcotics supply route to North America & Europe.

- Myanmar-Northeast nexus is recognized by NCB as the root of heroin & chemical drugs

- Myanmar produces 80% of heroin produced in world
ALL