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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: June 27th, 2022

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  • Warm congratulations to Estonia in their entry to the year of our lord 1938 and we wish them a very merry self inflicted ruin in 7 years’ time.

    Zelensky has been doing this random conspiracy shit for years. He feeds further life into these weird notions because it helps fuel russophobia in some circles and German papers don’t write it when he says unhinged shit. It’s genuinely a win-win on the short term and he probably won’t live to make it to the long term anyway.




  • One of Erdoğan’s greatest talents was his electoral success. Between his tight grip on the media (literal oligarchic control btw) and extraordinary ability to appeal to parts of the electorate, he hasn’t lost the government since his party first won in 2002. This isn’t really surprising in retrospect, his party is the only one that’s actually organised. Until 2018 there was negligible organisation to campaign or maintain election security, and as of 2023, on a national level, it’s still quite abysmal. Basically, he’s been successful in part because his party has been doing that very same thing Communists have been telling each other to do, and his opposition failed to. I lack brevity as is, so I’m not getting into the roots of AKP or the events of 2015.

    It looks like İmamoğlu is the only one who has beaten Erdoğan at any level and is believed to be the only man who can best him in a general election. He’s got a charisma that’s eerily reminiscent of Erdoğan himself, he’s shown himself to be quite the builder of coalitions and it was his organising work that won him İstanbul in 2019 and won the party many other provinces in 2024 local elections. I’m harping on the organising issue in part because it’s that important (as is obvious to ask comrades here) but also because the CHP’s attempts in 2023 to fight AKP organising was to claim it had collapsed, which was revealed the day after the election to be entirely devoid of truth. Also worth mentioning is Yavaş, mayor of Ankara, similarly believed to be a rival to Erdoğan. He’s not. He can’t stop the anti-Kurdish rhetoric to save his life, meaning there’s no chance he can get majority support of the Kurdish people and would lose nationally.

    On the 17th, İmamoğlu had his diploma annulled for bs reasons (a university diploma is required to run for the presidency), on the next day he and 100 others were drained, around half were charged and arrested 3 days later, protests began on the day of detaining. They’ve largely been led by CHP, which turned them into electioneering without an upcoming election. The party leader engages in some resistance rhetoric but their main function has been to sheepdog people into not putting the budding revolutionary enthusiasm into anything revolutionary. The protests overall have had a clear Kemalist bent, so nationalist fascists are a-ok but anyone implying Kurdish liberation sympathies is expelled. I know there are some comrades among them closing themselves in Kemalist symbols intentionally, but haven’t seen any socialist symbols by themselves. Youth attempting spontaneous action usually get arrested since they lack organisation, as such don’t know what to do beyond the next 5 minutes or how to act around the pigs.

    Internationally, Turkey is just a periphery vassal. After the ottoman empire became a semi-colony and eventually fell, it’s been trying to “reach the level of modern nations.” Plunging oneself intentionally to the horrors of capitalism, without the scientific understanding and approach of Communists, purely on ideological grounds and trying to embed oneself to the imperialists order of things on their terms is a tried and failed strategy. While this is clear in retrospect, I maintain that it was as idiotic in 1929 as it is in 2025. The great depression happened 6 years after Turkey was founded, it’s beyond me why half the founding crew didn’t question they’re Francophile education and liberal tendencies. That being said, Erdoğan has 2 recent victories: the fascists in control of Syria maintain their junior partner or whatever position with Erdoğan and Trump’s in office, with whom Erdoğan has his rapport. He’s also in good standing with Europe and hailed as the defender of a free Ukraine, but I don’t think that’s something he can cash in anyhow. His relationship with Europe has always been one step forward, five steps back after he has some head start when he first came into office as prime minister.

    That’s how things have been as I’ve perceived them. I don’t know whether İmamoğlu will be released, whether he will win if he is, whether his candidacy will be upheld by the government that incarcerated him in the first place, but most importantly, I have no idea whether he’ll be better for Turkey or the world. Internally, I would expect that things would go back to parliamentary system, not because İmamoğlu would want to give up power, but rather because I expect the coalition that topples Erdoğan to crumble in turn. I expect the economic conditions to stabilise, between the “sensible” liberal policies and western money. Kurdish liberation won’t be a hair closer. Socialists won’t be more free to operate, such as they are. He’ll be more likely to go along with European schemes in the region, especially anything to support the Zionist entity, but his party is partial to taking random principled stances against western interests every once in a while.


  • I absolutely detest Aaron Sorkin’s writing. I hate how entertaining it is, I just watched an hour’s worth of the newsroom clips. I enjoy it, but I can’t stand all the smug, self-satisfied liberal drivel. West wing is even worse in that regard, it’s chock full of apologia for the worst active war criminal on the planet, given the veneer that he’s just a guy trying his best to save the world he’s in the process of murdering.

    I dislike video essayists read one (1) book and make a 40-120 minute video about a large topic using mainly that one book. This is also one of the good reasons to look down on the musical Hamilton and the people who like it too much.

    I may be skirting the definition of small but DRM and client side anti-cheats. Some of them are basically malware, sifting through the user’s files. Fuck knows what’s stopping it reading my browser, getting my banking info or email. Besides, a DRM’s only as good as how long it takes folks to produce a crack in the first place. Once it’s out there, best publishers can do is lock out further content, and truth be told, I’ve yet to find any such content that’s worth the money or the time to play.

    I really dislike the Legend of Korra. I adored Book 1 as a media illiterate kid. Then it got worse and I got older. The gang isn’t very likable, much of their adventures feel like a waste of time, the gaang’s story got butchered and the world building got obliterated. I seem to be in the minority in disliking even Book 3, Zaheer, and his flying technique. (stranding still, floating isn’t a natural behaviour of air and isn’t encompassed by being the leaf)


  • It’s not your fault in any case. The authors use that well known medieval vibes setting out of ignorance and convenience. Not maliciously perhaps but they clearly don’t give much of a shit about historical accuracy or coherent political-economical-social orders that can survive scrutiny.

    The reason it’s always European medieval vibes is because everyone in the Anglosphere and adjacent ones are familiar with them. Think about it, among stories that gain popularity with western audiences nobody tries to specify the position of a duke, but anything inspired by west-Asian or Chinese history is followed a 90 second/2-3 page explanation.


  • but this is all action that could be taken by a social democratic state

    Yet never is. Perhaps ultras should realise that an analysis cannot be based on woulda coulda shoulda, and the purpose of a system is what it does. SocDems are only ever strong and fervent when they’re backed (indeed pushed) by labour movements. On the other hand, the only regimes that work to eradicate poverty, create prosperity for all are the socialist ones, governed by those Communists ultras cannot help but invent flaws about.