Quick, bring out the bicycle meme.

The US has a president who’s gone to great length in demonstrating that the US is unreliable and could be treacherous.

For example, why should Denmark or its allies (the entire EU and NATO) buy weapons from a country that wants to annex parts of Denmark?

Attempting to make contraceptives expensive in the 21st century makes me grin. Let’s try to make water expensive in a sea.

They might prevail by enforcing a 500% tax on the most effective contraceptive: smartphones. :)

However, more realistically - until people feel secure about their future and feel that having children is not a setback or big risk…

…and have time and tools to find likeminded partners and build relationships (current dating sites are miserable tools in the West, not sure about what they have in China, and participants in a corporate rat race don’t have time)…

…and until people have education to maintain and fix those relationships…

…until then, hasta la vista government (try again after figuring things out).

Is it because it is not PC to call a culture primitive?

If you know its history and are absolutely sure that your evaluation is correct. But I have the feeling that you haven’t checked Iranian history - because historians don’t tend to put Iran in the same sentence with that.

So, I would add some notes. Islamic extremism has not been in power “for 1500 years” in Iran - it has been in power since 1979. Iran has political problems. And let me tell you, political problems can quickly bring down a society that might otherwise have its problems under control.

Did folks call Germany “primitive” when Hitler rose to power? Nope, they used other terms. Do we call Russia “primitive” because of Putin? Will we start calling the US “primitive” if Trump manages to become a dictator? Do we call China “primitive” because they have a one-party dictatorship? Nope, we don’t.

They’re advanced societies facing difficult problems of various sorts. They are also extremely unequal societies - some people in the capital have modern life, but some in the periphery don’t even have jack s**t.

Iran could be spending its time selling satellite launches if it wanted, but has an Islamist theocracy in power. Any candidate can be disqualified in the elections if the grand ayatollah doesn’t like them. Iran does various extremely shortsighted and I would really say… extremely stupid things. Like fighting proxy wars with Israel and then fighting real wars with Israel, depending on Russia for ammunition and then supplying Russia with ammunition against Ukraine…

…but “stupid” and “primitive” are not synonyms.

After islamic extremists came to power in the 1979 revolution, they broke down Iranian society in many directions. Executions were widespread, terror was used to subdue opposition, women’s rights were trampled on, many things happened. Thing went wrong, got entrenched in the state of being wrong, and remain wrong to this day. :(

The regime before the islamists was the Shah (king). He had already been ousted and there had been parliamentary democracy in Iran, but the shah came back to power with UK and US support. He also terrorized the population through his secret police. The shah was hated and propped up by foreign powers - a ripe fruit for Islamists to pick and eat.

Before the shah, Iran had a problem with left-leaning populism and government-parliament relations, but I think this was their smallest problem. The last democratically elected PM (Mosadegh) was somewhat populist and wanted to nationalize the oil industries (wanted to hurt Western business interests), which would have been OK, but he also had problems with the Parliament, which was definitely not OK. With some Western assistance, he was couped out of power, which, in my books, spent Iran spiraling out of control.

That’s a brief summary of what’s been going on in the center of society, in the Persian speaking regions (I apologize for gross simplification, but I can’t summarize Iranian history into a single post, they have so much of it and it’s not simple - and not primitive).

In border regions, however, we observe different processes. Persians (Iran’s majority population) have easier access to what little justice their system can ensure, while minorities (the Azeri, Kurds, Arabs and among smaller groups, the Baloch) are marginalized and cannot get just treatment.

Iran is a former empire and has a considerable number of people who’ve been conquered at some time. Some of them want independence (ask a Kurd in private and you’ll hear). Society is neglecting them. If there was peace, and not islamic theocracy but democracy like in the 1950-ties, minority groups would likely have better living conditions. But as things are… sigh. Minority groups get the highest levels of poverty and oppression.

I would put it differently.

The graph represents immigration. That is another topic, if you read the title carefully (see: “public life”).

Recent / notable incidents of violence against women in politics, in Sweden, can be fairly blamed on far-right actors who are (perhaps by coincidence or perhaps not) also failing to discuss immigration normally, because discussing things rationally is not their slice of bread. Some parties’ ultra-fans have a culture of threatening and intimidation.

I know it first hand without being in Sweden. Here in Estonia, we also have a party of that sort, with all the bells and whistles (anti-vaxx, pro-Kremlin, anti-immigration¹ and of course pro-authoritarianism). And their supporters can’t argue with a person much more often than an ordinary party’s supporters. I sincerely hope that party goes below the election threshold soon. They already split because of internal culture (failure to tolerate disagreements).

¹ anti accepting Ukrainian refugees, since there is nearly no other immigration coming here, unlike Sweden which has been considered an attractive destination

P.S. I should note that Sweden has its share of integration problems (which they try to solve, and will likely pull the brakes if they cannot), but as a result of immigration, Sweden experiences less of the demographic problems which press Eastern Europe (read: our population pyramids in Eastern Europe are top-heavy, predicting serious issues with financing of public services in future, their population pyramid in Sweden is relatively square).

Out of curiosity, what does the diagram represent? I wonder what value has increased to about two thirds of 18% (and what is the 18%) between 1945 and 2015?

1945 - I can tell what happened over here on that year. Tens of thousands of Estonians took boats and sailed to Sweden, because they knew that Stalin’s regime had extremely unpleasant surprises waiting for them. Without a clue about the context, I would guess that’s the blue bar in 1945.

Also, I think your graph is missing the point. Lööf was sure as hell unsettled when psychiatrist Ing-Marie Wieselgren was killed at a political festival, by a guy who arguably intended to kill Lööf.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-court-finds-man-guilty-murder-politics-festival-2022-12-06/

Wikipedia tells us a bit more:

After stabbing Wieselgren, the attacker was tackled by a pensioner and was shortly thereafter arrested by police.[5] The arrested perpetrator was a 33-year-old man who had previously participated in events organized by the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement and had written for the neo-Nazi newspaper Nordfront.

So, apparently the motive was political, but I don’t think you expected it was this one.

Polarization is really stupid, it makes people talk, campaign and vote about identity issues (parties start to have ultrafans who want to beat each other up), when their best interest would be served by discussing other topics. Fortunately the Swedish electoral system does not support unhinged levels of polarization.

No problem, it was easy. :)

P.S.

I notice that some people (perhaps special rapporteur Mai Sato) have explained her situation to the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights, and the UN has published a call for Iran to intervene in her case.

Iran must halt execution of Goli Kouhkan domestic violence survivor: UN experts

I hope the word of the OHCHR suffices - that Iranian officials take note and prevent her execution.

If I were an Iranian official, no matter how conservative or stuck in old ways, I would remember what happened after Mahsa Amini / Jina Amini was killed, and would carefully steer away from repeating any similar chain of events.

There’s a small legal step that Ukraine needs to do.

It needs to declare a blockade and declare which goods are blockaded, e.g. “all liquids transportable by ship”.

Then, shipping companies will know in advance: “you cannot transport liquids to or from Russia, if your ship looks like a tanker, don’t go” and dangerous drone strikes aren’t needed.

It’s fortunate that no sailors have been lost so far. But without a policy announcement, the discouraging effect is maybe too small and additional ships may try to run the blockade, which could lead to loss of life and environmental harm - which would be bad.

About the donation drive: it seems legit and I encourage people to help her.

I checked the background of the Qasim Child Foundation and they’re a registered charity in Australia since 2020. Here’s one of their letters from 2022 to the Australian parliament, asking Australia to use its influence on Iran. The director of the foundation, Mehdi Ghatei, is a real person living in Australia and originating from Iran.

What I think about the case: if a person has been “married off” as a child, not because of her wishes, indeed against her informed consent, has tried returning to her parents only to be sent away to an abusive husband, and has subsequently got into a fight with her husband after he harmed her and their child - a court should not convict of murder, but at most “provoked homicide” (if self defense is ruled out).

Extracting confessions without a lawyer present, getting signatures from a person who cannot read (what society fails to teach reading and writing?) - all of this is complete bollocks too, of course. But in the state of Iran, so many things are systematically borked that one loses count. :(

P.S.

Blood money might be a matter of negotiation. The family of her husband might even reconsider if offered a tangible large sum short of their demands instead of mere blood, which benefits nobody.

If you cannot provide a good source in your first post, screaming about others not believing you several posts later serves no purpose - you could have avoided that. If you want others to believe you, it’s your job to convince them. Name-calling won’t convince anyone.

Congratulations, I missed something - the article in “The New Arab” references the words of a medic and provides his name - dr Ghassan Abu Sittah. He is a reputable source.

This could have been your first post. Instead you posted a link to your own post on Lemmy, in which this was source no. 7 - which I, for some reason, missed.

You could have also posted a link to this article, but you have so far not done so.

Advise: learn to argue better. Drop the name-calling. Don’t call a person a propagandist if they aren’t. In the best case, you will stress yourself and the other person before getting to the core of information at hand. In a worse case, discussion will stop right there. Provide direct sources immediately. Prefer reputable sources. Don’t provide a wall of links, but a relevant link.

You just spent 3 days to convince me that Israel could be guilty of organ harvesting. I am convinced, they could be guilty. But you could have used your time better, and could have convinced me with 30 minutes by providing direct links to relevant sources. For example, the below link might have convinced me of the plausibility of your allegations in even less time, maybe a mere 15 minutes - because it’s from a reputable source (no background digging needed) and from a different period - not influenced by current events.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/21/israeli-pathologists-harvested-organs

So, your claim is plausible. But don’t claim to know the outcome of a particular incident if you don’t know the outcome of a particular incident - people will think you’re lying and ask you to prove stuff.

In reality, we don’t currently know what happened to the remains of those 2 guys. What should matter more at this time - they were shot after surrendering.

You go do your research or choose to stuff your stinking propagonda you desprately try to spread despite the truth and hundrends of resources and testominies there up your brain and live with it.

Sure, get agitated and start name-calling me, that will help convince me and others.

Thanks for providing the link, however. I reviewed all the links you posted in that thread. Your claim does not have firm evidence.

Source 3 (trtworld): they suspect the possibility, but don’t have firm evidence.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office also cited possible organ theft from some of the retrieved bodies. “Preliminary data indicates the possibility of human organs being stolen from some bodies, in a crime that transcends humanity and reveals a systematic criminal practice by the occupation against Palestinians both alive and dead,” the office said in a statement.

Source 5 (Middle East Eye) includes more information about who made the claim. The damage reported to the bodies is not consistent with removing an organ for transplantation.

“When we examined the bodies, we found that large parts were missing. There were half bodies, bodies without heads, without limbs, without eyes, and without internal organs,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that there was a high possibility that Israel stole these organs.

Source 8 (Al Jazeera) describes damage more vividly. It is not consistent with organ removal for transplantation.

Many appeared decomposed or burned. Some were missing limbs or teeth, while others were coated in sand and dust. Health officials have said Israeli restrictions on allowing DNA testing equipment into Gaza have often forced morgues to rely on physical features and clothing for identification.

Now I will say what I think of it. I think your claim is untrue. The condition of the bodies proves torture and executions, but does not prove organ theft.

I additionally note: stolen organs don’t disappear, they are received by someone in a narrow timeframe (which can be matched up later), and there has to be a story told to the recipient. Transplantation has to be done by a team of people. If a crime is being committed, it’s pretty hard to make sure every team member stays silent. Later on, the transplanted organ continues to bear the genes of the person whom it belonged to. If doubt arises about the origin of the organ, genetic testing can confirm or deny a specific person, or give an ethnic profile of the donor, which can be narrowed down to find the family of the donor and ask them about their fate.

Hundreds aren’t needed, a reference to maybe 3 highest credibility reports that you have, would be good to look at.

You should learn a bit of biology or medicine.

Stop bluffing, unless you know what it takes to get an organ successfully transplanted to someone. And I see you don’t.

A really simple rule: if one would intend to get transplantable organs, one would not drop construction material on the person. One would transport the person to a hospital without any delay. Doctors would be the persons telling of which violations are happening.

As things are, both Israel and some other countries (Russia) have the habit of returning the bodies of some prisoners who died under suspicious circumstances without some organs. For example, an Ukrainian journalist’s body was returned without her brain and throat. No, she’s not living in another body, brain transplants are fantasy. She was likely strangled to death and organs removed to conceal torture.

I am currently under the impression that this practise serves the purpose of concealing torture (or other crimes) in several places, with one exception - China.

China has been credibly accused of actually harvesting organs from prisoners executed in prisons. This is feasible for them, since a prisoner after execution can be tested before they are killed, and is immediately available for dissection and cooling of organs, which can then be rushed to an airport for sending to the correct hospital. I have good reason to suspect it’s happening. Needless to say, it’s an extremely serious crime.

However, I have not heard of any successful (no matter whether voluntary or forced) organ donation from a person who experienced circulatory death in field conditions and was transported slowly from a considerable distance. Jenin is in the West Bank. Do you think doctors in the West Bank would accommodate a request from the IDF to remove, test and cool organs for from a shooting victim for transplantation? I don’t think even Israeli doctors would.

If you think differently, I would like to see evidence.

As the thread tells us, IDF committed two war crimes: shooting prisoners and desecrating their bodies. There is no need to spread silly rumours on top of that. Reality is bad enough.

More like “to the last ounce of gold in the central bank’s reserves” (they’re already selling it and it won’t last much beyond 6 months). After that, more soldiers can’t be hired, salaries can’t be paid and more Chinese tech can’t be bought, unless oil revenues recover (Ukraine will ensure they won’t).

answersplease77@lemmy.world wrote:

and took the bodies afterward for organ harvesting

False. Instead they used an excacator to collapse part of the warehouse building (the rather large liftable door) on the victims’ bodies, likely hoping to hide their deeds for a while. They were unaware that a journalist was filming them with a telephoto lens.

If the acting president wants, supposedly yes. Emperor Bush II made it thusly, upon going into Iraq for the second time, this time based on lies (and resultingly, starting up ISIS).

(Note: president Bush I had gone into Iraq based on a valid UN resolution due to Iraqi agression.)

The text of the Act has been codified as subchapter II of chapter 81 of title 22, United States Code. The act gives the president power to use “all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any U.S. or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court”.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members'_Protection_Act

If they had something to fight for, I think they would.

In reality, they have Maduro (who has suppressed a popular uprising against himself, and likely didn’t win the last elections) and 20% of inflation per month.

If the US does attack, predictably, only hardcore fans of Maduro will oppose. But the force that Trump has sent is not capable of occupying Venezuela, only striking it and incapacitating the government.

But an attack is an attack - if Trump does order an attack, I have free real estate to sell him… in the Hague, because international agression is prohibited.

Personal suspicion: maybe in Alaska, one man told another: “you can get Ukraine” - “and you can get Venezuela”. One of the men may think he’ll get Caracas in 3 days and will be met with flowers. The other guy may hope that Caracas looks like Kyiv, which he’s been “getting” already for 3 years. But I doubt if Caracas looks like that.

Regardless of what will happen, the story about narco-terrorism is hot air. Smuggling is not war. Smugglers can and should be arrested, not bombed with drones. If this becomes a cause for war, then war will be based on fiction and lies.

The background: Ukraine didn’t have 30 years to refine its cruise missiles and long range strike drones - they built them in 3 years.

There are many ways to make a missile navigate.

• it may follow terrain features (hard, you need to thoroughly map a country using a fleet of satellites)
• it may take readings from a satnav system (this can be jammed)
• it may scan for mobile phone towers and match their ID codes to a map

Once a missile has the direction of 2…3 towers confirmed, it knows where it is - and where to go. Crashing into the final target uses machine vision, but getting there does not.

As a result, Russia tries to counter them by shutting down mobile networks. Not sure if it works. Going by the news, doesn’t seem to work very well.

As for how to avoid exfiltration of mobile network data - hopeless. People have so much spyware and crap on their phones that you don’t need to put an agent on ground to get a list of towers. You just buy out a smartphone app from a shady supplier and develop it into a rootkit, or sell rooted phones on the cheap in the target country.

China is basically going the Marx route to communism.

Kindly, you need to educate yourself about the Chinese economy. If you insist on being an ultra-fan, then know your fandom. For a gentle start, look up the Gini coefficient for various countries from Wikipedia.

Gini coefficient of income inequality

…or just look for blue regions on the map. That’s where a socialist, communist or anarchist (genrally, a leftist) might approve of things economically speaking. One should note with curiosity that some of the blue regions are very poor GDP-wise, but some are very rich too.

China isn’t blue. In terms of inequality, China is in the same class as the US and Russia. It’s better than South American or South African economies, but far worse than the European average. Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Australia, Ukraine, almost any decently developed country beats China in equality, some of them with hands down. Nordic countries also.

Source of map

Poison has been a weapon for ages, so I fully agree.