Bulletins and News Discussion from August 5th to August 11th, 2024 - LGBT - COTW: Iraq
Well, Iran and their allies' response may happen sometime this week and apparently they aren't talking to the US in order to negotiate how and where they will hit Israel (and Shoigu arrived in Tehran rather auspiciously), the Bangladeshi government just fell, F16s have been given to Ukraine, there are fascist riots in the UK, and Japan just had its worst stock fall since 1987 and seems to be taking several other countries/corporations with it. I don't really know where to look right now.
The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you've wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don't worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.
The Country of the Week is Iraq! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section. Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war. Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language. https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one. https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts. https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel. https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator. https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps. https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language. https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language. https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses. https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Romanian gymnast could replace Jordan Chiles as bronze medalist in floor exercise after court ruling
Romania’s Ana Barbosu could replace American Jordan Chiles as the Olympic bronze medalist in gymnastics floor exercise after the Court of Arbitration for Sport voided an appeal from Chiles’ coach that vaulted her onto the podium.
CAS ruled Saturday that the on-floor appeal by U.S. coach Cecile Landi to have .1 added to Chiles’ score that boosted Chiles from fifth to third came outside the 1-minute window allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). The ad hoc committee wrote that Landi’s appeal came 1 minute, 4 seconds after the score was posted.
The Romanian Olympic Committee had asked for three bronze medals to be awarded. Romanian prime minister Marcel Ciolacu reacted to the ruling by saying “justice has been served” and that “in the end, the truth prevailed.”
USA Gymnastics said in a statement it is “devastated” by the ruling. “The inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring,” the organization wrote.
The 23-year-old Chiles became a target on social media in the aftermath of the late switch, with critics asking her to give back the medal or offering racist remarks. Chiles posted on X earlier this week that “it’s funny how people can still never be happy for someone.”
Eat shit Burgerlanders. A lot of the news about this doesn't mention the fact that 4th place was also Romanian, so by moving from 5th place to 3rd place, the Burgerlander was bumping off 2 Romanian athletes. This was why the Romanian prime minister wanted to boycott the closing ceremony. It's also pathetic that US already got silver, but they still try to pull some technicality bullshit to get bronze as well.
American athletes have some of the biggest egos and liberals say dumb shit like, “so it’s okay when Usain Bolt showboats but not us?” Yes. Usain Bolt represented the global south while American athletes act like the ugly Americans you often see in expat circles acting like they own the world.
Usain Bolt is also the undisputed GOAT at the events he competes in, absolutely dominating the field. The only American Olympian who could even reasonably be compared to Bolt is Phelps.
Usain Bolt competed in the three Olympics, winning gold in every single event he ever competed in. Phelps won mostly gold in all his events over three Olympics, so comparable. Biles didn't even win gold in any event at the 2020 Olympics, so as good as she is she's not as consistent/dominant. LeBron doesn't count because there's only one basketball event and I don't think people think of him as an "Olympian" first and foremost, but I suppose he can showboat too since he is a once in a lifetime basketball player. Ledecky is super dominant but only at one event, she doesn't win all golds across the board. Better case than Biles but not on the same level as Phelps and Bolt imo.