As people seem to keep angling for one, here’s a thread for various political ARGHs around the world.
Two I’ve had tabs on today:
Tell us what else is giving you nation-based anxiety/hope/ambitions of goo-hoarding.
Oh we have had some DRAMA in the last few weeks. Getting ready for work now so will post allll about it later.
did you see the syrian delegation mugging off the US over the golan theft the other day?
difficult not to sound tinfoil but when you look into the global narcotics trade it’s remarkable how big a role drugs play in recent political history yet is entirely unremarked upon. just reading about how ISIS are alleged to have worked pretty closely with the turkish secret service to move over a billion dollars worth of heroin since 2014. incredible, staggering sums of money. the supply chain will stretch right across europe too, down into africa, across to the americas. various organised crime and corrupt state agencies will be involved all over the world. then that money gets recycled into legitimate enterprises like construction, finance, etc. no links, just reading bits and pieces here and there.
General election in Israel
Polls closed at 8 PM.
Exit polls show Netanyahu’s Likud Party trailing Gantz’s Blue & White bloc, but with a clearer path to forming a governing coalition. Two of the three main TV channels show Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc with more than the 61 seats needed to form a government, and with Gantz unable to form a coalition.
^that website seems very spammy
Protests in Khartoum have been going on for a couple of months, with large crowds calling for president Omar Hassan al-Bashir to step down. In recent days these protests have gained momentum and it looks like many rank-and-file soldiers support the protesters, abandoning their loyalty to the dictator, who has ruled Sudan for 30 years. Protesters have begun to express hope that the army will force al-Bashir out.
However, intermittent fighting between different sections of the country’s security forces raises concerns that Sudan could descend into anarchy. That fear is especially acute now because two neighbouring nations — Libya and South Sudan — are convulsed by civil war and chaos.
it’s a news digest site with sources from the African continent
I thought it better than sharing an article from the Guardian, NYT or other news outlets that often report quite badly on what’s happening in region imho.
I followed this guy on twitter a while ago, and he seems to be useful for retweeting people with good understanding and local experience https://twitter.com/JamesCopnall
(much of it is in arabic so I can’t really follow)
Other decent Twitter sources in that area of the world:
https://twitter.com/sumy_sudurni
https://twitter.com/patienceakumu
https://twitter.com/micoh
In a separate controversy on Tuesday, Israeli Arab politicians condemned his Likud party for sending 1,200 observers equipped with hidden body cameras to polling stations in Arab communities.
The Arab alliance, Hadash-Taal, said it was an “illegal” action that sought to intimidate Arabs. Likud said it wanted to ensure only “valid votes” were cast
That’s terrifying and surely only a matter of time before it becomes a feature of elections in other countries (if it isn’t already) 
General election in Israel: UPDATE
With 97% of votes counted, current prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on course to form another right wing cabinet.
Netanyahu’s Likud and the Blue and White Party lead by Benny Gantz appear to have 35 seats each, while the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties each win 8 seats. The once mighty Labor party is down to just 6 seats. Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu party, Hadash-Ta’al and Meretz are all set to claim 4 seats apiece.The Union of Right-Wing Parties has won 5 seats while the New Right party led for Ministers Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked are hoping the soldiers’ vote, not yet counted will carry them over the required threshold.
The results put the the rightist bloc in the lead with 65 seats, while the leftist bloc stands at 55 seats.
