China looks to Indonesia for diplomatic resolution after coastguards’ Natuna encounters + More

China looks to Indonesia for diplomatic resolution after coastguards’ Natuna encounters

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[10-23-2024] Indonesian Coast Guard “Drives Out” Chinese Vessel Shadowing Seismic Ship (archived)

On Monday, Indonesia’s coast guard “drove out” a China Coast Guard cutter that was shadowing a survey vessel in Indonesian waters of the South China Sea. On Tuesday, the Chinese vessel was back again in the same spot, according to maritime security expert Ray Powell.

Geo Coral is a Norwegian-owned geophysical vessel flagged in Norway. She is operating under charter to PT Pertamina, Indonesia’s state-owned oil company, to conduct a 3D seismic survey off the Natuna Islands. “Pertamina East Natuna is focusing on oil and gas exploration activities in the East Natuna Working Area [East Natuna gas field], which has great potential to contribute to national energy security,” said a Pertamina spokesman on Tuesday. 

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76 days to get it right in Ukraine

76 days to get it right in Ukraine (translation)

With less than two weeks to go until the US presidential election, and with polls showing a tie that will make the result depend on a small number of swing states, states that could fall to one side or the other and change the course of events, the electoral issue marks the global political agenda and represents a special element of uncertainty in the case of Ukraine. All the certainties that have existed until now under the leadership of Joe Biden, who has managed relations with Kyiv for two terms, since he was in charge of the White House during the years of the Obama administration, will disappear the moment it is announced who will come to power next January. Although, without a doubt, a victory for Trump would be more worrying for Zelensky, who apparently did not get the desired support from the Republican candidate at the meeting held during the Ukrainian president’s last visit to the United States, neither would a victory for Kamala Harris mean the end of concerns. The scant presence of the war in Ukraine in the campaign is compounded by speculation about the candidate’s cold relationship with Zelensky, despite the fact that it was Harris who attended the peace summit in Switzerland representing the White House. However, beyond slogans such as “support Ukraine as long as necessary,” the candidate has not at any time suggested what specific policy she would pursue with regard to the war or the relationship with Russia. Electoral needs are marked by issues of national policy and neither the Republican nor the Democrat candidate are making long speeches detailing their proposals.

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Full text: Xi Jinping’s speech at the 16th BRICS Summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday called on BRICS countries to work for high quality development of greater BRICS cooperation, in a speech addressing the 16th BRICS Summit.

Full text: Xi Jinping’s speech at the 16th BRICS Summit

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“Friends for Peace” Group on the Ukraine Crisis Set up in the United Nations

Meeting with journalists from BRICS countries • President of Russia

The racial and class question

The racial and class question

Virtually forgotten due to the discourse of Ukrainian unity and the general lack of interest in analyzing the nuances of events, the racial and class question is going virtually unnoticed in this war. If the Donbass conflict had a proletarian aspect that the press mocked in the first weeks of the DPR due to those Soviet-looking press conferences of workers and academics, in the current context, there have not even been any such comments. Presented as a war of national liberation, no aspect other than nationalism has deserved much mention in the Western press or in academia. Volodymyr Ishchenko and Ilya Matveev, who have sought to study the class aspect in the outbreak of the conflict, are the rare exception. To Ischenko’s surprise, RFE/RL published an article last September that dealt, albeit in generalities and without great depth, with the increase in inequality that war implies, an aspect that is, on the other hand, perfectly evident. “As the war drags on, the gaps in Ukrainian society are widening,” the American media headlines.

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[Updated] Moldova says ‘no’ in vote on joining EU: partial results

DW (Germany): Moldova says ‘no’ in vote on joining EU: partial results

They’ve been building up this election interference narrative for months.

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B92 (Serbia): Moldova decided: Loud and clear – NO!

BBC: Moldova’s EU vote hangs in balance as president blames voter ‘fraud’

BBC changed their headline.

More information on just a few of the front organizations in Moldova:

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