Indonesia’s feared ex-general Prabowo claims victory in presidential election + Notes

Indonesia’s feared ex-general Prabowo claims victory in presidential election

But the likely victory of Prabowo — an ex-general who was kicked out from the army and subjected to a two-decade ban from the U.S. over human rights violations — raises fears of the world’s third-largest democracy sliding backward into authoritarian rule.

Related:

3 things you should know about Indonesia’s presidential elections

Continuity and its risks


Prabowo is expected to largely continue the policies of President Widodo, or “Jokowi,” as Indonesians call him. President Widodo is not up for reelection as he’s serving his final term.

Through his two five-year terms, Indonesia’s economy — Southeast Asia’s largest — has grown at about 5% a year. His infrastructure building, cash and food assistance to the poor and health and education policies have been popular.

Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of nickel, used in making electric vehicle batteries, and Jokowi has barred the export of raw nickel, to help Indonesia move up the value chain from mining to manufacturing.

Prabowo is Suharto’s son-in-law. He received training in the 1980s from the U.S. military at Fort Benning, Ga. (now Fort Moore) and Fort Bragg, N.C. (now Fort Liberty).

Indonesia’s presidential election emerges as key battleground in US-China rivalry

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Propaganda: Houthis could cut undersea global internet cables, minister warns

Yemen’s UN-recognized government has warned of the possibility that Houthi rebels could cut undersea internet cables off the country’s Red Sea coast, calling it “a serious threat to one of the most important digital infrastructures in the world.”

Houthis could cut undersea global internet cables, minister warns

1. Why would Ansar Allah jeopardize Palestinians’ lines of communication with the outside world? That’s a rhetorical question, by the way. 2. It originates from the Israeli propaganda outlet, MEMRI. 3. The Gulf International Forum is indirectly funded by the Qatari government. 4. Emily Milliken is a junior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, which has been funded by the front organizations Scaife Foundations, the Smith Richardson Foundation, and the William H. Donner Foundation.

Russia’s top diplomat just accused the US, South Korea and Japan of preparing for war with North Korea

Russia’s top diplomat accused the United States, South Korea and Japan on Wednesday of preparing for war with North Korea.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a U.N. news conference that this new military bloc brought together by the United States is building up military activity and conducting large-scale exercises.

Russia’s top diplomat just accused the US, South Korea and Japan of preparing for war with North Korea

Meanwhile, corporate media is fearmongering about the DPRK attacking South Korea!

Why’s The New York Times Fearmongering About Indonesia’s Presidential Frontrunner?

Why’s The New York Times Fearmongering About Indonesia’s Presidential Frontrunner? By Andrew Korybko

It’s an information warfare provocation intended to manipulate voters’ perceptions of the frontrunner to the point that a run-off election is scheduled this summer, which could then give the US’ preferred candidate the chance that he needs to come to power and align Indonesia with America against China in the New Cold War.

Why’s The New York Times Fearmongering About Indonesia’s Presidential Frontrunner?

Anies Baswedan was a Fulbright Scholar. The Fulbright Program is funded by the USG.

As a Fulbright Scholar, he went to receive his M.P.M. in international security and economic policy from the University of Maryland School of Public Policy (where he was a William P. Cole III Fellow), and Ph.D. in political science from Northern Illinois University, where he was a Gerald S. Maryanov Fellow.

Wikipedia

Neocons are panicking over another possible Trump presidency

The Atlantic: Two Men Running to Stay Out of Prison

Liz Cheney warns US ‘sleepwalking into dictatorship

Robert Kagan: A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.

…We can expect more of this when the war against the “deep state” begins in earnest. According to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), there is a whole cabal determined to undermine American security, a “Uniparty” of elites made up of “neoconservatives on the right” and “liberal globalists on the left” who are not true Americans and therefore do not have the true interests of America at heart. Can such “anti-American” behavior be criminalized? It has in the past and can be again.

So, the Trump administration will have many avenues to persecute its enemies, real and perceived. Think of all the laws now on the books that give the federal government enormous power to surveil people for possible links to terrorism, a dangerously flexible term, not to mention all the usual opportunities to investigate people for alleged tax evasion or violation of foreign agent registration laws. The IRS under both parties has occasionally looked at depriving think tanks of their tax-exempt status because they espouse policies that align with the views of the political parties. What will happen to the think-tanker in a second Trump term who argues that the United States should ease pressure on China? Or the government official rash enough to commit such thoughts to official paper? It didn’t take more than that to ruin careers in the 1950s.

Their panic just shows how out of touch they are with the working class! As for Kagan, there’s so much more that I could say, but for now I’ll just roll my eyes! 🙄