Charlie StrossNew blog entry: The Coming Storm: https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2024/01/the-coming-storm.html
Angus McIntyre@cstross I would like to live in slightly less interesting times, please. Where do I apply?
sabik
Aki Helin@cstross Would a Labour majority be likely affect UK's stance on Ukraine?
Grievous Angel
Graydon@cstross And, given the way things are going with both agriculture and shipping, 2024 is going to have more traditional reasons to be interesting.
Carter not getting a second term will wind up in the careful histories no one will write as one of the most consequential events ever.
Ray Cunningham@cstross FYI, there are council elections in Ireland in June, on the same day as the European Parliament elections - but not in March. The two referendums... I'm less optimistic than you. There is no clear and obvious benefit to passing them, and a lot of people happy to spread fear about them.
(edited *no* clear and obvious benefit)
(edited *no* clear and obvious benefit)
Brian Nisbet@raycunningham @cstross Yeah, I was going to say this. Only local elections (that we know about) but the next general election has to happen before Feb 2025, so it happening this year isn't impossible. The referendums are a concern, because they might be used to kick the government by people who don't understand how these things work or what harm they're causing.
@natural20 @cstross by March, I think, because it's five years since the Dail first sat, but yeah
@raycunningham @cstross Ah, yes, fair.
FredKiesche 🇺🇦@cstross I appreciate the creation of a US politics exclusion zone. Can I move there?
OmerOptimism! How rare!
Also, I think 'Fuck knows' is a succinct summary of Israeli politics at this time, well done, sir!
dr2chase@cstross I wonder if my own change in opinion is just me, or if it is more widespread. Once upon a time, I viewed conservatives as "just a different point of view", but in recent years, much more like "what is wrong with them??!!!?!", "can they count larger than two?", "wow, they believe a bunch of fairytales, but nasty", and for the rich ones, "wow, they're just evil greedy mofos".
Was I an outlier before, am I one now, or is this happening to a lot of people?
David Mitchell 
As the consequences of neo-liberal economics and conservative policy accumulate, seeing people cling to something that now shows accelerating, concrete harm instead of hypotheticals does get harder to understand. And so many are unwilling to admit they might have been wrong now need to double down on their commitment to the ‘ideals’ and work ever harder to look away from the harms.
GuyWithLag
Wolf_BaginskiI shall carefully remind everyone that we are being flooded with lies and disinformation, and some of us see multiple elections on the same day.
Don't trust people telling you who to vote for. It's YOUR vote. Whether you choose gunpowder, treason, or plot, if you don't use your vote you will have lost your election.
Joe Hill: "Don't mourn, organize!"
@Wolf_Baginski Also: you're not voting for your favourite flavour of ice cream, you're voting for the lesser evil—the one least likely to put poison in your gelato.
Tero Ykspetäjä@cstross A (minor) correction: presidency is definitely not ceremonial in Finland: while the prime minister is the head of domestic policy (including EU), the president leads Finland’s foreign policy, and is also the supreme commander of the Finnish military.
Adoxography@Adoxography @cstross I don’t think he is: all I’ve seen is some unofficial bot mirrors of his Twitter account). Maybe I just didn’t find the right account?
@tero @cstross he's https://ieji.de/@alexstubb@respublicae.eu but that may well be a Twitter mirror. He nearly never puts anything in English on here anyway.
Alexander Stubb (@[email protected])
5.62K Posts, 0 Following, 539 Followers · Unofficial automated mirror. No copyright asserted. ∎ Director & Professor @STGEUI. Chair @cmioffice. Former Prime-, Finance- & Foreign Minister of Finland (2008-16). Bookworm. PhD LSE. Sportsnut. Sub-9.30 Ironman.
@Adoxography The profile says, “unofficial automated mirror”. There are several other similar ones as well.
@tero I think you are right. I don't see him on Bluesky either.
HairyChris@cstross RE: Taiwan... there does seem to be a bit of uproar in China's rocket forces which may cool things temporarily.
AdministratorSome good news, buried in there:
"But we also have a glimmer of hope: [by 2025] renewables everywhere, coal-fired power stations shutting down for good, e-bikes everywhere (and traffic planning measures to accommodate them), electric cars showing up in significant numbers in those places that are dependent on automobiles. The oil-addicted export economies (think Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela) are hurting."
@cstross
I would expect the coming fossil fuel cliff would also show up in other places, not just Russian strategy; fossil fuels play an outsized economic and/or political role in a lot of countries, subnational entities, transnational corporations and various other enterprises
Some of those seem to be trying to prepare reasonably; a lot seem to be snarling and lashing out
"next week is 2025; your government is about to go into full-on panic" probably applies to both sides of the metaphor
ᴡᴀʟᴋɪɴɢ ᴅʀᴀɢʟɪɴᴇ