empty rhetoric based on nothing

That’s what the current Italian government is all about

Yeah, it depends on how much you value clicks against your work ethics as a journalist

demanded they sign deportation papers accepting they had illegally entered Israel

Well, assaulting vessels in international waters and forcing the crew into your country is certainly illegal.

Oh, but it’s not a boycott of Israel - it’s a boycott against any nation whose leader is wanted for crimes against humanity.

An pro-Trump neonazi imbecile that breaks up with Trump is till a neonazi imbecile.

That said, I agree… he and his business should be as welcome in Europe as anybody else’s: we don’t discriminate.

Again and again this flawed logic where you either approve of everything Israel does or you are an antisemite… it’s high time we start distinguishing between the country of Israel and people of Jewish descent (Jewish people should learn the distinction too, seeing how this “antisemite” argument has been repeated by Jewish communities outside Israel).

As for Merz (and Germany, and Europe, and - alas - apparently the world in general), it’s a real shame that the moronic dichotomy of humanity into arbitrary “us” and “them” (and subsequent blaming of everything on “them”) is becoming mainstream rather than staying relegated to the far right (and groups of kids that bully other kids).

Ironically, this is the same exact world vision that gave us that nazi-fascism that so thoroughly embraced antisemitism and so methodically acted on it.

Basically, peaceful protest (from what I’ve heard in Italian media, defined as anything that disrupts the regular activities in the prison) is now a felony punishable with incarceration (not penalty cell time, mind you, actual additional years in prison).

This not only applies to actual inmates (whether found guilty or awaiting trial) but also irregular migrants detained in what are called “identification and expulsion centers” (CIE) but are basically just much worse prisons than regular ones.

Note that Italy’s prisons (both the “real” ones and CIEs) are quite overcrowded (prisons have 120% occupation on average with peaks of 190% - I don’t have data about CIEs but it’s a known fact they are often overcrowded).

Prison overcrowding is sadly a historical problem in Italy, but it’s gotten worse under Meloni’s government (especially when it comes to minors), as they have instituted several new kinds of felonies and aggravating circumstances, without any new investment in prisons.

Agreed (with the substance, if not the tone).

Using “meat attack” to refer to Russian military doctrine (as described by Russian deserters - the Russian government would of course deny that) is not more dehumanizing than using “slavery” to identify the condition of people being owned as property: ie. the practice is certainly dehumanizing, but calling it with its proper name (or whatever derogatory name) is not.

Mods please review your decision.

Ironic that it works (I presume) via an app

Err… the term Palestine (or “Palestinian territories”, if one swings that way) is appropriate when one wants to reference the Gaza Strip and West Bank together.

The (shocking and extremely worrying) levels of violence and illegal actions from Israel in the West Bank is incomparable with the mass killings the IDF is perpetrating in the Gaza strip (also, I’ve not heard the term “war” used to describe the situation in the West Bank), hence my specific reference to the Gaza strip.

Trying to say even very sensible things about the Middle east without triggering anyone is sure extenuating… I really respect the (so far fruitless) efforts of those diplomats who have been trying their hardest to get people to make sense of the whole mess of reach some (any!) sensible agreement.

Accused of slander? Netanyahu? I can’t believe it! He seemed like a such a good person… /s

BTW: We should really stop referring to what’s happening in the Gaza strip (and elsewhere) as “war”.

You are the first person i came across referring to them as “Middle East religions”.

Fair enough :) I’ll take that as an apology for having labeled me as racists for no reason.

For future reference, you might also hear “desert religions” (yeah, it’s not like all the deserts in the world are there) or “the three monotheist religions” (yeah, I know those are not the only ones): it means the same thing.

Then again what became of Christian in various places of the world has little to do with the region.

Yeah but the view on prostitution is shared (by and large) in the three religions we are talking about: it’s not a Christian-only thing and it’s not something that developed in Europe alone (well, as far as I know: we are still commenting on what I referred to as an assumption - ie. I’m not 100% sure about this).

Or do you consider modern beer to be Iraqi?

I could certainly say “IDK where beer comes from, I assume it’s from Mesopotamia?” though?

I’ll leave it to you to re-read what I wrote originally and find the flaw if this last comment of yours.

In reality, I guess I just made you angry… I’m Sorry about that, but “racist” is one of the very few things I don’t allow people to call me, so I took off my gloves.

seems racist

Wow. Please define “racist” for me, and show how it has anything to do with religion.

How the heck do you get the idea that Swedish sexual morals would be defined by people thousands of kilometres away?

Ok, you’ve just misunderstood me (no, this time it really wasn’t me being unclear, sorry).

The “middle east religions” are Judaism, Christianity and Islam (I listed them in chronological order, please don’t be triggered again). Is the expression not in use where you live? Even so, how the hell did you think I could mean Islam? Why would I do it in such a roundabout way and using plural?

IDK where this fixation in regulating other people’s sexual life comes from, I assume it’s from the Middle-east religions?

When asked the question “who is the victim in this supposed crime?” they will tell you it’s the exploited women (is there male prostitution? IDK), but those are supposed victims (even if 99.99% of prostitutes were forced into it, you’d still have to prove exploitation in each specific case - that’s how justice works in every other matter except this one). They won’t be able to explain (if not with, often made-up, statistical arguments) why they don’t treat women (and men) that are exploited in different businesses the same way (think, migrants forced to work in slavelike conditions in agriculture).

The sad truth is, those moralists are just more interested in dictating other people’s sexual behaviour than they are interested in human rights.

It’s worth mentioning that, besides the various semi-bans on prostitution (which do irritate me, but whom - in all honesty - I can live with), this unhealthy sexual fixation of our societies is what gifts us the marginalization (when it’s not persecution) of LGBT people.

We might need some kind of tool to ensure EU governments stay loyal to the EU before external powers.

If possible, it should be something less extreme than forcibly expelling countries from the EU… but even that would be acceptable IMHO.

I agree 100%, and 100% the US don’t give a shit.

The article is very diplomatic about it, but this is Melony attempt to cover up the failure of her whole Albania plan by rebranding it as something that she may then call a success and be believed (well, by her diehard supporters at least).

Yes, but will Trump and Putin chill at a pool and - most importantly - will there be a golden statue of Trump and bearded scantily clothed dancers?

Jokes aside - this is coming from bonkers people who think authority and stubbornness are enough to get things done, which may to a point apply in internal affairs (where there’s an established body of laws that gives the president that authority), but will not work in geopolitics.

Also, making sure you know the least bit about what you are talking about before opening your mouth and letting your ugly thoughts out wouldn’t harm: comparing nowadays Ukraine to WWII Berlin just shows you don’t know anything about (at least one of) the two.

There are precedents. In October 1979, Paul Volcker, newly appointed as chair of the Federal Reserve, drove up interest rates to a remarkable 13% in a bid to tackle inflation, later raising them to 17%.

Back then the problem was rampaging inflation and the (by-the-book) cure was raising interest rates to drive it down.

Nowadays US inflation is not an issue (IIRC it’s like 2% or 3%) and tariffs are gonna bring it up in a confused effort to… rebuild a manufacturing industry? (I’m not sure that’s the goal - it’s hard to say what “great again” means precisely).

In what way would 1979 be a precedent?

Anyway… yes, assuming Trump’s goal is to have more manufacturing in the US, tariffs will “work” - the point is how much that’s gonna cost (in quality of life, not dollars) and who’s gonna pay that price.

Good. Let’s copy that