I'm sure there are Chinese scholars doing important critical work on the very real history of Japanese imperialism in the East China Sea and it just sucks that their work must be corralled into justifying Chinese imperialism in the East China Sea www.globaltimes.cn/page/202512/...

In a back channeled "offer" to the International Criminal Court, the United States proposed dropping sanctions on ICC officials if the Court •Dropped charges on Israeli officials and pledged not to indict anymore •Stopped investigating crimes in Afghanistan •Amended the ICC treaty the ICC said: no

What a story this chart tells

Read this: www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...

“Our language was not dead – it’d been asleep” Carl McGrady www.theguardian.com/news/2025/de...

People need to be keeping eyes on Tunisia. A range of frail & elderly political prisoners—including famous politicians like Rached Ghannouchi—are hunger striking & could die any day now, god forbid. Meanwhile, Saied is undertaking yet another crackdown & discontent is growing.

More reports of teachers' salaries going unpaid, this time in Wuhan

"An official at the meeting, which included journalists from Bloomberg News, used a Chinese phrase equivalent to “do not say you have not been warned.”"

The colossal failure of regulatory oversight across governmental departments is clear – and Hong Kong has quashed the civilian watchdogs that used to close the gaps.

This makes it sound like the fire was somehow a result of the residents’ revolt but just want to make it clear that in fact the ‘revolt’ was the residents questioning the contractor’s behaviour

World Cup and Eurovision neck and neck over what event is going to be the bigger disaster

Yet another Biden administration official admits, after the fact, that the Biden administration's and more broadly America's policy of supporting Israel unconditionally does not work and needs to change.

lol

The comments section on The Conversation's article on how Australians don't understand Taiwan (or China) is absolutely packed with Australians who clearly know fuck all about Taiwan (and China)

I know it's a dying genre but I am going to do some travelogue writing

This is fascist bollocks and we need to stop it.

The New Cold War is against nationalist authoritarianism, and the US is on their side.

An entire union dissolved because someone expressed some condolences and mild calls for justice. Are the people who were admiring Hong Kong's "swift justice" a week ago still paying attention?

In an even semi open society a tragedy like the one in Hong Kong should bring down the municipal government

Looking back at this: HKSARG is acting as dissidents expected when they first announced NSL in 2020 Legitimate concerns about Hong Kong issues (aka fire safety & building codes) are politicized into a threat of national security. HKSARG is creating new red lines w the recent crackdowns.

This aspect is being discussed in Taiwan, but I wish it would be even more, and that pro-unification political parties would be challenged over the consequences of giving up rule of law and democracy.

Calling all freelancers—and anyone hiring freelancers in Taipei! Join us at @newbloommag.net our first #CNNtaipei. Everyone gets 3 min. to talk about yourself, your projects, and your ideal collaborators. Cover is $300 NTD for all, $500 if playing slides/media (upload at bit.ly/cnntaipei) #Taiwan

If Russia is banned for its war of aggression and atrocities against civilians in Ukraine, Israel should be banned for its genocide in Gaza. This should not be hard for anyone with a shred of moral/intellectual integrity. www.rte.ie/entertainmen...

At this point the only country that's actually confirmed they *will* participate in Eurovision is fucking Israel. Everything else is a stream of news about withdrawals and likely later withdrawals. Disgrace of an organisation

Looks like we'll be having the lowest viewership eurovision in a long time then, great work EBU, can't even muster the bare minimum!

Politicians keep getting caught embezzling funds, so the KMT's proposal is to just make it legal, and also to make politicians generally immune from anti corruption laws because the voters would just not elect a corrupt politician, right? www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/...

Who got canceled exactly

Some deep irony to China questioning Japan’s sovereignty over Okinawa over Japan’s support for Taiwan. As for me, I ask, why not self-determination for Okinawans? And also Taiwanese, Tibetans, and Uyghurs, and whoever? None of us are free until we all are, lol

The Dutch did not leave many loanwords in Taiwan, but those they did leave are super interesting. You'd think that the word for cabbage, gaolicai 高麗菜, means 'Korean vegetable'? Nah. Say it in Hokkien: Ko-lê(-tshài), from Dutch 'kool' (Ger. Kohl, engl. cole) XD 😁

remembering the past is a national security crime

"Trump’s 28-point plan for Ukraine is much like his 20-point plan for Gaza. Neither enforces international law, protects the victims, or holds the perpetrators of colonial aggression and occupation accountable. Both punish the victims and reward the aggressors." tempestmag.org/2025/11/oppo...

remember when they advertised self-driving cars as being better at driving and following road rules than a person

Setting aside the whys of Guiding and WI doing this and to what extent they're forced, it's now pretty beyond doubt that this is a campaign to deliberately render trans life in the UK impossible.

“The core elements of an open society can help guard against tragedies like [Tai Po], and can play a vital role in shaping the response so that needed reforms are made to guard against something like this happening again. That won’t happen in HK in the NSL era.” 🎁 www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/w...

42.0% of Hong Kong's total prison population have not been convicted of a crime — a new record high, according to Webb-site.com.

Pulled the trigger on the flights over lunar new year. Not much choice but ooof

just found out about the danbei expressway project and added yet another reason to absolutely hate KMT local governance

It's actually wild how good the original Planet of the Apes is (and how insane the sequels are).

“In the past, district councillors and elected members of Hong Kong’s legislature were easily accessible. By comparison, representatives of the new system feel to many like extensions of the government, equally distant and unaccountable“ @jamestgriffiths.com www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...

And this is one reason why Hongkongers have fought so hard against the "bamboo scaffolding is at fault" narrative.

Some interesting insights from Kevin Yam, the pro-democracy lawyer and activist now wanted by Hong Kong’s national security police. When it comes to the “independent committee” promised by John Lee to probe cause of the Wang Fuk fire, the devil may be in the details: hongkongfp.com/2025/12/02/b...

AFP question to Chief Executive John Lee: "Over the past few years, you have spoken about leading Hong Kong from chaos to order and from order to prosperity. And yet this prosperous society allowed 151 people to burn to death. Can you tell us why you deserve to keep your job?"

Chinese state-run media's sudden interest in the history of the Ryukyo kingdom is another example of the elasticity of historical narratives. and speaking out for the rights and self-determination of indigenous people elsewhere when it's useful. indigenous peoples in China? unheard of.

Unjust transition is under way "Western carmakers and battery giants... have become willing participants in this model, often turning a blind eye to the labor and environmental shortcuts that make their net-zero targets affordable."

Tenants affected by the Tai Po fire in Hong Kong are reporting that their greedy landlords have already claimed the emergency relief funds, saying the funds needed to be shared between landlord and tenant.

everything is on sale at the moment except the one flight i have to book soon, which is almost double the normal price

Beitou on 35mm

I think you all do not understand how fundamentally racist the usage of China as a blank slate is. It is profoundly orientalist and unaddressed as a problem

nooo someone bought the zorki

I think Americans fawning over party-state systems because they see a couple of rich people being arrested without understanding any of the context need to calm down a bit, because a party-state is exactly what the Republicans are going to give you if you're not careful