not sure if this is fully appropriate for the newsthread, but it’s neat and if we can have American electoralism discourse, we can have some Chinese provincial politics too https://xcancel.com/RnaudBertrand/status/2066832718542012681

A local people’s congress in Zhejiang Province, China, rejected a major government investment project with a total investment exceeding 1 billion yuan (RMB, same below, equivalent to 189 million SGD) with more than half of the votes against it. Chinese media pointed out that in the past, people’s congress representatives in various places in China rarely participated in decision-making on major government investment projects, and cases of rejecting projects were even rarer.

This is a very good example of how democracy works at a local level in China 👇

To explain succinctly, at every administrative level in China, they have a “people’s congress” (人民代表大会 - rénmín dàibiǎo dàhuì). At the county, district and township level, representatives are directly elected by voters in their constituencies. Above that (prefectural cities, provinces, and the National People’s Congress) - representatives are elected by the congress one level below. Depending on the location, local people’s congresses have more or less oversight power on local spending, appointments, and policy. Zhejiang province is one of the places in China where people’s congresses have the most power after an official named Xi Jinping - you may have heard of the guy - established a framework called “do practical things for the people” (为民办实事 - wèi mín bàn shí shì) when he was provincial party secretary in the early 2000s.

https://xcancel.com/atrupar/status/2067210512308265420    https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2067210464631644160/vid/avc1/1280x720/PC3L-WvfGLk-wTgr.mp4

Trump on Egyptian President el-Sisi:

“He was in a hotel and I met him. We fell in love, deeply in love … we didn’t know each other before that. We had great chemistry, and I stayed twice as long as I was supposed to.”

Ukraine drone strikes Russian oil refinery

🇺🇦 Ukraine Sets Moscow Oil Refinery Ablaze in One of Its Largest Drone Strikes of the War

Ukraine struck the Moscow Oil Refinery early Thursday in one of its largest drone attacks of the war, igniting multiple fires and sending thick black smoke over the Russian capital.

The refinery supplies roughly 40% of Moscow’s fuel and petroleum products and was still burning hours later, according to Al Jazeera. Russian authorities said 17 people, including two children, were injured in the wider attack.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed it shot down 555 Ukrainian drones overnight, including nearly 200 headed toward Moscow, though the figures could not be independently verified. The assault disrupted hundreds of flights and marked the second strike on the refinery in a week.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was targeting infrastructure that sustains Russia’s war effort and vowed continued strikes unless Moscow agrees to end the war.

Looks pretty bad from the video attached in the link. I have no idea what Zelensky is thinking here this is not gonna end well for him.

https://xcancel.com/buckadeath/status/2066920202387017825

Israeli outlet Israel Hayom reports, in a claim not yet echoed by other major outlets, that President Trump is weighing the dismissal of several senior administration figures who opposed the Iran deal, including Defense Secretary Hegseth and CIA Director Ratcliffe. “The argument has been settled. Those who opposed it may pay a personal price,” a senior U.S. official was quoted as saying about the behind-the-scenes turmoil. According to the report, Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears to be safe for now.

Khamenei watching his son regime change the US

Some high-ranking government officials in Israel increasingly believe that members of the Trump administration are ‘secretly conspiring against Israel’ for antisemitic reasons, with the signing of the MoU being a part of that conspiracy – WSJ

• Middle East Spectator

Drone strikes beyond the battlefield pump up market for technology to repel them - reuters.com

• Civilian infrastructure faces rising drone threats

• Demand rises for detection and counter-drone technology

• Regulatory, safety and budget constraints slow adoption

• Experts warn of ineffective, overpriced tech and market panic

At the very, very end

Greg Falco, a professor at Cornell University said:

“Right now it’s just panic mode, and everybody is acquiring absolutely every tool they can find in their arsenal to feel like they have a little bit more control. I’m just seeing so much snake oil.”

7h ago

These fools, who think I haven’t been tough enough on Iran, when the Stock Market Just Hit A RECORD HIGH, and Oil prices are “tumbling” down, are either jealous, bad people, or stupid. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!! President DJT

After seven weeks of blockades and protests, most of #Bolivia celebrates planned dialogue between the Paz government and the country’s largest labor union, the COB. Yet, the Santa Cruz elitist Civic Committee (tied to the Santa Cruz Youth League paramilitaries) rejects the proposal and advocates a violent state of emergency to punish protesting sectors. Who are the bad guys in this scenario?

• Twitter

i fucking knew it! the pigs murdered a child in mississippi the other day when the mag-dumped into a car after a reported shoplifting attempt, and the kid’s family wasn’t even involved in the shoplifting attempt! they were just done shopping and trying to leave when the cops opened fire!

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/officer-placed-leave-fatal-shooting-131721230.html

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Wiley’s family, said the child’s mother maintains she was attempting to tell officers that a baby was inside the vehicle before shots were fired.

Marquell Bridges, president of the Building Bridges Coalition, has also questioned the use of force, saying Kohen’s mother was not involved in any theft and was neither a witness nor an accomplice to a crime.

I wonder what’s going on. Trump surely wanted video of him (or Vance) “officially” ending the war. Trump loves realty tv “big reveal” shit. For a Big Reveal - you need Big Video. Electronic signing is pointless for that.

The Guardian - Pakistan’s foreign ministry has said that the signing ceremony in Geneva, which was due to take place on Friday, is cancelled as it understood to have already been signed remotely. “The proposed visit has been postponed as the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding has already been electronically signed, has entered into force, and is now under implementation,” spokesperson Mosharraf Zaidi said, adding Pakistan would support the next phase of several “technical-level” tracks.

Al Jazeera - Swiss location allows negotiators to heavily control media access. I was here at the Burgenstock Resort almost exactly two years ago when there was a big meeting on peace in Ukraine attended by its supporter nations. One of the advantages is its location – it’s on top of a mountain, so that gives you security. It also gives you the ability to control access.

I’ve covered quite a lot of diplomatic events over the years in Switzerland, but diplomacy with the prying eyes of the media and 24-7 coverage is different. I remember the early talks on Iran, held in 2013, took place at the InterContinental Hotel in the centre of Geneva. During that time, reporters sat in the coffee shop all day long buying coffees so we could bother people as they were coming in to try and find out what was going on. That’s not happening this time.

The Guardian - At least seven vessels have crossed the strait of Hormuz so far today, according to Marine Traffic data. Four cargo ships, a French flagged LNG tanker and a Cook Islands flagged bitumen tanker all exited the strait towards the Gulf of Oman – CNN reports. Additionally, a Panama flagged Starway entered the strait heading toward the Gulf.

This marks an increase in traffic on the strait, but still far below the prewar average of about 135 ships per day moving through the vital waterway. This comes after the route was reopened as part of a deal between the US and Iran was made on Wednesday.

European leaders have largely been sidelined from the negotiations, but expressed relief that the strait of Hormuz would reopen, allowing the flow of oil to resume. Emmanuel Macron said it would put a stop to a “situation of great instability that had terrible consequences for our economies”.

President of the Philippines Ferdinand R Marcos Jr was also optimistic, saying the freedom of navigation returning to the Hormuz strait was “what we have been hoping for since the day after the war started”.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Switzerland has been postponed due to the electronic signing of the U.S.-Iran deal, according to Al Arabiya.

Pakistan played a key role as a mediator between Washington and Tehran throughout the conflict. Sharif was reportedly scheduled to attend a summit in Geneva, but Islamabad prioritized the final stages of the diplomatic process that it helped broker, reflecting the significance of the deal for Pakistan’s foreign policy and regional standing.

• Slava Intel

Statement issued by the Islamic Resistance Operations Room regarding the confrontation of enemy attempts to reach the Ali al-Tahir Heights:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

“The hosts will be defeated and they will turn their backs [in flight].”

Allah the Most High, the Almighty, has spoken the truth.

For the past four days, the Israeli enemy army has been attempting to advance toward the town of Kafr Tibnit and the Ali al-Tahir area via multiple axes. This advance has been supported by intense artillery shelling targeting the region and comprehensive aerial surveillance conducted by enemy reconnaissance aircraft. Fighters of the Islamic Resistance have confronted all these attempts by targeting enemy movements and troop concentrations with missiles, drones, and suicide UAVs. These actions inflicted heavy losses on the enemy—affecting officers, soldiers, and vehicles alike—forcing a retreat and compelling the enemy to deploy helicopters under the cover of smoke and artillery fire at night to evacuate their casualties.

Yesterday, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at 8:00 AM, an Israeli enemy infantry force was detected infiltrating to take up positions on the northeastern outskirts of Kafr Tibnit. Responding with the call “Ya Aba Abdallah,” Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the force with a swarm of drones and “Ababil” suicide UAVs, inflicting both fatalities and injuries among its members. The fighters then followed up the attack with volleys of rockets and artillery shells directed at the target area. At 1:50 AM today, Thursday, June 18, 2026, while the enemy was attempting to regroup near the crossing area, the Mujahideen targeted a Merkava tank with appropriate weaponry, scoring a confirmed hit and forcing the assembling force to withdraw from the area. The Islamic Resistance affirms that enemy forces remain present on the southern outskirts of the town of Kafr Tibnit, facing Arnoun, and that the Kafr Tibnit–Ali al-Tahir area will remain impervious to enemy incursions; the Mujahideen there will write epic tales of Karbala-like valor in defense of their country and people.

{And victory comes only from Allah, the Exalted in Might, the Wise}

Thursday, June 18, 2026

3 Muharram 1448 AH

#Ashura_Operations #Battle_of_the_Devoured_Straw #Defending_Lebanon_and_Its_People #Military_Media

Ukrainian strikes have caused some spectacle today, several sites in Moscow hit, including the Kapotnya refinery.

You can see the entire roof of the refinery get launched 100 ft or more into the air by the explosion at the site.

https://tankie.tube/w/9tJe5d3PMfqh789y1cuets