HarryLime [any]
- 1.38K Posts
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Joined 6 years ago
Cake day: July 27th, 2020
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8·14 hours ago
nobody gets jokes or likes them or believes that people tell them
jokes are dead
humor is dead
we live in the eternal serious now
embrace the gray/ embrace the literal/ embrace the absence of irony the absence of sarcasm the absence of subversion of what is conveyed on its first level
the bluntly literal is all that there is and ever will be
50·1 day agoPakistani war chief says deal to bring Turkiye, Qatar into Saudi defense pact ‘being finalized’
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif revealed during an interview with Hum News on 11 May that a deal to bring Turkiye and Qatar into the mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia is being “finalized.”
“If Qatar and Turkiye also join the existing agreement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, it would create significant cooperation in both the economic and defense spheres in our region and reduce external dependence,” Asif told Pakistan-based Hum News, adding that their inclusion would be “a welcome development.”
The agreement with Riyadh is still being finalized, Asif noted, adding that a wider arrangement could strengthen regional cooperation.
The defense minister said the initiative is not aimed at any specific country, but is intended to create a broader platform among “like-minded” states for regional stability and collective security.
“Interdependence in the world can never be completely eliminated. Such an agreement is of great importance for maintaining peace within our region,” he said.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement last year during Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Riyadh.
Under the nuclear-armed nation’s pact, “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both.”
The move has revived discussion of an “Islamic NATO”-style bloc, as escalating global security crises push regional states toward tighter military coordination.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have held several meetings since Washington launched its war on Iran and Tehran began retaliatory attacks on US and Israeli assets across the Gulf region, including Saudi Arabia.
In early April, Pakistani fighter jets and support aircraft landed at Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz Air Base under the two countries’ mutual defense pact, as Riyadh also announced a $5 billion payment to help stabilize Pakistan’s foreign currency reserves.
India said that, after the Pakistan–Saudi pact was signed, it was closely following the process.
“We have seen reports regarding the strategic defense agreement signed between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. We will evaluate the implications of this development for our national security as well as regional and global stability,” the Indian Foreign Ministry stated at the time.
That’s +$10.2 TRILLION in market cap added in just 6 weeks.
The US bond market crisis is intensifying.
While everyone is focused on AI and the Iran War, the US bond market is in a complete meltdown.
The 30Y Yield is now above 5.00% and the 10Y Yield is nearing the pivotal 4.50% level, which resulted in President Trump’s “90-day tariff pause” in April 2025.
Long-term yields are now ABOVE levels seen prior to Fed rate cuts in another brutal reminder that the Fed can not contain the long-end of the yield curve.
At the current pace, we will likely see US mortgage rates rise back above 7.00% this year.
The question then becomes:
How much longer can markets (or the US government) ignore the yield crisis?
And, who folds first?
A Deep Space Nine fan saying a variation of got that dog in me: “Got that Nog in me”
6·3 days ago
5·3 days agoThis got a chuckle from me
The tax currently adds about 18 cents per gallon.
He said that if the mission resumes, it would be “only a piece” of a broader military operation, and added that he would “deal with” Iran’s leadership until a deal is reached.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet in Jerusalem amid continued diplomatic deadlock and repeated statements by Israeli officials that the army is prepared to resume attacking Iran at any time.
23·4 days agoEdit: Here is another passage, contrasting Andropov with Gorbachev:
Despite his neo-Leninist rhetoric, Gorbachev could not decide on a strategy of reforms during his first two years in power. As an admirer of Lenin, he searched for some key leverage that could revive Soviet society and the economy. Yet he also heeded Andropov’s conservative advice: before any radical political changes, suggested by Yakovlev, Soviet people should feel tangible improvements in the economy. Soon after coming to power, therefore, Gorbachev listed the economic and social problems he wanted to address: “1) Quality; 2) Struggle against drinking; 3) People in need; 4) Land for orchards and gardens; 5) Medicine.”35 Surprisingly, the list did not include the pressing issues that Andropov had raised about Soviet macroeconomic stability: the need to reduce the import of food, restore the balance of trade, crack down on the shadow economy, and discipline the labor force. Gorbachev’s notes did not contain any diagnosis of the economic and financial problems plaguing the Soviet Union.
The preparations for reforms took place in complete secrecy. “Even deputies in the Gosplan did not know what we had been working at,” recalled a member of Ryzhkov’s team. “[Andropov] concluded that the old system of rigid planning from the top had exhausted itself . . . We had to demonstrate to the bureaucracy that cooperatives, with their greater economic liberties, would make more profits than state enterprises. In the document we prepared we did not speak openly about private property, but we laid out an idea of having, next to state ownership, also cooperative ownership.” Andropov backed those ideas.22 A senior official of the State Bank remembered: “We understood that the enterprises needed more rights . . . The situation when the center was responsible for everything . . . throttled economic development.” Andropov instructed the State Bank to shift from distribution of state investments to competition. “Other ministers should come to you,” he said to the Minister of Finance, “crawling on their bellies, begging for money.”23 In July 1983, the Council of Ministers restated some notions of economic liberalization. In January 1984, with the approval of the Politburo, a pilot economic experiment was launched in some industries within Ukraine, Belorussia, and Lithuania. It was here where the reforms of 1965–68 had come to a standstill.24
Andropov had enough power, but he lacked the time necessary to carry out further reforms. In declining health, his kidneys failed completely in February 1983, so he was subsequently on dialysis. His last appearance at the Politburo was on 1 September 1983. Andropov went to a Black Sea resort and returned to Moscow only to be hospitalized. He died on 9 February 1984 from acute kidney failure.
Andropov’s main contribution to Soviet reforms was the team of people and academics he had brought into the Politburo and the Soviet government. It took them a further two years to launch the reforms he had initiated. The key man whom the ex-KGB reformer had groomed to continue his policies was Mikhail Gorbachev.
I’ll find more passages and update the post. I would highly recommend reading Vladislav Zubok’s Collapse for a complete look into the Soviet collapse and breakup. It’s incredibly exhaustive and busts a lot of myths about the subject.
