Pakistan Taliban End Truce With Gov't
On Monday, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — a group ideologically aligned yet separate from Afghanistan’s Taliban — announced that it had called off a five-month-long ceasefire with the Pakistan government and ordered its fighters to restart attacks.
A day after the end of the truce, brokered by Afghanistan's Taliban, Pakistan's junior foreign minister reportedly traveled to Kabul to meet with the militant group to discuss several issues, including security.
Establishment-critical narrative
Jihadists and peace don’t co-exist. The ceasefire was supposed to halt the violence — it didn’t. It did, however, bring a nuclear state to its knees, which is unsurprising given that Pakistan negotiated with terrorists who want nothing else other than to see the destruction of a country they regard as fundamentally un-Islamic. Now, the government must make some harsh decisions before the country becomes a war-torn wasteland.
Pro-establishment narrative
Although the likelihood of a sustainable ceasefire with the TTP is slim — as evidenced by this latest development —Islamabad entered the agreement with no option other than to negotiate. While the TTP may be separate from the Afghan Taliban — a longstanding ally of Pakistan — they're two faces of the same coin. Needing to fortify ties with its neighboring country, Islamabad made the best it could out of an impossible situation.
Day 279 Roundup: Russia Using Winter as a Weapon of War, Says US
White House spokesperson John Kirby has alleged that, by targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure, Russia is using winter as a weapon of war. "[Putin] is a guy who's used food as a weapon. He's used fear as a weapon. Now he's using the cold weather here to try to bring the Ukrainian people to their knees," he said.
Describing the Russian attacks on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure as "attempts to take revenge", the country's Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Monday that he would, "do everything to restore every object, every house, every enterprise destroyed by the occupiers." Russian missile strikes have damaged nearly 30% of Ukraine's power grid.
Anti-Russia narrative
This invasion is an egregious violation of international law. Putin's ultimate aim is to restore the Soviet empire, even if it takes massive bloodshed and false pretexts such as calling the 2014 Ukrainian revolution after an election a "coup". This unprovoked attack is the latest chapter in Putin's Orwellian attempt to rewrite history.
Pro-Russia narrative
NATO and the US have ignored Russia's security concerns by breaking its promise not to expand eastward in return for German reunification. These concerns are legitimate and taking them seriously would have avoided the Ukraine tragedy.
Nerd narrative
There is a 15% chance that Ukraine will receive a security guarantee from another country before 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
COVID Protests: China Asserts Security Response, Ease of 'Inconvenience'
Residents of China who attended weekend protests against COVID restrictions claim they have been contacted by police demanding information surrounding their whereabouts. Reports claim police have also begun searching cellphones for VPNs as well as blocked apps such as Telegram and Twitter.
The reaction is reportedly a wide-ranging response by the security apparatus of Xi Jinping to squelch dissent. PRC state media reported an official security meeting that asserted that authorities would “resolutely crack down on illegal and criminal acts that disrupt social order.”
Pro-China narrative
The COVID situation is tenuous and dangerous in China, but PRC officials are doing their best to reduce the inconvenience to citizens in economic and public life. That said, the virus is spreading quickly across the country in a complex way, and is a threat to public health and safety. There must be even more targeted measures now, but a whole-of-society approach is needed to navigate the COVID threat.
Anti-China narrative
It's clear that many people in China are tired of the increasingly ineffective zero-Covid strategy, and the world is bracing for the worst. While the protests will put pressure on Beijing, the PRC's use of ineffective non-mRNA vaccines could make for a national and even global health crisis. China is now stuck in the volatile position to overwhelm its extremely fragile healthcare system or continue to face public outcry over draconian policies.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that China will end its "Covid-Zero" policy by July 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Twitter Ends COVID Misinformation Policy
Twitter has announced an end to its policy regulating COVID misinformation — rules developed in 2020 to prohibit disputed information about the virus and vaccines from the platform. The change was made in a note added to the policy saying, “Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy.”
The policy, which took effect in March 2020, took down posts that contradicted "authoritative sources," and later augmented to prioritize the "removal of the most harmful, misleading information" about COVID vaccines.
Establishment-critical narrative
Musk believes in free speech, which means he believes in the right to question and debate so-called "authoritative sources." The US government and Big Tech policies related to COVID were arbitrary. On Twitter, users were suspended for spreading any information that wasn’t blessed by the establishment. This is a win for freedom of speech.
Pro-establishment narrative
Allowing disinformation isn't promoting free speech, it's hindering the public's ability to receive life-saving medical advice. Under Twitter's previous policy, experts were able to flag harmful speech and protect the uninformed from dangerous disinformation. Under Musk's new policy, and amid another rise in COVID cases, those safeguards will be gone, and the public square will flood with harmful public health recommendations.
Musk: Twitter Feud With Apple 'Resolved'
On Wednesday, Elon Musk tweeted that he and Apple boss Tim Cook had met and "resolved the misunderstanding" over Twitter potentially being removed from the iOS App Store.
This follows allegations from Musk on Monday that the iPhone maker had threatened to remove the social media platform from its App Store for unknown reasons as he accused Apple of censorship and monopolistic practices.
Right narrative
The mainstream media has been histrionic since Musk took over Twitter and started implementing changes. They fear increased hate speech and misinformation, but a strong democracy can withstand untrue opinions and outlandish comments without falling apart. Musk's new Twitter marks the end of the Orwellian foundations that the company stood on for years.
Left narrative
Musk's brief few weeks as Twitter's CEO have been overwhelmingly marked by chaos, and with the platform set to have no barriers to what can or cannot be said, advertisers have rightly started applying pressure. While the feud with Apple may have simmered down, for now, it's only a matter of time before the erratic billionaire picks another fight.
Nerd narrative
There's a 5% chance that Elon Musk will hold a major political office in the US before February 2033, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
4 Palestinians Killed in West Bank
At least four Palestinians were reportedly killed in the West Bank on Tuesday as violence continues to escalate throughout the disputed territory. Near Hebron, one man was killed and at least eight others wounded during clashes.
In a village near Ramallah, two brothers were also allegedly killed by Israeli forces. Finally, a Palestinian man reportedly rammed his car into an Israeli soldier, seriously injuring her, before being shot dead by Israeli police.
Pro-Palestine narrative
Yet again, Israel is committing crimes against humanity by killing Palestinians with wanton aggression. The past year has been one of the deadliest years for Palestinians since the second Intifada, with hundreds of Palestinians being murdered by the Israeli regime. Israel must be held accountable for its crimes.
Pro-Israel narrative
Though Palestine supporters like to pretend that the Israeli military seeks to kill Palestinians with abandon, in reality, it's simply responding to Palestinian violence and terrorism. This has been a deadly year for Israelis, including a bomb attack in Jerusalem last week, so it's no surprise that the military needs to increase its operations in the West Bank. The violence will end when Palestinians put down their weapons.
Crypto Company BlockFi Files For Bankruptcy
BlockFi, a New Jersey-based cryptocurrency lender, announced Monday that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after the firm was caught up in the recent collapse of the FTX exchange.
In June, Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX bailed out Zac Prince's BlockFi with a loan of $250M and later partnered with the cryptocurrency lender. But FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11.
Narrative A
This is just one of many digital-asset firms to collapse, demonstrating that stringent government regulations for transactions in virtual coins are necessary. An unregulated business environment may have irreversible and disastrous economic consequences — for lenders, buyers, and the state.
Narrative B
The whole point of cryptocurrency is its decentralized structure and immunity to being governed by wealthy conglomerates or authoritarian governments. It's essential to keep cryptocurrency technology as it's supposed to be – decentralized and transparent – to avoid further crypto explosions and bankruptcies.
Nerd narrative
There’s a 15% chance that Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US by trading volume, will file for bankruptcy before 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Qatar Says Up to 500 World Cup Migrant Workers Died
In an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan that aired Monday, Qatar World Cup chief Hassan Al-Thawadi said that between 400 and 500 migrant workers have died working on projects linked to the tournament, a larger figure than previously reported by Qatari officials.
This estimate was given in response to a question about how many people died from any construction related to the event — including new hotels or bridges — since the country won the bid to host the World Cup in 2010.
Pro-establishment narrative
FIFA wants the world to focus solely on soccer, but this World Cup will always be remembered for its human cost and the ongoing suffering among migrant workers. It's outrageous that the international governing body of soccer has flaunted the norms of the global community by granting hosting rights to Qatar without imposing any condition related to labor protection. FIFA must help compensate those affected by such negligence.
Establishment-critical narrative
While Qatar has flaws, Western criticism of this year's World Cup host under the pretext of advocating for human rights is hypocritical. The West, which has long been happy to take advantage of labor laws in the Gulf emirate to extract profit, has been selectively denouncing migrant worker exploitation while deliberately failing to recognize improvements in working conditions.
Ga. Runoff Sets Early Voting Single-Day Turnout Record
According to Georgia Deputy Sec. of State Gabriel Sterling, voters turned out in record numbers Monday to vote early in the Senate runoff election between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker — the last US Senate race to be decided this election cycle.
Early voting concludes Friday, with in-person Election Day slated for Dec. 6.
Democratic narrative
Issues the Democrats hold near and dear, like bodily autonomy, are driving heavy early-voting turnout among young people, women, and Black voters, and that bodes well for Warnock. Even the long lines caused by Georgia’s restrictive voting laws haven’t diminished the enthusiasm of key Democratic voting blocs.
Republican narrative
Whether they vote early or on Election Day, voters should remember how Warnock and Democrats have worked to divide the country. They painted the Georgia voter integrity law as racist suppression, but it’s done nothing to hinder turnout. Walker is the unifying candidate in this race, and he should prevail.
US Senate Approves Bill to Halt Rail Strike
The US Senate voted 80-15 on Thursday to impede a potentially devastating strike of US railroad workers by passing a bill that imposes an industrial settlement.
The legislation, which passed 290 to 137 in the House on Wednesday, binds companies and employees to a Biden admin-brokered deal agreed upon in September. The House also voted in a separate bill to introduce seven paid days of sick leave for railroad workers, but this was rejected 52-43 by the Senate.
Establishment-critical narrative
Biden is leading the Democrats in imposing a serious setback on employment rights. It's not enough for the president to simply share the workers' concerns, he must allow rail workers the ability to strike and ensure their voice is heard at the negotiating table.
Pro-establishment narrative
Unions have forced Biden's hand — the risks posed by a potential all-out railroad strike were catastrophic and could have decimated the US economy. Democratic leaders have imposed a set of generous offers already agreed to by a majority of US rail unions.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that at least 12% of American workers will be represented by a labor union in 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community.