Chile Plans to Open Embassy in Palestinian Territories
Chile's left-wing Pres. Gabriel Borić announced on Wednesday plans to open an embassy in the Palestinian Territories, which would make Chile one of the few countries that have formal embassies in the West Bank.
Speaking at a Christmas party with Palestinians in Santiago, Borić reportedly alleged that Israel has been illegally occupying Palestine and violating the rights and dignity of its people.
Pro-Israel narrative
This comes as no surprise — far-left Borić is well-known for his fiercely anti-Israel stance and has even openly praised the Palestinian "resistance," which is a dog whistle for Palestinian terrorism. This is but his latest public and deliberate snubbing of Israel.
Pro-Palestine narrative
This is a bold move by Borić, which will give Palestinians the representation they deserve under international law. It's about time the West Bank and Gaza, which have been under Israeli occupation since 1967, are recognized as a sovereign Palestinian state.
Nerd narrative
There's a 44% chance that Israel will recognize Palestine by 2070, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Day 303: US Dismisses Putin's Call to Bring War to an End
Speaking at a press conference at the Kremlin on Thursday, Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin said his aim was to bring the war in Ukraine to a close — but this was flatly dismissed by US officials.
Putin said: "Our goal is not to spin the flywheel of military conflict but, on the contrary, to end this war. We will strive for an end to this and the sooner the better, of course."
Pro-Russia narrative
Russia understands that nearly all wars end at the negotiation table. The sooner that this point is reached, the better for all parties involved.
Anti-Russia narrative
Putin's call to bring an end to the war is insincere. If he wants the war to end, he can start by removing his forces from Ukraine.
Nerd narrative
There is a 1% chance that Putin and Zelenskyy will meet to discuss the peaceful resolution of the Russian-Ukraine conflict before 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Meta to Settle Cambridge Analytica Case for $725M
Facebook's parent company Meta Platforms Inc. has agreed to a $725M settlement in a class-action lawsuit accusing the social media platform of allowing third parties, such as Cambridge Analytica, to access users' personal information.
The law firm representing the plaintiffs stated the settlement — which didn't see Meta admit wrongdoing — was the largest recovery ever achieved in a data privacy class action and the most Facebook has ever paid in a class action resolution. Judges overseeing the case in the Northern District of California are still required to approve the settlement.
Establishment-critical narrative
Data privacy issues are at the root of Big Tech's monopoly mess. With weak data privacy laws, companies are primarily concerned with aggregating as much data as possible — the world's most valuable asset — and we must regain the right to protect our data, untangling the powerful system of Terms of Services and Privacy Policies that have given Big Tech near-unlimited power.
Pro-establishment narrative
It's important to not deprive technology companies of a vital innovation tool. As demands for better data privacy laws grow, we must consider that access to data can be a powerful source of competition and innovation that blanket laws could disrupt. Recommended algorithms based on data also suit the consumer and their tastes. While people prize their data's privacy, we should ponder what the internet would be without such access.
FTX's Bankman-Fried Released on $250M Bond
After agreeing to be extradited from the Bahamas, Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and former CEO of crypto firm FTX, was released on a $250M bond in his first US court appearance in New York on Thursday.
In order to secure the bail agreement, Bankman-Fried, facing eight charges and 110 years of imprisonment, had to surrender his passport, agree to comply with house arrest at his parents' California home, and wear an ankle bracelet for electronic monitoring. He also had to agree to mental health and substance abuse treatment.
Narrative A
According to the US government's account, Bankman-Fried's corruption was baked into FTX's processes from the very start of its operation. Whether he was dishonest, deluded, or both, the government needs to conduct the most thorough investigation and prosecution of this fraudulent crypto billionaire.
Narrative B
Bankman-Fried faces charges of campaign finance violations ranging up to tens of millions of dollars. These donations went to the highest level of leadership in both the Democratic and Republican parties, which begs the question did these political elites know where their high-dollar donations were coming from? And what will happen to all that money? It's imperative to expand the investigation to the maximum extent.
Jan. 6 Committee Releases Final Report
Released Thursday, the US House Jan. 6 Committee's 845-page final report — which begins with a chapter titled "The Big Lie," referencing Donald Trump's controversial claims that the 2020 election was stolen — focuses on the former president's alleged role in the Capitol riots.
The report added new details regarding Trump's campaign efforts to allegedly appoint "fake electors" in key states, arguing that they were planning to deploy them whether Trump won certain states or not. The campaign claims they were put in place as a contingency in case states changed course and declared him the winner by the Dec. 14, 2021 deadline.
Pro-Trump narrative
Democrats staged two baseless impeachment attempts while Trump was in office, and now they're trying to change the Constitution so that he and his supporters can't even campaign in the first place. What happened at the Capitol was a large, rowdy crowd with little security to quell violent outbursts — something we now know could have been prevented if Nancy Pelosi hadn't denied Trump's request to deploy the National Guard.
Democratic narrative
Though much of this report reiterated previously released information, the details provided put the final nail in the coffin for Trump and his election-denying coalition. Capitol authorities refused to deploy National Guard troops out of fear that Trump would use them to conduct a coup, which could very well have happened given the evidence of treasonous activity shown throughout these 800 pages.
Republican narrative
Jan. 6 may have been disgraceful, but inflation is soaring, working Americans are struggling, and the US is stumbling into diplomatic crises around the world. Meanwhile, Democrats continue to conduct political theater to try and distract from the enormous challenges faced by the nation. All this really does is highlight the hypocrisy of the left, who — in the case of BLM — not only failed to condemn but even encouraged violence, allowing protesters to get away with murder in the name of "justice."
Nerd narrative
There's a 36% chance that any US court will rule that Donald J Trump is disqualified from holding the presidency before January 20, 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
ByteDance Confirms TikTok Accessed Journalists' Data
ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, announced Thursday that the TikTok user data of two journalists had been improperly accessed, and the employees involved had left the company.
Those involved allegedly had accessed the journalists' data to determine if they had been in the same location as employees suspected of leaking confidential information. Of the four employees allegedly involved, two were in the US and two were in China.
Narrative A
It’s becoming clear that TikTok is a threat to US national security. Though ByteDance initially denied the accusations, it eventually had to come clean as the topic attracted increasing media attention. Reporters have the right to not be spied on by tech companies — especially companies that are close to the Chinese government.
Narrative B
This incident was a privacy violation, but ByteDance has taken the appropriate steps to fix the issue. Although some are framing this incident as spying by TikTok, in reality, these actions were undertaken by rogue employees in an unsanctioned manner. ByteDance has disavowed the departed employees' actions and is implementing policies to prevent these types of breaches in the future.
Shell to Pay $15.9M Settlement for Nigeria Oil Spills
Shell announced on Friday that it will pay 15M euros ($15.9M) to Nigerian communities that were affected by multiple oil pipeline leaks in the Niger Delta.
The settlement results from a Dutch court case brought by the environmental group Friends of the Earth last year. The court claimed that Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary, SPDC, was responsible for oil spills and had to pay farmers for the damages.
Establishment-critical narrative
Oil spills have had devastating consequences for Nigerian communities, and Shell is responsible for most of them. For decades Shell’s negligence has disrupted people’s livelihoods and brought about irreparable environmental damage. This is not the first time Shell has had to pay a fine or settlement, and most likely, not the last.
Pro-establishment narrative
Shell and other oil companies are putting in the work to invest in Nigeria and its communities. Shell is committed to Nigeria’s development and is working to build major upstream projects and improve the current infrastructure already in Nigeria in a safe and sustainable way.
Paris: Attack on Kurdish Center Kills 3
At least three people were killed and another three injured in a shooting at a Kurdish cultural center in Paris on Friday — an attack that French authorities are calling racially motivated.
The shooting took place on Rue d'Enghien — a popular shopping street — in the 10th district of Paris at a Kurdish community center, a restaurant, and a hair salon.
Establishment-critical narrative
The French government isn't doing enough to protect the Kurdish community from the persecution and violence that follows them. Kurds should be able to live in peace and security, but complacency among authorities doesn't allow for this. This attack shows the extent to which racist far-right ideologies threaten the peace in France.
Pro-establishment narrative
While the attack is undoubtedly heinous, French authorities — who are doing everything they can to protect Kurdish sites — aren't at fault. Although it's clear that the suspect was targeting foreigners, it's not certain that he was targeting Kurds in particular. Rather than inciting further violence, officials should be left to conduct a thorough investigation.
DR Congo: M23 Pledges to Retreat from Key Position
In a statement issued Friday, the M23 rebel group — which has seized swaths of territory in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) — announced that it would withdraw from the town of Kibumba, a commercial hub of roughly 1M people that the rebels took over in 2012.
The Tutsi-led force, which emerged from inactivity in late 2021 and has since swept across the DRC's North Kivu province, has caused thousands of people to flee. Kibumba lies on the frontline between M23 and Congolese troops on a critical highway.
Establishment-critical narrative
With an alleged history of backing the Rwandan genocide against Tutsis in 1994, France and its Western allies should refrain from blaming Rwanda for the current diplomatic and military crisis. Though the DRC, Rwanda, and M23 should work to honor the Luanda peace agreement, we also can't forget that M23 was never allowed to take part in those talks. Blaming the government of a neighboring state will do nothing to solve the problem in the DRC itself.
Pro-establishment narrative
The UN, the US, Belgium, and France have all investigated the crisis and found Rwanda to be backing the rebels. Peace is possible, but only if all sides — especially Kigali — live up to the promises they've made during talks. While France has acknowledged it failed to heed warnings of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and has since apologized, that doesn't mean Paris is lying about the current situation in the DRC.
UK Study: Antiviral Molnupiravir Hastens COVID Recovery
A new UK study that tested 25k vaccinated COVID patients revealed that the antiviral drug molnupiravir, produced by Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), reduced the recovery time from the disease.
Molnupiravir is the first antiviral medication for COVID that can be taken in pill form and was approved by UK medicines regulators in November, with the nation purchasing 480k courses.
Narrative A
The PANORAMIC study definitively shows that molnupiravir and similar antiviral drugs are essentially useless and shouldn't be approved by health regulators. While it undeniably has some benefits, they're overwhelmingly outweighed by the drug's cost. During a pandemic that has taken millions of lives across the globe, governments can't afford to waste money and resources on drugs that don’t fully work.
Narrative B
While the PANORAMIC study didn't reveal molnupiravir to be a magic cure to end the pandemic, its findings show that the drug has many benefits. COVID hospitalizations are already very low (0.8%), so the detractors are objecting over a very small subset of patients. On the positive side, speeding up COVID recovery is a massive success for the vast majority of patients, and we should be happy that molnupiravir does just that.