Charles

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Charles de la Vallee Poussin

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Last Notes

2026-03-16 13:03:57 UTC

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Wherever you draw the line, Balfour was a betrayal because different people were promised different things regarding the future after the British Mandate.

2026-03-16 09:55:23 UTC

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Others would say the original sin was the Balfour betrayal.
I understand why that is more difficult to say in Europe.
But it was a betrayal and the root of all of this.
We're paying for the sins of nazi Germany and colonial Britain.

2026-03-11 09:57:42 UTC

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the anti "regime" feeling is overstated by the west
sure, in every country there is a diversity of views - heck we have protests in the UK, and the US they shoot protesters
but the scale of that opposition in Iran is hugely overstated by propaganda tools
you don't have to believe me - the test will come when US forces land boots on the ground and realise they aren't being showered with roses
not even the Kurds are stupid enough to try anything

2026-03-10 13:26:09 UTC

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this applies to Europe just as much to the USA

2026-03-10 12:11:06 UTC

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Can we arrest Starmer and the front bench for working in the interests if a foreign power (Israel) ?
You may imagine I'm chuckling as I write this but honestly I'mc crying side.
That subservience to a foreign power, an evil one at that, is depressing for anyone who has pride in the UK, or hope in what it could be.

2026-03-10 10:19:51 UTC

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I hope I'm wrong but I fear the USA can't deescalate and therefore will resort to a tactical nuclear bomb.

2026-03-10 10:10:02 UTC

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Good point

2026-03-10 09:12:00 UTC

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I think the key is that without (i) US air defences, and (ii) real-time surveillance, and (iii) constant re-supply of weapons ... then Israel cannot even do mopping up against Iran.
And of course, a US slight rollback will leave their golf "allies" even more exposed than they already are from the US (not) protecting them.
The US has got itself into a trap and even a rollback has serious downsides for them.

2026-03-09 22:44:13 UTC

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can Israel continue any attrition against Iran if the US pulls out?
and if the US signals ceasefire, this time Iran has learned not to ceasefire because they know that means giving Israel time to recover and re-attack
this one will have to go until one side is defeated hard

2026-03-09 13:37:05 UTC

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much clearer - and I can see that inflation can corrode the return on that investment
so gilts are useful for financial institutions
but they don't seem to be useful to government itself which is taking money from financial institutions in exchange for a high likelihood of repaying a higher amount
don't worry about replying - I think I need to do a course on all this stuff so I can answer basic questions such as the obsession of "growth" in the discourse etc

2026-03-09 12:18:31 UTC

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thanks for replying
sadly this is now beyond the limits of my understanding - I really should do a course on economics at some point ....

2026-03-09 10:14:32 UTC

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Thanks that's helpful.
Has any government ever decided to reduce the dependence on income from the sale of such bonds?
Am I being too simplistic in thinking that drastically reducing the size of the bond market itself is possible?
Does it depend on the nature of the economy? Eg If it is "real" eg export led, then bond markets are secondary as a source of income. In contrast, if the economy is highly financialised, then the income is primarily through such markets?

2026-03-09 10:07:32 UTC

These people are demonic.
This is not the first time they've used banned chemicals.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/9/israel-unlawfully-used-white-phosphorus-in-lebanon-hrw
#zionism

2026-03-09 09:25:29 UTC

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Can someone explain to a non-expert what a bond-market is, and why every government of every colour seems to scared and subservient to them?
Isn't just a market betting on the ability of a future government to pay up when a bond bought today is redeemed in future?
That's seems far too simplicity and insufficient to cause such fear in policy-makers ... so I've clearly misunderstood.
And also, even if a future economy is in downturn, the gov can always invent money to pay up?

2026-03-07 17:59:34 UTC

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The same as that served by the UK flying surveillance flights over Gaza from Cyprus and feeding realtime intel to Israel.
What is that "same" interest?
They of course won't say publicly, so it is up to us to enquire and learn history and do real journalism to find out.
And the best intellectually credible answer is a global geopolitical strategy by the "West" to dominate the region and remove any resistance.
"West = white north America and Europe"

2026-03-05 14:06:38 UTC

The Iranian ship that was sunk by the USA was
◉ was by Sri Lanka, 3000 miles away from Iran
◉ taking part in naval exercises with BRICS partner India
◉ was not threatening anyone
◉ attacked by a submarine that set off from a BRITISH base in Diego Garcia
And the convention that attacked crew who are overboard are picked up by the attacking ship was not followed.
#ukpol #iran

2026-03-02 23:59:42 UTC

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is Moto Analytics a privacy issue?

2026-03-02 18:44:56 UTC

There are a lot of people on here who believe the "Iran killed tens of thousands of protesters" lie.
And off course, 10 years from now, they'll pretend they knew it was a lie all along.
... Just like they now say they "knew" Iraq's WMDs were a lie, and Israel's "babies in ovens" claim was a lie too.
But not today. Today they are useful idiots.
https://mastodon.neometropolis.net/@QudsNen/116160826626340994
#propaganda #iran

2026-03-02 14:43:15 UTC

Does anyone actually fall for this ?
"defensive strikes on Iran"
#ukpol #iran
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/160/100/780/311/417/original/15855905529b592a.png

2026-02-27 09:59:46 UTC

Labur deserved a beating.
The party of genocide.
The party of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The party of Elbit Systems.
The party of persecuting hunger strikers.
The party of arresting elderly ladies for holding up cardboard signs against genocide.
The party that accused the Greens of "increasing the salient of Gaza".
The party of Epstein.
The party of limiting democratic rights to protest.
The party of surveillance flights over Gaza from Cyprus to aid Israel's genocide.
#ukpol #gordonanddenton
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/141/994/538/417/557/original/24d95ff16128ab6e.png

2026-02-24 23:21:43 UTC

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reminds me of one of NN Taleb's aphorisms...
some people managing inflation with ** other people's ** employment

2026-02-16 10:19:28 UTC

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I suggest America is not looking more like China, but like America distilled.
* how many countries has China invaded / bombed ?
* in how many countries has China placed military bases?
* how many agreements / treaties has China unilaterally violated?
* how many partners has China betrayed?
* how does dealing with internal corruption compare with the USA? (key for investment confidence)
Some outside the West see China as reliable, even if they don't agree with its system.

2026-02-16 10:12:43 UTC

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I'm definitely a beginner on economics .. so could someone explain this to me?
1. Reducing interest rates reduces the cost of consumer borrowing (only for as long the rates remain low).
2. This may have the side effect of consumer spending, but it doesn't make the consumers wealthier because it is borrowed money.
3. You could argue that such spending on borrowed money makes consumer poorer because loan+interest needs to be paid back, compared to the purchase value of goods.

2026-02-14 15:41:47 UTC

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indeed, some billionaires are demanding every user on the internet is never anonymous
""the authenticity of every person that expresses themselves online""
https://nypost.com/2026/01/02/business/israeli-tech-billionaire-urges-americans-to-limit-the-first-amendment/

2026-02-14 15:36:50 UTC

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oh ok.
I would urge readers not to have blind faith in things like Signal or Tor.
This is from 2013, over a decade ago, they've advanced since:
"The National Security Agency (“NSA”) has developed techniques to circumvent the anonymity offered by the Tor network. "
src: https://jolt.law.harvard.edu/digest/snowden-documents-reveal-nsa-attempts-to-track-tor-users
#surveillance #tech #privacy

2026-02-14 15:31:19 UTC

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what is 'clearnet" ?

2026-02-14 13:09:46 UTC

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Does the "maybe" depend on instance size? or reach?
Thinking aloud - it can't be instance size because you can theoretically reach people beyond your instance.
I think age verification is a good thing. If it can be done in a privacy preserving way - and that, for me, is the issue.

2026-02-14 12:59:14 UTC

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will ID checks come to #mastodon too?
and who will carry them out?

2026-02-13 01:05:26 UTC

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100%
Palestine has a right to defend itself and fight illegal occupation, by armed means if necessary, as per international law.

2026-02-12 23:24:49 UTC

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Apologies, I misunderstood your comment which suggested you were defending Israel and its Nazi-like behaviour.

2026-02-12 23:14:03 UTC

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Alfred is right.
Germany should be allowed to send weapons to Israel.
How Israel uses them is not Germany's responsibility.
This is how international law works.
Even if Israel was executing a genocide, operates apartheid, uses banned chemical weapons, bombs 7 countries in 12 months, starves a population, lets babies in incubators die, shoots children's gonads, murders journalists, uses human shields, rapes captives to death, steals organs .. operated Epstein..
.. that's fair.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/060/189/289/524/513/original/5fec989412ed2605.png

2026-02-11 13:53:57 UTC

It didn't start on Oct 7 2023.
Israel's demonic crimes have been ongoing for decades.
----
September 2000. This father tries desperately to save his child.
Israel killed both. And of course, spent years lying about it.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241001-father-of-mohammed-al-dura-recalls-painful-memories-of-his-assassination/
#zionism #palestine #genocide #warcrimes
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/052/320/414/404/352/original/0fbe68046d5588b6.png

2026-02-08 16:14:56 UTC

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I thought you couldn't be tried twice?

2026-02-08 14:49:09 UTC

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is he off to work for Palantir ?

2026-02-06 14:57:48 UTC

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I saw the news this week of body parts and mtuliated bodies being returned from Israel.
There was evidence of unusual torture, missing organs, strange injuries.
That too reminded me of the "medical experiments" of the 1930s.
And yet it is worse today because then we didn't have all the internaitional laws and norms. Today we supposedly do.

2026-02-06 14:56:13 UTC

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I agree with you re the comparison to Hitler. And I also your powerful way of explaining using the infinitude of real numbers vs the integers.
For me this isn't just about one individual, Epstein, but the government(s) that at best enabled him to do this, and at worst directed him to do this, for their own strategic benefit.
That points to an entire country being rotten. Because in democracies, gov is a fairly accurate reflection of society.

2026-02-05 15:45:58 UTC

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One more point.
The current prices to consumers of "AI" don't reflect the investment and borrowing that went into creating these exceptionally resource hungry products (mostly at the development stage).
At some point the investors will seek a return on investment.
And that, dear reader, will be the AI bubble bursting.

2026-02-05 12:12:53 UTC

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Here's another report from the fairly sober Harvard Business Review.
In essence, AI is producing lower quality output. The report doesn't properly explore the costs of fixing it, which is another cost (and huge risk in some sectors).
https://hbr.org/2025/09/ai-generated-workslop-is-destroying-productivity
I can't find the report that indicates measurable deskilling as people become more reliant on AI. That deskilling is on 2 levels: 1. creating the output itself, and 2. the critical thinking required to evaluate it.
2/2

2026-02-05 12:09:49 UTC

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I don't have the studies at hand but at least in software development (which many organisation have even if their primary business is something else like retail or healthcare or policing), the use of AI to improve productivity has backfired. The code created is (1) buggy, and (2) conforms to outdated idioms, making it more of an effort to fix and maintain compared to just doing it yourself.
just one study of several:
https://metr.org/blog/2025-07-10-early-2025-ai-experienced-os-dev-study/
1/2
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/017/934/817/183/864/original/6e05086793c5375b.png