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Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

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Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Where Are They Now? Council Bosses Who Failed Victims of Rotherham Grooming Gang Went on to Be Gover... Tue Jan 14, 2025 09:00 | Will Jones
Council bosses in Rotherham who were criticised for failing to protect 1,400 young girls from?grooming gangs?have gone on to become Government advisers, bankers and an "executive coach and mentor".
The post Where Are They Now? Council Bosses Who Failed Victims of Rotherham Grooming Gang Went on to Be Government Advisers, Bankers and an “Executive Coach and Mentor” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Are Novels Part of Our Cultural Malaise? Tue Jan 14, 2025 07:00 | James Alexander
Never mind smartphones: surely it was the novel that invented mental health problems, suggests Prof James Alexander, as he pays tribute to the theorist of the form, David Lodge, who died on January 1st.
The post Are Novels Part of Our Cultural Malaise? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Tue Jan 14, 2025 01:05 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Rachel Reeves is Making the Same Mistake as Liz Truss Mon Jan 13, 2025 20:00 | Will Jones
Labour loves to remind voters how Liz Truss 'crashed the economy', but Rachel Reeves is making the exact same mistake. She's asking the markets to lend the Government vast sums and they're telling her where to get off.
The post Rachel Reeves is Making the Same Mistake as Liz Truss appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Labour Rotherham MP U-Turns and Backs National Grooming Gang Inquiry Mon Jan 13, 2025 18:24 | Will Jones
The Labour MP who represents the?grooming hot spot of Rotherham, Sarah Champion,?has performed a U-turn to demand a?national inquiry?into the scandal.
The post Labour Rotherham MP U-Turns and Backs National Grooming Gang Inquiry appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

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Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?114-115 Fri Jan 10, 2025 14:04 | en

offsite link End of Russian gas transit via Ukraine to the EU Fri Jan 10, 2025 13:45 | en

offsite link After Iraq, Libya, Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, the Pentagon attacks Yemen, by Thier... Tue Jan 07, 2025 06:58 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en

offsite link Pentagon could create a second Kurdish state Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Microsoft block the words "democracy" and "freedom" on its new internet portal in China.

category galway | rights, freedoms and repression | other press author Tuesday June 28, 2005 21:41author by Dunlo T Report this post to the editors

Puke!, Puke! : Microsoft's "principle" of respecting local laws.

In the Economist : Politics This Week, a summary of the world's main events, 11th-17th June, it is stated that Microsoft agreed to block the words "democracy" and "freedom" on its new internet portal in China. The company claimed that it was acting in accordance with its principle of respecting local laws. In this pilgrim's opinion this is really and truely disgusting, on a par with the western firms who have provided the technology for sealing off the Chinese web from the free internet?.

Related Link: http://www.economist.com
author by mandela was a terrorist according to Thatcherpublication date Wed Jun 29, 2005 03:25author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Microsoft is a big fat corporation so why should anyone be surprised that IT will happily trample over international human rights so that it can continue to maximise profits!

Under corporate law "maximising profits" is IT's legal requirement and raison d'etre - make no mistake that is what a corporation is. Even though the corporation is made up of people who have/are mothers, sons, daughters, fathers, uncles, nieces etc there are no social or environmental obligations

"profit before people" or more accurately " profit before anything" is the only mantra

- a denial of human nature? of rights of existance? are we all just barcodes of consumption in the eyes of the massive corporations that rule the world now?

we have a right to consume and to become more indebt but no right to anything else.

I myself use Linux and openoffice.org and dont pay a penny to this over weight and under moralised entity MIcrosoft so to some extent my consience is clear

lets stop using the .doc format and powerpoint (power confusion)

.txt and .rtf formats are much more fun and have less blood and suffering associated

author by No to spampublication date Wed Jun 29, 2005 03:40author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Ah, shure if they're usin' Hotmail they won't have time to bother with concepts such as "Democracy" and "Freedom". They will be too busy trying to cope with all the spam, whether it is for Viagra or "male enhancement" etc.
"Hotmail" is a disaster zone.

author by Lin Biaopublication date Wed Jun 29, 2005 11:12author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Stop trying to enforce your Western ways on a proud and independent nation.

author by darapublication date Wed Jun 29, 2005 14:10author address author phone Report this post to the editors

hmm..surely the prevalence of freedom fighting struggles in the eastern world shows that the desire to freedom is not purely 'western'. but..state communism can never be said to be freedom, nor does it lead to independence (by which i mean any chance of individual autonomy).

Certainly, China is not now communist, it would take a better brain than mine to understand the complexity of the situation. But, the ferocious appeals to multinationals, training the elite youth for corporate skills, making every effort to portray China as a desirable location for foreign investment etc. etc. indicates that the Chinese state does not wish to be 'independent', it wishes to subject itself to world trade. Is that a 'proud and independent nation'?

To condemn the State's restrictions upon individual communicative freedom (and corporation's complicity in this) is not necessarily an imposition of 'Western values', it is an attack upon all efforts to violate the integrity and freedom of the individual, a violation which exists throughout the world, be it through capitalism, 'communism', patriarchy, racism, hetero-normativity or any other form of hierarchy.

We can condemn this violation of freedom as individuals, whatever hierarchy we suffer from. The desire for freedom is as universal as oppression.

 
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