Zompist Bboard Again

Unfortunately, the markets' political instincts are a lot more solid than you're giving them credit for. Apparently, "Brazil’s most valuable exported product are soya beans followed by iron ores and concentrates, sugar, crude oil then poultry meat." http://www.worldstopexports.com/brazils...

Back to Bolsonaro, apparently, the Wall Street Journal endorses him: https://www.wsj.com/articles/brazilian-swamp-drainer-1539039700 Apparently Haddad is taking hints "from the Hugo Chavez playbook" Ah, if Venezuela didn't exist, we would have to invent it! Related to that, "the mark...

No Bolsonaro discussion yet? I mean, granted, it's yet another right wing fascistoid populist amongst a bit of a tidal wave of right wing populists, but Brazil is a pretty big deal. Hey, the longest post in this thread so far is about him! As for discussion, I guess the problem is coming up with ne...

chris_notts: One possible interpretation is that May was pro-EU until June 23th, 2016, and then, as they say, adjusted her sails.

Thank you!

A question about 21st century Chinese: I think I remember that, long ago, on the predecessor board, a native Chinese speaker explained that writing text messages on Chinese cellphones works in the way that you start to type in Pinyin, and then the phone suggests possible Chinese characters you migh...

A question about 21st century Chinese: I think I remember that, long ago, on the predecessor board, a native Chinese speaker explained that writing text messages on Chinese cellphones works in the way that you start to type in Pinyin, and then the phone suggests possible Chinese characters you might...

Ok, Salmoneus, you've succesfully let of steam. Now, feel free to proceed to providing some actual arguments.

Interesting analysis, Salmoneus, but I think it suffers a bit from your apparent conviction that economic policy is the "proper" measure for what is right-wing and what is left-wing in politics and every other possible axis is a deviation from the way things ought to be. If you look at the...

No idea. Probably nothing good, though, given their conservative roots.

Ok, update from yesterday on the Bavarian election: The Provisional Final Result (that is a thing in German elections, despite being, strictly speaking, a contradiction in terms) is: CSU 37.2 percent; Greens 17.5 percent; Free Voters 11.6 percent; AfD 10.2 percent; SPD 9.7 percent; FDP 5.1 percent; ...

I'd honestly say that revoking article 50 is flat-out impossible. Even if a majority of the population realises that staying in the EU is the only way to actually have a stable (and united ) UK, and even if a majority of MPs realise the same thing, I can't see Brussels allowing it. Good point. On t...

Re the palace intrigues reported by Salmoneus: I don't understand why the "rebels" would want to remove May now . If I was a British Tory MP with the ambition to be Prime Minister some day, I still wouldn't want to be PM right now - I would want to ensure that someone else than me has to p...

In summary, I give it 70% that we crash out chaotically in March, 25% that we crash out chaotically at the end of the transition period with either no agreement or one inadequate to our economic needs, 4% that the exit is successfully managed to minimise economic disruption, and 1% that we decide t...

I consider a CSU/Free Voters coalition most likely. The CSU had stated before the election that they won't form a coalition with the far-right AfD, and if they broke that promise, the effect would be a nation-wide political earthquake with disastrous repercussions since such a coalition would break...

Polls are now closed in the Bavarian state legislative election, and here's one of the exit poll based predictions: CSU 35.5 percent; Greens 18.5 percent; Free Voters (independent, sort of anti-establishment) 11.5 percent; AfD 11 percent; SPD 10 percent; FDP 5 percent; The Left 3.5 percent (not in t...

Which leads to the larger question: what to do about countries where most voters want a dictator? Accept the will of the voters, and you have a dictatorship; thwart the will of the voters, and you have a dictatorship, too.

Serious question: are there any, I mean, any, remaining May supporters? Looks to me that it's all just people who either can't agree on whom to replace her with, or who want to leave her in place until after Brexit so that no one else has to preside over that.

From liberal-leaning news website Talking Points Memo: "Hundreds Of Teacher Candidates Shake Up Midterm Elections" https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/hundreds-teacher-candidates-shake-up-midterms For one moment, I thought that in addition to all the other weird offices that are directly el...

(not that I'm much of a WSJ reader. We always have a copy in the breakroom at work, so I skim the headlines when waiting for my friends to finish making their elaborate pourover coffee. The Mansion section is the best bit because rich people spend their money in incredibly stupid ways; I enjoy read...