I hate to bring up the USA, but damn this sounds all too familiar.

He also decided that Zelenskyy is “at least 3 weeks late” in agreeing to hand over mineral rights to the US.

I just realized what bothered me most about the humiliation of Zelensky in the White House. Not what horrified me the most, but some lingering afterthought: why were Donny and JD putting on this display in the first place? - Most people say they did it to “have a reason” to make their current push for Ukraine’s capitulation. Putting lipstick on a pig, so to speak.

Logically that means: they think that most of their policy is reasonable enough, which would make it necessary to “dress up” sticky subjects like this one.

But it isn’t, everything they’re doing is already completely unhinged. The tyranny, the hunger for wealth and power is blatantly obvious in everything they do. It really doesn’t matter if they have “a good reason” to try to force Zelensky into capitulating both to the US and Russia.

Kiwix is probably the easiest / most readily available solution, but wikipedia runs on mediawiki which is also FOSS:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediawiki
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Download

I’m guessing that most of the database download options provided by wikipedia itself should be compatible with a personal wikimedia installation:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Database_download

That site was a little confusing at first!

To be more precise:

• https://kiwix.org/en/applications/, scroll down to kiwix server.
• get a wikipedia dump in .zim format. AFAIU you can either get it from kiwix or get a database dump from wikipedia and convert it into .zim format.
• the rest, I’m guessing, is just running the server and pointing it to the .zim file.

edit: while that is probably the easiest option, the software wikipedia itself runs on is also FOSS: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Download

Well it only makes sense. Not that those fridge labels did a world of good for our ecosphere, but still.

Except …

They do not apply to tablet computers, to products with flexible main display (roll-up), and to smartphones for high security communication.

Huh? Lobbyism? What happened there?

No, she is not to stalk Trump at the pope’s funeral. What a dumb headline.

The article is still somewhat interesting, pointing out how the current US administration has pointedly ignored the EU and its attempts to come to some sort of agreement about tariffs.

The very definition of hybrid war: physical attacks combined with social media and poster campaigns.

This is what Russia does. And Belarus is just a pet.

BTW who still remembers what went down there? I do, vividly, but I forgot when it was. So much shit has happened since then. That’s why there’s so many Belarusian refugees in Lithuania, and that’s why they’re being attacked. It’s very straightforward politically motivated, in addition to the general Russian playbook of causing disruption.

Anyhow, look to the Baltic states’ Russia policies. They grok’d it decades ago.

He thinks he can pull another Jerusalem Embassy. But that was in Israel. He’s not supplying us with guns up to the gills, as he and his ilk never seize to point out. Can’t have it both ways, asshole bully.

They did not send them to El Salvador btw, they’re back in Germany now.

But the description of how they were treated is still harrowing:

Pohl and Lepère were interrogated in Honolulu International Airport for hours and allegedly subjected to body scans and strip searches before, finally, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents denied them entry to the country and said they would be deported, according to the outlet.

Officials became suspicious of potential illegal work intentions after learning the teens had not booked accommodation for their entire five-week stay in Hawaii

So everytime I travel I’m a potential terrorist? That’s what (many) backpackers do you dumbasses.

The women said they were placed in a holding cell beside some other detainees who were accused of serious crimes. The teens alleged they spent the night on moldy mattresses in a freezing double cell.

On March 19, the young travelers were allegedly taken back to Honolulu International Airport in handcuffs, where they requested to be sent to Tokyo, Japan.

Now imagine how much worse it is for all those so-called “illegals”, and still how much worse when they get to El Salvador.

TBF, that’s normal. People tend to consume social media in their own language and don’t get the full brunt of what’s going on in the US. People want to stick to the idea that the world is just as normal as it was 10 years ago.

Well, thankfully I’m not normal.

Also, I have partial understanding for these backpackers. They were already traveling around the world, and my experience is that you consume less news or social media while traveling. Much less.

Well, “nothing” surely is hyperbole. The EU is slow and bureaucratic. And, importantly, it has regulations that make it almost impossible to act against a nation once it joined EU. Like kicking it out.

Hungary already has had funds cut etc. by the EU.

I’m hoping stripping Hungary of voting rights is not the last possible step, and yes, I do hope they’d hurry up and stop dithering.

OTOH any such movement always has the potential of pushing the country in question even further towards the fascist fringe.

The EU is still “considering”…

But while Poland was once a willing partner in China’s “Go Global” strategy, its outlook today is far more cautious. As concerns grow over critical infrastructure, technology transfer, and economic dependency, Chinese FDI is increasingly seen through a security lens. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has only accelerated this shift, highlighting the risks of Chinese control over strategic assets.

Well good. It’s pretty clear by now that China isn’t and probably never was the neutral entity it once touted itself to be, and personally I also don’t buy into the idea that they would make a better world dominator than the USA.

Then came the 2024 incident, when Hutchison unexpectedly blocked an American military vessel from docking at its terminal. The standoff delayed the delivery of American and NATO military aid for Ukraine, raising eyebrows in Warsaw and Washington alike. Polish authorities quickly reclassified the terminal as critical infrastructure – bringing it under tighter scrutiny – but only after the crisis had already unfolded.

Does that mean that the Chinese not only built the thing but also run it? Yeah, that’s not so good.

The headline seems to suggest a parity that just isn’t there imo.

Also, as things stand right now, silence does not seem the worst option.

Mantasaison?

The blurb through a translator:

What is the free software that the state advises in 2025?
The interministerial base of free software has still grown. From now on, there are more than 500 references in the catalog of IT programs that the State advises its administrations. A long -term job, started at the start of the past decade. 473 free software referenced in May 2024, 529 in

The things we do make don’t last long.

I assume you’re from the states? I’ve had my small Made in USA Thermos for 10 years. It’s indestructible.

I could probably think of a few other good and durable things coming from the US - all sorts of guitars, banjos, ukuleles?

Ah, the dream of a libertarian paradise.

The promise of the EU were free markets

Free as in fewer hurdles between nations, not as in “the market will take care of everything”.

but the opposite is happening.

Yeah, no. The EU has always strived for a balance there. You bringing up the spectre of “planning economy” is just fearmongering.

You wouldn’t happen to work at the Internet Research Agency?

Did not happen here in Finland just a few days ago.

The way I see it, they check mostly for stuff that could result in unsafe breakage/conditions, endangering yourself and others.

Of course misaligned front tires aren’t good even if you ignore tire wear, but they don’t make your car a death trap.

Not saying I’m agreeing with this, just my observation. Some of the things that are important to them, while others aren’t even checked, the logic eludes me.

I feel I’m doing Putin a favor by comparing him to this amazing piece of internet history but here we are.