Corduroy Academy

( Mostly) radical thoughts, ideas, and links from late stage colonial capitalism.

  • ⤥

    —

    by

    Aidan
    in

    EU aims to launch a Red Sea naval mission within three weeks to protect ships from rebel attacks

    The European Union plans to launch a naval mission in the Red Sea within three weeks to help defend cargo ships against attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen that are hampering trade and driving up prices, the bloc’s top diplomat said Wednesday.

    EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he wants the mission to be up and running by Feb. 17. Officials say that seven EU countries are ready to provide ships or planes. Belgium has already committed to send a frigate. Germany is expected to do the same.

    Last week, U.S. and British forces bombed multiple targets in eight locations used by the Iranian-backed Houthis. It was the second time the two allies have conducted coordinated retaliatory strikes on the rebels’ missile-launching capabilities.

    Great, world war three is really shaping up.

    Maybe just stop funding genocide? (Literally a) simple(r) solution.

  • ⤥

    —

    by

    Aidan
    in

    UN chief says UNRWA is ‘backbone’ of Gaza aid response

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) as “the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza” and appealed to all countries to “guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s lifesaving work”.

    Several countries including the United States, UNRWA’s biggest donor, paused funding after Israel accused some agency staff of taking part in the October 7 attack by Hamas.

    Our spineless backwater, naturally, followed the US lead and withdrew funding. So not only does the oligopoly fund genocide, they also remove the (limp, centrist) aid provisions, directly contributing to more genocide.

    I could not be more disappointed in Australia’s moronic political scene.

  • ⤥

    —

    by

    Aidan
    in

    India snow leopards: First-ever survey puts population at 718

    India is home to 718 snow leopards, according to the first-ever survey of the animal in the country, the federal environment ministry has said.

    This means that Indian snow leopards account for roughly 10-15% of the big cat’s global population.

    The snow leopard is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

    It really feels like conservation coming back onto the scene is only going to have its works cut out for it as the capitalist oligarchy continues to destroy habitat.

  • ⤥

    —

    by

    Aidan
    in

    ‘Shock and disappointment’ among some Labor MPs over Victorian government’s decision on duck hunting ban

    Some Victorian Labor MPs were “shocked and disappointed” by the decision to continue to allow duck hunting in the state, despite a recommendation from a government-initiated inquiry.

    After a marathon three-hour meeting on Monday, cabinet rejected a recommendation from a Labor-led parliamentary inquiry to ban the divisive practice, which would have brought the state into line with New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland.

    Your supposedly progressive government back at it again, australia. These psychopaths take home hundreds of thousands in public funds a year to shamelessly promote the barbaric torture and murder of innocent animals for their own sick pleasure. Expect nothing more from them than torturing and murdering the populace, too — capitalism has no ethics.

  • ⤥

    —

    by

    Aidan
    in

    The $10 trillion benefits of overhauling our food system

    One of the most ambitious assessments yet of our global food system calculates the health, environmental, and economic losses of business as usual. It also outlines what governments can do to reap trillions of dollars’ worth of benefits by producing food more sustainably. 

    All in all, the damages caused by the current system — how food is produced, marketed, and consumed — add up to $15 trillion in losses a year. That includes health costs associated with poor nutrition, biodiversity loss, climate change, and other environmental harms. “In short, our food systems are destroying more value than they create,” says the report published today by economists and scientists with the Food System Economics Commission (FSEC).

    Less factory farming. Less exploitation and extractivism. Fair work for fair pay. Just the basic anti-capitalist (supposedly) tenants.

  • ⤥

    —

    by

    Aidan
    in

    Netanyahu says no Israeli pullout from Gaza until ‘total victory’ achieved

    Hamas said on Tuesday (Jan 30) it was weighing up a new ceasefire proposal in the war with Israel in Gaza, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his forces would not withdraw from the enclave until they had achieved “total victory”.

    The developments came hours after Israeli commandos disguised as medical workers and Muslim women killed three Palestinian militants in an undercover raid on a hospital in the occupied West Bank – an action that underscored the risk of the Gaza conflict spreading to other fronts.

    In Gaza itself, clashes between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters in the north of the enclave forced more Palestinian residents to flee to safer areas, and southern parts of the coastal enclave were hit by Israeli air strikes overnight.

    Fighting intensified around Gaza’s largest hospital still in service, the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which is surrounded by Israeli troops, the World Health Organization said.

    Is anyone at all surprised this genocidal maniac wants to keep being a genocidal maniac? The issue, of course, is that western politicians continue to fund it, in spite of the protestation of citizens.

  • ⤥

    —

    by

    Aidan
    in

    Anti-Muslim incidents jump in US amid Israel’s genocide

    Complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian discrimination and hate in the U.S. rose by about 180% in the three months after Oct. 7 following Hamas’ attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent assault on Hamas-governed Gaza genocide, an advocacy group said on Monday.

    The justification of Israel’s genocide in these articles is really such a contorted backflip. But unsurprisingly, the media drumming up anti-Muslim hate speech has created a rise in hate speech – who would’ve thought?

  • ⤥

    —

    by

    Aidan
    in

    Australia to spend $80m on business case for Sydney-Newcastle high speed rail

    The Albanese government will spend $80m developing a business case for the Sydney-to-Newcastle stretch of its east coast high speed rail line, as the decades-long project inches further forward.

    The transport minister, Catherine King, said the allocation of $78.8m was part of Labor’s $500m election commitment to the early stages of high speed rail, with the initial Sydney-Newcastle leg representing a “crucial waypoint” on the project.

    The newly formed High Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) will deliver the business case to the government by the end of the year, and will determine a proposed alignment, station locations and the type of train sets to be used.

    Imagine how much more a QUOTE could cost if they hadn’t pushed through tax cuts for the mega rich? Or better, imagine how much climate and social housing action they could take with that money. Wait, no, sorry the Labor-Liberal coalition does not imagine. They only make life worse for people dumb enough to vote for them.

    But also maybe just fix “work”? If people didn’t have to superfluously travel to a cbd to work many of these transport problems would fade away. Imagine (there’s that word again) if we hyperlocalised our living and responded to the local environment to centre our needs on country. Sorry I’ll stop imagining, the ALP is getting uncomfortable.

    At least it’s a train!