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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   1007 thread views

Transnational Thursday for October 9, 2025

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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On October 1, four members of Caricom (the Caribbean Community)—Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and St. Vincent (total population 900,000)—implemented full freedom of movement. Under this arrangement, a citizen of any of those four countries can reside and work indefinitely in any of the other three countries, without a visa or a work permit.

This arrangement is an extension of existing freedom-of-movement provisions for all holders of bachelor's and associate's degrees and workers in certain other skilled professions. The other members of Caricom are expected to join the full implementation eventually.

Here is an interview with a drone expert on the future of AI warfare.

Look at that! A Mottezin (Mottezen? Mottizen?)in the wild! Could be my first time seeing the actual visage of anyone here.

The guy Paul Scharre's constant rapport-seeking rise in intonation was distracting so I ended up reading the transcript, but thanks for the vid!

Funny story, I used to look like this a few weeks ago, but cut my beard; got stopped too much at airports.

You made the right choice.

A second plane flotilla has hit the Twin Towers Israel.

More like was escorted to the port of Ashdod and predictably deported. As far as I understood, no significant amount of any "aid" had been found anywhere on the flotilla. I guess the real aid was the friends they made on the way.

As far as I understood, no significant amount of any "aid" had been found anywhere on the flotilla. I guess the real aid was the friends they made on the way.

The real aid is forcing Israel to keep explaining why they are intercepting humanitarian ships in Palestinian territorial waters.

You know why. Because Hamas started the war with Israel on October 7, 2023. Since then those waters are a war zone. There's nothing "humanitarian" in the selfie flotilla though - there is no single thing that they could benefit any humanitarian cause in any way. Of course, they are certain kind of "aid" - but to the Hamas leadership, intent on inflicting damage on Israel, but these people are the furthest thing from a "humanitarian" possible.

If there's no aid on the ships, in what sense are they humanitarian? Because they're full of good vibes and well-wishers?

No significant amount of aid. The claim I've heard is that there's enough to serve as a fig leaf and no more. By any fair assessment it's an anti-Israel activist project instead of a direct humanitarian one.

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