Elections in various countries

[Raphael]

So he's just gotten tired of the busy schedule that being president entails?

[Travis B.]

He's done the thing that Japanese emperors used to do, where they'd retire to become Buddhist monks, but in fact hold more power than their successor minus the responsibilities.

[akam chinjir]

Didn't Deng Xiaoping end up as (only) the chairman of the bridge club? (Bridge as in cards.)

[Salmoneus]

Augustus resigned the consulate in 22BC... I'm not sure whether Nazarbeyev's title best translates as "paramount leader", or simply "first citizen"... or maybe just "fifth-most junior member of the public safety committee of the national convention"?

[tiramisu]

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[mèþru]

Well its a surprise to us because we haven't heard any of that previous news. This is the first news story since the Latinisation that I've heard from Kazakhstan without my checking for news from there.

[Raphael]

They've switched to the Latin alphabet? Interesting. This is the first time I hear about that, so I guess I'm even more out of the loop than you.

[mèþru]

They announced it in 2007 and unveiled it in 2017. They then revised it in 2018 because the original proposal used a really horrible romanisation scheme. The alphabet will be the sole one in official use by 2025.

[Raphael]

Ah, thank you.

[mèþru]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47638619
I'm going to continue calling it Astana.

[tiramisu]

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[Linguoboy]

I'm starting to worry about my local aldermannic election. Given that two-thirds of the vote in the primary went to challengers, I figured the incumbent would be sunk in the second round. But he's got deep pockets and he's used them to dig up dirt (in the form of offensive rap lyrics) on his remaining challenger and disseminate it widely. I thought my friends were sharp enough to see this for what it was but some of them are wavering. Plus two of the challengers were women and I worry that, now that the race is back to two men, too many of their supporters will stay home. Neither of them has endorsed the challenger, but they haven't endorsed the incumbent either, so I'm not sure what that means.

It's so frustrating. The candidate I voted for was just as progressive and didn't have any of this baggage. If it all goes pear-shaped, maybe he'll have a crack again in four years.

[mèþru]

@Raphael what's wrong with Guaidó?

[Raphael]

I don't know enough about him to tell, but I remember people whose judgment I usually trust claiming that both the government and the opposition in Venezuela are very bad.

[mèþru]

Most of the opposition are right-wingers who want to dismantle even the good parts of Chavismo, but Guaido belongs to a leftist opposition party. Also, in the face of dictatorship, I'd rather a right-wing democrat.

[tiramisu]

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[alynnidalar]

But things are so bad in Venezuela right now that I very much doubt it would be worse than how things are now.

This is how I feel. Whether you like Guaido or not, Maduro has to go. The idea that an objective observer could prefer Maduro is absurd.

[tiramisu]

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[mèþru]

Really? I thought the flare-up was a godsend for him.
I doubt he'll be prime minister though; even if he gets the mandates I think he'll be replaced by another Likud member as the corruption scandals wear on. And Beitenu and Kulanu could potentially give mandates to B&W.
At this point I'm so disgusted with Gantz that I don't really care if he wins or not.

[tiramisu]

The flare-up was sort of a Catch-22. It wouldn't have been good for him to repeat 2014 right now. But, on the other hand, a lot of security hawks have been upset that, instead of repeating 2014, he keeps agreeing to ceasefires. His coalition nearly collapsed in November for that very reason. I suppose Yisrael Beitenu might get a boost from it, though. I think Kulanu could go either way, but Yisrael Beitenu would only join a Gantz coalition if they believed the most likely alternative is a coalition with a Palestinian party.