Oh man, it would be so great to welcome Poland back into our family of nations. But of course this is all exit polling and based on future possible coalitions. Still, the fact that the piss party won only narrowly despite having the entire media and state apparatus at their disposal and putting those dishonest referendum questions on the ballot is encouraging.
The soft power of both countries and the fact that a military dictator with an ugly haircut keeps threatening them would do the trick
Re: China’s Belt and Road
China is the only country so far to have been able to successfully mine minerals in Afghanistan. China had agreements with the Taliban before the US bailed and this is just a continuation of that relationship.
China succeeded where Western companies could not.
Or would not
Mining companies?
Could not.
I remember when Taliban delegations toured the US, including the White House, to discuss post-Soviet occupation scenarios. Including business deals.
Of course at that time the Taliban were freedom fighters, not terrorists.
The moral equivalent of the founding fathers, it was said… 
Basically this year’s contest will be unable to avoid sensitive topics. Quite a few people would want to make it all about those topics with a billion people tuning in each year.
Somebody on r/europe posted some maps of where the votes turned out in Polish elections and yeah, it’s pretty obvious why they are high alert about Russia
https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/179y97r/polish_election_winners_in_electoral_districts/
Swedish Tesla workers to strike over union demands (msn.com)
From the article:
“Tesla mechanics in Sweden will walk off the job on October 27 unless the electric carmaker agrees to sign a collective wage agreement, the metalworkers union IF Metall said Wednesday.”
This is good. 68% of all employees in Sweden are unionized. If Tesla tries to pull some kind of union busting crap things might get really interesting. The union can then answer with blockades or call in sympathy strikes from other unions. IF Metall is a powerful union, but usually not one of the more militant since a lot of the workers they organize are skilled labour and are hard to replace. Swedish industrial companies has also recognized that having a good relationship with the union is a good thing for them. Tesla pays worse than other companies and since a lot of insurance and pensions are part of collective agreements so this is an important battle for the workers.
Apparently this is the first time Tesla has been met with industrial action by organized labour.
The unions own magazine/paper has a slightly longer article in Swedish that is well worth to machine translate.
Total strejk på Tesla i Sverige – varsel från IF Metall (da.se)
I really should crosspost this to the Fuck Elon Musk thread, because Fuck Elon Musk and Fuck Tesla. Tesla is now trying to pull some union busting crap. Illegal union busting crap. I machine translated this article : Tesla kartlägger facktillhörighet – IF Metall rasar: Allvarligt brott (da.se), and posted it below. It is not uncommon that American companies try to pull some shit when they establish themselves in Sweden. It so far has always ended up with the unions slapping them in to line.
Another side note. Elonites (swedish elonites as well) usually whine that Tesla workers can’t expect to have collective agreements because they can get stock options and that is apparently much better. I live in a city where Northvolt is building their first huge battery. The company was founded by two ex-Tesla executives. They have run ads for looking for workers that say “Collective Agreements or stock options? Why not both?”.
Tesla Maps Union Affiliation – Union Outraged
Tesla has sent letters and made phone calls to employees in order to identify who will participate in a strike next week, according to Dagens Arbete. IF Metall, considers this a serious violation of Swedish law, as it involves registering union membership.
IF Metall has issued a strike warning for Tesla’s car workshops in Sweden on October 27 if Tesla does not sign a collective agreement. Managers from Tesla have now sent out documents and contacted employees to identify those who will take part in the strike, as reported by Dagens Arbete. This information has been confirmed by IF Metall’s union lawyer, Darko Davidovic.
“We have received information that a document has been sent out where employees are supposed to indicate whether they will perform work or not next week,” he said.
According to IF Metall, this implies that Tesla is registering information about the union affiliation of its employees, which is prohibited under GDPR legislation.
“If I am forced to answer that question, then I disclose whether I am union-affiliated or not. The employer is not allowed to register such information at all. It is considered sensitive personal data,” he stated.
Darko Davidovic has informed Tesla that the union demands the company cease collecting this information.
“We have informed them that it is illegal, that we take it seriously, and that we expect them to stop this. Otherwise, we will be forced to take action,” he said.
Information has also been disseminated to the union members at Tesla, stating that they are not obligated to respond to the company’s inquiry.
Dagens Arbete has reached out to Tesla for a comment.
