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Fred Carver

@arbeider4fred.bsky.social

220 followers 450 following 340 posts

Advice for hire. Occasional writing, editing, speaking. Atrocity Prevention, Peacekeeping, UN, South Asia. Based in Bergen, NO. https://frederichcarver.com

frederichcarver.com

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Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · Aug 14

Here's a consolidated thread of my marathon yesterday. If you're impressed, and able, please do consider sponsoring me by giving funds to SAST via this link. They really do incredible work. www.gofundme.com/f/urgent-tor...

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Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 12h

Fyi @theguardian.com @rothandrew.bsky.social the Nobel Prize isnt awarded by PRIO but by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The idea that Trump is trying to woo PRIO is kinda funny www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Truly, madly, deeply: Trump’s desire for a Nobel peace prize is driving diplomacy

The US president’s fervid pursuit of the award is believed to have been a key motivator in brokering peace deals in Ukraine and Gaza

www.theguardian.com

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 1d

Noteworthy that most of the flotilla participants who have yet to be released are Norwegian. Might be a sign of the deterioration of diplomatic relations but then the Irish participants were released earlier so who knows?

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 1d

Obviously the Freedom Flotilla is the correct call, and Palestine Action would be well deserved and very funny but a bit niche (no one cares about the UK).

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 1d

I've decided that while giving Trump the Nobel would be appaling, giving it jointly to Trump, Darwish, and Netanyahu would be kind of funny, especially because all three would then probably have to refuse it and then Trump would try to refuse to refuse it

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 2d

Not read the full essay beyond the sponges quote b4. It's interesting. Much more snobbish, to the point of classism, than I expected, but also quite insightful on how & why stump speeches don't work on the page. And yeah, does this remind anyone of anyone?

www.laphamsquarterly.org/comedy/hl-me...

H.L. Mencken on Balder and Dash

On the question of the logical content of Dr. Harding’s harangue of last Friday, I do not presume to have views. The matter has been debated at great length by the editorial writers of the republic, a

www.laphamsquarterly.org

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 2d

Ah but what if these posters were animated to a driving soundtrack of some of the best in backpacker hiphop? www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EN9...

B. Dolan - "50 Ways to Bleed Your Customer" [Reanimator Remix]

YouTube video by B Dolan

www.youtube.com

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 3d

These are incredible (ht @ojusher.com)

www.nato.int/60years/post...

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Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 4d

Integral to the idea of terrorism is that we should hold non state actors to a different standard to state ones. I hate that, but also say what you will about the IDF they are undeniably a state actor

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 4d

Not a fan.

I think terrorism is a fundamentally regressive concept and proscription an inherently authoritarian idea and I dont think you can masters' tools it.

Also the way we use those terms currently renders this all sort of nonsense, some of it problematic

Greens Organise @greensorganise.bsky.social · 5d

A Green government would proscribe the Israel Defense Forces as a terrorist organisation.

The forces currently actioning war crimes and genocide upon the people of Gaza on behalf of the Israeli government.

This must not be allowed to continue.
Free Palestine 🇵🇸
@greens4palestine.bsky.social

Picture of a shoulder clad in military uniform with an Israeli flag patch.

Text reads:
Green Conference 2025 votes to recognise
The IDF
as a
Terrorist
Organisation
Greens
Organise

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Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 6d

Still feels more likely to fall apart than not, but its possible Trump has hit on an idea that could work: since neither he nor Bibi nor Hamas really care about anything except their domestic political position maybe all three can just declare victory to their own bubble and walk away

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 7d

I think the idea that Guterres' failure was specific to a precise moment in December 2023 with the blinking on art99 is interesting. He makes a compelling case, but I didn't feel convinced at the time that that might have been a change moment, I think it blurs into the overall soup of disappointment

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 7d

Charles Petrie making the case that the UN is currently fairly irrelevant. Hard to disagree at the moment, which is not to say the decline is terminal

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkOz...

The UN Sec. General Missed His Rendez-Vous with History - Gaza, Israel and International Law

YouTube video by alexkularatnam

www.youtube.com

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Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 8d

Yes I felt this was right, full of sound and fury but not signifying all that much. And MAGA still don't seem to have worked out that criticizing another country's domestic policies is something you only do as part of a very clear strategy, else you're just burning political capital for nothing.

Richard Gowan @richardgowan1.bsky.social · 8d

I spent some time parsing President Trump's address to the UN @justsecurity.org.
www.justsecurity.org/121750/trump...

Trump Signals Instrumental Approach to U.N. – But it Could Be Worse

Trump's General Assembly speech could have been worse, but countries that want to make the U.N. system work can't bank on U.S. leadership.

www.justsecurity.org

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 8d

This was good www.africanistperspective.com/p/the-geopol...

The geopolitics of international development (after foreign aid)

You can't have nice things without strategic independence and policy autonomy

www.africanistperspective.com

Reposted by Fred Carver

suhyonya.bsky.social @suhyonya.bsky.social · 9d

It’s go time! All eyes on the flotillas. You can track, see their status and find link to their YT channel to watch the livestream

globalsumudflotilla.org

#flotilla #gaza #freepalestine #palestine

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Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 10d

My guess right now would be at the next election Greens get 10% of the vote and 5 seats and YP get 2% and 8

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 10d

Result: while I imagine the answer will be the Greens in most seats in seats with a large South Asian and/or Muslim community it is likely to be YP. Inds associated with YP had far more near misses in 2024 than the Greens did

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 10d

I think it's still an answer that varies constituency by constituency. YP's launch might be shambolic but it stands on the back of the most successful independent candidate electoral campaign in British history, achieving in 1 year with no money or exposure what took the Greens decades and millions

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 10d

Yeah Milei is a unique species of dreadful but I'm trying to think who the last President of Argentina one couldn't use those two words to describe would be. I guess you could make the case that Alfonsín was an honest populist

Anon Opin @anonopin.bsky.social · 10d

Argentina used to be a prosperous country before they elected a lying populist. Just saying.

Reposted by Fred Carver

Michael Paarlberg @mpaarlberg.bsky.social · 11d

I think the Trump admin assumed no one would try to find out who the people on the boats they blew up really were

350 5.7K 16K

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 12d

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 14d

No one has actually been able to get Bibi's QR code to work have they?

Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 14d

But for all the huge limitations & blindspots of mid 20th c "meritocracy" it is sad to think that it would be almost inconceivable now that a working class kid from Glasgow would become first one of the US college circuit's preeminent sprinters & then one of the UK's preeminent lawyers/politicians

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Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 14d

I briefly worked for him but didn't know him well. I remember him as v principled, v knowledgeable, quite stubborn, & quite old fashioned in a way that made him seem much older than he was. He had huge strengths & undeniably leadership weaknesses, but he made UK politics more interesting & better

Scottish Liberal Democrats @scotlibdems.org.uk · 14d

The Scottish Liberal Democrats are sad to announce the passing of Lord Menzies Campbell.

The thoughts of everyone in our party are with his family at this time.

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Fred Carver @arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 14d

I mean I expect this is all cheap talk that will go nowhere. But it's still interesting. And as one of the last remaining believers (with a bucketload of caveats) in liberational left interventionism I, at least, found it heartening.