Hold steady for the Yeti! Only ten minutes to get ready! If you've already got your spaghetti then get the movie on the telly and prepare for a flick that's smelly :D

Did I mention the music is by Sante Maria Romitelli?

The time left is petit! #Monsterdon

💡 TURN DOWN YOUR LIGHTS 💡

(where applicable)

#Monsterdon

O CANADA

MY HOME AND NATIVE YETI #Monsterdon

"He's got to live free! As he likes!"

Yeti's gonna get a timeshare in Boca, yeah. #Monsterdon

"I'll enrich his oxygen"

Oh yeah, baby, let's hotbox this ape #Monsterdon

"The yeti! IS ALIVE!"

...Uh, yay? I guess that's good? I guess? #Monsterdon

"Cliff! Press the red button!"

They're ALL RED, you dipshit! #Monsterdon

"Do nothing to excite him!"

So, just keep producing this movie. Nothing exciting at all. #Monsterdon

In Eritrea, my mother's homeland and a country in East Africa bordering Ethiopia, Sudan and Djibouti, there is no free press under the rule of former rebel commander turned President for life Isaias Afewerki. Eritrea is home to the longest jailed journalists anywhere in the world, and Reporters Without Borders ranked Eritrea 180th (last) in the world for its 2024 Press Freedom Index.

Six million people in Eritrea have precious few sources of independent news.

rsf.org/en/country/eritrea

The VOA produces news in 48 languages, among them Tigrigna, the most spoken language in Eritrea and Ethiopia's Tigray region. Since 1996, Tigrigna radio broadcasts have provided an alternative and independent source of news for Eritreans, who can tune in on radio signals that are difficult and expensive to jam.

With internet service extremely expensive and poor, Eritreans still rely on radio, and this will be a huge blow for people there.

tigrigna.voanews.com/

ድምጺ ኣመሪካ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ -VOA Tigrigna

ድምጺ ኣመሪካ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ ዜናን ካልእ ሓበሬታን ንተኸታተሉ ይህብ። ቋንቋ ትግርኛ ሃገራዊ ቋንቋ ሃገረ ኤርትራ ክኸውን እንከሎ፥ ኣብታ ሓንቲ ካብተን ክልላት ኢትዮጵያ ዝኾነት ክልል ትግራይ ናይ ኢትዮጵያ እውን ይዝረብ እዩ። ቋንቋ ትግርኛ ሓደ ካብ ዝጠንተወ ቋንቋታት ኢትዮጵያ ምዃኑ ይእመነሉ። ፈነወ ድምጺ ኣመሪካ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ ዕለታዊ ካብ ሰኑይ ክሳብ ዓርቢ ንፍርቂ ሰዓት ይመሓላለፍ። ብናይቲ …

^{ድምጺ ኣሜሪካ}

For instance, in recent weeks the Eritrean government was reported to have launched a new mass conscription campaign, hinting at a possible new war.

Such news when disseminated by the likes of the VOA, gives youths the chance to at least attempt to flee. State propaganda censors such news in an attempt to create docile and compliant citizens.

The loss of VOA Tigrigna in a country like Eritrea, previously described as a "news desert" will be felt heavily.

hrw.org/news/2023/02/09/eritre…

Eritrea: Crackdown on Draft Evaders’ Families

The Eritrean government has in recent months punished relatives of thousands of alleged draft evaders as part of an intensive forced conscription campaign, Human Rights Watch said today.

^{Human Rights Watch}

It's important to recognize that this shutdown attempt coincides with Russian propaganda outlet Sputnik's Africa wide expansion efforts. While the VOA offers complete editorial independence to its different language departments, Sputnik does not. It quite openly serves as a pro Moscow bullhorn, delivering sanitized and censored news that is largely dictator friendly and hardly different from the state propaganda offered by governments in countries like Eritrea.

dair-community.social/@ZekuZel…

Zecharias Zelalem (@ZekuZelalem@dair-community.social)

Attached: 1 video 🇷🇺 / 🇪🇹 Today, Russian state media outlet Sputnik expanded its broadcast presence in Ethiopia, opening an "Africa Hub" in Addis Ababa.

^{Distributed AI Research Community}

Does GB need a cookie? Why do they toot their own horn?

Edit: Does it not feel out of character to you? There is no ceasefire agreement, just an agreement to participate in negotiations. I would assume that to a British prime minister, that's not worth mentioning and when the BBC writes it like this, that it is a subtle putdown.

Well it has to. The meeting was basically watching a long-term ally say they'd turn their back on any of its friends any chance they can get. If all the US can bring to the friend group is gym bro muscles but turns out is actually a petty coward, still asking for minerals, they won't get invited to the cool stuff anymore.

Someone in DC still understands the content of Alliances 101 and has explained it.