Police in Bangkok firing 40mm 'Barricade Buster' rubber munitions directly at the press tonight in Bangkok. These less-lethal munitions have been used copiously this week against protesters in Bangkok.
See reply for close up pictures of the munition.
These photos, from Friday by @PravitR show the style and look of 'brarricade buster' rounds.
They are designed to be fired at barricades not directly at people, and can cause serious pain/injury.
Disturbing to see them fired directly at the media, seemingly at around head-height.
Note. The munitions used may not be precisely the same model as that procurement screenshot above. A large number of companies produce similar products, unclear which exact model is used by Thai police.
A local resident holding up one of the munitions fired on that corner by police. Not sure they are 40mm rounds - they look smaller, but still much the same purpose.
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A video from 1 hour ago showing Kabul's Camp Gibson under the control out the Taliban.
Caption says 'The largest military base in Kabul is under the control of the Taliban'.
Outside there are two burnt-out Technicals, presumably belonging to Afghan forces.
Full videos in reply.
This is the video drive-by of the base's entrance.
The lengths that government bureaucracies all across Europe are going to to deny fleeing Afghans (including interpreters and other local staff) refuge in the continent is completely disgusting. An absolute stain on the moral leadership of Europe and inexcusable.
Stories of interpreters and local embassy staff being denied protection for arbitrary bureaucratic reasons with no bearing on reality is a civilisational blight, and disgusting disregard for human life. It is chilling to think how many lives these purposeful denials will cost.
Foreign Ministries across Europe are being deliberately myopic and obstructionist in preventing the protection of people. Interpreters are told to provide documents that have already been burnt to save their lives. These are not legitimate hurdles, theyre deliberate barriers.
Unfortunately, theres a few gaps in coverage - namely in Karen state (needs improvement), there is a week in early May with incomplete coverage. Explosions since May have become too numerous to record them all, only ones causing injury or hitting strategic targets are listed now.
On the map, the size of the dots show the approximate number of reported fatalities (note this data is extremely incomplete as most incidents don't include casualty information) and coloured by the non-state actor involved.
This is a good thread to read that contextualises some of the UN population data projections. I'll try to elaborate more tomorrow, but in the meantime certainly read this.
I'll add that this was mostly included to contextualise the data and at no point is a one to one comparison accurate given the variety of statistics measures and methods to get there. We specifically tried to look at a source for Cambodia that was more detailed...
...and in my opinion likely overstates the genocide's effect on the birth-rate (it only looks at the birth-rate among women of peak childbirth age so any variation will be overstated), and still demonstrates that Xinjiang's decline far surpasses it.
The Turkish representative to the UN came in with an unsually strong statement at the High-Level UN meeting on Xinjiang. Welcome to see, hoping they back it up and end the process of ratification of an extradition treaty with China. Rough notes from their statement below ⬇⬇
The protection of fundemental rights for Uyghurs is a special interest for Turkey
We want to see them live in peace and prosperity as equal citizens, with their full rights and freedoms protected by law....
Their freedoms must be respected and guaranteed
they should be allowed to preserve their cultures and identity for generations to come.
The ongoing practices of extreme human rights violations are extremely worrying....