Aaron Leonard https://risingthumb.xyz

API used has been restricted to 100 requests. Will take a look at fixing when I have the time

^(HEADLINES)

^EDITORIAL

^TRADE

^DRILLS

^DOMESTIC

^FINANCE

^ORDERS

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HEADLINES: ETERNAL VACATION PROPOSAL BY BOONUT CONSIDERED

ASPERMONT, WESTERLANDS - Due to Shotbow’s periodic and frequent lag, boonut proposed that the Company take eternal vacation and suspend all official business until Shotbow servers sort themselves out. There are times when there isn’t any lag but the rest of the times messes up with gathering items and trading hours, thus making all prep a previous week moot and forcing the Company to make last minute processes and trades.

Irishkaiser says he’ll probably consider it since most of the trades go through the Common Market anyway and a lot of trade runs is just running into Commonwealth members and giving them stuff.

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EDITORIAL - The Communist Party wants us to Remember Tienanmen Square　　

Irishkaiser - What the Western World calls the Tiananmen Square Massacre or more accurately called the “1989 Tiananmen Square Protests”(since Tiananmen wasn’t the site of the massacre and rather the protesters were peacefully dissolved there at least) is shrouded with mystery due to heavy censorship by the Communist Party of China which they insist on calling the June Fourth Incident, deliberately downplaying the violence.

Many recall the violence of soldiers shooting peaceful protesters and journalists escorting and watching Chinese citizens, but not many know another story of the June Fourth Incident and one I think the Communist Party truly wishes to hide. I personally think they want us to remember the brutality to a certain degree to maintain control and that their attempts to hide it in public is just a red herring to something else that would truly damage the control of the party - the disunity and incoherent response by Party Officials who dissented from one another with many party members and army officials and entire units condemning the actions of their colleagues and even running counter against them.

When people remember the violence, they will at least remember that the Communist Party will carry out reprisals and thus make people fear rebelling or stepping out of line… But if people remembered that the Communist Party wasn’t even sure of what to do, then they’ll be emboldened, realizing that they have sympathizers in the party and can capitalize on their indecision to further their movement.

This is a large topic full of speculation but I will give many who sided with the protesters. Not just individuals in the party, but soldiers, civilians and army units who were even reported to “clash” with the compliant units.

Firstly, there is Zhao Ziyang, a top party elite who held the ranks of of Premier and Vice-Chairman of the Chinese Communists. He, alongside another top party official: Hu Qili, advocated negotiating and speaking with the protesters and he even publicly went out to greet hunger strikers with the speech:

"Students, we came too late. We are sorry. You talk about us, criticize us, it is all necessary. The reason that I came here is not to ask you to forgive us. All I want to say is that students are getting very weak, it is the 7th day since you went on hunger strike, you can't continue like this. [...] You are still young, there are still many days yet to come, you must live healthy, and see the day when China accomplishes the four modernizations. You are not like us, we are already old, it doesn't matter to us any more." 

Then there are the retired generals who heard news about the plans of using force once Zhao was purged. They were: Ye Fei, Zhang Aiping, Xiao Ke, Yang Dezhi, Chen Zaidao, Song Shilun and Li Jukui

Eight veteran generals who opposed the action with their plea:

Due to the exigent circumstances, we as old soldiers, make the following request: Since the People's Army belongs to the people, it cannot stand against the people, much less kill the people, and must not be permitted to fire on the people and cause bloodshed; to prevent the situation from escalating, the Army must not enter the city. 

Not only retired soldiers but active soldiers of the time had suspicions about the orders they were given such as the insubordination of Xu Qinxian, commander of the 38th Army. The story went: Xu said he could not comply with a verbal order to mobilize and demanded to see a written order. When told by the Beijing Military Regional command that it “was wartime” and a written order would be provided later, Xu, who had spent time in Beijing earlier in the spring, said there was no war and reiterated his refusal to carry out the order. Xu asked Zhou whether the three principals of the Central Military Commission had approved the martial law order. Zhou replied that while Deng Xiaoping, the chairman, and Yang Shangkun, the secretary-general, had approved, Zhao Ziyang, the first vice-chairman, had not. Without Zhao’s approval, Xu refused to act on the order and asked for sick leave. He was court-martialled and the 38th Army under his replacement mobilized to enforce the martial law order.

Another soldier: Xu Feng of the 116th Division, 39th Army demonstrated reluctance because of suspicious orders given. His story went:

On the evening of June 3, Xu Feng, the division commander, switched to plain clothes and carried out his own reconnaissance of the city. When he returned, he told subordinates “not to look for him” and went into the division’s communications vehicle. Thereafter, the division maintained radio silence and did not advance on Beijing, except for the 347th Regiment under Ai Husheng, which complied with orders and went to Tiananmen Square on June 4. On June 5, the rest of the division was escorted by other units to the Square. Xu Feng was later disciplined for passive resistance.

There was also the 28th Army of He Yanran, who after seeing what they were doing decided to retreat. Their story went:

When ordered to enter the city on June 3, the 28th encountered protesting residents along route but did not open fire and missed the deadline to reach Tiananmen Square by 5:30 a.m. on June 4. At 7:00am, the 28th Army ran into a throng of angry residents at Muxidi on West Chang'an Avenue west of the Square. The residents told the soldiers of the killings from earlier in the morning and showed blood stained shirts of victims. At noon, Liu Huaqing, the commander of the martial law enforcement action, ordered Wang Hai, head of the PLA Air Force, to fly over Muxidi by helicopter and order by loud speaker the 28th Army to counterattack. But on the ground, the commanders of the 28th refused to comply. Instead the troops abandoned their positions en masse. By 5:00 pm, many had retreated into the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution nearby. Of all units involved in the crackdown, the 28th Army lost by far the most equipment, as 74 vehicles including 31 armored personnel carriers and two communications vehicles were burned. The unit was later removed and ordered to undergo six months of reorganization. Afterwards, all commanding officers were demoted and reassigned to other units.

The people of Beijing themselves had in certain areas conciliatory and even supportive stances of the units sent to suppress them:

The people of Beijing offered food and drinks that were accepted by the troops which disobeyed the Chinese Communist Party’s orders. Chen Guang, who was deployed to suppress the movement on May 19, 1989, described the students as, “Very friendly, with bright smiles. Their spirit was welcoming.” When the army retreated the students held banners stating, “The PLA came on orders. We support you. There is no disorder in Beijing. You guys go on home.” Chen suggested that this treatment made him question his purpose in suppressing the movement. He stated, “All at once you felt like you hadn’t understood this society… You start to think about these problems. Before that, you didn’t have that kind of conscious.”

The 27th Army However, deemed the most brutal was hated on by other army units, especially the 38th Army who reportedly clashed with the 27th and some rumors stated they fired shots at each other. The 38th Army by contrast was called the “people’s army”.

All in all, in the army alone, about 3,500 PLA officers were found to have disobeyed orders and entire army units clashed with each other(reportedly) over treatment of civilians.

This is the story of Tiananmen that nobody gets to hear, members of the Communist Party and People’s Liberation Army consciously condemning what they perceive is unjust violence and I think this story threatens the control of the party even more and that scares them. In my opinion, the Communists don’t actually care that you remember Tiananmen’s violence.

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TRADE - US MineZ Trade Run

The Directory proudly announces that it has cancelled the trade run due to Spring Break.

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TRADE - Common Market Trade

The Directory proudly announces that it has witnessed the following goods circulated.

Splash II Potions

Buttons

Glowstone

Sugar

Cake

Some Roast Beef

Some Chicken

Some Pizza

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A lot of these trades could not happen due to Shotbow shitting themselves last week. A promise is a promise, I guess.

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PvP Drill 158th Mass PvP Event - Absolutely Nothing

Hahaha MineZ was down.

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DOMESTIC - Local Man Finally Stops Hounding OneZedArmy

Local man admitted in Buffalo-Wings Street to stop hounding OneZedArmy after months of repeatedly threatening to delete his posts because he considers “Reichposting” as shitposting. The admittance came after an encounter in Buffalo-Wings where he was accused of setting a precedent that would enable a person to delete something because then shitposts would be defined as “Things I Do Not Like”.

Karl McMarx is credited with convincing the Right Honourable Yellow Tape after realizing his own interests in Zalgoposting would be threatened if he complied with it. Congratulations, Karl McMarx, you’re on the side of freedom again… But I like the nickname because it’s funny so I’m still gonna call you Karl McMarx.

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FINANCE - Waiting for foreigners

Kind of sucks to be a developing economy where your finances are highly dependent on foreign interests, but at least we got 3.5K PHP out of this week.

**ORDERS:**

1) LEISURE WEEK NEXT WEEK

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^{THE [?] EMPIRE,THE COMPANY’S OFFICIAL NEWS SOURCE AND PROPAGANDA TOOL. AW YEAH}