UN Security Council to vote on Strait of Hormuz

[Twiglets1]

The UN Security Council’s vote on a proposal to ensure the safety of ships in the Strait of Hormuz has been rescheduled from Friday to Saturday, according to media reports.

The council’s 15 members are set to vote on a resolution from Bahrain aimed at protecting commercial shipping in the critical waterway, which usually carries about one-fifth of global oil and natural gas supplies.

The Associated Press and Reuters news agencies have reported that a draft resolution includes text authorising countries “to use all defensive means necessary” to protect commercial shipping.

The proposal is considered unlikely to pass, as China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the council, has made it clear that it opposes any resolution that mentions the use of force.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/4/2/iran-war-live-trump-to-address-nation-tehran-denies-seeking-ceasefire

I think in reality we all agree that the UK is a democracy.

By the way @RedTagAlan according to the Economist Democracy Index compiled in 2024, you are over estimating how many people in the world live in authoritarian countries at 75%

Their data puts the number at 39.2% plus hybrid regimes at 15.7% (total 54.9%).

Those living under full democracies or flawed democracies make up the remainder.

I agree we often go off piste into more interesting territory on discussions.

There is full information on the methodology used by the Index I posted if anyone is that interested. I doubt they are because actually, we all know the UK is not in any danger of being classified as an authoritarian country.

There are other indexes - anyone is welcome to try to find one that classifies the UK as an authoritarian country if they want to waste some time. We don't have internet restrictions in the UK after all.

Good to hear.

So on authoritarianism. I assume you totally agreed with the arrest of Graham Linehan on suspicion of inciting violence ? I did not agree with it. And not because I agree with him, because I don't. To me, it was government overreach. To me it was a step too close to authoritarianism.

But from what you say on these boards, It looks like you would have been totally ok with it ?

""The man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence. This is in relation to posts on X."

Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan arrested at Heathrow over posts on X | Ents & Arts News | Sky News

As said below we are a robust bunch of voters and in this democracy can push back in cases exactly like this one. Many women on here spoke up as I did and we get changes.

It’s worked as NCHIs have been dropped.

@shuddacuddadidnt

Quote :"Threads are bestest when they stray into more interesting territory"

Well the UN vote is postponed . So hey ho :-)

Democracy Countries 2026

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/democracy-countries

Good to see the agreement on the UK being a democracy, when you read political threads on here you could easily be confused.

We should be concerned about the direction the US is going.

Vance is in Hungary supporting Orban

The discussion was on authoritarianism. But somehow it was deflected to democracy. So there is that I suppose.

Continuing your aside abut China being described as an example of "authoritarian capitalism."

My son went there last summer for a holiday with his friend who is a Chinese student studying in the UK. Some things that struck me as strange from his visit were that he had to carry his passport everywhere even on public transport etc as could be asked to show it at any time.

Also - the 2 boys booked into a cheap hotel but after checking in and going out for a short walk, were then asked to leave. The reason given was that it was because my son was a foreigner. His friend told him that in China it's problematic for foreign tourists to stay at cheap hotels & guesthouses but no problem if they wish to stay at 4 or 5 star ones. Apparently many cheaper places are not registered to allow foreign guests.

That seems to work against capitalism as must mean the smaller places (likely owned by Chinese people) lose a lot of potential income from foreign guests. Whereas the big chain hotels who may be internationally owned, benefit from that system.

They are two sides of the same coin.

The US is classified as a "flawed democracy" which seems about right to me.

We use democracy to push back on onerous laws we don’t want. Your Lineham example below is a good one to show that.

And did you agree with the arrest ? The law he was arrested under was made by a democratic government after all. And it would appear some folk are saying a democracy can't be authoritarian.

No as I said women on here spoke up, as I did, women on here are pretty good at getting change.

NCHIs have been dropped.

I don't know about that. I am sure Canada scores high on democracy, but visit any Gender Critical or Euthanasia threads here and there will be plenty saying it is authoritarian.

And lets not mention what GB news and the Mail say about Labour.

But they can say it about Labour that’s key. The media criticises freely. Voters can vote how they like.

Canada will score high on democracy yes.

People being able to openly express their gender critical views or being able to discuss the pros and cons of Euthanasia, or be outspoken in their criticism of their own government is all part of living in a democracy.

So you did not agree with the arrest. And did you happen to say to anyone "This is authoritarianism" ?

And of course, you support this legal thing too :

Palestine Action is still proscribed despite court win - but what does that mean? | UK News | Sky News

Ahh. So you personally would not describe those particular Canadian laws as authoritarian, because you are allowed to talk about them?

This is happening in Iran since the war started

https://bsky.app/profile/kristiankiehling.bsky.social/post/3mintaijfjs2i

"While the US - Israeli war on Iran has been widely criticised, the Iranian theocracy has cut off access to the internet in an attempt to completely isolate the Iranian people. This measure has now been in place for 36 days and 840 hours — while the Iranian regime continues to execute dissidents."

Yes you can go to the threads on FWR and find the posts that oppose it. Women on here speak up all the time and get changes.

It’s good and better than many places for that.

PA is in the courts, another system that works well in a democracy.

People post freely to a point within guidelines, laws get changed or dropped due to public pressure, particularly from women which is great.

One thing that is prohibited is supporting a terrorist org online or offline, which I expect is not wanted everywhere but works well.

So you think it is people posting on here that get laws changed ?

Women on here have been part of it. Particularly the FWS SC ruling, and the NCHI one will be impacted by women speaking up. And we are mostly women on this site.

Cool. And I daresay other poster on other sites are part of it too ?

Say as you like, which sites are you thinking of?